On Oct. 19, the Schrott Center for the Arts hosted the first of three Beyond the Hardwood: The Business of Basketball seminars. In collaboration with the Emirates NBA Cup, speakers from across the NBA’s various internal divisions granted students an inside look at how the NBA, NCAA and other major athletic organizations operate.
This collaboration is the result of an ongoing partnership between the NBA and Butler University. Hinkle Fieldhouse was selected as the host stadium for the Emirates NBA Cup, and from there, conversations began about how to engage the community beyond the cup series itself.
Having the opportunity to hear directly from NBA officials is a unique opportunity, made possible through Hinkle’s position as the tournament host. The previous three NBA Cups were hosted exclusively in Las Vegas, and the decision to utilize the university’s historic fieldhouse came from a desire to embrace the storied history of college basketball.
At the center of this project is the Butler Institute for Sports and Entertainment (BISE). BISE is a startup campus organization in its second year of operation, giving students interested in the sports and entertainment industries hands-on opportunities to work alongside major sporting organizations.
Strategic communication lecturer Bob Schultz serves as the faculty director of BISE. He cited the city of Indianapolis’ influence in the NBA’s decision to partner with Butler.
“[The NBA] knows Indianapolis as a great host city, having had a Super Bowl, multiple Final Fours, the Indy 500,” Schultz said. “We punch above our weight class in being able to host major sporting events. [The NBA had] heard of BISE, they’d heard of the Dawg Pound. They knew the kind of collegiate atmosphere that Butler brings to its basketball program, and they want to tap into that.”
In September, students pitched multiple methods of promoting the tournament at Butler directly to NBA officials, with the winner receiving a budget to bring their proposal into reality.
Trevor Fox, a 2026 Butler graduate and BISE coordinator, was excited to learn about Butler’s role in the Emirates NBA Cup.
“When I realized [the NBA was] going to be putting on additional events besides the game here on campus, that excited me very much,” Fox said. “I think that’s the same sentiment our students had when they found out that they’re going to bring in NBA personnel [in] roles that our students might want to be in one day.”
While the first event of the series has come and gone, two events on Nov. 17 and Dec. 10 remain. The “Building a New Championship” and “Breaking into the Business of Sports” events are free to attend and fulfill a Butler Cultural Requirement (BCR). Even those not majoring in a CCOM program are encouraged to attend, as the opportunity to learn about the ins and outs of sports entertainment from professionals does not come often. Students can register for the Nov. 17 and Dec. 10 events by visiting the Linktree on BISE’s Instagram.
Elle Rotter, a senior journalism and strategic communication double major, spoke about why students should look forward to the events to come.
“The people who went to the first one enjoyed it, had great things to say and are planning on coming back,” Rotter said. “These events are also supposed to get more prominent as they go on … We have a lot of big names coming in. The NBA has not released the speakers for [events] two and three yet … but rest assured, you will know some of those names when they do come out.”
For anyone interested in learning about the inner workings of sports entertainment, BISE is open to students from all majors. While the organization is fairly new, Schultz emphasized that Indianapolis’ position as a major athletics hub is sure to open internship and career opportunities for years to come.
“Butler is giving us a chance to contribute to the future of sports by training [and] connecting students, building networks and job opportunities in the field of sports and doing that in an interdisciplinary way,” Schultz said. “That’s what BISE is about. Butler is perfectly positioned to take advantage of big sporting events that are coming through our city because we deliver students as volunteers and as staff who are elite, who are professional, who understand the Butler way … It is an all-in game, and we want to be all in.”
The 2026 Emirates NBA Cup runs from Oct. 30 to Dec. 11. The final will take place at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Dec. 11. Tickets are available for purchase online, and the event will stream on