Best Sports Management Programs

<p>I'm applying to:
-NYU
-GWU
-UMass-Amherst
-Ithaca
-SUNY-Cortland
-Temple
-Springfield College (MA)</p>

<p>How would you rank these schools based upon school prestige and the sports management programs? Which are the best for getting the most opportunities for jobs/internships?</p>

<p>I personally like NYU because it has a great faculty and the internships are endless because your in NYC. I like it alot more than UMass-Amherst, which people claim has the best program. Temple and Ithaca also "wowed" me.</p>

<p>I've heard good things about UMass and Ithaca.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/455539-sports-management.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/455539-sports-management.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>UMass, Temple, and the University of Texas are the three best SM schools. Ithaca is solid as well.</p>

<p>GW and NYU's are horrible programs.</p>

<p>My d is a sport management major at SUNY Cortland. It's a solid program that combines a background in sports and a business curriculum. Cortland also encourages summer internships for credit and allows you to intern for a semester in your senior year. As there are many NYC/NYS kids attending Cortland, it's graduates really do have a presence in the NY sports community which of course leads to a certain amount of networking etc.
Is it better than the programs at Ithaca, NYU, U Mass?? Probably not, but it is a solid and well respected program in its own right. But I can tell you, tuition is alot less expensive at Cortland than some of the other schools on your list. </p>

<p>I'm glad that Cortland puts a big emphasis on the management/business side of sports. My kid has to take couses in finance, accounting, marketing, management and a few other business related courses. The reality is that sports jobs don't pay well- so it's nice to have a background in business if you need to expand your sights beyond working in the sports industry.</p>

<p>I think Temple had a similar program which combined sports and business(my d was accepted into the program). I actually liked the Temple program too, as I thought there would be many opportunities for internships in the Philly area, but d didn't like the campus.</p>

<p>It's probably better than NYU's, because NYU's program isn't very good.</p>

<p>Ohio is also supposed to be very good</p>

<p>BTW, this topic comes up a lot. You might want to search the archives. In the most recent one, a sports management student suggested it's internships and alumni network that make for the best programs, not prestige.</p>

<p>
[quote]
In the most recent one, a sports management student suggested it's internships and alumni network that make for the best programs, not prestige.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I would agree 99% with this statement (you also want a program that is respected and provides a solid foundation in all areas of SM). The sports business isn't one where just any person looking for a job can get hired. Positions are rarely highly advertised and usually are heard of by word-of-mouth, i.e. connections and the people you know. These are not jobs that you'll find in your local classifieds section.</p>

<p>I plan to work in equipment, ultimately for a Div 1 or pro team, but realize that I'll probably start with something smaller like D-2 or bouncing around for a few years before landing a solid D-1 job. I'm not attending a Sports Mgmt school but work for my school's football team in the equipment room and our current intern worked at our school for 4 years as a student, interned with the Dolphins and Lions, and our previous intern worked at Minnesota for 4 years as a student and then interned for Colorado State and us, now he's got a D-1 job at a Big East or ACC school, I can't remember. The ONLY place most of our jobs are posted are on the professional organization's website and some are never even posted there. This is just an example in ONE field of sports management, and one of the smaller fields at that.</p>

<p>It's about who you know, who they know, and who they know.</p>

<p>If you go to a good SM school, there's a program that you'll have access to which sends weekly emails with new jobs and internships in the field.</p>

<p>LOL, Temple and Texas are not in the top 3 for SM programs. Neither are close to UMass or Ohio (the two best) in terms of alumni and connections. You can't have a discussion about best programs without having both of those schools being brought up.</p>

<p>Oregon was actually named the "best sports management program" by Sports Illustrated, I would agree to an extent, they are amazing at what they do but it's more marketing than management.</p>

<p>Yes they are. UO doesn't even have SM, it's sports marketing and sports business.</p>

<p>What do you think Sports Management is, Temple homer? Ohio is a legit program.</p>

<p>Look, Temple student who wants to go to Texas (noting the bias for the OP), "Yes they are" is not adequate reasoning. </p>

<p>John Helyar wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal identifying what is needed in the sports management programs, linked below. He mentions programs that are good, including one's that have been around like Ohio and UMass, as well as one's that have real world experience, like Oregon.</p>

<p>Helyar also wrote an article for ESPN on Tampa Bay's strategic plan, outlining 5 sports management programs that were the top in the industry. Ohio, UMass, and Oregon were included.</p>

<p>Bill King of Sports Business Journal did a similar project, going in-depth of the top 5 sports management programs in the country. UMass, Ohio, and Oregon were all on the list.</p>

<p>Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal has a directory of each program, noting the enrollment of the students in the program. As we know, bigger alumni networks means more opportunities, and bigger programs will have more graduates in the field. UMass and Ohio were ranked 2 and 3 in terms of undergraduate enrollment in the major (Bowling Green was #1, this is a good program but their #1 ranking is a bit skewed because other majors were included).</p>

<p>Sports Illustrated named Oregon the nation's "best sports management program". I addressed Oregon's curriculum in my post, saying that their program is marketing based. But there isn't a program out there that touches what Oregon does with their Warsaw Center and has the connections they do with Nike.</p>

<p>Buffy Flippell, the founder of TeamWorkOnline (that site you get your e-mail updates about that you claim only good SM programs get when anyone can get updates) named top sports management schools, stating "Then there are top notch sports management graduate programs, particularly University of Massachusetts and Ohio University, just to name the obvious ones."</p>

<p>Sports-Management.com lists top programs, stating "Three of the best sports management programs are UMass, Bowling Green State University and Ohio University." These programs also rank 1-2-3 in terms of enrollment.</p>

<p>I should note, that in none of these articles was there ever any mention of Temple or Texas. However, every article mentioned Massachusetts, every article mentioned Ohio, and most mentioned Oregon, one even naming it the best.</p>

<p>I really got a good impression from the Ithaca faculty. However, I have to disagree with TUOwls2011 because the NYU sports management program is great and they have a great faculty (so good connections). Not to mention, all of the internships/jobs are right there in NYC.</p>

<p>I agree with you marny1. Cost is a big factor. For example, NYU now costs something ridiculous like $52,000, a big difference from schools like SUNY-Cortland or UMass-Amherst. I'm just not sure about SUNY-Cortland because it's like a 5 hour drive from where I live so its pretty far.</p>

<p>Has anyone heard anything good or bad about Springfield College or George Washington University?</p>

<p>ricky- ithaca and cortland are about a half hour from each other. So if Ithaca is geographically ok with you, Cortland is about the same distance.<br>
btw- Ithaca and cortland have this sports rivalry relationship going on.<br>
Each year they compete in the Cortica Jug- The SM Deparment at Cortland gets pretty involved as it is probably one of the larger sporting events on campus. Cortland also has a number of the Division III Championship meets on campus too.
as Cortland is a relatively small school, (7,000), the SM kids have alot of opportunity to volunteer and work the events on campus. The event practicum class is mandatory and I believe you need to work 40 hours of sporting events as part of the coursework. All of this is to gain experience so you become more marketable when it is time to look for a job in the industry. There are certain fields where contacts and experience are more important than the "prestige" factor of a school. I think sport management is one of those fields.
I would only suggest you find a school which encourages you to work in the industry and gives you the opportunity to gain alot of hands on experience.<br>
I know Cortland fits that bill.
also- MANY of the SM Internships require that you get college credit (as they don't pay ) so you need to check that the SM Department will send a letter stating that credit will be awarded for the Internship. My d interned with a ML Lacrosse team last summer and did receive credit from Cortland. This year she just decided to volunteer and worked at a PGA tournament for the week. (didn't do it for credit- but just to add more experience to her resume). I am assuming that most schools will give academic credit for summer internships- but it is something to be aware of.</p>

<p>rickyb--Springfield College is another school with an outstanding program, don't know much about the GWU program.</p>

<p>You are better off getting a buisness or law degree.</p>

<p>What about Sports Management at Syracuse?</p>