Sports Management

SPORTS MANAGEMENT DEGREE

Most of us are familiar with Tom Cruise screaming “Show me the money!” in his movie role as sports agent Jerry Maguire. While being a personal agent for sports superstars may be lucrative and glamorous, it is by no means the only career opportunity for graduates with a sports management degree. Sports management skills are in demand at all levels of the sports world. Just a few of the many possibilities for careers in sports management include summer camp director, recreation center program manager, sports journalist, athletic team manager, and, yes, even personal financial agents for superstars. Sports management careers can focus primarily on the financial side of the business, or they can combine business and health aspects of sports into one position.

Sports Management Degree Description

Sports management degree programs offer the student courses in all aspects of the athletics industry. Bachelor’s degree program will focus on accounting, marketing, communications skills, athletic management and sports business management. Workers with sports management backgrounds or bachelor’s degrees will often return to school to earn a master’s or doctoral degree in a specific area of sports management, such as athletic health, coaching, sports team business management, law, marketing, or personal financial management.

Sports Management Careers

Many different career paths can follow from sports management degree programs. People with sports management degrees have the skills to fill many positions in small local organizations and in big international corporations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects strong job growth in many careers related to sports management.

Graduates of sports management degree programs can get involved in the athletics end of the business by becoming a golf course manager or community recreation center program director. They can find work as an after school activities director or a sports director at a summer camp. They can become a personal trainer or enter the public school system to work as a coach, team health manager or school athletic director. Others with sports management degrees seek employment as college or professional coaches or team managers.

Sports management degree programs also prepare graduates for business-oriented careers in the sports industry. Professional sports teams hire publicity directors, sales and marketing specialists, and legal staff, all of whom need a strong sports management background. And, of course, there are the sports management professionals who build lucrative and satisfying careers as personal advisors and business agents for professional athletes in every sport.

Graduates with sports management degrees can also find employment in sports businesses that support the world of amateur and professional athletics. Sports journalists are hired by every media organization. People with excellent sports management skills are also needed in sporting goods retail companies as sports store manager and in sporting goods and athletic equipment manufacturing companies.

A sports management degree is an excellent investment in an education with virtually unlimited career potential in today’s active world.