It S Everywhere You Are & Everything You See

Sport Management & Sports Marketing: It’s Everywhere You Are & Everything You See

One of the most commonly asked questions by students is, what type of careers are available with a sport management concentration. In increasingly, the response to that question is a career that’s anyplace you are and part of anything you see. However, to orient you to the opportunities in Sport Management & Sports Marketing, a three tiered pyramid can be used to chart “entrenched” Sport Management, “established” Sports Marketing, and the emerging opportunities of “embedded” Sports Marketing and Management practices within mainstream corporate marketing and media professions.

“Entrenched” Sport management is the traditional view of the field. In general, the traditional sport industry has evolved as a portfolio of commonly recognized segments, including, but not limited to, professional sport, intercollegiate athletics, voluntary athletic associations such as the NCAA and high school athletic associations, recreational sport, facility management, event management, promotions & marketing, health & fitness, and sporting goods retail operations just to name a few. Within each of these segments, career opportunities exist ranging from sales, marketing, box office management, ticketing, player development, golf course management, accounting and finance, facility operations, coaching, athletic training, operation of intramural sports, restaurant management, pool management, academic services for athletics, fitness club operations, outdoor recreation programs, compliance in college athletics, sports information director, sports health, and sports law.

Secondly, the profession of Sports Marketing has become “established” by building upon the tradition of Sport Management. Whereas Sport Management is anchored to a sporting activity, Sports Marketing is aimed at creating awareness and consumption – often unrelated to the sporting activity itself. Sports Marketing uses consumer oriented marketing techniques to transcend the boundaries of an athletic field, players, or game and deliver a “value proposition” based on the image, perception, style, and feeling generated by a sport. Sports Marketing is manifested in the merchandising boom for jerseys, caps, cups, and apparel sold in venues that are completely unattached to the sport and to consumers who are totally uninformed about the teams whose emblem they purvey. Sports marketing emerged out of a recognition that sports embodies energy and winning which sell in the marketplace whether connected to athletics or not. Thanks to Sports Marketing, athletes are pitchmen for products unrelated to their sport, athletic apparel and equipment are fashion and style commodities, and sports terms and content is parlayed by entertainers, online websites, and business leaders alike. A few of the specific career opportunities in this wide sprawling field of Sports Marketing include; sponsor prospecting and development, special events coordinator, retail merchandising, sports fashion design, jewelry, shoes and apparel, intellectual property law for sports related symbol/images, website design/management, entertainment product placement, toys and games, as well as the many outlets for sports memorabilia and collectibles. Closely related to these career tracks, but often overlooked, is the growing presence of “embedded” Sports Marketing/Management practices within most major corporations. These practices are usually initiated to support specific brand/product management goals for a wide range of global enterprises. One only need look at a weekend of baseball, football, tennis, hockey, golf, NASCAR racing, or even bowling, billiards, and beach volleyball, to witness the interest of mainstream corporate marketing and sales managers in “sports marketing’s” brand appeal. This opens up the traditional marketing career track to “sports marketing focused professionals to pursue marketing research, brand/product management, distribution and retail merchandising, advertising and promotion, or even online marketing opportunities within major global corporations. Media outlets are directly networked with the growth of “sports marketing” focused management opportunities in major global firms. As a result, every major media venue offers a “sports journalism/reporting” career track that parallels the sales and account management practices associated with particular sporting events. These media related “embedded” Sports marketing/Management career opportunities include sports reporting, sports television/radio anchor, sports talk show production/hosting, and sporting event/equipment classified advertising sales.

Like all organizations, sports organizations, as well as sports practices “embedded” in mainstream organizations, require solid management in order to operate efficiently. The sports management program at CSUB is offered to prepare students as administrators and managers as well as entry level management positions in the above jobs. Through the program, students are prepared for a diversity of roles in the areas of sport marketing and promotions, facility management and planning, activity programming and events management and sports law. A 10 week internship program, after the completion of the course work, provides students with the on-the-job experience and employment opportunities.

Multifaceted in structure, the program balances specialized sport management topics (e.g., sport marketing, facilities management and sports law sport physiology, principles of sport management and recreation marketing) with core business courses (e.g., finance, marketing, economics and accounting). By helping facilitate skills in communications, behavioral sciences, quantitative analysis and environmental dynamics, the sport management program provides a well-rounded education for sustained professional and personal growth.

As you can see, just as you and your world are changing – Sport Management & Sports Marketing are dynamically expanding too. So, when you think of pursuing Sport Management & Sports Marketing education and career opportunities, remember; “It’s Everywhere You Are and Everything You See. PYRAMID of SPORT MANAGEMENT & SPORTS MARKETING EVOLUTION

“Embedded” Sports Marketing/Management Practice in Mainstream Corporations

“Established” Sports Marketing Careers [Creating awareness & consumption]

“Entrenched” Sport Management [Anchored to athletic activity & venues]