Casey Michel's '10 article appears on Sports Illustrated's website

7/14/2009
Casey Michel ‘10, an intern with Sports Illustrated, wrote an article previewing the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game which appeared on the front page of the magazine’s website.

Rice Sport Management Program now on Twitter

5/12/2009
The Rice Sport Management Program has established a Twitter account which will allow it to share interesting information with current and potential students, alumni, and other interested parties in a quick, meaningful way. The tweets will include information about the program, student accomplishments, and the sport business industry in general.

Sport Management Program celebrates 2009 Graduation

5/9/2009
The Sport Management Program graduated 25 students from Rice University this morning in a beautiful ceremony on campus.

Natalie Kirchhoff named co-winner of the Hermance Award

5/8/2009
Sport Management major Natalie Kirchhoff '09, pictured here with her parents Ardith and Marc, is one of the three winners of the Hermance Award which goes to the top student in the Kinesiology Department.

Rice class presents research findings to the Houston Rockets

5/1/2009
Rice's Research in Sport Management class (SMGT 405) recently presented its findings on a semester-long research project designed to help the Houston Rockets expand their brand in China. The class, and class professor Dr. Jason Sosa, are pictured here with Chris Dacey, Ken Sheirr, Jason Kohll, Neil Kennish, and Lindsay Derman of the Houston Rockets staff.

Owl Bowl raises $18,000 for Hurricane Ike victims

4/30/2009
The second annual Rice Owl Bowl raised over $18,000 on April 18 for Somebody Cares, a charity currently involved in helping to rebuild houses devastated by Hurricane Ike last September.

Hampton, Kirchhoff named co-winners of the Roemmich Award

4/19/2009
Charles Hampton '09 and Natalie Kirchhoff '09, pictured here with the Houston Dynamo's starting 11, have been named co-winners of the Lindsay Roemmich Sport Management Achievement Award.

Houston Texans executives visit Media Relations class

4-8-2009

Tony Wyllie '07 and Janess Sayle '04, both members of the Houston Texans front office, spoke to Rice students about the importance of having a charitable program in professional sports.

Rice Sport Management faculty hosted seminar for Houston Dynamo players

3/15/2009
The Rice University Sport Management faculty hosted a seminar for the Houston Dynamo players in order to teach them the basics about the sport industry. Dynamo players Stuart Holden (left) and Brian Ching (center) talk with Dr. Clark Haptonstall during one of the breaks

Ask the Experts

Why is it that some companies have dropped their endorsement contracts with Michael Phelps and some haven't? (Doug from Houston, TX on 2-7-2009)

Dr. Clark Haptonstall:  As of right now, Kellogg's appears to be the only company that is dropping Phelps (in reality, the contract was about to expire anyway and there were no plans to renew it). Because Kellogg's placed Phelps on its Frosted Flakes box, a cereal targeted to children, Kellogg's likely felt that it needed to distance itself from Phelps based on his behavior.

Conversely, Subway, who wants fit athletes to endorse its sandwiches (Reggie Bush, Carl Edwards, etc.), has decided to stick with Phelps after he received a public scolding from the company. I have a feeling that if Phelps would have made a stink out of his three-month suspension from USA Swimming, Subway may have gone a different direction.

Phelps has owned up to his mistake which generally allows the public to forgive and forget. With that said, Phelps has two strikes against him right now because of his DUI arrest in 2004. Any more mistakes like this will end his endorsement career.