When Daniel McIntosh talks about the Olympic Games, he skips the medal count. He talks strategy, sponsorships and the kind of precision planning that turns a global spectacle into a seamless show.
“This is a sports business trip where the classroom becomes the event itself,” says McIntosh, a teaching professor in the Department of Marketing at ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business. “We are not just watching the Olympics. We are embedded in it, learning how the world’s biggest sporting event actually works.”
This February, McIntosh is leading 12 Arizona State University students to Milan during the 2026 Winter Olympics — not as spectators, but as students studying the business engine behind the Games.
The Olympics run Feb. 6–22, with ASU’s group on the ground Feb. 14–19. The Milan program is one of three global study abroad experiences offered by W. P. Carey this spring, placing students squarely at the intersection of global sport, marketing strategy and real-time execution.
And the work starts long before takeoff.
As part of a for-credit program aligned with ASU’s sports business curriculum, each student is assigned a major Olympic partner or governing body. They dive into weeks of research on sponsorship strategy, brand positioning and integrated marketing communications before arriving in Italy.
Once there, theory turns into front-row access.
Students attend two Olympic events and volunteer for two days at the USA Winter House — the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s hospitality hub for athletes, families and partners. They also meet with eight to 10 executives from powerhouse sponsors including Visa, Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Allianz and NBC. NBC hosts the group at the International Broadcast Center, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how the Games are delivered to billions worldwide.
“What makes this special is hearing executives explain their strategy while the activation is happening,” McIntosh says. “It is one thing to study a brand in a classroom. It is another thing to hear a senior executive explain why they are spending eight or nine figures on an Olympic partnership while you are standing in the middle of it.”
For Rachel Lauer, a double major in marketing and sports business, the scale is staggering.
“I want to see how many people and how many years of effort go into making something like this happen,” Lauer says. “It is not just the sports; it is the sponsors, the partnerships and the logistics that people never really think about.”
That behind-the-scenes orchestration is exactly the point. McIntosh often reminds students that at events like the Olympics — and even the Super Bowl — perfection is invisible.
“These events are so well executed that you only notice something when it goes wrong,” he says. “Our students get to see how much trust and planning goes into every single detail, from transportation to hospitality to brand imagery.”
Fourth-year sports business student Luz Campos Berumen is studying the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, examining how the organization builds its brand around athletes and experiences rather than traditional products.
“They are not selling merchandise in the same way as a company,” Campos Berumen says. “They are selling an experience and the stories of their athletes. I want to see how that comes to life with fans and sponsors in person.”
For business law major Nathan Edlebeck, who is minoring in Spanish, the Olympics represent something even bigger than marketing metrics.
“It is incredible to see how countries come together for this,” Edlebeck says. “Beyond the business and marketing, there is a global moment where competition and cooperation exist at the same time. Being there in person is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Edlebeck, who has been researching the International Olympic Committee, is particularly focused on the scale of global viewership.
“You might not have millions of people in the stadiums,” he says. “But you have billions watching around the world. The marketing impact of that is massive, and it absolutely pays off.”
In a first for the program, ASU Online students are also participating. Porter Farr, a fourth-year sports business major based in Utah, is joining the group in Milan — a move McIntosh calls a meaningful expansion of access.
“When I saw this opportunity, I knew I could not miss it,” Farr says. “It is a huge resume builder and something I would regret forever if I did not go.”
“This is a new model for connecting online students to global experiential learning,” McIntosh says. “We are expanding who gets to have these high-impact experiences, and that is incredibly important to our mission.”
McIntosh hopes students return with more than photos of alpine backdrops and Sparky pride on international soil.
“We want them to understand how global sport really works,” he says. “If you want to be a leader in sports business, you need to see it at this level. There is simply no classroom big enough to teach the Olympics.”
Insider Takeaways
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ASU students are studying the business of the 2026 Winter Olympics from inside the event itself.
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The Milan program combines pre-trip academic research with on-site meetings with global sponsors and executives.
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Students volunteer at USA Winter House and attend Olympic events to see marketing strategy in real time.
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Major brands including Visa, Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Allianz and NBC are offering behind-the-scenes access.
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ASU Online students are participating for the first time, expanding global experiential learning beyond campus.
