Singapore Sports Council partners University of Oregon to boost local sports industry

The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) is embarking on a five-year collaboration with University of Oregon on capability development and strategic partnerships.

The University of Oregon (UO) has a rich history of sporting excellence and is an established leader in the discipline of sports business, boasting Olympic medallists and the founders of one of the world's most popular sports brands among its alumni.

The SSC has embarked on the partnership with the University to further boost Singapore's local sports industry to aid in strengthening the skill set of Singapore's present and future sports leaders.

It will also enable a more vibrant sports industry that in turn will contribute to the economy and sustain the sports delivery system.

Championing the collaboration, Richard Seow, Chairman of the SSC, and UO alumni states "through the MOU with the University of Oregon, Singapore has a great opportunity to improve the capabilities of our sports professionals working within the sporting industry. This MOU is very timely as Singapore embarks on a new phase for growth in the sporting sector."

The partnership with UO will enhance Singapore's sports industry by increasing the standards and expertise found in our value chain - of people, infrastructure, services and products.

Seow adds "with the construction of the Sports Hub well underway, we need to focus our efforts on developing the capabilities of our leaders in sports business and administration. As our events calendar accelerates with the opening of the Sports Hub, this group of professionals will align business realities and demands with the comprehensive recommendations from the Vision 2030 project."

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which was signed by SSC's Chief Executive Lim Teck Yin and UO's representative, Paul Swangard, Managing Director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Centre, aims to nurture a mutually beneficial partnership between the two organisations, specifically focusing on three main areas of collaboration:

• Providing local sports leaders with learning opportunities in the 'TrackTown USA' sporting culture at the University of Oregon 
• Connecting local students to sports-related education and industry experience in Oregon; 
• Giving UO graduate students the opportunity to work with SSC and local industry partners.

The MOU opens up the doorway for the SSC to learn and identify just how, and what it takes to build and sustain such excitement for sports. UO will assist in facilitating meetings and engagements between delegates from the SSC and leading entities within UO and its partners in the global sports industry network. This includes companies dealing with sports properties, marketing, products, apparel and the media.

Lim Teck Yin added "the training and development of world-class personnel is going to be important to the evolution of Singapore's sports scene. UO has a mature sports industry and culture, as evidenced through the extraordinary reach of both the TrackTown USA brand and the Oregon Ducks brand. This partnership will no doubt infuse more energy, efficiency and innovation in the development of our sports industry

"As Singapore's sports industry continues to grow, we need to create a pipeline of trained experts who are able to add value and continue to expand our businesses.

"With the Warsaw Sports Marketing Centre at UO running the country's premier sports business programme, and with a highly regarded sports science faculty, UO is a perfect training ground at which to nurture the sports leaders and visionaries of tomorrow."

The MOU allows both parties to connect Singaporean students with educational and internship opportunities on the UO campus or with industry partners at an undergraduate, graduate or PHD level. The first batch of students from Singapore could be heading to UO as early as June this year.

Swangard concluded "sport is in the University of Oregon's DNA. We are honored and excited to be partnering with the SSC to share our expertise and connections with the emerging sport community. Our sincere hope is to help accelerate the development of the sport market in Singapore by providing the SSC and its partners with the knowledge capital and human capital it needs to fuel that growth."

In addition, from as early as June 2012, this collaboration expects to see a group of three to four students from UO's graduate program arrive in Singapore for a 10-week internship, where they will collaborate with the SSC in areas such as athlete marketing, spectatorship, and other areas relevant to Singapore's sports development.

Images: Singapore's former Kallang Stadium (top) and its floating stadium at Marina Bay (below).

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