Research on Career Options

Sport Management is a field of study that offers a wide variety of job opportunities and is a fast-growing area of employment. It is a field that takes the knowledge of two major areas: sports and business. While at UNA there were three different concentrations in the sport management field: Communication, Management, and Marketing. In this overview of jobs, I will be focusing on the management because that will be the one I am pursing a degree in.

Sports Facility Director is a position that does a great deal of work behind the scenes. They are responsible for all events that take place in the sport facilities such as practice fields, game fields, and weight rooms. On an average day, the facility would be the first one to show up and the last one to leave. They would be in charge of everything from keeping the shrubbery in check to the getting the visitor’s locker room cleaned. They would need to have good communication skills because they would work with people in all areas.

One of the most prestigious job titles in sport management is athletic director. This is a title that most all the other jobs in the field would answer to on a day to basis. They are the figurehead and spokesperson on middle schools, high schools, and universities. Athletic directors are in charge of staffing, overseeing budgets, and being the liaison between athletic personnel and school officials. At the high school level, athletic directors may be more hands on due the small staff size while collegiate athletic directors will have a larger staff and can delegate the duties.

The title of Director of Team Operations is a very honorable title in the sport management field. The person with this title would oversee training and supervising new employees and keeping track of their progress. They work a large amount with planning team trips and events. This person breaks down costs for all parts of team trips such as food, travel, and hotel stay. They would also help with events such as recruiting trips by making sure that the recruits are in arrive on time to all the different stops.

Equipment managers are perhaps one of the most overlooked positions in the all of athletics. The slew of behind the scenes work that they do can range from fixing equipment, doing laundry for coaches and players, and doing everything else that the coaches and players need. Some universities are run solely by student managers who receive scholarships while larger universities have full time employees that are paid on a salary basis. Equipment managers help set up and run drills in practice and help transport equipment to and from games. This a position that exists in every level of athletics. Equipment managers at the professional level are paid very highly, even as high as $100,000 a year.