Student Organization Profile: Harvard Undergraduate Sports Lab

“The first of its kind at Harvard.”

The Harvard Undergraduate Sports Lab proudly displays this slogan on its homepage. Co-founded in 2022 by Tai Tatum ’24 and Ayah Al-Zubi ’23, HUSL provides students passionate about sports business a space to connect with industry leaders and one another. At an institution with limited offerings for students interested in athletics beyond “going pro,” HUSL aims to connect undergraduates with the vast career options available in the sports industry.

“I hadn’t seriously considered working in sports before HUSL, but now it’s a career path I’m actively exploring, particularly on the brand, media, product, and marketing side,” HUSL Vice President of Marketing Tolu Ademola ’26 said in an interview with the Harvard Independent.

While Harvard fields pre-professional groups within medicine, finance, and tech, HUSL’s founders noticed a gap in resources for sports business. “We are proud to have created a resource where people can have access to the necessary resources, tools, networks, and connections to pursue a professional career in the sports business industry,” Tatum states on HUSL’s website. 

Harvard College does offer a handful of relevant courses, such as “SOCIOL 111: Sociology of Sport,” “ECON 1042: Sports Economics,” and “STAT 143: Sports Analytics.” Yet opportunities to engage directly with the industry beyond lecture halls remain limited. These constraints are heightened for student-athletes due to Harvard’s restrictions on name, image, and likeness deals, which prevent them from leveraging Harvard branding or external financial opportunities that could support a sports-related future post-graduation. 

HUSL, then, fills this gap by offering a bridge between campus interest and real-world access. “I joined HUSL when I was a freshman because I thought it was the perfect place for me to exercise my passion for sports and learn more about the sports business,” HUSL co-president Hank Yang ’26 told the Independent. “I instantly resonated with the vision of the club—to provide unprecedented opportunities and pathways into the sports industry for aspiring students—as I had always dreamed of working in this space.”

HUSL hosts events, screenings, socials, and conferences that allow members to network with one another and with guest speakers. Its 24 student leaders are organized into teams, including the Executive Team, Partnerships, Marketing, and Events, each responsible for advancing the organization’s mission. Together, these teams drive HUSL’s semesterly projects: securing speakers and planning conferences, cultivating relationships with external organizations and industry experts, producing social media and visual materials, supporting member development, and coordinating events and programming. Past events have included football watch parties, “Beyond the Game,” a collaboration with Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business, and student basketball and pickleball tournaments. 

“For me, it’s been the way that I’ve been able to leverage going to Harvard the most,” Professional Development and Community Team lead Alex Stone ’26 explained to the Independent. “Being a sports fan and someone interested in pursuing a career in the sports industry, I’ve been able to reach out to speakers and organizations I’m interested in and invite them to be a part of HUSL events—it is a way for me to offer something to them while pursuing my own interests,” he said. 

Among HUSL’s other opportunities, their annual conference remains the main draw for new organization membership and general campus engagement—a fact co-president John Thomas Borowitz ’27 knows firsthand. “I first learned about HUSL in November of my freshman year when I walked out of Berg and saw a table of students promoting a ‘Harvard Sports Business Conference’ with Carmelo Anthony as the keynote speaker,” he said to the Independent. “Being a huge sports fan, I loved Carmelo and attended the conference. I spoke with the HUSL Board at the conference and later applied and joined them for sophomore year as Head of Special Events.”

In that role, Borowitz took on a central responsibility in planning and executing semesterly programming. “It was a massive amount of behind-the-scenes work, but when the rooms were full, the conversations were sharp, and students genuinely learned something meaningful,” he added. 

Now serving as co-presidents, Borowitz and Yang stepped into their roles with a shared goal of elevating HUSL’s professionalism and expanding member opportunities. Focusing their efforts on the conference, the organization’s flagship annual event, as a way to attract greater membership, they moved the event to the Harvard Club of Boston, its first time off campus, rather than the usual on-campus Science Center venue.

“We took a risk hosting a conference off campus, but it was a huge success,” Borowitz said. “We still had an attendance of over 200 students.” 

Held on Nov. 8, this year’s speakers included two-time National Basketball Association Champion Quinn Cook, NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum, former NBA shooting guard Josh Childress, WHOOP Chief Marketing Officer John Sullivan, and Amazon Prime Video Sports Partnerships Principal Andy Oh. Attendees heard from these leaders and others throughout the day via keynote sessions, networking opportunities, and a range of additional programming.

This year’s lineup echoed the successes of past conferences. “Being in HUSL has given me experiences I never thought I’d have. From visiting and hearing from Will Ahmed at WHOOP’s headquarters to talking with Ryan Fitzpatrick at last year’s conference to meeting Carmelo Anthony the year before that, it’s really been incredible,” Stone said.

In addition to panels, the conference opened with a morning keynote session from Kyle Cunningham, co-founder and managing partner at Limited Ventures, and Childress. The day also saw keynote sessions from Cook and Mark Tatum and an “Advocacy & Athletes” fireside chat. Catered breakfast and lunch rounded out the event for all attendees. 

With the conference now behind them, Yang aims to continue raising the bar for what HUSL can achieve. “I hope to build a system within HUSL that facilitates [networking] connections more actively, creating direct channels between Harvard students and these organizations,” he said. “Whether that’s through regular professional development events or engaging in more targeted outreach, we hope to provide our membership with more structure in this regard.”

Yang also envisions expanding HUSL’s academic footprint. “I see HUSL leveraging Harvard’s unparalleled academic platform to kick-start meaningful scholarly dialogue about the sports business industry. I see a future where HUSL produces industry-leading academic literature addressing major shifts in sports, media, and entertainment that many teams and organizations can utilize to drive performance and success,” Yang added. “HUSL members can also lead academic conversations internally, enriching our student body about all facets of the sports industry and giving back to our HUSL brothers and sisters.”

HUSL offers a space where student-athletes and sports fans alike can fully engage with their interests. Beyond semesterly programming, the organization’s focus also expands to academic exploration, philanthropy, mentorship, and community building. “We want Harvard students to have the ability and opportunity to pursue sports business jobs if they are passionate about the industry,” Borowitz said. “Athletes always dream of saying they got to speak at Harvard, and we are trying to match that desire with students that love sports.”

“There are truly endless possibilities, but I hope that as we continue to advance the mission and vision of HUSL, the club can grow into every corner of this country and beyond and shed proper light on how wonderful and vast the sports industry is,” Yang concluded. 

Layla Chaaraoui ’26 (laylachaaraoui@college.harvard.edu) is the Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Independent.