Online Associates Degree Programs in Sports Management

Many people who love sports never think of earning a Sports Management Associates Degree online. They think solely of its players, teams, and who might win that season. But not you. You understand that there is another component to sports that makes the game possible: sports management. Sports management concerns itself with the sports industry’s business side and involves the budgeting, planning, organizing, and managing components of sports. Sports managers keep their eyes on the business prize and help teams and sports programs make money and otherwise succeed.

Online Sports Management Associates Degree programs help professionals pursue a career in the industry. Through up to two years of fulltime study, students may gain basic knowledge of sports as an industry and explore some of the many roles sports managers play.

What Might I Study in Sports Management Associates Degree Online Programs?

Sports management associates degree programs generally give students an introductory sense of sports as an industry. They help students understand what happens behind the scenes and how business and other professionals pull together sporting events and teams at amateur, collegiate, and professional levels. Through their programs, students might study various aspects of sports management such as sports law and ethics, sports marketing, sports finance, facility management, and numerous other topics. Students might emerge from their Sports Management Associates Degree Online programs with a good sense of the sports industry overall.

Associates degrees are commonly designed to include general education, core subjects, and elective curricula. A general education curriculum typically encompasses courses that all associate’s degree students have to take no matter their major. Some examples of general education subjects include composition, history, sociology, science, math, and art. Students may take multiple classes in these subjects and others to meet their general education requirements.

Core and elective curricula typically encompass a set of coursework that comprises a major. Your major, in this case, would be sports management or something similar. Through your elective coursework, you might study subjects such as the history, sociology, and business of sports; sports administration; sports fundraising; sports financing and budgeting; sports facilities; sports law and ethics; sports as entertainment; and others. 

After completing your coursework and final requirements, you might emerge from your program with an Associate of Arts (A.A.) or Associate of Science (A.S.) in sports management or a certain area of sports management. In many cases, online Sports Management Associates Degree programs aim to help you prepare to transfer to a four-year college to pursue your bachelor’s degree. If you’re interested in this option, talk to your school about program and credit transferability.

What Skills Might I Develop in a Sports Management Associates Degree Online Programs?

As you complete your coursework in your associate’s degree in sports management online, you’ll likely gain numerous skills.

  • First, you may develop your capacities to communicate effectively through digital means. As you engage in group work, complete assignments that require you to post your thoughts, and otherwise interact with students and professors, you may learn how to think critically, formulate your ideas, and share your perspectives effectively.
  • Second, you may become more adept at organizing your schedule and workload to manage multiple things at once. After all, in an online program, you’re typically responsible for making sure that you tend to coursework and assignments on time. Unlike in an on-campus program, you won’t have a strict schedule and in-person classes to keep you on track. 
  • Third, you may discover which components of sports management you find most interesting and pursue elective courses in those areas. As you do so, you may begin to develop your skills in spheres such as finance, marketing, management, coaching, community relations, or other areas of sports management.
  • Finally, at least for now, you may develop confidence in your skills and abilities as you complete coursework (not always an easy task!), learn more about your major, and otherwise navigate your online program successfully. Confidence is a skill well-used in many areas of sports management, and one discussed in a Sports Management Associates Degree Online.

These are just some of the many skills you might develop in your online associates degree program in sports management. Many of these skills may transfer to the field of sports management as you pursue your sports management career.

Some other skills you’ll want to develop include:

  • Communicating effectively
  • Making decisions
  • Encouraging others
  • Seeing the big picture
  • Acting professionally

As you delve into your major in your online associate’s degree program, you’ll likely get a better sense of what types of skills you’ll need for your preferred profession.

What Might I Do with an Sports Management Associates Degree Online?

Before we explore your options as a proud earner of an associate’s degree, let’s briefly discuss what sports managers do overall. They might work for local governments (running sports programs through recreation departments, for example) or in amateur, high school, collegiate, or professional sports. They might work within one particular sport—tennis, basketball, or baseball, for example—or they might work across sports. Within those settings, they might work in any number of capacities. For example, they might work as:

  • Sports agents
  • Sports marketers or promoters
  • Team or athlete business managers
  • Event planners
  • Sports business administrators
  • Brand managers
  • Community sports managers
  • Scouts, negotiators, or incentives managers
  • Equipment specialists

With an online sports management associates degree, professionals might pursue entry-level positions in these and numerous other areas. After some time in the field, they might pursue a bachelors degree in sports management to enhance their knowledge, skillsets, and career. As their skills, knowledge, and levels of education expand, they might pursue more advanced positions in sports management.

Why Pursue an Online Sports Management Associate Degree?

Online education proves convenient for many students. Whether or not that will be true for you depends, of course, on your academic needs and preferences. Here are some basic characteristics of online education that can help you get a sense of what it might be like for you.

Online education is typically very flexible. Because students don’t have to attend class, they can generally access and complete their coursework at times most convenient to them (though online program do still typically have deadlines and due dates for coursework and assignments). This means that students must be self-organized and take the initiative to manage their time and coursework effectively.

Online education, perhaps obviously, involves using technology. You must be able to work well with a computer and multiple forms of technology. You might need to make and watch videos, interact with students and groups through online programs, post blogs and other writing, access digital libraries and other resources, and otherwise navigate a heavily digital program.

Perhaps also obvious, online education does not typically involve in-person interaction. You must be willing to communicate with classmates and professors digitally and be able to learn well through online media. Though you may sometimes use real-time technology, such as Facetime or Whatsapp, to engage with people in your program face-to-face.

These are some of the key characteristics of online programs. If you think they might work for you, why not jump right in? One of the greatest boons of online education is that you don’t have to move, leave your job, or otherwise reorganize your life to attend class or get to campus. Though you do need to make sure you have the time and mental resources to devote to your online program!

How Do I Find an Online Associates Degree Program in Sports Management?

You can begin your search on eLearners.com. Here you’ll find a list of sponsored associate’s degree programs in sports management. Simply browse through the list and click on the program name or “request information” to learn more. Once you find a Sports Management Associates Degree Online program you like, take the next steps! Your education in sports management may await you!


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