Recommendations for strong Business/Sports Mgmt schools?

<p>Our son wants desperately to go to college for Sports Management, and has developed a "short" list of schools he is initially interested in: (Drexel, PSU, Delaware, MD, Ohio, Indiana, UConn, UMass, S. Carolina, Syracuse, Ithica, Temple, Fla. State, & Bowling Green). But he is young & can't fully appreciate all the factors that need to go into the decision-making process for choosing both a career and a school.</p>

<p>As parents, we want to do the best we can to help ensure that our son positions himself as best as possible for the realities of today's economy and the potential job market. </p>

<p>After reading all the CC threads on the subject, we are very aware that opinions on the subject of Sports Management break down into 2 camps. One says such a major/degree (especially when combined with a business-related minor) is worthwhile, and one should focus on schools/programs which have the most/best contacts, alumni, internship opportunities, etc. The other camp says such a degree is too narrowly-focused and "worthless", and it's better to get a business degree/majorand perhaps double-major or minor in S.M. </p>

<p>To help him get a first-hand view of what he may be in for in the industry (at least initially), he is taking a 4-week "summer college" program housed at PSU, where he is combining an intensive 3-hr morning class on S.M. topics and an "internship" afternoons/eves/weekends with various university and local minor-league sports teams, where he - - you guessed it - - spends most of his time stuffing envelopes & selling tickets.</p>

<p>Originally dead-set on a S.M. degree at a big Division-1 sports school, our son is now starting to take more to heart some of the advice he's heard before from us, but is now also hearing from some of the teachers & contacts he is developing while in the program, and re-thinking whether it might be better to go for a business degree with a S.M. minor.</p>

<p>If our son decides he still wishes to pursue a major in S.M. and try to minor in a business program, we pretty much have our list of schools to choose from (above). For example, one local school we like (beyond just the fact that it is nearby, relatively reasonably-priced, and has access to a large market/internships) is Temple. There, our son would be able to combine a S.M. major with several possible general business minors without any extra time required to graduate, and would have the opportunity to work two internships during his 4 years. But there are also a couple drawbacks we see with Temple. First, he is limited to only a few "general-business" type minors along with a S.M. major. He cannot minor in any "business-majors-only" minors like finance, marketing, accounting, etc. Second, if he decides to go the business degree route via the Fox Business School instead of a major in S.M., it doesn't appear there'd be any way to get in the 2 internships or get a minor in S.M., both of which we feel would be integral and invaluable parts of his education and feet in the door for post-graduate jobs.</p>

<p>If, on the other hand, our son decides to pursue a business major instead, we need to quickly shift direction and look for schools with strong business programs that also hopefully have minors and internships available in S.M. Schools that may have once been out of the picture (such as PSU) because they didn't have a S.M. MAJOR would now be back under consideration.</p>

<p>So here's our question out to fellow CC readers/posters.......... </p>

<p>WHAT ARE SOME GOOD SCHOOLS (PREFERABLY EAST COAST/MID-ATLANTIC REGION) FOR A STRONG BUSINESS MAJOR THAT ALSO OFFERS A SPORTS MANAGEMENT MINOR & INTERNSHIPS? </p>

<p>Any recommendations, help on the subject, or insights into our listed schools or any recommended by others in this post would be geatly appreciated!</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>bump… Nobody out there with this info/opinions?</p>

<p>The fact that some sports management programs aren’t even housed in the business school is a testament to the inferiority of the degree. Just look at the course offerings of say Temple’s program…</p>

<p>Major Requirements</p>

<p>Subject Course # Course Title Hours Attribute
STHM 1211 Sport and Society 3<br>
STHM 2211 Organizational Strategy in Sport & Recreation 3<br>
STHM 3211 Management in Sport & Recreation (Prerequisite: HRM 1101) 3<br>
STHM 3213 Budget & Finance Systems in Sport & Recreation (Prerequisite: ACCT 2101) 3<br>
STHM 3216 Economics of Sport & Recreation (Prerequisite: ECON 1101 and ACCT 2101) 3<br>
STHM 3217 Research in Sport & Recreation 3<br>
STHM 3296 Marketing Management in Sport & Recreation (Prerequisites: ECON 1101 and MKTG 2101)
3 WI
STHM 4212 Law & Ethics in Sport & Recreation 3</p>

<p>Capstone Course:</p>

<p>STHM 4296 Current & Ethical Issues in Sport & Recreation Management
(Prerequisites: Senior level academic standing – minimum 90 credits; Co-requisite: STHM 4112) 3 WI</p>

<p>Everything is (insert business discipline here) of sports. Its enough material to learn the foundational elements of the various business disciplines, and to think that one would gain a mastery of these topics in a specialized field just makes no sense to me. This is why a SM degree makes no sense from a marketability perspective. </p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of sports and would love to work full time for one at some point. Also, as a strictly accounting major, I was able to work and intern for a MLB baseball club. At least with this club, they said they prefer business students / college grads with experience way over sports management major folks. People in the sports field are very aware of the frivolity of the SM major.</p>

<p>trizz75:</p>

<p>Thanks for your informative response! I guess the fact that Temple’s SM program enables one to have 2 internships as well as use available electives for a minor in “general business” don’t do too much to improve its stature/value in your eyes, and can understand that - - it’s much the same concerns we’re having.</p>

<p>But what’s the alternative? I really don’t think our son cares for or would do well in accounting or economics. I’m not sure finance would thrill him either. That leaves Marketing, which we’re thinking would be his forte, and he could sprinkle in a few sports-related courses, we’d hope. Coming out of the Fox Business School shouldn’t be too bad. </p>

<p>But it still leaves a few questions…
(1) Would he be able to get in any sports-related (or any at all) internships in a Marketing major out of their business school?
(2) If one majors in Accounting, for example, does that major really give that much more exposure to the other disciplines like Marketing, Economics, Finance, Computers, etc to be able to say one would “gain a mastery of the subjects”, as was one of your points against the SM degree?
(3) If our son were to opt for a major in one of the main Business disciplines (like Marketing), but want to shoot for courses & internship opportunities in sports, what schools among his original list (if any) or other Mid-Atlantic/Eastern college would be a good program to pursue? He’s not fond of the campus, but Drexel? Others?
(4) Are there any other SM programs with good internship & networking opportunities out there that have more challenging/complete course requirements than, say, Temple, if our son still wanted to pursue that direction, or are they ALL a “scam” in your (or anyone else’s) opinion?</p>

<p>Thanks very much for your response before & hopefully for any follow-up to my additional questions!</p>

<p>What’s important to understand is that internship does not equal job, especially in sports. I once again draw upon my experience with the MLB team that I interned for, but nevertheless they stressed that they preferred to hire experienced professionals from the outside over college grads, especially those in sports management. From an economic perspective, the number of sports jobs available is very slim. The team I worked for had roughly 100 full timers, and I would say its safe to conclude that other teams are roughly at the same number. Wages are far from stellar, and internal promotion was openly said to be very difficult, as once again they prefer to hire externally.</p>

<p>The fundamental issue here is that your son seems to be jumping to career conclusions, if that makes sense. In other words, it seems that he wants to enter the sports industry no matter what discipline. The problem is, however, that the basic work is the same except for the fact that one is dealing with elements of the sports industry rather than a different industry. If he dislikes accounting, he will dislike sports accounting. If he dislikes finance, he will dislike sports finance. He needs to focus on what discipline he is interested in rather than focusing on what industry he wants to be in. The industry specialization will come. The business specialization comes first. </p>

<p>Just note that I’m not attempting to talk in absolute terms. This is just my informed opinion.</p>

<p>You mentioned Indiana in your original post. There are quite a few students here who are Business majors, and sports management minors (not part of B-School). That’s probably a safer combo, and he still gets the sports part he wants. I know there are certain things (networking events and such) specifically geared towards students who want to go into the sports industry.</p>

<p>University of Michigan seems to have a decent Business and Sports Management Program.</p>

<p>UMASS Amherst Sports Management program housed in business department.</p>