Professional Preparation in Sports Management: From 'A National Study on Professional Preparation in Sports Management.'

During the spring of 1997, 242 academic institutions were surveyed concerning professional preparation in sport management; 132 institutions (59.1 percent) responded. Among respondents, 78 (59.1 percent) indicated they had an undergraduate degree program in sport management, while 65 (49.2 percent) provide a graduate sport management degree. Eighty (60.6 percent) institutions offer undergraduate sport management course(s); 69 (52.3 percent) offer courses at the graduate level. Of the 21 institutions that reported having no degree or course offering in sport management, only 4 (19 percent) indicated that they were considering a program in the future. Other findings included: (1) most sport management programs (48.2 percent) are administratively structured in departments of Physical Education or Kinesiology; (2) the primary emphasis of the sport management programs was divided between sport programming in recreational settings and professional sports marketing and services; and (3) only 25.6 percent of programs were accredited. Also included in this report are sample course catalog descriptions; a sample course topical outline; and lists of student evaluation methods, teacher-directed instructional strategies, sample course objectives, sample professional journals and publications, sample textbooks and publications, examples of student projects and assignments, sources for resource materials, and the institutions participating in the study. (DB)