Sports Management

Grant M. Phillips

Mr. Alburger

English III Honors

February 2017
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Grant M. Phillips

Mr. Alburger

English III Honors

February 2018

Sports Management

Sports management provides multiple career choices within the sports industry and has a

wide range of job choices under that umbrella. With the benefit of a well paying salary and

steady income, having a job in the field can lead to great success moving forward in life. Sports

management does not mean just sitting on the sidelines managing a team, handing players water

bottles, or sitting in a boring office cubicle. The sports management career field provides

numerous opportunities to work on the field, around sports teams, or just constantly involving

oneself around sports. In the fast growing booming industry of sports management, receiving a

high degree in sports management not only prepares and benefits individuals later in life outside

of the job but, a high degree also ensures a greater chance of receiving a higher ranked job with

even more benefits. Sports management has the potential to provide individuals with a high

degree which can lead to numerous amounts of benefitting career paths that will teach helpful

life skills outside of the job.

Many people make the decision get into sports management for a variety reasons. Some

simply just want to get into the sports industry. Others want to get closer to their favorite sports

team. Sometimes, people just want to simply get into the industry for some extra cash or to get a
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better paying job. One common reason always arises from everybody that wants to gets into the

field. They just want to get into the field simply for their love of sports.

Owners and Managers of athletic teams often get involved just to give back to their local

community or from where they grew up (Hunter). Doug Deffenbaugh, owner of FitKid Sports

and Physical Education teacher at Pine Lake Preparatory School, stated that he has always had a

desire to surround himself with the world of sports and to coach sports. From as early on as

middle school, Deffenbaugh organized a numerous amount of different sporting events.

Deffenbaugh really found his passion in event management during this time. Although he

organized other non-sporting events, Mr. Deffenbaugh really favored towards managing the

sporting events because he found most enjoyment in organizing those events.

The sports management career field provides a numerous amount of career opportunities

from both the more athletic side of the field and the management side. From the sports side of

the field, jobs can range from an athletic trainer, recruiter, or someone as simple as a practice

player or team manager. These careers include a little bit more activity and more moving around.

The management side of the field provides a vast amount of jobs and the main focal point of the

sports management field. Management jobs in the field range from the sports manager, athletic

directors, to the financial managers (Sport). These kind of jobs where you may sit in an office for

a little bit longer than some of the other sport management jobs. Mr. Deffenbaugh has pursed

multiple careers in the sports management world from both sides of the field. Those jobs include

High school soccer coach, soccer director at Charlotte Sports Center, general manager at
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Charlotte Sports Center, athletic director at Davidson Day School, Owner of Fit Kid Sports, and

physical education teacher and coach at Pine Lake Prep.

The term sports management, personally brings to mind athletic directors. Athletic

directors coordinate many different aspects for athletic organizations. Although, the word

“management” may trigger the more business-oriented thoughts of careers. Some jobs under the

management umbrella conduct advertising for athletic organizations, increasing ticket sales,

finding sponsors, building relationships within the surrounding communities, and facility

management (Sport). Individuals have many options on where they want to start their career at.

On the sports concentrated side, these jobs include the team managers, coaches, agents,

and trainers. These jobs focus and dedicate themselves on the management for development of

athletes. Even though some of those jobs listed seem very basic and simple each one plays a

crucial role into the success of an athletic organization. These careers solely focus on working

specifically on the athletes talent to increase their performance which triggers the train reaction

that routes back to the management side of the field because when an athlete consistently

performs really well, more and more people want to come and watch that athlete. When a large

amount of people want to keep watching that player play, this means an increase in ticket sales

which helps a franchise make more and more money (Sport). University’s love when a player

performs at a high level

A sports manager provides a good example of a job on the management side of the career

field. A sports manager has numerous amount and a variety of duties and responsibilities within

the job by itself. Some duties of a sports manager include negotiating contract deals with
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coachers or player, proposing and negotiating trade deals, drafting new upcoming athletes,

organizing and promoting events for an organization, and could even lead discussion of hiring

new coaches, scouts, and other staff members for the athletic department. Other responsibilities

of a sports manager could include managing financial arrangements for equipment and uniforms

for teams or players, organizing travel and accommodation plans, and even preparing financial

statements (“What's”). Sport managers usual work for professional teams, their parent programs

(such as the NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL), colleges and universities, or even as simple as your

local recreational departments and sports marketing firms (Page). You can find sports managers

practically anywhere that involves the management of sports.

Sports marketing, another popular career in the sports management career field. Sports

marketing provides very special aspect in the industry in its own little way even though it similar

to traditional marketing. Simply because of the aspect of sports, traditional marketing and sports

marketing provides the difference between the two type of marketing. In sports, the outcome of

each sporting event, practically unpredictable most of the time, creates a marketing challenge for

companies who have to choose to advertise what product and what to advertise. Sporting events

have two essential marketing chances with one involving the advertising of the game or match

while the other consist of in-game promotion of a related topic or team for a cooperation which

the product may sometimes not necessarily completely correlate to sport or teams playing at the

time. On average, sports marketing tries to keeps the main focus on the three types of their

product; the event itself, goods, and services. Social Media has begun to play a major role in the

marketing industry. Major companies and sports teams have began to use social media sites like
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Facebook and Twitter to advertise their products (Rager). Twitter has seen an increase in teams

using their app to promote their games or players. Many sports have picked up this strategy.

Many schools not only across the country but across the globe offer degrees in sports

management. The amount of colleges and universities offering degrees in sports management has

inclined at an eye-catching rate. The rapid growth of interest in sports management has led to

concerned educators on the quantity and quality of candidates for faculty positions (Mahony).

Sports management programs in North America has increased from 20 in 1980 to 200 plus by the

year 2000 (Mahony). Half way through the year 2000, an estimated 200 schools offered an

undergraduate degree in sports management. That number doubled in less than ten years later

(Lecrom). Sports management has grown as such a fast rate, the education has kept pace with the

increasing numbers. Sports management research still heavily focuses on the studies of physical

education (Pitts). In the United States alone, over 250 new athletic/sport Administration, Sport

management, sport studies, and sport leadership graduate programs have formed just in the last

50 years (Comeaux). To this day, colleges and universities are still seeing a growing number of

interest in these programs.

Numerous colleges and universities provide students with the choice of master degree

programs which on average take one to two year of intensive classroom programs that help

provide students with skills needed for management and administrative roles in fields such as

business, management, or medicine (Harmon). A master's degree in sports management prepares

students for a career in all levels of league play in a variety of positions, from general manager to

coach or even corporate sponsorship director (Harmon). Getting an associate degree usually
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takes two-years of classroom programs that cover the basics of sports management and offer

basic education in business ethics and law, coaching, management, and physical education.

Sports management classes educate students on a vast range of skills such as planning,

budgeting, controlling, directing, and evaluating while also teaching them leadership and

organizational skills (Harmon). All the crucial skills needed to work on the business and

management aspect of the field but also teach skills that can and will benefit them in other

aspects of life outside of their career. Students that recieve a degree in sports management

normally choose a subfield career such as business, education, finance, medicine, nutrition,

psychology, or science (Harmon). The sports management programs at these schools and

universities wish to focus their teachings on educating and preparing students as much as they

can to not only get a job opportunity in the their field of choice but to also have a successful

career (Lecrom). As student’s provide feedback, the courses continue to improve on their

teaching in the classrooms.

A small amount of schools even provide students with an opportunity to enroll in

specialized classes such as golf management, sports communication/media, or sports tourism,

travel, hospitality to receive a sports management degree (Harmon). Right here in North

Carolina, two schools provide their students the chance to participate in these specialized

courses. Campbell University in Buies Creek and North Carolina State University offer PGA

Tour Management as a class. The same class has availability to students attending Clemson

University in Clemson, South Carolina and Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South

Carolina. These universities provide a home to just four of 19 PGA-accredited golf management

programs available at universities in the United States (PGA). By taking the course, you can earn
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a Business Administration (BBA) degree (PGA). Taking these course provides a great jumpstart

into a career with the PGA.

The PGA Golf Management University Program includes an in-depth detailed classroom

studies with internship experience and player development and knowledge essential for students

to acquire to in order to pursue a successful career in the gold industry. While taking the class,

students have to complete the requirement of a 16 month internship at an approved golf industry

locales. PGA Master Professional and Education Faculty member of PGA says “the program

provides students the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for success in

the golf industry through extensive classroom studies and internship experience.” Students that

complete this course not only get a specialized degree but become a PGA member a 100 percent

job placement.

Manhattanville College does not play around when it comes to science degrees in sports

business management. Stated clear on the college's website for the course, the first site reads

“This is not a program for ‘Sports fans.”” The master's degree program at the private college

located just North of the big apple does not play around and has the strict mindset focused on the

business side of the sports industry. When taking the program, students take multiple classes

covering all areas of of the sports business, from marketing and management, to even

participating in practicing the role of a sports agent (Rager). Depending on the students

scheduling, the rigorous course at Manhattanville College has the possibility of finishing in just

over a year and six months or up to or over three years to complete.The program that started with

just four small classes and only 35 students has skyrocketed to have seen over 340 graduates and

students coming from across the world to attend.

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Former athlete and director of the program at Manhattan College, David Torromeo says

“It's a business program first and foremost, because sports is business.” Torromeo then continues

to say “It's not all fun and games, and that's something students have to learn”. Students that

realized early on in their career they chose that they needed additional or higher education to

make their way farther into the industry makeup forty percent of the students that the program

educates. Torromeo even stated that female students make up just under fifty percent of the

(Rager). As seen on television, more and more women get more actively involved in the sports

industry everyday which constantly increases the already high competitive bar.

Douglas Deffenbaugh received a Masters Degree in Sports Management from the United

States Sports Academy in Daphne, Alabama in 1999. He also received a Bachelor's Degree in

Elementary Education while majoring in physical education and minoring in history. In class,

Deffenbaugh learned about multiple different topics in sports management. Some topics included

sports administration (the demonstration of a prospective sports manager and importance of a

basic understanding of administration theory and practice), sports marketing (in-depth study of

the sports marketing world and also the influence of accomplishments on the focused objective),

sports finance (the basic financial understanding and considerations of a sport management

professional who must understand to function correctly), fundraising in sports (study and

understanding of the concept of sports fundraising), public relations in sports (learning of the

fundamentals needed and how to apply the skills to apply them in today's society), sports

facilities (studying of the principles, guidelines, and recommendations for fully maintaining and

operating all components of a facility), and sports law and risk management (the introduction to

the fundamentals of law and teaching students the legal structure along with basic legal
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terminology) (Deffenbaugh). All topics described potentially have huge impacts in the sports

management field. Deffenbaugh said in his sports management class he learned many skills such

as how to make schedules, organizational skills, organize and run tournaments, sports marketing,

sports law, and sports psychology. He believes the skills he learned from the skills transfer into

many aspects of life, especially management skills.

Mr. Deffenbaugh got his first job at the Charlotte Sports Center in Charlotte, North

Carolina where he worked as the soccer director for the facility. During that time, Deffenbaugh

had the duties of maintaining the facility, managing the equipment, painting lines on the fields,

giving children private lessons, organizing and running leagues and tournaments for adults and

kids, set up game and practice schedules, and hire and train referees (Deffenbaugh). After his

time at the Charlotte Sports Center, Deffenbaugh pursued multiple different careers. Those

different careers included high school soccer coach, soccer director at Charlotte Sports Center,

general manager at Charlotte Sports Center, athletic director at Davidson Day School, owner of

Fit Kid Sports, physical education teacher and coach at Pine Lake Preparatory School.

Research has shown that individuals with a higher degree have began their career choice

better off than individuals with lower degrees than them. Research has shown that the sports

management industry has estimated to grow into a $600 billion industry (Rager). The U.S.

Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that people with master degrees can expect a twenty percent

positive difference in pay to those with only a bachelor's degree and a master's in sports

management can help individuals reach a higher-level position in the strong, steady outlook

sports industry (Page). The bureau also reported that those same individuals holding a masters

degree can expect approximately eighty percent positive increase to those without a single
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degree in sports management (Page). Based on the studies provided by the bureau, it is clear that

sports management is a growing industry.

The number of new jobs continue to grow but the influx of qualified individuals continue

to increase at a much greater pace (Lecrom). Careers in athletic management, marketing, sales,

public relations and more expect to see growth of up to 13 percent over the next eight years

(Page). Careers in athletic marketing, sales, and other sport management related positions will

increase six percent between 2014 and 2024 (Page). The Bureau has also projected that public

relations specialists employment, which plays an essential role within the sport management

world, will see a fifteen percent increase by 2020 (Page). As the industry grows at such a fast

rate, the number of job opportunities also close just as fast.

268 Alumni that graduated from five different universities with an undergraduate degree

in sports managements with an emphasis on departments of parks and recreation, recreation, and

tourism participated in an electronic survey to find out if they enjoyed their career choice and

where these individuals worked. From the respondents, the survey found that sixty-three percent

found in sports related fields post graduation. At the time of the research, only thirty-nine percent

of those actually remained in sports related careers. With only an undergraduate degree, these

individuals became unable to obtain a higher ranked job to receive better income become of the

thirty-nine percent respondents that left sports related jobs, low income salaries and limited job

opportunities showed as the main factor on why these individuals left (Schwab). Studies have

shown that job seekers in the sport industry now comprehend that a higher degree, such as a

graduate degree, provides a greater advantaged needed to gain a high ranked career choice in the

super competitive sports management industry (Lecrom). Students have came back to school to
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educate themselves more because they found out the hard way they did not have enough

education suitable for their job.

Sports management, a growing and booming industry, provides more than just numerous

job opportunities for individuals within the sports world. A career in sports management

provides individuals with a benefitting life skills learning basis while also providing individuals

with a vast array of life skills that they can utilize outside of the classroom and on the job in

which those skills will benefit them tremendously.

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