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What is the Bachelor’s Degree in Sports Management?
An undergraduate sports management degree covers business, marketing, communications, and even legal studies. Students learn skills about leadership, analysis, and communication as it relates to the sports industry as they strive to reach their highest level of knowledge.
Our military-friendly bachelor’s in sports management helps students develop traditional business skills and apply them within a sports industry context. This BS in sports management expands your knowledge to impact decision-making related to:
- High school, college, amateur and professional sports administration
- Sports organizations
- Sports marketing
- Sports law
- Sports agency
- Sports facility management
- Sports education
Maybe you’ve always been interested in sports management but have never taken the opportunity to pursue it to build your knowledge. Perhaps you’re already working in the sports industry or sports management and wish to advance your knowledge. Regardless of your background, a sports management degree offers a variety of advantages, benefits, and opportunities to advance your knowledge.
AMU’s BS program propels your learning in sports administration, sports business programs, and the sports industry as a whole. The program is designed to provide the knowledge and skill often necessary to support responsibilities associated with sports facility management, game day and event operations, and sports public relations. Those who hold roles such as athletic director at the high school or college level may also find value in a sports management degree.
The learning gained through a sports management degree empowers active-duty military, veterans, and military family members to become more knowledgeable as they aim to fulfill personal and professional goals.
How Military Service Leads to a Bachelor’s in Sports Management
American Military University’s sports management degree is chosen by active-duty military who may be preparing to transition from service. It can also be a degree for veterans and for military spouses who may be looking to launch their own sports business like owning a gym or sport-specific training facility. Each servicemember who enrolls will be able to build upon their existing knowledge of the sports industry while expanding their sporting network and making new connections.
Those transitioning from the Army or any other service branch to this 4-year online BS degree in sports management may find that many skills learned in the military can be parlayed into your studies in this sports management program—whether it’s working effectively in teams, accountability, leadership, dependability, work ethic, and more. According to Brittany Jacobs, PhD, associate professor and department chair, “Military experience provides a great foundation for a servicemember’s transition, and their academic pursuits bolster their skill set.”
About the Curriculum
Sports management courses are designed to exercise your critical thinking and problem-solving skills as you build a solid foundation in the sports industry. Some topics covered include:
Sports and Recreation Facility Management: This class explores important topics such as alcohol management, crowd management, and box office management.Ethics in Sports: Considered a vital part of your sports management degree, sports management students examine sportsmanship, fan behavior, performance-enhancing drugs, gender equity in sports organizations, and more.
Sports Governance: This course analyzes the policies, structure, and politics that shape the sports industry. With a focus on the Olympics, this class also explores the need for Paralympic Games, Gay Games, and Special Olympics.
Our sports management degree is accredited by the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA), COSMA is a specialized accrediting body dedicated to recognizing excellence in sports management education worldwide. COSMA is the only organization offering discipline-specific accreditation in sport management.
COSMA accreditation is awarded to high-quality programs at the baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral levels. As the premier sport management accrediting body, COSMA also encourages innovation and creativity in teaching and learning, in addition to fostering ethical practices in sports management. As part of its evaluation process, COSMA reviews a program’s learning outcomes and ensures those outcomes have been achieved.
Accreditation through COSMA indicates that a sports management program is fairly and accurately describing its education. It also signals to employers that the program demonstrates a high level of academic rigor and quality to meet widely accepted educational standards.
How to Pay for Your Sports Management Degree
Whether you’re planning to attend college for the first time or transferring from another school, there are many decisions regarding finances to make along the way. Options for financing an education range from self-pay to tuition assistance to federal aid. We can help you evaluate these options and choose what works best for you as it relates to your majoring in sports management.
Military and military families can take advantage of AMU’s Preferred Military Rate. U.S. active-duty servicemembers, National Guard members, Reservists, as well as military family members are eligible. This rate is $250 per credit hour for undergraduate or $250 per credit hour for master’s-level courses. Course ebooks are also provided at no cost. You can find out more about the Preferred Military Rate here.
Some additional ways American Military University students pay for their education include:
If you plan to use some form of financial aid to pay for school, rather than paying out of pocket, you’ll want to start the process at least six weeks prior to your course start date. During this time, check your email frequently and please respond promptly to requests from our financial aid team asking for documentation such as tax information or transcripts. If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected] or call 877-755-2787.
Using Transfer Credit to Accelerate Your Studies
AMU is committed to offering as many transfer credits as possible towards its bachelor sports management degree. Leverage your previous undergraduate or graduate credits, military service, certifications, on-the-job training, or real-world experience.
We award up to 90 transfer credits toward a bachelor’s degree. To accelerate your studies toward the bachelor’s degree in sports management, AMU accepts transfer credits that have been completed at accredited institutions of higher learning with regional and/or national accreditation.
Once you are admitted to the University, you will submit a transfer credit evaluation request to establish a complete student record.
- We evaluate and apply transfer credit at no cost.
- It takes 2-3 days to receive preliminary results.
- We recognize numerous training courses, certifications, as well as institutions for possible transfer credit.
- The University considers a variety of federal, state, local, and civilian occupations and training programs as possible sources to award transfer credit.
- If you’re transferring from a community college and have earned an AA or AS degree, you have already fulfilled the University’s 30-credit general education requirement.
Please see the University’s transfer credit policy webpage for complete information.
Frequently Asked Questions
Many sports management students pursue jobs in the professional sports industry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, sports-related jobs are projected to grow 13% from 2021 through 2031.
Sports-related jobs in collegiate, international, amateur, as well as community athletics will continue to emerge as a result of the expected industry growth. People with a Bachelor of Science in Sports Management gain knowledge that is often required in subsectors of the industry, such as sports media, sports finance, and sports operations management. Those who choose not to pursue sports specifically find their expertise may be applicable to many other fields, such as business, management, and education.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Entertainment and Sports Occupations, accessed March 2023 https://www.bls.gov/ooh/entertainment-and-sports/home.htm. Employment conditions in your area may vary.