Q&A: David Bojanic, UTSA Department of Marketing

Bojanic's research focuses primarily on tourism, sport management and sport media relations.

(August 31, 2018) -- David Bojanic is the Anheuser-Busch Foundation Professor in Tourism in the UTSA Department of Marketing. He earned his bachelor’s in marketing from Pennsylvania State University, his Master’s of Business Administration from James Madison University and his Doctorate in Business Administration (D.B.A.) in marketing from the University of Kentucky.  

His research areas focus on services marketing primarily in tourism, sports and the hospitality industry. He teaches courses in destination marketing, sport management, sport media relations, resort management and event management. Professor Bojanic has delivered seminars and classes in other countries including Greece, Singapore, Switzerland and the Russian Federation. He had also served on the editorial review boards for the Journal of Travel Research, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Tourism, Culture & Communication and Tourism Focus.

We sat down with Professor Bojanic this week to learn more about his research.

Tell us about the San Antonio sports scene.

The sports scene in San Antonio is vibrant, and it provides a great backdrop for the Sport, Event and Tourism management program. The city just finished hosting the NCAA Final Four and it secured the bid for 2025. In addition, San Antonio hosts annual sports events like the Valero Texas Open, the Valero Alamo Bowl and the Rock n’ Roll Marathon.

Spurs Sports & Entertainment provides students with access to professional sports organizations, and UTSA provides students with opportunities to get experience in intercollegiate athletics. Meanwhile, the city is actively pursuing other professional franchises in major leagues like the Major League Soccer, the National Football League and the Major League Baseball. 

For example, San Antonio FC was hoping to move from the United Soccer League to the Major Soccer League, and the San Antonio Missions baseball team is entertaining the option of going from Class AA,  the second highest level of play in Minor League Baseball, to Class AAA, the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States.

There are many organizations that are willing to work with my classes at UTSA so that students can get some real world experience.

What’s the one thing going on in your field that nobody’s talking about?

There isn’t much about sports that nobody is talking about. The sports field garners a good deal of attention through social media and the mass media, and regular people have the opportunity to become content providers by calling into talk shows, participating in online discussions or hosting a blog.

The sports industry is plagued by one crisis after another and the organizations would prefer to avoid negative press. For example, the sports industry is under a microscope and issues like domestic violence, sexual harassment, and substance abuse are common fodder for the press and discussions on social media outlets. Not a week goes by without an athlete or coach being caught in a scandal at either the professional or collegiate level, and athletes’ lives are an open book. In other words, I think the media serves the purpose of trying to keep sports organizations and individuals transparent and accountable. 

How has your personal journey influenced your work?

Sports has been a large part of my life from the time I was a young child. I enjoyed playing various youth sports through high school. I got a taste of intercollegiate athletics as a walk-on student athlete, and I participated in amateur recreational leagues like the Tennis League (USTA), the USA Volleyball league (USVBA), and various other city leagues. I started out in marketing for financial institutions in my professional experience and found a specialty area in tourism marketing during my doctoral studies. Then, the opportunity arose at UTSA to start a sport management program, allowing me to match my personal passion with my professional activities. I initially choose marketing as a major because it represented a functional area that could be applied to many different industries.  

What drew you to UTSA?

I was ready to explore other opportunities after being in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management in the School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The exposure to a Tier One school was invaluable, but Amherst was a small town without a large tourism and hospitality industry. I was intrigued with the possibility of going to a large metropolitan area with a strong tourism and hospitality industry, and the Anheuser-Busch Foundation Professorship in Tourism was attractive because it allowed me to return to a Department of Marketing and still specialize in tourism.

What would you say to a student who is interested in pursuing a career in your field?

You have to really like what you are doing and be patient until you reach a level that enables you to have a comfortable lifestyle. It is difficult to get your foot in the door with professional sports franchises and large sporting goods companies like Nike, Adidas and Under Armour. There are thousands of students looking for a coveted position in one of these large companies, so the competition is fierce. An alternative is to seek positions with minor league teams and intercollegiate athletics.

Regardless of a student’s career path, it is important for students to get some work experience through internships and part-time positions before graduating. The sports industry highly values practical experience and knowledge in the field obtained from those part-time positions. The contacts and networking opportunities associated with the internships and part-time jobs can also help students get their foot in the door. At the same time, many of the positions in the sports industry do not pay as well as other industries, and there are long hours that include nights, weekends and holidays. However, if students persevere and make it to middle-level management, the pay becomes more attractive and the hours are better. 

— Ingrid Wright

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