The United States is the only country in the world with a highly popular and celebrated college athletic program. Furthermore, the United States is the only country in the world with an industry that caters specifically to the popularity of this niche in sports – an industry worth billions of dollars per year. What makes collegiate athletics so popular among the American public, and why are institutions of higher-learning so beholden to this particular business, when venturing into other types of businesses might be enticing?

Money is the name of the game where collegiate athletics is concerned, and Americans can thank the very first director of the NCAA, Walter Byers, for this revolution in sports. Byers invented a concept, a fictional character known as the student athlete. At the time, Byers was about to be sued by an injured player who was hurt during a football game. The student had asked Byers to pay for his hospital costs; however, Byers reckoned, if the NCAA did this, the institution would have to pay all college athletes’ hospital bills. Even more, the NCAA might have to be classified as “employees” which would make them eligible for workers’ compensation claims. This, of course, presented a possibly gargantuan expense for the sports management organization.

In order to avoid classifying these injured athletes as employees and to prevent the NCAA having to pay for each and every students’ hospital bills, Byers came up with the term “student athlete,” and the courts bought it. The system did so even when presented with evidence that these students spent anywhere from 40 to 60 hours per week “working” at practice, playing in events, and traveling to and from said events.

Since then, student athletes have been exempted from anti-trust issues and exploitation – all because the National Collegiate Athletics Association classifies them as student athletes rather than employees.

At the same time, the NCAA is raking in billions of dollars each year in the form of sponsorships from different athletic brands, partnerships with popular companies, and the ever-important media rights. There are stories that many of these student athletes go hungry, yet they get no payment for the time they spend on the playing field or otherwise representing their school. They do get tuition, but there are those who would argue that these students do not go to school in the traditional sense.

There are a great deal of court cases in the system at the current time that are challenging the idea of the unpaid student athlete in sports. States across the country are beginning to allow for student athletes to ink deals with sponsors such as clothing brands in order to win endorsements and make money. There are many universities and other interests, however, that are unwilling to let the money-making student athlete go so easily.

There are those who believe the student athlete should be treated like a professional and they encourage sports management education. Perhaps college level baseball could be an off-shoot of the minors in Major League Baseball; perhaps American schools should develop a system more like that of Europe’s, where the Global Sports student athlete is treated differently. In Europe, if a student wishes to play professional sports as a student, then the Academy in question tells the student in no uncertain terms what is about to happen. They tell the student that they will be marketed with some pay, but not on the same scale as a professional in a major athletic league. If the student agrees to this, then at least the playing field is level.

The way youth sports worked in the past, when we were kids, we would play a different sport every season. We would play a winter sport in the winter, and then we would change with the season. We’d play a spring sport in the spring, a summer sport in the summer, and a fall sport in the fall. These days, as early as 10 years old, kids have to choose. They’re told to choose a sport and then told that they’re going to play it year-round.

This is called specialization. The theory behind it is that if you play one sport year-round, you get better at it, right? Most people know the story of Tiger Woods. Ever since he was a little kid, he only played golf, and he became Tiger Woods. Then there’s Andre Agassi who went to tennis academies since he was young and became Andre Agassi. The theory makes sense, but ultimately, it’s wrong. All of the evidence shows that it doesn’t actually work that way.

The evidence shows that there are two main things that happen to kids when they play the same sport over and over again. One of them is burnout. Over time, they get bored. It starts to feel like work or homework. And if the message to them is that they have to get good at it or why bother playing it, that takes the fun out of it, and they end up quitting.

The second thing that tends to happen is a little worse. They tend to get injured because they’re playing the same sport over and over again. They get a lot of repetitive stress injuries. Currently, there is an epidemic of ACL tears among young girls—16-year-old girls who have knees like 60-year-olds. There is also a strange phenomenon of Tommy John arm surgeries being done on 12-year-olds because they’ve thrown too many pitches.

This whole crazy culture, driven by parents who are obsessed with their kids making it pro, has led to this horrible rate of burnout and injury at the youth level. It’s happening because of this notion that kids have to specialize at a super young age to have any shot of making it. Not only does this suck the fun out of the game, but it also makes it more difficult to achieve that greatness later in life, because you’re running the risk of actually blowing out essential parts of your body.

A lot of the data that we have today suggests that some of the best athletes were multi-sport athletes until they made it to their final year of college. Stephen Curry and Russell Wilson are a couple of great examples of this, and with guys like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, we also have examples of great multi-sport athletes from the past. Not only does going this route help a person achieve greatness later in life, but it also makes sure that the values of sports stay protected: having fun, enjoying yourself, and keeping the right amount of balance.

You can learn more about a wide variety of sports topics, including sports management concepts and strategies, global sports trends and marketing, and many others with online sports management education. There’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to achieve your sports management education on your own schedule and from your own home.

The homo ludens idea tells us that since life is complicated and overwhelming, playtime is an essential part of our culture. Since the beginning of humankind, we have all faced the hard reality of earning a living, of trying to fall in love, of trying to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. It’s all we think about. The pain is real. The pressure is real.

When we watch sports, someone else acts out those challenges. Global sports culture allow us to indulge in these challenges and take risks that we might not take in real life because the consequences of loss would be too great. That’s an important point to keep in mind as you approach sports management. When we play sports or watch them, we experience the vicarious pleasure of being alive within the full range of feeling, including risk, triumph, and loss.

Online sports management education helps us to understand how people get to experience all that without the consequences of death, of pain, of bankruptcy, of all kinds of very real life challenges. There are very few arenas and very few places in life where we get to explore those feelings.

You might be able do it in acting or in practicing your faith. But sports, especially, engage you physically and emotionally. As you continue your sports management education, it will help to think of sports in terms of escape from the challenges of daily life in a very real way, a way of consequence.

There are some great sports documentaries. One, in particular, Trophy Kids, is a great example of where parents can maybe go a little bit too far in living vicariously through their children. We see it a lot in youth sports management.

Parents are spending thousands of dollars on getting their child to earn a sports scholarship. Where their kid is going to be the next big thing, and they deserve more playing time, or they deserve to do this over others. It all gets a little frenzied and crazy.

We know there’s only a small percentage of those children participating that are going to get that scholarship. So, they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to get their kid to that next level. And then, only a select few actually make it.

The Scholarship Myth in Global Sports

There is another myth: that if I spend all this time and money taking my kid across the country, doing a lot of select programming, getting them early specialized, then they’re going to get that scholarship.

The reality is that it seldom happens. Only a small number of people are given scholarships at that level—and an even smaller number when you go to the next level, to the professional ranks. There’s a lot of early pressure.

That’s a lot of stress for a child to endure. Especially if we’re talking about little 8-year-olds or 7-year-olds playing when they don’t even really understand the game. Ask children what they want out of sports, they will tell you they want to have fun.

That’s their first answer. I want to have fun. I like playing sports because it’s fun. It’s not, I want to win. Maybe they have role models that they want to be like.

Sports Management Education Can Learn From Listening to Kids

More often than not, kids will tell you they want to have fun. Once they’re influenced by adults, that starts to shift and change. It puts a lot of pressure on a young child to do many hours of practice and not really get a choice.

Parents put children into sports for structure and to teach them all these wonderful values we talked about. But at the end of the day, it’s not really their choice.

Lessons to Learn for Students in Online Sports Management Education

It’s an expectation that parents and coaches should take a hard look at. They should listen to see if the child really wants to do that and if it’s something they want to pursue at this level. Often, I think kids are pushed into it without being asked if they want to pursue the next level.

There is a wide range of technologies that have come on the global sports scene in recent years that have had a significant impact on the ability to capture data used in sports management. Understanding how new technology continues to shape and change sports management is integral to sports management education and online sports management education.

One example would be wearable technology that athletes wear on their uniforms or on their bodies while they’re on the field to play. This would oftentimes be in a practice setting, but occasionally some of the leagues will allow it in an in-game setting as well. This device monitors biometric data information, such as health and fitness data and even fatigue. These are really important attributes when you’re trying to create a successful and team on the playing field.

Some of the other data that we’re beginning to use are things like eye-tracking data of fans sitting in an arena or a stadium. In doing so, we’re able to see where their eyes go over the course of the game. This means that we can tell sponsors who are advertising on either the large video screen, the outfield wall, or the sidelines how many eyeballs are on their signage. This is a way for us to value that and also give them a return on investment calculation for their sponsorship package, which includes signage.

Many of the things talked about in sports management education and online sports management education courses have to do with the elite athlete, the professional athlete, or the commercial side of sports.

Additionally, though, is the idea that technology has made sports management possible for more than just professional athletes. One side of this is wearable devices that impact the everyday person. Each and every one of us can have a fitness monitor that allows us to get the same feedback that an athlete might get. It’s an opportunity to impact wellness and health for every individual.

This is an area where global sports technology and innovation has really impacted the everyday athlete, not just the professional or elite athlete. This very much fits in with the quantified self-movement. We can measure our sleep behavior and our sleep patterns. We can measure our body temperature when we get up in the morning. We can measure our hydration levels throughout the day. We can measure what our workout is doing for us. How is it getting our heart rate up? What is it doing to other aspects of us?

As part of this, we can begin to create a whole system of measurements around our daily life. Now, that’s not for everyone. Some people may bristle at the thought of doing that. On the other hand, others love the idea of doing it. It’s a matter of whether your tastes are in line with this or not. The point is that the disruption we’ve seen through technology has allowed this to be possible.

Even concerning sports, you’ll hear the terms virtual reality, or VR, and augmented reality, AR, bandied about a bit. And just to clearly define the distinction between the two, augmented reality is taking something such as what an athlete’s performance is-and superimposing it on the screen, on the telecast that you’re getting, or the internet feed that you’re getting, and showing you while the game is happening live. So you’re still watching the game in two dimensions, but you’re getting all sorts of information that you didn’t use to have concerning what’s going on during the game.

Virtual reality is often delivered via headsets and will give you a three-dimensional experience as if you’re sitting in the arena. One of the exciting things about VR is the capability to sell a courtside center court seat to a game to someone who lives 6,000 miles away on the other side of the globe. It could happen with a virtual reality headset and the right camera set up so that that season ticket to a Golden State Warrior game or an LA Laker game can be sold to someone in Shanghai, China, or Berlin, where they could immerse themselves in the game by sitting in their living room, a restaurant, etc.

Perhaps someday this will be taught in online sports management education. How fascinating is it to imagine someone sitting in Berlin or Shanghai watching an LA Lakers game as if they’re sitting courtside? That’s what virtual reality can do. You’ll often hear the phrase MR, or mixed reality, which is taking a lot of the data and information we’ve been talking about, but overlaying it onto the field and players.

One of the things we know about many of the English Premier League clubs, and this is true for a lot of the historic organizations across sports, is that there’s so much tradition, it’s tough to find a balance between the old and beloved, and the new and desired. One of the things that we know can be done, and done quite well, is to take parts of tradition, parts of history, and parts of values that are baked into these organizations, and the venues they play in and bring some modern amenities to them.

Sports Management and a Great Fan Experience

The idea is to build them in a thoughtful way. There are all sorts of examples of what we call great fan experiences in sport. One of the classic ones is Fenway Park in Boston, which was built and opened up in 1912. It’s a classic ballpark, and in a way, much of what was there at the beginning is still there. One of the interesting things that have happened over the past 10 to 15 years is that it’s been reconfigured. There’s a new ballpark where an old one still stands. It’s a real feat of sports business and engineering and city planning and so much else that goes into making these experiences happen.

Learning From the Past in Sports Management Education

At one point, there was this old ballpark, which ownership wanted to tear down to put a new one in its place. A better idea came around to keep the old one and build up all sorts of things in and around it. It’s a terrific example of keeping this old-time feel. These traditions that people cling to, and the values they hold dear, about sports but also bringing in modern amenities.

Some of the big changes that came to Fenway Park followed Larry Lucchino and the team he worked with when they came to Boston, after Baltimore. Oriole Park at Camden Yards, in the early 1990s, was the first new ballpark to be built with an old-style field. They transferred some of that knowledge at a stopover in San Diego, at what is now Petco Park. Then they brought that when new ownership took over in Boston and purchased the Red Sox.

Lessons for Students in Online Sports Management Education

What an opportunity to take an old ballpark that had all of this tradition, all of this history, and make it over. Even though there was a point at which it looked like it was time to just knock that one down and build a new one. Then came the idea to take what existed and innovate, to build some new things in and around it. One of the incredible things that happened is that it conserved what worked, and it got rid of what didn’t.

One of the ways in which the sports industry and sports management have changed and will continue to change has to do with integration, this almost perfect storm, of three factors.

The first is new technology for data-capture devices. Now we can capture data in so many different ways: wearable technology, high-speed cameras, radar that can do much more than it could ever do before. That is one factor.

The second factor is high-speed data processing technology. We’ve seen computers get faster and faster year after year. We’ve seen microchips get smaller. Therefore, processing power has dramatically increased compared to what it was even 5 or 10 years ago.

The third piece is inexpensive cloud data storage. The fact that we can capture more data, that we can store this data very inexpensively in the cloud, and that we can process this data quickly has not only led to an increase in sports data and analytics, but it’s also been a major factor in the technology and innovation aspects of global sports.

Online Sports Management Education

While pursuing a sports management education, you’ll receive extensive training related to this topic. Advances with data and technology have changed the game, so to speak, because they’ve changed almost every way in which we manage, promote, value and interact with the sports people love.

When you look at current-day sports, leagues and teams are facing new competition from streaming services that take niche sports directly to consumers. The World Surf League, karate, and other sports see OTT, or over the top, as the best way to reach out to fans and build their sport. The average fan of sporting events only has so much time that they can dedicate to them.

Even minor sporting events and leagues that are distributed over the top are cutting into the viewership pie. And they’re cutting it into many more pieces. When a sport brand or league goes OTT, it has many advantages, particularly for upstart leagues and sports: very low cost of production, low cost of distribution, and great data capturing that they get back from their viewers and fans. Additionally, fans can also get to interact with said brand.

This means that even if fans are sitting at home in front of a TV, they might prefer to watch it streamed. We’re also beginning to see the combination of live streaming with social media. Young fans, especially Generation Z, want to experience games in multiple ways, viewing a broadcast live from wherever they are and with their communities.

This means that they want to combine live streaming with social media platforms, where they can analyze, celebrate, or even commiserate with like-minded or rival fans. One interesting player in this OTT space is Endeavor. It bought sporting leagues, like UFC and PBR (Professional Bull-Riding), to build an OTT network. Endeavor also bought NeuLion, which was one of the OTT providers to many other sport properties.

Another thing happening is that to capitalize on the exciting fourth quarter of NBA games, and also possibly to capitalize on the legalization of sport betting in many states, the NBA has taken to selling the fourth quarter of games over the internet. These games will be sold at a discount to the NBA League Pass price of a full game, but it will also give fans a chance to tune in to the key finishes of games.

By exploring online sports management education, you’ll learn more about niche, major, and global sports, as well as lessons regarding careers in sports management and recent trends in the industry. Why not jump on the valuable opportunity to start your sports management education online right now?