Last week, roughly 8,000 miles from Los Angeles, the Rams played a home game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. And LMU Lions were right in the middle of it.
More than 100,000 fans filled the stadium for Australia’s first regular-season NFL game, many wearing jerseys from teams that weren’t even playing. They had followed American football from the other side of the world. Now the game had come to them.
President Tom Poon, First Spouse Cathy Irwin, and I joined the Rams at their invitation, representing LMU as their exclusive higher education partner.
We cultivated connections with regional, national, and international business leaders and civic partners, including potential employers of LMU Lions and future supporters of our programs. Our aim was to expand internships, mentorships, faculty collaborations, and career opportunities. We came home with a wider circle of relationships and a renewed sense of what’s possible for our students during their education here and long after graduation.
The final score wasn’t the one any of us wanted.
Looking Beyond the Familiar
LMU and the Rams share a home in Los Angeles and an increasingly global outlook. Our students will build careers and relationships in that same connected world. We should be just as imaginative about where their opportunities can begin.
There is a familiar Jesuit instinct: meet people where they are. Start with what matters to them, listen, and be willing to approach the conversation differently. For a university, that means not expecting every meaningful relationship to begin on our campus or on our terms.
Our partnership with the Rams gives us entry into conversations we might not otherwise have. Football can be the introduction. What matters is what follows: a mentor, an internship, a faculty collaboration, a future student, or someone who wants to support a program. As the Rams’ community grows globally, so do the possibilities for our students.
Rams President Kevin Demoff described Australia to CNBC as “an extension of our city, our market, our brand.” The team has been cultivating relationships there since securing marketing rights in 2021. Their business strategy and our educational purpose are different, of course. But both recognize that a community grows when you are willing to go out and meet it.
We see that same spirit closer to home when the Rams join our Special Games athletes or welcome young women to the Bluff for girls’ flag football. Those experiences give more people a place in both communities.
We ask our students to become global citizens, curious about the world and prepared to contribute to it. Our Jesuit and Marymount educational traditions call us to model that openness in the relationships we build.
President Poon made this direction clear in his inaugural address, calling for stronger bridges between our campuses and our communities and pointing to the Rams partnership as an example. Students are our purpose. Being externally engaged means actively finding more people and places that can contribute to their education and their futures.
We had the chance to share that story with NBC4’s Olivia Garvey in Melbourne. It’s an LMU story that starts in Los Angeles but keeps going.
LMU is in the Middle of the Action
Sometimes I’m asked what football has to do with LMU. We don’t have a football team, after all.
True. But you don’t need shoulder pads to work for the Rams.
Football opens the door to media, marketing, hospitality, event production, technology, analytics, law, finance, and sports management. Someone produces the broadcast, designs the fan experience, and makes sense of the numbers. Looking only at the field misses most of the opportunity.
Our faculty and colleges are helping students see the whole operation. Economics instructor Shirin Mollah and her students explored salary caps, ticket revenue, and the business behind the game during a two-day immersion with the Rams. Graduate students in entertainment leadership and film and television have gone inside SoFi Stadium to learn directly from professionals in production, entertainment, and brand partnerships.
More than 1,500 students across all seven LMU schools and colleges have participated in Rams programming. This summer, 30 completed Training Camp internships. A new cohort begins internships this fall, and more than 50 students are expected to participate in mentorships during the academic year.
Avery Chavez, a senior marketing major who worked across ticketing, guest services, the Fan Zone, and other camp operations this summer, put it simply: “For many fans, this is their only opportunity to experience the Rams in person.” That makes every interaction matter.
And Dylan Tehada ’24 turned a partnership development and strategy internship into a full-time role as a Rams insights analyst. The university helped create the opening. His LMU education helped prepare him for it. Dylan’s work earned what came next.
That is why we keep cultivating these relationships. Students should leave LMU having already contributed to the world they’re entering, with people who know what they can do.
For a closer look at how this relationship benefits students, explore our last LMU + Rams partnership progress report (PDF or Flipbook below).
What Comes Back to the Bluff
The educational partnership began in 2023 and created the opportunity to host Training Camp. Not the other way around.
This summer marked our third successful Training Camp, and our expanded hosting agreement now extends through 2031. Thousands of visitors experienced LMU; students worked inside a major professional sports operation; and our campus teams once again made a very complicated undertaking look remarkably smooth.
The visibility is wonderful. Turning it into tangible benefits for students is the work. Record revenue from this year’s Training Camp, together with revenues from camps in the years ahead, will provide significant support for LMU student programs and the facilities that serve them. We are working through those plans now and look forward to sharing more in the coming months.
These investments will reach well beyond students pursuing careers in sports. The excitement of a few summer weeks should help make the rest of the year better.
Thank you to VP Marianna Villa, whose leadership and creativity made this partnership possible and continue to expand what it delivers for LMU, especially for our students and faculty. Trish Talerico, our deans and faculty, and Career and Professional Development keep building the academic and career connections. Trish Carlson and our events and operational teams do the demanding work that makes camp possible. I’m grateful for the care and ingenuity our colleagues bring to this relationship every day.
Trevor Wiseman, our vice president for operations and strategy, has been an essential partner in turning that promise into lasting support for the university. Working closely with the Rams and our campus teams, Trevor and his colleagues have helped shape the financial and operational model that makes Training Camp a significant source of support for student programs and facilities. He sees both the opportunity and the work required to make it real, and I’m grateful for both.
And to Kevin Demoff, Jennifer Prince, Jason Griffiths, Kim Cantor, Jesse Shapiro, and their Rams colleagues: thank you for continuing to show up for LMU students, and for giving us so many reasons to think bigger together.
Next Stop: SoFi
Our next gathering is considerably closer to home. LMU Day at the Rams returns to SoFi Stadium on Sunday, November 1, when the Rams take on the Chargers. We’ll share more soon about the LMU festivities and opportunities to join in.
I hope to see plenty of Lions there.
And when Sam Lagana ’84 calls out, “Whose House?” remember: that is a Lion on the microphone.
Let’s give him a good answer.
Go Lions. Go Rams.
John
P.S. Thanks to the Rams executives who spent time with our students on Tuesday, September 15, at the first gathering of the 2026 LMU + Rams Mentorship Program. I stopped by to take in the energy as mentors and mentees met for the first time. These are the moments when opportunity starts becoming something real, as LMU students take early steps toward their futures. This is the work we are all passionate about.
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