Tolga Ozyurtcu

Dr. Tolga Ozyurtcu is an Associate Professor of Instruction of Sport Management at the University of Texas at Austin. Ozyurtcu holds a B.A. in Political Science from Haverford College, an M.Sc. in Sport Management from UT-Austin, and Ph.D. in Physical Culture and Sport Studies, also from UT-Austin. He teaches courses in innovation, organizational behavior, ethics, media relations, and the history of the sport industry. He has taught a marketing course in coordination with Nike and his courses regularly collaborate with industry partners including University of Texas Athletics, the San Antonio Spurs, and Austin FC.

Ozyurtcu’s research and writing cover a range of sport industry topics, including the uses of sport for soft power, the history of technology in sport, and the formation of subcultural communities and identities. In 2024, Ozyurtcu hosted the New Perspectives: Sports Technology and Innovation symposium with the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Innovation. He has presented research at the North American Society for Sport Management, the North American Society for Sport History, the Popular Culture Association, and the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport.

Ozyurtcu’s SportsThink newsletter offers insightful commentary on critical issues in the business and culture of sport. The site can be found here. He is an affiliate of UT’s Center for Sport Communication and Media and has served on the executive council of the North American Society for Sport History and on the Board of Contributors for the geopolitical forecasting firm Stratfor, for whom he has written extensively on the intersection of global sport and geopolitics. As a consultant, Ozyurtcu has developed workshops for Red Bull, conducted research for the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, and evaluated grant programming for the National Science Foundation.