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Master in Sports Management

Overview

What is sport business?

Sport is unlike any other business since its financial success is dependent on matches between teams or individuals with similar levels of skill. If one team or individual always wins, fans will lose interest. The need for similarly skilled teams or individuals playing against each other is referred to as conjoint production. Unlike traditional businesses (food, electronics, clothes, etc.) that seek to eliminate, or minimize their competitors’ market share, the value of sport teams lies in playing contests against teams with skill levels that make it possible for either team to win. Sport relies on competition that is matched evenly enough that no outcome is certain.

It is important to also note that a wide variety of activities fall under the umbrella of sport. Sport includes all forms of physical activity that contribute to physical fitness, mental wellbeing, and social interaction (such as play, recreation, organized or competitive sport, and indigenous sports and games) providing enjoyment to participants, and in some cases, entertainment for spectators. A wide range of activities can be included under this definition ranging from football, basketball, marathons to chess, video gaming, hiking, competitive dancing, etc.

 

Why choose a degree in sport business?

Sport business is robust and continuously evolving. In England’s Premier League, each of the top five teams are worth at least £710 million, with Manchester United having an estimated value of £1.8 billion. Moreover, across Asia (including the Middle East), Europe, and North America, the sport business is changing so quickly that specialized training is needed. These trends are evident in Palestine as well. A 2012 survey by the Higher Council for Youth & Sports mentioned 52 active sport facilities (public and nonprofit) in the West Bank. This number has grown exponentially since then. The same organization in a different survey (2017) enumerated around 400 registered youth and sport clubs around the West Bank.

The dramatic increase of the scale of the sport industry over the past several decades, however, led social scientists to begin to thoroughly study it, and sport business has emerged as its own field. Some of the world’s leading universities have created independent sport business departments, or degrees within schools of business, social sciences, or the professions.

Our program prepares students for careers in Palestine and throughout the world with seminars focused on finance, management, advertising, media, law, real estate, and community development. Each of these areas is now a prominent part of the business of sport. Graduates will be able to assume leadership positions in domestic and international public and private sector organizations.

 

Goals

  • Enable the student to apply quantitative and qualitative analytical skills to “real world” sport business situations.
  • Develop the student’s ability to utilize sport management techniques to support organizational efficiency and development.
  • Provide the student with the ability to address sport management problems and opportunities in an organization.
  • Provide the student with the skills to assess financial, economic and social issues in sport management.
  • Strengthen the student’s ability to apply sport management and leadership skills to develop policies to improve business operations in a sport organization.
  • Equip students with the knowledge to make ethical choices and decisions in their role as a sport manager.

 

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOME

  1. Understand how commercial and participatory sport can be unique forms of business or social activity and discern what makes the sport enterprise different from others and how that difference impacts society, people, and operations.
  2. Apply techniques to leverage various business activities to engender extramural financial support for community sport programs, especially when participants cannot or should not cover the costs.
  3. Understand, analyze, and employ the appropriate incentive and award systems that are used for each group of employees in sport organizations.
  4. Facilitate the co-production of sport to ensure an appropriate level of competition and master the unique set of financial skills that respond to the concept of competitive balance, whether one is managing professional sport organizations or social sport programs.
  5. Develop a mix of strategies for selling tickets, sponsorships, memberships, and for offering a set of retail, food, and beverage options to achieve profitability and sustainability in sport organizations.
  6. Understand and successfully implement the economic theories that explain the unique role assumed by sport, sport venues, and the techniques for development relating to changing urban design and the location of economic activity.
  7. Obtain the organizational skills needed to attract events, fans and destination tourism travelers to the events, and be able to coordinate visitors’ activities integrated into a region’s tourist industry.

 

Careers of Graduates

The Master of Science in Sport Management prepares graduates for careers in a variety or areas, for example:

  • Sport, facilities, destination tourism, recreation and youth strategists at various governmental and nonprofit organizations (local, regional, and international levels).
  • Athletic program administrators.
  • Sport marketers.
  • Corporate partnership managers.
  • Facility operations managers / event coordination.
  • Human resource managers at sport facilities, destination tourism, recreation, and youth organizations.
  • Sport economics and real estate development consultants with engineering and management advisory firms.
  • Sport, recreation, and youth fundraising and proposal writing.