Before you advance your education with a focus on the field of sports, you should find out about the careers available with a Master's in Sports Management. Having your graduate degree can help you accelerate the time it takes to travel down your career path in virtually any field but when it comes to sports management, you have to understand what a master's degree in this major will prepare you to do. If you're not familiar with the career paths that will open up after you have your Master's in Sports Management, here's are some of the more popular options:
Marketing Managers for Sports Organizations
One of the higher paying career paths that you can choose when you have a passion for sports and you're looking for a realistic career to pursue is marketing management. When you have a masters-level education, you'll be qualified to work as a marking coordinator, a brand manager, a program manager, or even a director after you've gained experience.
Your duties will revolve around researching marketing strategies and planning campaigns to advertise a team or a sports organization to the public. You might be asked to create campaigns to increase ticket sales or to come up with advertising materials to increase youth sports sign ups. It all depends on where you're working.
Fitness Club or Recreation Club Manager
A degree program in sports management is designed to develop a wide range of business skills as they pertain to different sports organizations. That's why graduates of these master's programs will be prepared to manage fitness clubs and recreation clubs. With your degree, you'll learn the law, management techniques, budget, ethics, fitness, public relations and more. Since a huge focus is placed on the business side of things, you'll be equipped with the knowledge needed to manage an entire center.
Athletics Trainer or Team Coach
There usually isn't a lot of money in coaching youth sports. Most coaches who have their own team will either volunteer to gain experience or they will earn close to minimum wage. The great thing about coaching communities is that everyone talks. If you have a good reputation and you combine that with education, you could attract schools that pay their coaches nice salaries.
If you have your Master's in Sports Management, you'll have the educational side down when you're looking for coaching positions or possibly athletic trainer jobs. Schools, especially schools that take their sports programs seriously, are always looking for good candidates to lead their teams and to train their star athletes one-on-one.
Athletic Director Positions
If you already have experience coaching and you'd like to take your career to the next level, the next option would be to pursue a position as an athletic director. Directors supervise coaches and also work to develop the athletic programs that the coaches and PE teachers must follow. In a higher education setting, directors earn an average of $110,192 per year, according to Salary.com. This is why it is such a competitive field.
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If you'd like to study sports management, there are a lot of different routes you can go after school. From coaching and training to managing a facility, the sky is the limit. Do a lot of research on competition in the field and average salaries so that you can choose careers available with a Master's in Sports Management wisely.