GREENEVILLE – A Tusculum University alumna is achieving even higher levels of success and will apply principles and knowledge she gained from her coursework as she plays a vital role in preparations for an international soccer event in 2026.
Brandy Thigpen speaks at graduation.
Brandy Thigpen, who graduated from Tusculum May 10 with a Master of Sport Management, was named host city director for the FIFA World Cup 2026 – Los Angeles – a week before she completed the degree. She will help lead operations for the largest sporting event in history, which will feature 48 national teams and 104 matches in 16 North American cities. She will also oversee the Los Angeles operation of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, kicking off June 14 in 11 cities in the United States for the first time in history. She has worked for FIFA since March 17.
“I’ll lead the operation in Los Angeles, which will consist of more than 70 functional areas across the two tournaments,” Thigpen said. “For World Cup, the U.S. men’s national team will start play in LA, and as the knockout rounds happen, the events will move east, so my co-workers in other cities will rely on me to share any potential issues that arose that will help them take proactive preventive measures. I’m the birds-eye for the entire project outside the stadium. This is an incredible professional opportunity to be part of an event that will be like hosting the Super Bowl every day in a different city for 39 straight days.”
A career of major events
Thigpen, a native of Killen, Alabama, had built a pretty successful career before landing the prestigious position for the World Cup. She was a student-athlete who played tennis as an undergraduate as she earned a bachelor’s degree in sport management from Martin Methodist College, now the University of Tennessee Southern, in 2006. What caught her attention, she said, was the business side behind the game.
Her first job was in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she worked as an event coordinator for SMG, a venue management company. She handled men’s and women’s Division I basketball, minor league hockey and arena football as well as theater shows, conventions, trade shows, social events and other events.
She stayed there for 2 ½ years before heading to California, where she has spent the rest of her career in the Los Angeles area. She started by working in hotels and convention centers and at the University of Southern California.
Then Thigpen had a seven-year stay at the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, the sales and marketing agency for that city. She gained most of her experience working with professional sports at that organization. She was on the bid committee for the 2022 Super Bowl, the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games. She was responsible for helping design how these events would be run in their California cities.
Brandy Thigpen stands in the stadium where the 2020 Super Bowl was played.
“The NFL, as my client, flew my team and me out to Miami for the 2020 Super Bowl,” Thigpen said. “It was my job to survey the entire landscape of the project and then come back and tell the NFL how to make that fit into Los Angeles. Now, with FIFA, I’m the client. I’m the conduit between the city and FIFA to ensure that the city is fulfilling their host city agreement.”
The next step was to serve as vice president of event marketing for City National Bank, which focuses on the sports and entertainment industry. She worked there for 4 ½ years. The bank funds the television and film industry in Hollywood, Latin America Entertainment in Miami, country music in Nashville and Broadway in New York. She ran events for ultra-high net worth clients for the commercial real estate division and personal and business banking.
Seeking a degree from Tusculum
The road to Tusculum was paved through Tim Wilson, a former sport management professor at the university who taught her when she was a student at Martin Methodist. Wilson said she was an outstanding student, who sought to perform her best in class and obtain as much practical experience as possible.
The two stayed in touch, and he told her that he thought she would be a good candidate for Tusculum’s Master of Sport Management degree because the program is fully online and she could continue to work in the industry while she completed the studies. City National agreed to pay for her degree, and she viewed that as an opportunity to extend her education and further build her network within the sport management industry.
“I knew that she would be a great fit and that she would be under some great faculty in Dr. Nick Davidson and Dr. Brandon Hudson,” Wilson said. “The classes offered in the program at TU along with her sport industry experience allowed her to get the most out of the program as she was able to apply what she was learning in class to the real world work she was living day to day. She is a great ambassador for the Tusculum Master of Sport Management program, and I am glad she achieved this next step in her academic career.”
Thigpen was hesitant at first to pursue the degree because she is in her 40s, is a single mom and works full time. Plus, college has changed since she was an undergraduate. But once she committed to pursuing the degree at Tusculum, the deal was sealed for her. She then met with Dr. Davidson, assistant dean of sport studies, and Dr. Hudson, assistant professor of sport management, to learn more about the program and how she could apply her experience to the coursework.
She did not have any fundraising experience, so the coursework on generating revenue was particularly helpful. She also learned a lot in her Sports Analytics class with Dr. Kevin Hill, associate professor of management. She said that was her hardest class because she had no analytics background. She said the revenue-sharing course will help her as FIFA and the analytics class will benefit her as she moves forward in her career.
Dr. Brandon Hudson was in the audience for Brandy Thigpen’s graduation speech.
Dr. Hudson said Thigpen was an excellent student.
“From the first few classes, all of her work was at a very high level, with a great amount of in-depth thought,” he said. “I believe a lot of that stems from not only having a background in sport but also having worked in different areas of sport and marketing in the past. Being able to pull from those experiences can definitely give someone an advantage and enriches the educational process.
“Another thing that stood out was her professionalism and commitment to professional development. In addition to work and school, she’s very active in professional organizations – networking, public speaking, community service and other forms of development.”
Thigpen served as the student speaker for graduate programs at the commencement ceremony.
A special class assignment
One of the projects in her master’s studies forced her to expand her network. Dr. Hudson required all of the students in their Policy and Governance in Intercollegiate Sports class to interview an athletic director at a Division I or Division II higher education institution with whom they did not already have a relationship. Thigpen chose to interview Greg Byrne, the athletic director at the University of Alabama. Dr. Hudson said he was astounded she landed someone in such a prominent position and said that showed she was not an average student.
Thigpen’s interview with Byrne explored his passion for sports, his leadership style, his work ethic, the highs and lows of his career and current trends and issues in collegiate athletics. Among the specific topics they discussed were what inspired him to be an athletic director, his advice to new graduates, skills needed to be successful in a position, negative experiences that have helped him grow as an athletic director and time management. Byrne even shared details on the 3 ½ -year process for selecting Nick Saban’s replacement after his retirement.
“This assignment gave me access to a professional I likely wouldn’t have had this interaction with had it been outside of the project,” Thigpen said. “This was my best assignment in the program. I got extra credit for going straight to a heavy hitter.”
Assessing the program
Thigpen gives high marks to the Master of Sport Management program. She called Dr. Davidson and Dr. Hudson top-tier professors who were always accessible and supportive and provided constructive feedback.
Brandy Thigpen stands in Miami, where she attended the Super Bowl in 2020.
“It’s an incredible program,” she said. “The passion and commitment of the professors to bring real-life examples to their classes is impressive. Dr. Hudson has gone to the Monaco Formula 1 race a couple of times, for example. I now have a student I mentor who is moving to Monaco in a couple of weeks, and she is hopefully going to work on that race. Dr. Hudson has already agreed to connect with her. So now my network is extending to the Tusculum network, and Tusculum is giving back to my network, too.”
Dr. Hudson sees a bright future for Thigpen.
“I could see her using her FIFA experience and parlaying it into other high-profile management roles with either specific events, such as the Final Four, Olympics or Super Bowl,” he said. “Or I could see her working for more permanent organizations like governing bodies, teams, athletic departments or stepping outside of sport into other professional development roles – maybe even teaching. Whatever it is, I have no doubt she will have a ton of success.”
Additional information about the Master of Sport Management program is available at https://site.tusculum.edu/master-of-sport-management/. To learn more about the university, please visit www.tusculum.edu.