I am a senior in high school and have been set on pursuing sports management all throughout my time in high school. I have visited a few colleges such as UCONN, Temple, George Washington, NYU, and Syracuse. Other schools I plan to visit/ apply to are Michigan, Endicott and Umass Amherst. Unfortunately, I just learned that some schools offer their sports management program in a larger program known as Sports, Tourism/ Hospitality, and Event/ Leisure Management. I know George Washington, NYU, and Temple do this. This means that you fundamentally learn tourism basics but I would mostly concentrate on sports management after the face. Still, this is not totally geared toward what I would like to do and I have heard from other people’s experiences that they cannot get a job in the sports industry but rather working in a Hotel for example. This is very different from what I would like to do considering I would like to work behind-the-scenes in the sports world and if so would be a waste of my time, money, and effort ultimately not letting me achieve my dream. I know it is competitive but I was hoping that an internship and sports management degree and MBA would suffice to work in the field. Anyways, if anyone knows or has had experience is it hard to get a job in the sports industry when you study under this type of tourism + sports management? Should I find a program that offers the major solely (such as Michigan, UCONN, Syracuse) or go for a business major at more recognized schools and minor in sports. If i take a general business major could I still take sports-oriented internships and could I still get a job in the field? Realistically what is my best choice/ looks better?
Thank you so much!
I recommend looking online for people who have the kind of job you want, and learning what type of degrees they have. You can search for info on the front office staff of a professional sports team, for example. Those people sometimes have their education listed as part of their bio or you could find out more on linkedin.
Sounds like you want a business degree with some sports management electives and hopefully some related internships.
What “dream” jobs do you have in mind?
@Dunboyne Working in the sports industry ranging from team operations, marketing, sales or any job behind the scenes or working for ESPN.
I agree with @CheddarcheeseMN, a business degree would cover the most bases. You might want to keep law school on the table, too, which can increase your appeal in that line of work significantly. Note that you need a high GPA for a reputable law school, so it’s necessary to come to grips with that requirement from day one of your undergrad career. It does you little good to start thinking about law school in your junior year after two years of mediocre performance.
@Dunboyne So would I take a business major as an undergrad, then go for a LLM for my masters? Or vice-versa, thanks.
Business major >>> JD. http://www.lsac.org/llm/degree/jd-llm-difference
@Dunboyne thanks for the clarification I thought it was the other way around.
@jprete33 Have you considered Ohio State? It has an excellent sports management program. Check out Ohio State’s undergraduate curriculum, which is called “Sports Industry” in the Kinesiology program within the College of Education and Human Ecology. http://ehe.osu.edu/human-sciences/undergraduate/kinesiology/sport-industry. You might also take business courses as part of your schedule within the Fisher college of business, which is a terrific program as well. I don’t know what your academic stats are, but Ohio State offers great merit aid (National Buckeye plus another scholarship on top of that) to out of state students who have very strong SAT or ACT scores and gpa.
Some things we’re learning as my son applies for Sports Management:
- There are 2 very different slants to this major. One is more Business Oriented-- those schools tend to offer a Sports Management concentration somewhere in the School of Business. The other seems to be more geared towards coaching-- those classes tend to be within Kinesiology or Phys Ed areas. I think the first part of the decision on which school is right for you is narrowing down your focus: are you interested in coaching or managing?
- Internships are HUGE. Take a look at their history of internships, email questions about them. Obviously, schools near pro teams will have better access to internships with those organizations, but the odds are that the competition for those slots will be pretty heavy. Take a look at how many credits involve field experience, and with whom.
- Take a look at the Career Center at the schools you're considering. How many people have they placed, and where?