Sport Management BS

The Bachelor of Science degree in Sport Management is a program that prepares students for successful careers in the sport industry. Students will complete the WKU required colonnade courses with some required prerequisites for the application into the degree program. Additionally, the students will take an additional 63 hours of major courses and then use the remaining hours to either 1) take other electives of interest to the student, or 2) select a minor that best prepares for entry level positions related to their interest within the sport industry. Complimentary minors include, but are not limited to: athletic coaching, facility and event management, broadcasting, business administration, finance, and marketing. 

Objectives of the Sport Management program at WKU
The primary objective of the major in Sport Management is to provide students with a broad-based education in Sport Management. Specifically the program will adopt the criteria being established by the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA). This body is part of the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) and has been charged with establishing the accreditation guidelines for Sport Management programs both at the National and International level.

Currently COSMA has identified the following as criteria being the minimal needed in order to adequately prepare students for entry level positions within the sport industry. The COSMA guidelines state:

Excellence in sport management education at the undergraduate level requires coverage of the key content areas of the sport management field. Thus the Common Professional Component (CPC) topical areas, as outlined below, should be adequately covered within the content of undergraduate sport management degree programs.

Social, psychological and international foundations of sport,
Management to include
1) Sport management principles,
2) Sport leadership,
3) Sport operations management/event & venue management, and
4) Sport Governance,
Ethics in sport management,
Sport Marketing,
Finance/Accounting/Economics to include
1) Principles of sport finance,
2) Accounting, and
3) Economics of sport,
Legal aspects of sport and
Integrative Experiences, such as:
1) Strategic Management/Policy,
2) Internship and
3) Capstone experience (an experience that enables a student to demonstrate the capacity to synthesize and apply knowledge, such as a thesis, project, comprehensive examination or course, etc.)