Analysis of sport sales courses in the sport management curriculum

Abstract

This paper examined the curriculum posted on program websites of sales education in undergraduate sport management programs in the United States. A sport sales course is offered by 22% of undergraduate sport management programs. Programs with Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA) accreditation, located in a city, housed in a sport management or leisure department, and programs with larger student enrollments were the most likely to offer a sport sales course. A survey was also utilized better understand of how sport sales courses are being taught and uncover the perceptions of programs not offering sales. The top reasons for adding the class were the demand from the industry for qualified salespeople and a positive employment outlook. Survey results revealed that all courses were taught in a face-to-face environment with an average class size of 27, predominantly taught by a full-time faculty member in sport management. Selling in the Sport Industry authored by Pierce et al. was the most commonly used textbook. Respondents from programs not offering the course nearly universally recognized the importance of students demonstrating competence in sales by the time they graduate, and 74% reported covering sales competencies elsewhere in curriculum. Slightly over one-fourth of the programs without a sales course indicated that addition of a required class is likely in the near future. The business school was a likely place to outsource the teaching of sales competencies, with 13% of schools without a sport sales class requiring a professional selling course offered in the business school and 18% offering access to an elective. The most significant obstacle impeding the adoption of sales was the constraint posed by credit hour limits for graduation.