Your 2026 Guide to a Career in Sports Management

Key takeaways

A career in sports management ranges from event coordination to managing sports teams, with roles like athletic director or facility manager.

• The sports sponsorship industry may reach $160 billion by the year 2030 [1].

• As a sports management professional, you’ll typically need communication, decision-making, and CPR skills.

• You can become a sports management professional by pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in subjects such as business, marketing, or public relations.

Discover what sports managers do, the qualifications you need to become one, and how much you can earn. Afterward, consider enrolling in the Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate. You’ll have the opportunity to learn how to visualize and present data findings in dashboards, presentations, and commonly used visualization platforms, which can help you in a sports management career. Upon completion, add this shareable credential to your resume or LinkedIn profile.

What is sports management?

Sports management is a broad career field that covers every aspect of managing sports teams, athletes, sporting events, and facilities. Sports management is an essential part of collegiate and professional sports, as teams tend to operate as businesses. A good sports management program can reach fans, boost ticket sales, support athletes, and ensure a smooth game day.

Sport management can be an exciting career path for people who want to combine their passion for athletics with business know-how.

Want to know what's coming in sports?

PwC's 2025 Sports Industry Outlook makes some exciting predictions for the future of sports [1]. Here are just a few:

• The sports sponsorship industry will continue to grow and may even reach $160 billion by the year 2030.

• Artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to dominate the sports industry, specifically in the media delivery of sports-related content.

• Fans have taken a liking to personalized experiences and memorabilia, such as autographed items and limited-edition merchandise.

What does a sports manager do?

Sports management encompasses many roles, including coaching a team; representing pro athletes as an agent; running an athletic program at a middle school, high school, recreational center, college, or university; managing professional sports teams; managing a facility; or coordinating events.

Your duties will vary depending on your role, the organization you're a part of, the level of the sport, and the geographic location. To give you an idea of what you can expect, here's a list of projects and tasks you might be responsible for:

• Leading public relations between your team, coach, other staff, and the media

• Managing accounting and finance for the team, including revenue, budgets, and debts

• Arranging travel plans for the team

• Monitoring ticket sales and coming up with ways to improve them

• Scheduling events involving the team or athletes

• Seeking out sponsors, partners, and brands that want to work with your team or athletes

• Ensuring event facilities and stadiums are operating smoothly

• Analyzing contracts and other legal documents

• Hiring and managing coaches and other personnel

• Promoting teams, athletes, events, and merchandise through digital and traditional marketing

• Ensuring teams have the right equipment and uniforms

• Enforcing rules and regulations set by the school, league, conference, or organization

Sports management jobs

Working in sports management encompasses multiple career options, with each one requiring unique degrees, experience, and skills. Let's explore a few roles:

Athletic director 

Athletic directors typically work at the collegiate level, though some may work for high schools with extensive sports programs. A bachelor's degree is generally required; for some larger programs, you may need a master's degree. As an athletic director, you might hire coaches, set budgets, coordinate with the school's academic departments, raise team funds, and ensure the team has everything it needs, including equipment, uniforms, and transportation to away games.

You'll also ensure that your school follows all rules and ethics set by the conference in which your teams play. You’ll also ensure facilities and venues are in top shape for games and practices. People who work as athletic directors must have a mind for numbers, be organized, and be able to communicate with coaches and other staff.

Facility manager

Rather than manage a team or organization, facility managers are in charge of the actual venues where teams play and practice. That means keeping up with day-to-day activities at that location and ensuring everything is ready for game time. You'll likely manage facility staff, make decisions about new designs, maintain facility upkeep, ensure the facility stays clean, and possibly even handle ticket sales. Facility management requires you to be a strong leader with excellent decision-making and strategic skills.

Event coordinator 

While facility managers take care of the actual physical facility, an event coordinator arranges the events that will take place there. Some of these job duties may overlap, depending on where you work. Responsibilities might include marketing, ticket sales, scheduling, contacting the media, and coordinating with the facility manager to ensure everything is ready for events. Depending on where you work, you may also be responsible for some non-sporting events. Event coordinators must be great problem solvers and multitaskers. People skills are also a must.

Sports agent

Sports agents represent individual athletes as they navigate their careers. They might help them get drafted, help them negotiate contracts, handle sponsorships, and handle their public relations. Essentially, you are your athletes' guide through their careers. Your ultimate goal is to help them achieve as much success as possible. Sports agents must be team players who want to win. They must be great negotiators and excellent communicators. Many have advanced degrees, or even law degrees, and may be required to become licensed to work in various sports and leagues.

Take a peek at how to recruit clients as a sports agent in this video from the Case Western Reserve University course on Becoming a Sports Agent:

How much do sports managers make?

Your earning potential as a sports manager depends on which area of sports management interests you, where you land a job (from entry-level positions to the highest-level executives for professional sports), and your experience and qualifications.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2024, coaches and scouts made a median pay of $45,920 annually, and the majority worked at state, local, and private colleges, universities, and professional schools. The BLS expects this field to grow 6 percent between 2024 and 2034, a faster rate than average [2].

Agents for athletes made a median annual pay of $143,730 in 2023 [3].

Meeting, convention, and event planners made an annual median pay of $59,440 in 2024 [4]. This career path is expected to grow 5 percent between 2024 and 2034, a faster-than-average rate [4].

The BLS reports that facilities managers made a median pay of $106,880 annually in 2024 [5]. This career path is expected to grow 4 percent between 2024 and 2034, which is about as fast as average for most jobs [5].

What qualifications do you need to become a sports manager?

While you don't have to be an athlete yourself to work in sports management, you'll need experience, sports management expertise, and other qualifications to succeed. Qualifications will vary, depending on your role. In some cases, you'll need a degree in sports management, while in other cases, a degree in marketing, business, finance, law, communications, accounting, or public relations will be most appropriate.

Let's explore some of the qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in sports management

This degree can make you more competitive in sports management, even if an employer you want to work for doesn't require it. Some programs even offer concentrations within that major, such as athlete development, sports law, organizational management, sports project management, sports media, sports marketing, intercollegiate athletics, or high-performance coaching. Some concentrations are sport-specific, such as racquet sports.

As a sports management major, you'll likely study a variety of topics that can help your career, including:

• Accounting

• Ethics

• Psychology

• Business

• Marketing

• Sports analytics

• Sports tourism

Another thing to consider is whether you want to earn a Bachelor of Science (BS) or Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. Some schools offer their sports management programs through one or both. The main differences would be that a BA would offer more in the way of theory and multifaceted approaches to the top, while a BS may offer a more practical approach.

Advanced sports management degrees

Depending on your goals, you may go on to earn an advanced degree in sports management. Doing so can enhance your resume, make you a more attractive candidate, and offer more career options in a particular niche. Here are some examples:

• If you're interested in the accounting side of sports management, you might look for a Master of Business Administration (MBA) program with a concentration in sports management.

• If you're interested in working at the college level, you might find a master's degree with a concentration in intercollegiate athletic administration.

• If you're interested in becoming an agent, sports attorney, or high-level executive in professional sports, you might earn a law degree with a concentration in sports management or another sports-related topic.

• Getting a doctorate in sports management or a related concentration may help you find employment as a postsecondary educator, researcher in this field, or high-level manager within an organization.

Before enrolling in a degree program, research your options. Here are some universities and colleges for sports management across the US to get you started:

• University of Colorado, Colorado Springs: BS in business with sports management emphasis

• University of Massachusetts, Amherst: BS in sports management, MS in sports management, MBA/MS in sports management, PhD in sports management

• Guilford College, NC: BS in sports management

Sports management experience

While degrees can be valuable assets in this field, it's also important to gain relevant experience. Consider internships, volunteer opportunities, and entry-level jobs in sports management to give you a solid foundation to build upon. Some examples include fundraising for a local sports team, coaching a recreational league team, or assisting team coaches.

Licensing and certification 

In most cases, you don't need any type of licensing or certifications to become a sports management professional, but there are some exceptions. Certain leagues and geographic locations may require you to become licensed to be a sports agent. Athletic trainers at most levels may also be required to be licensed by their state.

Consider certificate programs in disciplines related to your sports management goals. Here are some options on Coursera:

Sports management skills

As with qualifications, the specific skills you'll need depend on your job title and employer. Here are some examples of technical skills that may be required to work as an athletic director or head coach.

Instruction

For coaches, this skill involves guiding athletes to improve their performance and achieve their goals by explaining techniques, tactics, and strategies specific to a sport. Athletic directors provide instruction and coordinate coaching staff, and help them develop their careers.

Athletics and games

Both athletic directors and coaches must understand the field of sports at large, from how games are played to how members of a team can play together most effectively.

CPR and first aid

Knowing CPR and first aid techniques is crucial for anyone working with athletes. In the event of an injury or emergency involving an athlete, a coach, or an athletic director can provide immediate care and seek the appropriate medical assistance.

Scheduling

This is a vital skill for coaches and athletic directors, enabling them to coordinate training, practices, and games so that a team operates efficiently.

Behavior analysis

This skill involves analyzing and modifying athletes' behavior through positive reinforcement, feedback, and goal setting for the purpose of enhancing athletes' performance.

Human resources experience

With experience in HR, athletic directors can better manage members of an athletic department, foster a positive work environment, and make powerful hiring decisions.

Some workplace skills are universal across all sports management careers, including a competitive spirit, passion for sports, and organizational skills. Let's explore a few more: 

Ethics 

As a sports manager, you'll need a strong sense of ethics to help keep a team or an athlete's reputation positive in the eyes of fans and to set the tone for team conduct.

Read more: What Is Brand Equity? (+ How to Build It) 

Decision-making

As a sports manager, you'll need to be a good decision-maker. Some situations will require quick, confident decisions, while others will require you to analyze data and develop the best possible solution.

Communication

Almost every sports management career will require you to have excellent written and oral communication skills. Through the course of a day, you might interact with athletes, coaches, stadium staff, organization personnel, media outlets, lawyers, agents, other sports managers, and vendors. 

Teamwork 

You may not be an actual athlete or player, but you're still an important part of the team. It takes everyone to make game day a success, especially at the college and professional levels, so you must be able to collaborate effectively.

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