As a sports management student, there will be a number of elective choices one will need to make along the degree path. While some students pick and choose here based on personal interests, many others try to pick elective courses that will pair well with and even compliment the sports management degree. So, what are some of the best elective courses to include in this program. Here are five top choices.
Related resource: Top 30 Bachelor’s in Sports Management Degree Programs
Sports Media
This course takes a deeper look into sports-related brands and the unique challenges and benefits faced by them. Matters of globalization have held an effect here, but what else actively shapes the various markets attached to the sports world. Sports “media”, it turns out, is quite the wide field of wares and operations with social media itself only comprising one portion of the whole sports media pie.
Sports Law and Ethics
Sports law and ethics matters are faced by all manner of sports organizations on a daily basis. Trademarks, copyrights, fire code, player contracts, finance operations, and more – these are just a handful of the legal areas the sporting world must maneuver. Students of this course will learn the basics of this important framework as well as learn deeper strategies for managing key areas of concern.
Sports Marketing
Marketing, the promotion of a business or its wares, is incredibly important for generating general awareness and actual commerce alike. Forbes elaborates on this importance: “No longer can you passively market products and services to an anonymous customer base. With the rise of influence marketing, your customer is marketing.” As such, Sports Marketing is an excellent elective choice to boost one’s relevant knowledge in the overall sports management arena.
Fundamentals of Sports Analytics
Fundamentals of Sports Analytics is another great elective choice and essentially exposes students to analytics and how they work in sports. More specifically, “analytics” in the sports management world is the analysis of all factors related to making managerial and administrative decisions. Chiefly, areas of deliberation here can usually be sorted into four categories: player performance, in-game strategy, roster maintenance, and general organizational concerns such as ticket prices, contracts, stadium matters, and so on.
Supervised Projects
Many colleges offer an elective of this name or a similar one that pushes students into the real-world to research and commit to individual projects involving sports and sports management. Such a “projects” course is a research-intensive one with students often being assigned differing and unique assignments that take them outside of the boundaries of the school itself. Depending on the class layout, requirements here may be comprised of a single project or multiple projects and be either peer-based or individual in nature.
Sports management majors today are those who will take over the reigns of sports endeavors all throughout society tomorrow. Aiming elective and other degree path choices at that central effort will further bolster the resume and one’s own abilities and knowledge. These five electives are some of the most directly relevant and beneficial to the sports management degree program today.
Related Resource: What Are the Best Classes for Sports Management Majors?
