The Durban Sports Business Program
The Durban Sports Business Program prepares Georgetown McDonough students to understand the business of sports through a foundation in core business disciplines, industry exposure, and applied learning. Students examine how organizations across the sports ecosystem create value, make decisions, and navigate a rapidly evolving global industry.
Why the Program Exists
The sports industry has changed dramatically. Once centered largely on teams, leagues, and game-day operations, it now operates across a much broader business ecosystem shaped by media, technology, finance, real estate, data, policy, sponsorship, athlete economics, fan engagement, and global growth.
That complexity has created a need for graduates who can bring more than passion for sports. Organizations need early-career professionals who understand business, can analyze problems, work across functions, and contribute to strategic decisions.
The Durban Sports Business Program was designed to meet that need by combining McDonough’s business education with direct exposure to the people, organizations, and decisions shaping the sports industry.
Georgetown’s Advantage
Business Leaders First
Students develop core business skills in areas such as finance, strategy, analytics, marketing, operations, and leadership, then apply those skills to the sports industry through coursework, experiential learning, and industry engagement.
Values-Based Leadership
Sports is a high-visibility industry where trust, reputation, judgment, and relationships matter. Georgetown’s values-based approach prepares students to consider not only how organizations create value, but how their decisions affect people, communities, and public confidence.
Faculty, Alumni, and Industry Network
The program connects students with Georgetown McDonough faculty, alumni, executives, and organizations across the sports business ecosystem. These relationships create opportunities for mentorship, applied learning, career exploration, and industry insight.
Made Possible by Egon and Abby Durban
The Durban Sports Business Program was established through the generosity of Egon Durban (B’95) and Abby Durban (Parents ’28). Their commitment enables Georgetown McDonough to build a sports business platform that brings together student learning, experiential opportunities, industry engagement, global exposure, and leadership development.
Their vision is to help students see the sports industry in its full scope, not only as teams and leagues, but as a complex global business ecosystem shaped by capital, media, technology, people, places, and policy.
Sports Business Is a Field of the Future
The Durban Sports Business Program reflects Georgetown McDonough’s “business and” approach, connecting business education to industries and disciplines reshaping markets, organizations, and society.
Within Fields of the Future, Sports Business sits alongside AI, Analytics, and the Future of Work; the Business of Health; and the Business of Sustainability as an area where leadership, judgment, and interdisciplinary perspective are increasingly needed.
Program Leadership
The Durban Sports Business Program is guided by Georgetown McDonough faculty, staff, and industry-connected leaders who bring academic expertise, business perspective, and deep knowledge of the sports ecosystem. Meet the Team.