The Final Four - Study trip to Madrid

The Final Four is the finale of the annual Euroleague, which can be thought of as the Champions League of basketball, where the main teams of each European league compete against each other. It is called the Final Four because there are four teams participating, all attempting to become the champion.

The event kicked of with the semifinals on Friday the 15th of May. The following day the players were given time to rest, while the venue was open for visitors to participate in activities and visit the different stands. The third place game and the Championship Game took place on Sunday, and the team from Madrid won.

As a part of the specialization in Sports Management, La Salle students have for the second year in a row worked with Euroleague Basketball in the management of surveying fans of their flagship event. This year the five La Salle students Paula, Pablo, Judith, Jordi and Alejandro traveled to Madrid along with professor Chris Kennett.

The learning outcome for the students was to learn about the realities of sports event management generals: how to gain customer insights through market research and how to lead teams. The aim was to interview more than 500 fans at the Barclays Centre and Fan Zone. The results of the research will be presented to Euroleague Basketball’s senior management to help take a strategic decision when organizing the Final Four 2016, which will take place in Berlin. This morning the group from La Salle came back to Barcelona and I met up with Pablo to hear about the experience. By signing up for this elective, Pablo and the rest of the group got the certification allowing them to enter the Barclays Centre, where the tournament took place. Pablo told me that they were there working as volunteers, and they were involved with collecting survey responses, asking and answering questions, and trying to collect as much information as possible. The group from La Salle worked along with 20 master’s students from Italy.

They talked to people around and inside the venue, as well as in the Fan Zone, trying to get a comprehensive understanding of the experience of the fans. The students were busy with the research, they also had some spare time in Madrid. Pablo went to visit the famous park El Retiro as well as El Rastro, an outdoor Sunday market. Even though Pablo was tired this morning, after a long weekend and a morning of traveling, he concluded that it was a great experience, and that he definitely would repeat it if he got the opportunity again!