The Sports Business MBA by EB Institute class of 2020 came together recently for their second in-person session in Kaunas, Lithuania. The five-day agenda was split into three days of studies at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) and two days of learning from management and staff at Zalgiris Kaunas and Zalgirio Arena.

One key component of the session was the presentation of the students' mid-term papers, which they had prepared with the help of appointed module leaders serving as individual supervisors. In the classroom, students heard lectures on such topics as sports economics, finance, law and governance, while hearing from the head of youth development at the Lithuanian basketball federation and an American Football club in Kaunas.

They picked up practical knowledge by going behind the scenes to learn more about Zalgiris and Zalgirio Arena. The five days also featured some fun and group bonding with a beer tasting session at the Volfas Engelmann brewery and trips to Vilnius for some sightseeing and the Nemencine forest to visit the Soviet Bunker Museum. The session ended at Zalgirio Arena, where the MBA students attended a Turkish Airlines EuroLeague game between Zalgiris and Panathinaikos OPAP Athens.

The Sports Business MBA's class of 2020 features students from across Europe, including Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Greece, Russian Federation, Ukraine and Lithuania. They MBA combines in-person sessions with an e-learning platform.

"The last months have been such a valuable experience for me," Ioanna Beriou from Greece said. "Starting from the end with my visit to Kaunas and touring around Zalgirio Arena to discover from key personnel how everything operates so successfully was really amazing. Learning within a multicultural environment and from inspiring professors is something that empowered me even more. I am really eager to start the next sessions, to further enhance this unique experience."

"The trip to Lithuania means that we have finished the first semester and that we will start with the second one," said Tjasa Pavlic from Slovenia. "It was great to meet the professors and my classmates in person again and talk with them. The session was a wonderful experience, especially because we got a lot of useful information about the operation of one of the best-organized clubs in the EuroLeague and we were able to attend the Zalgiris game against Panathinaikos."

The session from January 14 to 18 was the second of four in-person sessions the students will attend during the course. Their initial meeting took place at Euroleague Basketball headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. They will next meet for their third session at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, in May. There, students will witness what goes into running a world-class sporting event and take advantage of the many global industry leaders in attendance for additional lectures that will further shape their insights into the sports business. The fourth and final session back in Kaunas will take place in January 2020, with the viva exams and graduation ceremony.