Program Spotlight | Industry Intersections

“Industry Intersections: The Business of Sports”

Ever wondered what a royalty accountant at Universal Music actually does all day? Or how a finance team calculates the ROI on a Super Bowl touchdown?

Our Gatton students are finding out firsthand.

Co-founded by Hayley Hollenberg (associate director of employer engagement and outreach) and Josh Taylor (academic director for industry-aligned learning), Industry Intersections is an annual, fall-semester experiential learning deep dive that pulls back the curtain on the massive consumer industries our students love, showing them how they actually operate from the business side.

The results speak for themselves: 100% of Industry Intersections alumni have leveraged the program to land high-profile internships at top-tier organizations like PwC, Dean Dorton, JMI Sports, iHeartMedia and the Lexington Legends.

The Track Record: From Music City to the Motor Speedway

This highly competitive program accepts just 20 students per cohort. Over several weeks, these students participate in intensive workshops with industry experts, take an overnight out-of-state site visit, and finish it all off with a high-stakes capstone pitch judged by industry and alumni partners.

Here is how the series has evolved:

• 2024 | Music ("Breaking the Big Machine"): Timed perfectly to the buzz of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, students traced the industry from the days of Napster to modern streaming. They met with leaders from Sony Music and iHeartMedia, and traveled to Nashville to visit the Taylor Swift Education Center.
• 2025 | Tourism ("Branding the Bluegrass"): The cohort took a deep dive into Kentucky’s $10 billion bourbon, equine and basketball economies, hearing from experts at Four Roses and JMI Sports. The trip took them to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville and concluded with a pitch competition for VisitLEX and Commerce Lexington.
• 2026 | Sports ("Game Changers"): This semester, the focus is on professional sports. Students are currently learning directly from insiders with the FIFA World Cup, the Tennessee Titans, and the Kansas City Chiefs. This fall, the cohort is heading to Indianapolis for an exclusive look at the business machinery driving the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

What's Next? (And How Alumni Can Help!)

The hype is real: over 100 students have already applied for the 20 seats available for next year.

We are officially developing the 2027 program, which will focus on TV, film, and streaming entertainment, with Atlanta lined up for the Fall break getaway!