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With participants of the "Theory and Practice of Global Sport Management" course held on the Georgetown University campus in September 2025. Yoshioka is fifth from the right in the second row, and Professor Matsuoka is on the far left in the second row. The person in the center wearing the "JAPAN" uniform is a lecturer at Georgetown University.

Waseda University has 13 faculties and educates students in a wide range of academic fields. In "Classes like these! What kind of seminars are they?", students who have actually taken the classes will introduce what classes and seminars are available and what you can learn from them.

Theory and Practice of Global Sport Management [Subject offered School of Sport Sciences]

Ayumu Yoshioka, second-year student School of Sport Sciences

In Washington, D.C.

Have you ever watched sports leagues in the U.S. like baseball's MLB or basketball's NBA? The United States has long been a leader in the sports market, and in recent years its scale and influence have only grown. The appeal of these leagues, which attract people from all over the world, lies not only in the high level of competition, but also in their clever marketing.

Theory and Practice of Global Sport Management" by Prof. Hirotaka Matsuoka (Faculty of Sport Sciences Professor) is a 5-day visit to Washington D.C., U.S.A., which gives students the opportunity to experience the front lines of sports management. The program includes a visit to a local sports game, a tour of an NBA arena, and a visit to Georgetown University (including interaction with the Japanese student community and a tour of the sports facilities), and is designed to provide in-depth study of sports management from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

Left: I watched two MLB games and one MLS soccer game. I also got to see pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara of the MLB Washington Nationals take the mound.
Right: Visiting the gymnasium at Georgetown University

While there, in addition to Professor Matsuoka, we received lectures based on extensive field experience from a lecturer from Georgetown University who accompanied us as a coordinator and lecturer. What particularly impressed us was how stadium construction has improved public safety in the surrounding area and brought about economic ripple effects such as job creation. In fact, when we visited Nationals Stadium, home of the Washington Nationals, we saw a real example of this, as the surrounding cityscape has been improved.

Left: Attending a lecture at Capital One Arena, home of the NBA's Washington Wizards
Right: The well-maintained streets around Nationals Stadium

Furthermore, the stadiums were not just "sports venues," but also offered a variety of entertainment options, such as mini-games and events, and were designed to satisfy the desires of spectators beyond just watching the games. While I felt that the US was more commercially conscious than Japan, sports had become established as a culture, and it also seemed to be a place where local people could gather and form communities.

This class is attended not only by undergraduate students, but also by many graduate students and MBA (Master of Business Administration) students. Furthermore, I learned a lot from being able to exchange opinions with people from different backgrounds, including Japanese students from Georgetown University, about the potential of sports business that transcends cultural differences. By deepening my interactions with the professors and students, I realized that my perspective as a student of sports business was broadening.

A photo taken with students from Georgetown University. Yoshioka is fourth from the left in the second row, and Professor Matsuoka is in the center.

Until now, the United States had always seemed like a faraway, different world to me, but through this class, that sense of distance has shrunk significantly. I have developed a sense that "the field in which I can excel is the world," and my previously vague interest in an international career in sports business has become more real.