Explore the attractions of acquiring a Sports Management degree!

Before we start telling you why you should pursue a sports management degree, let’s get familiar with some statistics. The graph depicts the revenue generated in the global sports market from 2005 to 2017.

Let’s put that in perspective with other major industries:

• Restaurant industry – $400 billion
• Real Estate industry – $310 billion
• Auto industry – $220 billion
• Education sector – $50 billion

The sports industry has grown by 12 per cent year-on-year. FICCI’s Vision document 2014 estimates a total requirement of 4 million human resources across the industry by 2022.

While these numbers clearly talk volumes about the opportunities that lie ahead in the sports industry, it’s interesting to understand the transformation that India has witnessed over the last decade, owing to the influx of various sporting leagues like the Indian Premier League, Pro Kabaddi League, Premier Badminton League, Ultimate Table Tennis League, ISL, Futsal etc. These leagues have not just aided in creating awareness about sports but also increased the affinity of people towards the same the consumption of sports on television has grown tremendously and galvanised the development of sports in India. This has therefore helped in making middle-class parents receptive to the idea of their children pursuing careers in sports.

The field of sports offers a pool of opportunities like managing and creating sporting properties; managing athletes, curating venues; creating wealth and marketing of events or developing businesses, etc.

Sounds interesting and lucrative enough? But a thriving sports industry doesn’t imply that you can show up to an interview in your varsity jacket, boasting of a passion for sports and be handed the keys to a lavish corner office.

Are you wondering how you can differentiate yourself from other sports-loving worker bees? The answer is an advanced degree in sports management.

“The benefit of a sports management degree is that it provides the student with a basic understanding of the nuances and intricacies of the sports business,” says Nilesh Kulkarni, Founder-Director, International Institute of Sports Management, Mumbai.

We at IISM take the student from being a fan and teach him/her that there is more to the sports business than just cheering for your team.

First Things First: What to Expect From a Career in Sports Management?

Before you declare you’re major as sports management, you need to understand what your end target is. Some of the most popular jobs in sports management are:

• Public Relations
• Sales
• Analytics
• Management
• Social Media
• Business Development
• Consulting

It’s a misconception that pursuing a sports management degree means that you are on the fast track to an assignment as the Manager of your favourite Cricket Celebrity or as the CEO of a sports management company. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s essential to be realistic about your goals and figure out if a Sports management degree can help you achieve those goals. However, the fact is that you don’t have to figure this out on the day you enrol for a course. You can take your time and work out your areas of interest within the ambit of Sports Management.

Sports management is a popular and rapidly growing field, with newly-developing opportunities waiting to be engaged by the right candidates. IISM strives to be an institute that creates young heroes with the ability & agility to unfurl new prospects in the sports sector & the business that surrounds it. Whatever your interest in sports, athletics or recreation, you can find a way in which it is relevant to the discipline of sports management. This broad field includes constituent areas of study as statistical mathematics, business administration, health, developmental psychology, fitness, and game theory.

Let’s now dive deep into the most attractive aspects of studying sports management:

Impact the Community

Athletes are expected to give their all on the field of play, and they’re supposed to do the same in their communities too. Many professional athletes use their social and financial status to help others, but they don’t do it by themselves. As a sports manager, you get to help your clients to identify service opportunities and coordinate public appearances. Some sports management professionals even work as individual consultants to athletes who want to make a difference.

Possibility of working With Celebrities

As a sports management professional, you could be working with sports celebrities, helping them shape their careers and guiding them to new opportunities. You will be able to make acquaintance with professional athletes, and will probably have the chance to meet some of the individuals you could have only admired had you not chosen this field, particularly at social events and charitable engagements.

A Diverse Range of Careers Awaits You

As stated above, sports management includes a broad range of disciplines, and it borrows from each of them to create an overall enterprise administration and management strategy. Moreover, the skills which you develop at IISM as part of a sports management program are of use across the modern world, from a private consulting capacity or an administrative or executive standpoint. Sports management professionals can be seen as motivational counsellors, speakers, and book publishers. Sports management as a career path opens many doors for you.

Follow Your Passion

There is a saying; “The best form of work is the one that doesn’t feel like work at all.” If you are passionate about sports, and you want to be a part of all the lively and lovely things that sports are about, then a sports management at IISM is the one you need to work towards. It will allow you to follow your dreams of working in the field of professional sports, while simultaneously improving your career prospects with a wide range of relevant, in-demand skills.

Impress Prospective Employers

The field of sports management is known for the range of skills that it embraces, and those who stand out for their performance within this field are widely desirable candidates for employers. Should the career path of sports management not suit you in the future, you don’t have to be concerned about “wasting your education.” The business world offers several administrative opportunities where a degree in sports management would make you an asset to your new employer. A Sports management qualification can put you on the fast track to personal success, even outside of the field of professional athletics and recreation.

Written by Team IISM