Sport Management
Since 1981, the Sport Management Undergraduate Program has prepared students for careers in professional sport, intercollegiate athletics, sport facilities and many other sport-related businesses.
Over the years, the sport management curriculum has evolved to adapt and better suit the needs of the industry. Students are required to complete a three-credit internship. The "hands-on" experience provided in the internship becomes an excellent opportunity for students to learn sport business skills while the sport organization evaluates a potential future employee. The internship has become the cornerstone of a student's learning experience.
While the curriculum emphasizes business and managerial skills, it is also multidisciplinary. Students are required to complete courses from many other schools and colleges across campus, including Journalism, Communications, Business and Economics, and Arts and Sciences. There are five full-time faculty dedicated to making a student’s academic experiences the best they can possibly be.
Career Profile
Graduates are employed in professional and collegiate sport organizations and many other for-profit and not-for-profit sport organizations. Careers include athletic director, sport marketing specialist, facility manager, director of operations and ticket managers.
Sample Course Schedules
Wondering what your typical day might be like? We used students’ real course schedules to create these examples.
Freshman Year
ENGL 101 Composition and Rhetoric JRL 101 Media and Society COMM 102 Human Communication in the Interpersonal Context COMM 100 Principles of Human Communication SM 167 Introduction to Sport ManagementSenior Year
SM 425 Facility Planning SM 485 Sport Management SM 483 Sport Management Internship Project SM 385 Sport Economics SM 487 Issues in Sport StudiesBy the Numbers
Facts and figures that make this major unique:
- WVU has the only Sport Management program in the U.S. that uses data from the ESPN Sports Poll in the classroom setting.
English Proficiency Requirements
All applicants whose first language is not English must provide proof of English language proficiency. WVU accepts either the TOEFL or the IELTS for this purpose. Learn more about our English language proficiency requirements.
Accreditation Information
WVU is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
WVU’s sport management major has received program approval by meeting program review guidelines established by NASPE/NASSM.
