Sports Management Applied Minor (AM)
The sports management applied minor is designed to introduce you to the global sports and recreation industry while focusing on a variety of disciplines tailored to your individual interests.

Combining passions
Gain the skills required to enter the highly competitive sports management field with a unique academic and applied lens that emphasizes the holistic side of sports business, marketing, leadership, finance and education.
Hands-on experience
Students in this program have presented at national conferences including Decision Sciences Institute and Production & Operations Management and procured internships with minor league baseball teams, professional soccer teams, semi-pro football teams and college athletic offices across the country.
Graduate outcomes
Graduates of the sports management applied minor program continued on with graduate studies in sports leadership, exercise science and business school.
Program details
The breadth of courses required to attain the sports management applied minor builds a well-rounded individual, knowledgeable not only of sports and management but of education, the environment, psychology, and athletics, wellness and physical education.
Applied minors (AMs) are distinctive programs allowing you to personalize your education and to help you make direct connections between academic interests and co-curricular activities.
Courses
You are required to take the following course in fulfillment of a sports management applied minor:
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- MGMT 260 Contemporary Sports Management, offered alternative years
In addition, you are required to take four courses from the following options:
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- MGMT 141 World of Business
- MGMT 200 Financial Accounting
- MGMT 211 Leadership: Theory & Practice
- MGMT 342 Leadership and Dealing with Differences
- EDUC 120 Foundations of Education — offered alternative years
- EDUC 248 Theory and Practice of Education — offered alternative years
- PSYC 372 Psychology of Sport — offered alternative years
- ENSU/EDUC 210 Outdoor and Environmental Education
- AWPE 341 Exercise Physiology—offered alternative years
- AWPE 342 Kinesiology
- Independent Research Study (minimum 2 credits)
- If another course is offered that relates to both sports and the student’s interest, this may be selected in consultation with the sports management convener (e.g., Earlham Seminars).
Note: You may not take all five courses in a designated discipline. You must select at least one course from a minimum of three designated disciplines (e.g., one MGMT, one EDUC, one PSYC) and then the remaining two required courses can be from the area that is of primary interest to the student.
Co-curricular activity
You will complete one of the following co-curricular activities:
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- On-campus opportunities within Athletics, Marketing and Communications, the Sports Information Office or special events (must be approved by both the sports management convener and a representative from the respective office/department).
- Volunteer experiences with relevant organizations such as K-12 organizations, city/state government, the Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, YWCA, etc.
- Other opportunities in consultation with and approved by the sports management convener.
Culminating experience
You will also complete a substantial research paper composed of either a primary or secondary research study on a topic of your choosing in consultation with your adviser or faculty member and in consultation with the sports management convener.
This research project incorporates various aspects of the sports management curricula and consists of either a publishable paper or a poster presentation suited to the appropriate academic conference.
The purpose of this experience is to tailor a project to your area of interest with the intent of producing a creative, scholarly outcome geared towards graduate school or a job-talk paper and presentation.

Our faculty
Because they teach courses in operations management, information systems, leadership, marketing, exercise science and outdoor education, the sports management faculty bring a diverse and applied academic perspective to this applied minor.
Have questions?
Learn more about declaring your interest in an applied minor and find answers to other questions you may not even know you have.