7 Career Paths You Can Take with a Degree in Sports Management

You just graduated from college with a sports management degree in hand. You’re ready to officially enter the “real world,” and you’re excited to take your college education and combine it with your love of sports. It’s time to find a career in sports management you’ll love!

But what are some of the best career options for someone with your educational background, especially where you can work your way up the ladder?

What kind of jobs can you get with a sports management degree? What’s the career path? In alphabetical order, here are seven different job and career opportunities where you can not only get an immediate start on your sports management career path but also go in a variety of paths and directions while you grow professionally.

7 Sports Management Careers to Consider

1. Accounts Manager/Corporate Partnerships

As many people have a love for sports, they tend to overlook the fact that the world of sports is a business and a highly lucrative one at that. Even high school teams and small college sports teams will often form partnerships with various organizations in the area. Larger universities and professional sports teams will partner with larger, nationwide and international corporations to generate streams of revenue through sponsorships, advertising, ticket purchases, suite rentals, corporate events, and more. With a sports management degree, you could be uniquely positioned to speak to both worlds – you’re knowledgeable about your team and sport, but you’re also knowledgeable about the business component.

2. Gameday/Event Coordinator

Event planning is another field where you can position your background to further your sports management career path. Think about the day-to-day operations of a team over the course of their game schedule. The team needs transportation to and from games, hotel reservations for overnight stays like away games and promotional events, meeting spaces for various team gatherings, catering for meals, and even similar needs for the spouses and significant others of the athletes. This doesn’t account for other ancillary events like team banquets, corporate luncheons, and other business-related activities. The event planning profession is a competitive one, but you could stand out from the competition with your sports management background.

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3. Sports & Health Club Staff

If you’re someone who’s a fitness and/or outdoor enthusiast, you could use a sports management degree to get a job with your local sports or health club (i.e., your local gym). These venues are often looking for people to help them increase their memberships, so if you’re someone who can speak with knowledge about the things people need to improve their athletic performance, you could be an asset to that sports club. Furthermore, working at a fitness center could provide you with other opportunities within the organization, like becoming a personal trainer (and market yourself as someone who can directly help amateur and/or professional athletes with your sports management background), or using that experience to move along your career path to work at another organization like a country club or ski resort.

4. Sports Content Producer

If you happen to be someone who’s tech-savvy, this could be a unique and highly beneficial way to elevate your career in sports management. Teams from high school through the professional level are often looking for people who can create content the team can use to market their organization, their players, and their upcoming games and events. If you have digital marketing experience, you could be very valuable in this capacity. Whether it’s something like creating funny and creative memes for your favorite team, growing your social media influence and fanbase, or creating and editing video content, this is a great way to stand out to a potential sports team.

5. Sports Information Staffer

This field is where many individuals begin their sports management career, either as an intern or as the first job out of college. Virtually every university and professional sports organization employ a sports organization department, which is effectively a cross between a public relations department and a team library of sorts. Before, during, and after games, members of the sports information department provide the media and public with information like player news, team updates, and a variety of statistics. The sports information staff can also create and publish content for game programs, update the website or team blog, and publish posts on social media. If you really want to get your “in” with a team, you could look for a position in the sports information department, and then focus on an area of interest to work your way up.

6. Sports Writer/Blogger

If you’re looking to take the entrepreneurial route with your sports management career, you could do very well for yourself by starting a sports blog. While that might sound like old advice, the truth is that good bloggers are gaining more and more access to their team of focus, and many of them are also getting paid. It doesn’t take much to start a blog – you can either sign up for a free site on a platform like WordPress or purchase your own “.com” and have it hosted on various blogging platforms. The two most significant ways to make it as a sports blogger, when so many others have failed by going this route, is:

• write as frequently as possible, and
• network and promote your publication to fellow sports fans

If you can prove that you’re able to create quality and entertaining content on a regular basis, you can parlay that into getting a job opportunity with a major online publication like Bleacher Report or FanSided, or you can launch your own freelance writing business for a grassroots career path.

7. Youth Sports Coordinator

A career in sports management doesn’t necessarily mean you must work for a sports team. Why not get involved with sports in a way that makes a difference in people’s lives? Many locales are often looking for a youth sports coordinator to oversee things like creating and promoting youth sports leagues, training coaches to participate in these leagues, forming various sports camps that attract kids from all over the country to improve their skills, or planning recreational events for the whole family. As a youth sports coordinator, you’d not only oversee planning these types of sporting events and activities, but you’ll also be responsible for procuring and managing the facilities and equipment needed to make these happen.

If you’re looking for a career in sports management, visit Jobs in Sports and being applying today! We’re America’s Premier Sports Job Board with the most up-to-date listings available.