Curriculum

This course consists of two parts — theoretical and practical. From the theory perspective, this is an introductory course in descriptive and inferential statistics. The course approaches the abstract concepts in a systematic and logical progression, so that they are easily attainable. The topics include levels of measurement, frequency distributions, measures of central tendency and dispersion, probabilities and normal distribution, sampling distribution of the mean, and confidence intervals, among others. Students will learn the logic of hypothesis testing and have a general understanding of how the statistical procedures — t-test, one-way ANOVA, chi-square, correlations, and regression — work. They will learn how to select an appropriate statistical test for a given research question.

From the practical angle, the course teaches basic data analysis skills through hands-on lab assignments involving real data, mostly from social sciences and tourism. The lab part of the course has a steep, but manageable, learning curve when students get to know SPSS software, its interface, and main commands. For the first 2-3 weeks of the course, students should allocate the appropriate amount of time for SPSS assignments. At the end of the course students are expected to have basic working knowledge of SPSS and be able to:

• Organize, present, and interpret data
• Choose appropriate statistical procedures to answer a particular research questions
• Apply most common univariate and bivariate statistical tests
• Read SPSS output and interpret test results

The purpose of this course is to provide graduate students in the Department of Sport Management and related fields with an introductory survey of research methods. Lectures and field-based participation prepare the student to understand key components of academic/business research, such as:

• Problem research
• Hypothesis construction
• Review of literature
• Questionnaire design
• Pilot data collection and analyses
• Formulation of a research proposal
• Research presentations

Ultimately, the basic understanding of the research methods will enhance decision-making ability in solving various research/business-related problems.

This course will be taught in a seminar-style manner, with student-led presentations and discussions. Through the reading of journal articles and book chapters, we will utilize sociological concepts, theories, and research to critically examine social issues in sport. These issues include, but are not limited to:

• Racism
• Sexism
• Classism
• Discrimination
• Homophobia
• Violence
• The media
• The influence of sport on youth culture

After completing this course, students should be able to:

• Better understand the link between research, theory, and practice in a sport context
• Critically examine social issues as they relate to those who manage, participate in, and consume sport and any/all segments of the industry
• Consider and discuss personal experiences as well as the experiences of others as they relate to the marginalization of individuals and groups in society and sport cultures.
• Better appreciate and understand the potential benefits of and need for diversity in sport.

Through case studies, in-class discussion, and a practical exercise creating a marketing plan for a large, global sport organization (using scenarios provided by the instructor), students perform an in-depth examination of modern marketing techniques for sport professionals.

After completing this course, students should be able to:

• Apply sport marketing knowledge to case studies to solve problems
• Compose strategies to solve sport marketing problems in sponsorship and marketing mix decisions
• Identify key aspects of the social media marketing environment for sports marketing
• Identify critical marketing issues that are of relevance to the current sport consumer
• Develop a marketing plan for a sport organization

SPM 5506 Sport Finance will equip aspiring sport managers with the skills to enhance their financial decision-making in a management role, applying concepts to the continually evolving landscape of the sports industry. By the end of this course, the student will:

• Understand basic financial concepts
• Know when to use each of these concepts in a management situation
• Have the ability to communicate what these results mean in business from a decision-making standpoint.

The course will specifically focus on decision-making with respect to financial considerations, with real-world and hypothetical problems based within the sports industry. While this class is geared toward some unique aspects of the field, the skills acquired will help with making decisions in any business platform.

In this course, we explore the critical function of leadership in the management of organizations. Building from the academic foundations of industrial psychology, organizational behavior, and organizational theory, we consider the degree to which leadership is of strategic import to organizational operations. We approach the topic from a variety of directions (including classical leadership theory, biographical studies, analyses of contemporary issues of leadership, philosophical debate, and personal experiences) and disciplines (both inside sport and out). In addition to gaining an advanced understanding of leadership theory and practice, students will consider their own approaches to leading organizations.

This course will not produce new leaders. Instead, it will provide students with an environment to engage in critical thought, scholarly discourse, and philosophical debate about what it means to lead.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Define leadership based on myriad attributes and actions rather than position in the organization
• Identify examples of leadership from a number of unique perspectives
• Apply classical leadership theory to contemporary management challenges
• Collaborate with colleagues and propose real-world solutions to contemporary sport management issues
• Develop personal leadership philosophies designed to guide future decision-making
• Recognize the scope of their own organizational influence as leaders in the sport industry

This course is designed to introduce students to the legal structures, statutes, case law, and standards that establish legal responsibilities, rights, privileges, and controls related to the field of sport management.

Course Objectives:

• To introduce the student to the U.S. legal system
• To introduce the student to legal research
• To introduce the student to the role of law in sport and other physical activity programs
• To provide the student with opportunities to study specific standards, legislation, case law, governing bodies, and legal issues related to the sport industry
• To provide the student with opportunities to make presentations and conduct research on sport-law-related topics.

Topics covered include:

• The United States legal system
• Research skills for the study of law
• Tort law, negligence, product liability
• Risk management
• Constitutional law and issues
• Drug testing issues
• Contract law
• Employment law
• Legislation affecting physically/mentally challenged individuals
• Gender issues & Title IX
• Sport governing bodies and professional associations

The purpose of this course is to provide students with an in-depth examination of various topics in sport psychology that emanate from both the parent discipline of psychology and facets specific to athletics. Of particular importance will be exploration of the theoretical bases of each of the constructs of interest while also critically examining the empirical literature that supports and refutes traditional and contemporary frameworks. Given its science to practice orientation, practical examples of how the sport psychology literature informs applied work with athletes and other performers will also be explored. Students will develop a greater appreciation of the scientific foundations of sport psychology, will be prepared to generate meaningful empirical questions and hypotheses in the area, will become familiar with the typical protocols used in sport psychology research, and will gain a firm understand the conceptual bases that underlie the practice of sport psychology.

In this course students learn how event management methods enable successful planning for sport events. They apply the following skills to realistic scenarios:

• Evaluate the event management process
• Recommend event management tactics for successful planning and delivery of sport events
• Analyze the managerial challenges of planning and managing sport events
• Apply risk management strategies for sport events
• Evaluate qualities of successful leaders
• Create sustainable practices for sport events

This course will provide an overview and study of the main skills utilized by athlete development specialists, including how to manage the intersection of elite athletes and sport media, athlete career development, and the fundamentals of athlete personal finance.

• Demonstrate how effective public relations can establish, maintain, and improve athlete’s relationships with media, fans, sponsors, and the public
• Design and develop plans for how athletes can promote positive messages through various forms of media
• Demonstrate how athletes can manage media challenges and opportunities they may face
• Identify and implement assessment tools used to guide athletes through appropriate career transitions
• Comprehend how athlete’s interests, education, skills, and abilities provide the foundation for successful career transitions
• Describe the fundamentals of personal finance to enable athlete financial security
• Assist athletes in their basic awareness and understanding of the importance of personal finance
• Conduct action research on an aspect of athlete development of their choice and produce a professional research brief on the topic

This course is designed to encourage sport managers to think about the moral and ethical dilemmas typically encountered by managers in the sport industry. The course will better acquaint and refine sport managers’ understandings of sport relative to issues such as sportsmanship, violence, performance enhancing drugs, race, gender, and media. This will better prepare students in this class to be agents of change within the sport industry to help it strengthen and prosper. This will be accomplished through student discussions, case studies analyses, formal debates, and the development of position papers on particular topics, which will be supplemented with lectures and readings.

After successfully completing this course, students should be able to:

• Describe ethics and morals, and discuss their role and application to sport managers and the sport industry
• Apply the theoretical and foundational concepts that support ethical and moral reasoning
• Compare the similarities and differences of various ethical theories
• Discuss factors that influence their decision making and avoid negative factors that may impact their ability to be an ethical sport manager
• Identify, analyze, and debate specific issues relative to ethical dilemmas commonly encountered within the competitive sport context
• Demonstrate effective written and verbal communication such as critical thinking, deductive reasoning, decision-making, and research skills

SPM 5936 introduces students to key concepts of sexual health within athletics as it relates to the holistic wellness of athletes across all ages and levels of sport. Athlete Sexual Health and Wellness addresses critical topics such as sexual agency, sexual misconduct, healthcare services, and education for athletes, coaches, sporting organizations, and athlete development specialists. Students will explore the ways in which these topics directly impact holistic athlete wellness and their role in ensuring sexual health and wellness is made a priority alongside physical, psychological, and financial health. Assignments are designed to allow for open discussion with peers and students are expected to critically apply knowledge to practical situations which are presented to them. SPM 5936 is an introductory course to sexual wellness as a new sub-field of athlete development and successful completion will see students who are engaged with the material throughout the duration of the course.

Intercollegiate athletics and the college athlete experience are undergoing seismic shifts as athletes gain control of their name, image, and likeness and begin monetizing their personal brands for the first time. This class will serve as an introduction to name, image, and likeness rules and laws, the ways both athletic departments and college athletes are adjusting to the changes and how college athletes can develop their personal brands and pursue both short-term and long-term opportunities.

This course will be built around answering the question: “Can you take character development into the paid-to-win world of athletics and/or high performance?” Focusing on the development of the person first can help mitigate the pressures of high performance. This course will focus on the fundamentals of character development on the individual level and repurposing the sport experience to create a Person>Player environment.

This course is designed around the question, “How do I build an environment where people can do their best work?” The course will be built around discovering and creating systems to help define your team standards, catch above-the-line behavior, convert below-the-line behavior, and model your expectations within a team environment.

This course will be built around the question: “How do you foster intrinsic motivation and self-awareness with the people that you lead?” Great leaders do not need another teller in their lives, but they do need/want a thinking partner. This class will show you how to use tools to build a platform where people can coach themselves. Content will be centered around actual conversations with high-performers demonstrating the use of a multitude of tools to build these skills.

This course will be built around the question, “What are the top 3 things that get in the way of a team maximizing its abilities?” The goal of this course is to delve into the human-related issues that can get in the way and create structure, systems, and organize content to provide teams the platforms for dealing with those issues. Using a sport example, the course will follow two teams, Oregon women’s basketball and Gonzaga men’s basketball, over the course of a season and provide real-world examples of how human-related issues were addressed.

With the youth sport coach and youth practitioner in mind, this course is designed to provide evidence-based best practices and various frameworks to working professionals in the space of sports-based-youth-development (SBYD), youth sport coaching, out-of-school-time (OST), and the nonprofit sector. The varying intersectionality and historical evolution of SBYD is explored as well as the diverse opportunities for careers in the SBYD sector nationally and internationally. Lastly, through a course project, students will have the opportunity to research and design their own SBYD organization in the areas of mission, curriculum, pedagogy, culture, monitoring and evaluation, funding model, and organizational structure.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand the origins and evolution of sport, youth sport, and sport coaching as it relates to youth development.
• Identify and be able to differentiate the many frameworks, concepts, and common language of Positive Youth Development (PYD).
• Comprehend the discipline of Sports Based Youth Development along with its origins, evolution, and current working definition.
• Demonstrate examples of coaching techniques that incorporate both sport and life skill acquisition.
• Identify the diverse range of specializations within SBYD and the career opportunities within each of those specializations.
• Design and develop curriculum and pedagogy/delivery for a SBYD program/organization.
• Describe the different organizational and funding structures a SBYD program can operate within.
• Identify how SBYD programs are monitored and evaluated as it relates to intended youth and organizational outcomes.

This course will be built around the question, “Is there a way to pursue greatness without collateral damage?” This course presents conversations with high achievers showing the paradox of achievement and strategies to navigate the undermining forces of society. The goal of the course will be to help you find perspective, create priority alignment, and answer the very personal question: “What’s really important?”

This course overviews diversity and inclusion in sport organizations; provides foundational information about key terms, relevant theories, and researching diversity and inclusion; summarizes the intersection of different diversity forms and sport; and provides strategies for sport managers to create and sustain diverse and inclusive sport organizations.

Objectives: After completing this course, students should be able to:

• Summarize the reasons for an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion in sport organizations.
• Overview the three major theory classes used to study diversity, equity, and inclusion in sport organizations: managerial, sociological, and social psychological.
• Paraphrase how people engage in scholarship focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion in sport organizations.
• Summarize the basic tenets of bias and how they inform discussions of diversity, equity, and inclusion in sport organizations;
• Synthesize the categorical effects of diversity, including how people differ based on race, sex, gender, ability, appearance, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious beliefs, and social class;
• Compare and contrast the different approaches for reducing bias in sport organizations.
• Overview the strategies sport managers can take to facilitate a diverse, equitable, and inclusive sport organization.
• Apply strategies sport managers can use sport to create community change.

The purpose of this course is to provide you with a solid conceptual base for understanding the behavior of sport consumers. This course will allow you to gain exposure to a breadth of sport consumer behavior topics and relevant theories. You will learn how sport consumer behavior concepts and principles can be applied to sport management, to our roles as consumers and sport business managers, and to our everyday life. Topics include sport consumer learning, normative & behavioral decision making, sport consumer culture, well-being, social media behavior, and emerging technologies & sport consumption dynamics.
By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand and describe a variety of psychological theories and models that can explain sport consumer behavior.
• Introduce, define, and apply key consumer behavior concepts and theories to efficiently explain the phenomena observed in the sport business industry.
• Analyze and critically evaluate the sport business strategies of professionals by using cutting-edge sport consumer research to articulate business solutions.

This course explores the background and organizational structure of the Olympics from a managerial perspective. Students examine how sport event management concepts can help to meet the operational demands of the Olympic Games. By the end of the course, students can:

• Identify the structure in the Olympic movement, including international and national governing bodies
• Explain the role of the USA sport structure, including governing bodies and USOC’s role in sport development
• Identify the organizational structure of Olympic Games organizing committees and the evolution of the organization across the seven years of preparation
• Describe functional areas and their role in delivering an event within an organizing committee for the Olympic Games
• Identify and apply mega event sport event management knowledge in local sport organizations
• Identify career paths of interest in USA sport governing bodies

This class concentrates on how sport events can draw support from and make a difference in communities. Key topics include the value of building a strong network and applying management strategies to reach planned development outcomes. At the conclusion of the course, students can:

• Identify legacy outcomes for communities hosting sport events
• Describe critical areas of bid files for sport event hosting in communities
• Identify successful case studies of legacy outcomes and programmatic interventions from mega sport event hosting

Pre-requisite: SPM6726 Issues in Sport Law or equivalent experience. This course is designed to further student understanding of foundational legal principles in the field of sport management, especially those principles governing contractual relationships, agency representations, and liability for wrongful conduct. Course objectives:

• To further student understanding of the role of contracts in sport management
• To further student understanding of the principles of contract formation and enforcement
• To train students to read and understand the types of contract commonly used in the field of sport management
• To train students about the legal duties of agents as fiduciaries
• To further student understanding of the principles governing the formation and operation of agency relationships
• To further student understanding of the types of tort liability and defenses to tort liability that may arise in the sport management field
• To further student understanding of how negligence principles operate in different settings in the sports management field
• To introduce students to intentional torts such as commercial misappropriation of name or likeness that may arise in the sport management field.
• To provide a comprehensive overview of how the laws of contracts, torts, and agency affect sports management.
• To provide an understanding of the scope of liability and the basic principles of legal risk management.

Coaching sports in usually viewed from a perspective of the pursuit of performance excellence. However, studies have shown that performance excellence is, actually, dependent upon personal wellbeing. A thriving, happy individual will achieve the best performances. The athlete-centered sport model provides for the creation of best performances by placing equal emphasis on the personal development of the performer.

This course is designed to explore the athlete-centered coaching model, what it is and how to apply its elements in daily coaching and team-building. The model applies to developing a team, a school program, a recreational program, or an individual athlete. Leadership in sports is emphasized but correlation is made to business leadership and other high-performing cultures. Assignments are, largely, personally based, allowing the student to create a personal coaching plan that outlines the student’s own values and goals as a coach and a useful, step-by-step model for impacting those they lead.

Students will:

• Create an athlete-centered model of coaching by analyzing components of the athlete-centered model, prioritizing them and integrating them into a personalized coaching plan.
• Argue for justification of inclusion of the elements they chose in their personal plan using research-based supports.
• Compare and contrast transformational leadership to transactional leadership models and be able to classify leadership they have witnessed and experienced in the past as transactional or transformational.
• Associate the changes and demands of youth development, findings through research and general culture to the methods and needs of coaching, coaches and business leaders, past and present.

Law governs many aspects of business. An understanding of legal rules provides a framework for making sound business decisions and facilitates commercial transactions. The course will cover: Starting a business (entity choice); Real estate finance, zoning; Insurance; Structuring compensation; Tax planning/wealth management; and Post sports career investment (M&A due diligence, franchising, etc.). Course objectives:

• To improve analytical problem solving and ethical decision making skills.
• To apply knowledge and skills to address and manage potential problems before they become actual, expensive problems.
• To evaluate expert advice and determine the extent to which it should be incorporated into business decisions.
• To provide a general understanding of the major legal issues that impact the business environment for sports businesses and sports players.
• To provide knowledge of specific basic laws which affect business structure and finance.

This course is designed to provide future sport management professionals (SMP’s) and coaches with a proven playbook on character literacy development CLD in youth and amateur athletics. This course provides one of the most comprehensive and progressive sports-based character curricula in the country. Course objectives:

• Gain a deeper understanding of the plight of youth and amateur sport today through the current literature on the topic
• Investigate and articulate why participation in youth sport is declining at a rate of close to 6% each year
• Take a look back in time at their own amateur athletic experience to compare to youth today
• Understand how to effectively and consistently identify, promote, develop, and assess for comprehension and retention of the immeasurable value of character literacy development in our youth
• Identify, analyze, and debate “real” issues in coaching and parenting relative to ethical dilemmas commonly encountered within the competitive amateur sport context (i.e. Does teaching or emphasizing character soften our kids? Can you still win and teach character? Has our culture forgotten how to win?)
• Demonstrate effective written and verbal communication such as critical thinking, deductive reasoning, decision-making pertaining to the ever evolving field of athletic coaching
• Understand that character values learned through sport must be taught and emphasized by parents, coaches, and administrators through a systematic building-block approach that is adapted to the level and age of the student-athletes
• Facilitate real-life application of theory at youth recreation centers as coaches/mentors

This subject is an intensive introduction to the law of antitrust, intellectual property, and consumer protection and data privacy. Antitrust focuses typically on monopolization and other “restraints of trade”. We will focus on: joint ventures, sports leagues, and the NCAA. The course also focuses on copyrights, provides a brief look at trademarks, presents comparisons of what can and cannot be protected, and what rights the owner does and does not obtain. We also will address how these IP issues play out in the context of licensing. The course will examine the legal implications of technological options to collect and commercialize personal data and the potential privacy implications therein.

Course Objectives:

• To further student understanding of the role of antitrust, intellectual property, consumer protection, and data privacy in sport management.
• To increase student awareness of current legal issues and emerging legal in antitrust, intellectual property, consumer protection, and data privacy trends in sport.
• To learn to think critically and analytically about the intersection between the law and technology as it relates to monetization of sports businesses.
• To examine the role of antitrust and labor laws in the professional sport industry.
• To provide an understanding of the basic principles of legal risk management.

This course is designed to explore the critical function of leadership in the management of sport organizations. Building from the academic foundations of industrial psychology, organizational behavior, and organizational theory, we consider the degree to which leadership is of strategic importance to organizational operations. In addition to gaining an advanced understanding of leadership theory and practice, students will consider their own approaches to leading organizations. This course will provide students with an environment to engage in critical thought, scholarly discourse, and philosophical debate about what it means to lead.

Sponsorship spending accounts for over $23 billion annually in North America alone. Sport sponsorship accounts for roughly 70 percent, or $16.37 billion annually. In this class we will aim to understand how sport sponsorship differs from advertising and why it is seen as an effective marketing tool. Through the exploration of various types of sponsorship, students will also be able to formulate their own creative solutions to achieve partner brand objectives. Further, students will gain a firm understanding in how sport sponsorships are sought out, formulated, evaluated, and activated to produce positive ROI and ROO for partner brands. ​

Sustainability and Sport is the first online course of its kind to be offered within a land grant university’s sports management program. The education is focused on integrating major concepts in environmental sustainability such as renewable energy, water conservation, recycling, and social responsibility, and learning how it applied within the sports industry. The course modules focus on making a case for sustainability in sports, strategic planning and marketing through sports, professional and collegiate sports sustainability programs. The course features industry interviews include: the National Hockey League Green, Amalie Arena and the Tampa Lightning, the US Open Tennis, NASCAR Green, Green Sports Alliance, Mercedes Benz Stadium Atlanta, and Protect Our Winters. Through case studies, in-class discussions and practical exercises, students gain an understanding of the components of a successful sustainability program and learn how they can collaborate to solve important environmental issues impacting the sports industry today.

Prerequisite: completion of at least full 2 semesters (18 credit hours) of course work applicable to sport management.

Full-time, practical experience in sport management taken during the last 18 credit hours of the curriculum. Students can complete this requirement with a relevant organization of their choice (pending advisor and site approval). The student’s advisor will assist with student placement and serve as the university supervisor.

Every 48 hours of time spent working in a practical, real-world setting translates to 1 credit hour of coursework. Students can earn a maximum of 9 credits through the internship.

To register for an internship course, students must complete and submit the following proposal form to their advisor for review.

Practical experience in sport management with an active sport organization taken any time during the curriculum. Students can fulfill this requirement at a location of their choosing (pending advisor and site approval). The student’s advisor will assist with student placement and serve as the university supervisor.

Every 48 clock hours of time spent working in a practical, real-world setting translates to 1 credit hour of coursework. Students can earn a maximum of 6 credits through the Practicum.

To register for a practicum course, students must complete and submit the following proposal form to their advisor for review.