At the beginning of March a new University of Oregon master’s program, sports product management, was approved by the Higher Education Coordinating Commission.
The program will begin fall term of 2015, and is based in Portland.
“This program gives the University of Oregon the opportunity to lead in a new area of education and research,” Ellen Schmidt-Devlin, Director of the SPM, said. “Our goal is to make Oregon the world wide leader in sports product management research and education.”
The location of the program does not sit well with Portland State University, who submitted a request to the HECC that the program not get approval until a collaboration between the two schools was reached.
PSU President Wim Wiewel spoke before the HECC before the decision and said UO was not collaborating its curriculum with PSU.
The committee passed the program with a vote of 6-2.
“The HECC is committed to expanding pathways to quality postsecondary programs for Oregon students, and approval of academic programs is one of our statutory responsibilities that we take very seriously. At its March meeting, the Commission closely considered the proposal on the Master of Science in Sports Product Management Program at UO,” said Ben Cannon, the executive director for the HECC, said. “In light of public input, the Commission encouraged further collaboration between the UO and PSU as the program moves forward.”
“We were surprised the HECC did not find a duplication,” Director of Communications for PSU, Scott Gallagher said.
Wiewel’s testimony for the HECC, he sites five courses of identical titles and content PSU offers and 2 courses with “significantly overlapping content.”
Schmidt-Devlin said the location was chosen because, “Oregon has the alpha cluster for the sports product industry with 90 percent of the companies located in the greater Portland area.” 

Gallagher says when PSU learned of the program, three months prior to the vote, they reached out to the UO to collaborate and, “do something jointly,” but the offer wasn’t pursued by the UO.
“This program is designed for experienced professionals looking to advance their careers by learning the business of creation. As a member of the UO SPM program, you’ll be one of only 30 students each year with the opportunity to learn from leading industry professionals,” says the program’s website.
The industry professionals mentioned include Nike, Under Armour, Adidas and Columbia, among others.
The program emphasizes hands-on experience and problem solving situations. It boasts an advisory of over 30 members who are senior industry executives.
The universities don’t want to compete, Gallagher says, but serve Oregonians.
Gallagher pointed to collaboration PSU already performs closely with Oregon Health and Science University and Portland Community College.
“Why not collaborate?” Gallagher said.
Schmidt-Devlin says they are in monthly contact with PSU and support their Athletic and Outdoor Management program.