<p>Hello, I am a Junior undergrad with a Sport Management major and minors in Business Administration, Political Science, and American Studies, and I am weighing my future academic/career options. First of all, I love the field of Sport Management. I have been lucky enough to have great practical experience in this field. My decision is whether to continue my studies beyond undergrad with a J.D. or a Master's/Ph.D. in Sport Management. My career goal is to work in the sports industry for 10-15 years and then become a sports management/law professor. Up until recently, I was pretty dead set on the 5-year Master's/Pd.D. route. However, I have been reconsidering the prospects of going to law school since I found out that I did exceptionally well on my 400-level Constitutional Law exams. I have also discovered that many of the top dogs in the sports industry have law degrees, but I am unsure as to whether the J.D. or the Ph.D. would be the best route. Also, I have pretty much ruled out being a sport agent based on the unethical practices necessary to succeed. I am looking more towards becoming an athletics director at a D-II or D-III school or maybe even a G.M. in professional athletics (NFL/NBA) and then working as a professor. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!</p>
<p>sports guy i’m gonna answer this as a mom who has one kid in law school and the other who has a degree in sport management and working for a professional sports team–</p>
<p>1.there are law classes about issues in the sports and entertainment field- but they usually have a broader context like contracts, negotiations, intellectual property, communications etc.etc. Sports management issues wouldn’t necessarily lend itself to a course of study at law school. Lots of specific legal and labor issues within the sports and entertainment field- but again that differs from sport management.
if those issues interest you, then of course consider law school- but if your focus is on sport management, I don’t know if law school is the right avenue to pursue.</p>
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<li><p>If your interest is to be a college athletic director or a GM- I suggest you try to get an internship with a college sports team. If you are not yet familiar with the site Teamworkonline- please check it out and look at listings for college sports jobs. I think the NCAA also has links to college sports jobs. In the area of sports, it is critical to get hands on experience.</p></li>
<li><p>MA/Phd in sport management (?). If you are obtaining a BA/BS in the field and have work experience in the sports industry, I think it better to go the MA in management, marketing, etc or MBA degree. I’ve looked at the curriculum for Masters in SM and it is almost identical to the UG degree my d got. She is seriously considering going for a masters in marketing. She’s trying to expand her background to get a broader business approach. As she is already working in the sports industry, I don’t think she needs to get another degree in sports management. I think an MBA or MA in marketing is a better way to go.
hope I gave you something to think about.</p></li>
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<p>Thank you very much! That was very helpful. I have decided to pursue law school and focus on sports and entertainment law.</p>
<p>Glad I could be of service. Are you completing your junior year and will be a senior next term?? If so- it may be time to focus on the LSAT’s. If you are just beginning your junior year, you may want to take the LSAT’s sometime in your junior year so you will be ready to apply to law school early on in your senior year. </p>
<p>–if you are planning to get some work experience before starting law school, it may still be a good idea to take the LSAT’s while you are still a college student. It may be harder to prepare for the LSAT’s once you are out of college for a few years as your study habits might not be as focused as they are as a college student.
Good luck!!</p>
<p>I just finished sophomore year and will be heading into my junior year this fall. I will be taking the LSAT next June, so I will begin studying soon. Thanks again!</p>
<p>sounds like a workable approach. </p>
<p>My d studied Labor Relations at Cornell. There really are alot of labor issues going on in the world of sports and entertainent (think NFL lockout). So if available, you may want to take an undergrad course or two in that field.<br>
just remember, law school admission is based primarily on your gpa and lsat score- so study hard and pace yourself with your LSAT prep.
Some here feel a year of study for the LSAT may be a tad too long- but you know your study habits best, so do what seems right for you.<br>
Good luck!!</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>sportsguy- I hope you are following the news accounts about the NFL lockout. As you can see, there really are a myriad of labor issues at the core of the dispute. And even as a non-lawyer, I’m finding all of this very interesting. I really hope this doesn’t screw up summer training camps, as the NY Jets used d# 2’s school as their training camp site. So this dispute will be affecting the economy of the regions where training camps take place too–</p>
<p>–so anyone even remotely thinking of getting into the sports/entertainment field, think contracts, negotiations and labor law.</p>
<p>d just sent me link as CNN/Money website had video on how cancellation of football training camp was affecting Cortland NY.
Also read a few weeks ago that NYS attorney general was thinking of pursuing anti-trust violation (I’m not a lawyer- don’t quite understand concept of antitrust things) as lockout was affecting communities of Cortland, Albany (Giants training camp @ SUNY Albany) and Buffalo (buffalo bills training camp). I think progess was made with NFL lockout- so it seems that the strike may be settled soon.<br>
Too late for Cortland as they already cancelled training camp in cortland for the year. But they plan to be back next year.</p>
<p>Definitely… I have been following the NFL labor situation closely, and thank goodness that the two sides finally came to an agreement. There is no doubt that the CBA negotiations were filled to the brim with legal issues. The NBA is now following in the NFL’s footsteps with negotiations of their own; however, their situation appears much more dire. The NFL’s “problem” was how to split up $9 billion; the NBA’s problem is how to bring in more revenue. Anyways, the current nature of sports leagues has only reinforced my belief that lawyers will continue to play a major role in the sports world. Similar in the entertainment field with the writer’s strike a few years ago. Not to mention player/entertainer representation from the perspective of both the player/entertainer and the organization.</p>
<p>Thanks again for your help.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about sports management, but as a lawyer, I can tell you that there is a vast oversupply of lawyers.</p>
<p>I would not recommend spending money to go to law school for 3 years.</p>
<p>If you wanted to do it at night, while working full time, like I did, that might make some sense, but basically, be prepared for a difficult 4 years.</p>