In June, I argued in Sports Business Journal that the global game has outpaced the talent pipeline. Sports organizations are expanding across borders, pursuing new audiences and operating in increasingly international environments, but the way we develop talent has not always kept pace.

A few weeks later, I had an opportunity to put some of that thinking to the test.

I spent 30 days in Italy leading 10 university students through a global sports business immersion anchored by Serie A club Como 1907. We worked with executives, visited organizations across different sectors of Italian sports, tackled real business challenges and ultimately participated in the operating environment surrounding the Como Cup.

I came home convinced of something I couldn’t have said with the same confidence before we left: International exposure isn’t enough.

There is a significant difference between seeing global sports business and learning how to operate within it.

Real work changes behavior

Travel, stadium tours, executive access and networking all have value. They expand perspective and expose emerging professionals to different markets and ways of doing business.

But exposure is only the starting point. What stood out in Italy was what happened when the work became real.

Well before arriving, our students were given actual business challenges to address for Como 1907. Over the next month, they interacted repeatedly with executives and stakeholders, gathered information and tested their assumptions.

We deliberately structured checkpoints throughout the........

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