Best Sports Management / Sports Marketing Grad programs?

I also wanted to take this route. What is your undergrad degree?

eddylee wrote:

I also wanted to take this route. What is your undergrad degree?

undergrad: B.A. in general econ. & business

Grad seeker wrote:

Also, what type of jobs do most with a similar degree end up in?

Paper pushers for collegiate athletic departments.

I'm trying to take this route right now also. If you want here is a link to all the programs with sport management. www.nassm.com

university of oregon has a good sports mba program.

U of Oregon is very good, but it is much more geared towards an MBA/Sport Management, business area.

The Ohio State University also has a very good program.

Southern Cal.

As far as big schools go those come to mind off the top of my head. If you're looking for smaller (D III), Springfield College (Mass.) is surely towards the top, also Ithaca, SUNY Cortland (not sure if they have grad).

When it comes to jobs you should take an internship (and you're going to have to do an internship regardless of where you go) in what you really want to do, that will open a lot of doors. You won't make a lot of money at first and you do need to work your way up. I would say in athletic admin./sport management profession it is about who you know not what you know more than any other profession. I have an undergrad in Sport Management and am a Sports Information Director. Oh while I'm on the top of jobs, be prepared to never have a life -- sport management is the gateway to 80 hour work weeks and no free weekends for months on end.

schools mentioned here are pretty good. So are UMass-Amherst and U of Central Florida.

But sport management is kind of a gimmick degree. You'd be much better off going to the best MBA program you can get into. An MBA from, say, Wharton or Texas (not saying those are THE best, but they're up there) is going to be much more impressive to an employer, combined with internships in sports and professional connections. Plus, when you get tired of the lousy pay and insane hours of most jobs in sports, a general MBA will open a lot more doors than an MS in sports management.

If you are looking to get into college athletics check out the UW program http://ial.washington.edu/ial/

Division I wrote:

university of oregon has a good sports mba program.

I looked into Oregon, looks like there's several tracks. From what I understand, year 1 seems to be a well rounded business education (accounting, marketing, other bus. classes) whereas year 2 is when you choose more specific classes. The one who said a general MBA with experience in sports may offer more options and be more attractive..they bring up a good point. It seems like U of Oregon is more a general MBA with an emphasis of your choice, or is it a specific degree in sports mgmt?

The University of South Carolina

Oregon's MBA program, which has a sports marketing emphasis, is a fantastic starting point for a job in the sports world. Most other programs are degreed through physical education departments or public policy, and the true "business" of sports is lost in translation. Oregon's MBA provides a comprehensive business background, not unlike an undergrad business degree, but challenges students to focus on a preferred concentration. The #1 ranked Warsaw Sports Marketing Center is the true driving force behind Oregon's MBA curriculum, giving students access to the greatest minds in sports, as well as experiential learning opportunities in San Francisco, New York, Beijing and Shanghai. Grads of this program work it a whole range of industries, but the sports people represent companies like:

GM R*Works

IMG

Relay Worldwide

Octagon

NBA, plus numerous teams

NFL, plus numerous teams

Nike

adidas

Specialized

USATF

Wyden & Kennedy (Nike's ad firm)

Multiple NCAA Athletic Departments

...and a whole host of other companies.

As a track guy, I am lucky enough to be working on the Olympic Trials in Eugene...a job that wouldn't have been open to me had I not graduated with my MBA in Sports Marketing from Oregon.

also, judging by the people I've met, Florida State will give you a doctorate in Sport Management provided you have a pulse and not much else ... I don't really know much about the program but it doesn't seem like it takes a brilliant mind to earn a Phd in sport man there

I went/am going through the same process as the OP this past Spring. The further along in the decision-making process I've gotten, the greater the appeal of getting an MBA w/ a sport management concentration/focus (as opposed to getting either an MS, or a general MBA) has become. You get the value of having an MBA and also (if you go to a decent program) all of the contacts within the industry that you get with a specialized program.

Arizona State hasn't been mentioned, and is a top-5 sports management MBA. Also, whoever mentioned UMass Amherst is spot on; they have MBA, MS, and PhD programs, all of which are very good. Oregon also seems to be a *very* strong program. Although no one else has mentioned it, San Diego State University is a program on the rise as well.

As far as non-MBAs go, if you're looking to work in college athletics I'll second whoever mentioned the UW program; it's getting some pretty good reviews. Ithaca and Seattle U are also good options for an MS.

I looked at a lot a couple years ago and Virginia Commonwealth Univ. in Richmond, Virginia has a good program. I nearly went there but needed to stay closer to my aging parents.

This is a pretty decent site to gain more information on schools that have programs, and it contains mostly good links to those programs' sites.

http://www.nassm.com/

http://www.nassm.com/InfoAbout/SportMgmtPrograms/United_States

As background:

I graduated from the Univ. of Michigan with a Sport Management & Comm. BA, and was lucky enough to intern with a small, private D1 school in administration. One year following that, I obtained a position full-time in the department at the Ticket Manager (ticketing operations for basketball, sales/fundraising, event management), which is where I still am. Thought about going for an SM Masters, but talked to several people high up in the field (both collegiate and professional) and the overwhelming opinion is that an MBA is a better degree to have at the professional level - I am taking MBA classes part-time.

However, for someone looking to get into the sport field directly, if you have the undergraduate business degree (mine wasn't actually a B-School degree, although it had business emphasis), then you could look at a Masters in Sport Mgmt.

Top Schools from my research:

Very much business-oriented approach, top tier academic:

-UMass

-Oregon

-Ohio University

-Florida

-Texas

Very good well-rounded schools, collegiate athletics/recsports focus:

-Northern Colorado (have their own Sport Marketing Research Center, and great people here)

-UConn

-Springfield

-Several schools in the Wisconsin state system

-Bowling Green

-Ohio State

-Old Dominion

-Southern Illinois

hope that helps, let me know if you have questions.

-GH

www.ClubRunning.org

I would choose a school based on the opportunities for internships. Those are what get you the experience for your desired job. If you wish to work in college athletics, choose a big division 1 school that has many positions that you can have within their department. If you desire professional sports, I would choose a school in a big city that has a variety of pro teams to get involved with.

People who graduated from my prgoram are doing a variety of jobs in pro sports, college sports, recreation, and marketing.