Online Master's in Sports Industry Management
Online Master's in Sports Management Curriculum

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Applied Curriculum Taught by the Industry’s Best

Students gain strategic insight and practical industry knowledge through the robust curriculum of the Sports Industry Management online master’s program. Courses are taught by a faculty of active practitioners holding executive roles in a cross-section of organizations throughout the sports management industry, including the U.S. Olympic Committee, the Washington Nationals, Monumental Sports and Entertainment, Octagon, and the NFL Players Association.

This program molds graduates for leadership within the sports industry with a curriculum that is grounded in business strategies and marketing skills while covering emerging trends that are driving the global business of sports today, including:

  • Industry ethics
  • Global business acumen in sports
  • Strategic planning
  • Sports marketing and media
  • Project management and implementation

This Master’s in Sports Industry Management online curriculum consists of 30 total credit hours. Students take the six required courses and then select four elective course options. Program courses include:

Total Credits - 30

Required Courses

MPSM 500: Applied Ethics in Sports

This course is designed to provide a broad understanding of the moral and ethical issues in sports with a special focus on the responsibility of governing bodies and decision-makers in sport, including faculty, coaches, athletic directors, presidents, professional league commissioners, heads of professional league player associations and owners. This course will also explore the ethical responsibilities of all stakeholders in sports, including leagues, owners, employees, players, coaches, agents, officials, sponsors, media, fans, and community. Areas of concentration will include key values, dilemmas, and judgments as they relate to sports. Discussions of ethical situations based on past and current sports news and events will be integrated into each class. Topic discussions will focus on equity for women, people of color and disabilities, the health and safety of athletes, illegal recruitment of student-athletes, use of performance-enhancing drugs, agents, and gambling, among other issues.

MPSM 510: Sports Leadership and Management

The Sports Leadership and Management course introduces students to the leadership techniques, tools and theories associated with leaders and managers in the sports industry. The course is designed to have students analyze management decisions and their impact as well as the process of how decisions are made. Management issues and organizational behavior are examined, and students are presented with opportunities to develop and understand key leadership and management skills. The course’s association with a local professional franchise or other organization will provide a unique perspective on leadership and management in the sports industry.

MPSM 520: Social Responsibility and Diversity in Sports

This course examines the issues of social responsibility in the modern, global sports world. Through readings, discussion, and role-playing, this course explores the stereotypes, misconceptions, and social elements of a changing sports landscape.

MPSM 600: Strategic Sports Marketing

An examination of marketing issues specific to the sports industry based on the application of basic marketing principles to a range of sports organizations. This course will analyze the field of sports and lifestyle marketing with the practices, applications, and strategies of mainstream marketing. Course content will focus on a framework that will leverage sport to connect brands and consumers in measurable ways when applied.

MPSM 700: Sports Business and Finance

This course provides a broad overview of the sports business marketplace, including the financial and accounting acumen necessary for executives to succeed in sports organizations. The goal is to provide hands-on and practical experience to prepare students for real-time business challenges. Topics as they relate to these sectors include fiscal and budgetary control, ownership, and the skills used in the day-to-day operations of professional and amateur sports organizations. The course will relate theory to real-world examples and take advantage of current events.

MPSM 900: Capstone

This course provides students with an opportunity to apply what they have learned in the program by producing one substantial piece of work under the tutelage of an industry sponsor and the program faculty. The subject will be appropriate to the student's chosen interest. Students will have the opportunity to present their work for review and advice from industry professionals. Each student will be assisted in devising a strategy to support the topic of interest, consistent with the course goals, by the semester's end. Assignments and materials will also focus on preparing the students for their sports business careers after completion and successful graduation from the program.

Elective Course Options

MPSM 610: Sports Communications and Public Relations

This course examines the role of public relations, mass media and social media in sports communications. Students will focus on understanding the operation of sports media and communications at all levels of sports (amateur, collegiate, professional), the role of sports in American society and how publicists, agents and sports marketers perform their jobs. This course aims to provide the students with a conceptual, strategic, and technical understanding of the operation and business of sports communications at all levels of sports. Students will learn to analyze and apply sports communications concepts and practices through class lectures, writing assignments, guest speakers, and a final project.

MPSM 620: Sports Sales, Sponsorship, and Revenue Development

An exploration of techniques used to sell and generate revenue in the sports industry. Topics include sports revenue streams, sales prospecting, the sales process, sales proposal development, sponsor solicitation, sponsor activation, ticket sales, sports broadcast and digital media, monetization of content, licensing, new business development, and the commercialization of technology.

MPSM 630: Sports Digital Media and Consumer Engagement

This course will focus on the principles behind the emergence and consumption of digital and social media. Students will gain an understanding of the consumer needs that have determined the success of digital media, its differentiation and integration with traditional marketing channels and how sports teams, brands and properties have adapted to utilize within their marketing strategies. The course will further cover the evolution of sports content from wired to mobile consumption and how that has changed the dynamics of the metrics that determine winners and losers.

MPSM 710: Sports Law, Contracts, and Negotiation

This course provides an in-depth overview and analysis of legal principles and ethical issues in professional sports. Issues that are identified, analyzed, and explored include athlete representation, labor law, antitrust exemption, arbitration, collective bargaining, salary cap administration, free agency, and the application of ethics as a method in the decision-making and problem-solving process.

MPSM 720: Sports Event Planning and Facility Management

This course provides students with an understanding of the requirements and complexities involved in planning and managing major sports events and venues in relation to their social, cultural, and global environment. Featured topics include the analysis of goals and resources, the development of the revenue streams, design and coordination, scheduling and operations, staff management and the implementation of action plans.

MPSM 730: Sports Economics and Global Brand Management

This course reviews core economic concepts, including opportunity costs, absolute and comparative advantage, supply and demand model, price ceilings, and market structures. These core concepts are then related to the unique environment of sports. The course addresses sports economic behavior related to leagues, maximizing profits, tax and profit planning, accounting, monopolies, barriers to entry, monopsony, baseball’s antitrust exemption, and competitive balance. The course also reviews other unique sports economic behavior, including public finance, labor economics and the not-for-profit sector. Branding, as a tool to increase economic value, is linked to sports unique environment and the related economic behavior.

MPSM 800: Internship I

The MPSM 800 (Internship I) program is designed to help you get the most out of your internship to prepare you for your career after Sports Industry Management. This course's assignments will combine the real-world experience gained at the organization at which you are interning with academically guided discussions in a classroom workshop setting. These two strategies — classroom/theoretical training and professional/practical experience — complement each other and together will ground you in the reality of daily life in the sports industry while at the same time enable an increased understanding of professional culture. Internship placement should be viewed as a component of a larger, integrated academic experience preparing you for a successful entry into the sports industry immediately upon graduation.

MPSM 810: Internship II

The MPSM 810 (Internship II) course is an extension of your work and assignments in MPSM 800 (Internship I). As you get closer to graduation from Sports Industry Management, this course is intended to guide you to seamlessly obtain a full-time job upon graduation by giving you the tools to be successful at the entry level. This course also will help you get the most out of your internship, combining the real-world experience gained at the organization at which you are interning with academically guided discussions in a classroom workshop setting. These two strategies — classroom/theoretical training and professional/practical experience — complement each other and together will ground you in the reality of daily life in the sports industry while at the same time enable an increased understanding of professional culture. Therefore, the internship placement should be viewed as a component of a larger, integrated academic experience.

MPSM 845: The Business of Global Sporting Events

Global Sporting Events such as the Olympics, the World Cup, the Super Bowl, and other annual championships can bring revenue to a country, state, region, or city and define a community’s image to the world. This interdisciplinary course will focus on the business of putting on a global sporting event from the bidding process to the economic development and political implications involved with the building of facilities, security, sponsorships to game-day execution and fan engagement. The connection between the development of the economy of a country and sports is becoming stronger. This course will look at the many parts that make up a country’s path to hosting a global sporting event, how trends are changing in choosing host cities, how sustainability is a dominant factor, and how profit is one, but not the only, measurement of success.

MPSM 857: Sports Business Analytics

The use of data-driven decision making for managers is an essential component of the sports industry's future. During this course, students will examine the use of analytical techniques and quantitative methods in the areas of marketing, ticket sales, and business operations. Skills such as critical thinking, mathematical modeling, statistical analysis, predictive analytics, and optimization are crucial skills needed by sport managers. The course seeks to develop and refine these skills in the business application area of sport management.

Accreditation

All programs offered by Georgetown University are accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

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