Sports Management

Types of Degrees Sports Management Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many sports management graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	11,353
Master’s Degree	4,864
Associate Degree	398
Graduate Certificate	237
Basic Certificate	172
Doctor’s Degree	71
Undergraduate Certificate	39

What Sports Management Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to sports management were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Sports Management Majors

Sports Management majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Skills for Sports Management Majors

When studying sports management, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Learning Strategies - Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.

Abilities for Sports Management Majors

As a sports management major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

What Can You Do With a Sports Management Major?

People with a sports management degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Coaches and Scouts	12.9%	$33,780
Fitness Trainers and Aerobics Instructors	10.0%	$39,820
Recreation and Fitness Studies Professors	9.7%	$62,620

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Sports Management?

This major tends to be male dominated. About 77% of recent graduates are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of sports management majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	175
Black or African American	1,802
Hispanic or Latino	1,090
White	7,016
International Students	479
Other Races/Ethnicities	791

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Sports Management. About 4.2% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Sports Management

Some careers associated with sports management require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for sports management careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	1.5%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	4.9%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	11.3%
Some College Courses	3.8%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	13.5%
Bachelor’s Degree	28.0%
Master’s Degree	15.1%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	1.3%
Doctoral Degree	21.3%

Online Sports Management Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	23	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	2	0
Associate’s Degree	95	10
Bachelor’s Degree	48	19
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	211	79
Post-Master’s	7	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	5	1
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	2	1
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	1	1

Majors Related to Sports Management

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to sports management.

Major	Number of Grads
Exercise Science and Kinesiology	32,325
Sports Kinesiology and Physical Education/Fitness General	12,809
Outdoor Health & Physical Education/Fitness	1,269
Physical Fitness Technician	1,232
Sports Studies	616

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.