Something that might not be stressed enough in online sports management education is the difference between professional and collegiate sports.
Colleges have a very different business model than professional or global sports with different sports management goals. They’re trying to connect with their students, their alumni, their boosters, and the community in a way that professional teams might not necessarily be looking toward.
It’s important to remember that collegiate athletics is about building a brand and brand identity. Sports management education stresses that professional teams have to build a brand, too. Pro sports, however, build brands and brand identities in a different way.
The collegiate revenue model is about tickets and people watching, and it’s about the regional networks, or the Big 10 network, or the Pac-12 network. Those are important, but they also have to connect the athletics to the university and to their conference in a way that gets people interested in supporting the school.
I think colleges use athletics as a way to really connect with big donors and to get people connected to the university in a way that makes them feel like they’re a part of it.
