Sport administration is a quickly growing industry, offering careers in professional sports, collegiate sports, sport event management, coaching and even operations. It was identified as a professional field in the 1960s and 1970s when the first degree program started at Ohio University in the 1960s. Prior to that, working in sports — other than being an athlete — was not really a profession for which someone would get educated, trained and gain experience before starting. People used business degrees to do jobs such as marketing and sales. Other jobs were hobbies that might have “accidentally” became careers.
Grambling State University was the first historically black college/university to develop a masters program in sports administration. There are about 190 graduate programs in the United States and about six such programs in Louisiana. Grambling State’s is the only HBCU in the state with an undergraduate degree and a graduate program.
A single HBCU with one of these programs isn’t enough to significantly diversify this $435 billion profession. Area universities, including Grambling State as well Louisiana Tech and the University of Louisiana at Monroe, have great athletics programs where students interested in sport administration can gain valuable experiences while assisting with administration, business, event management, marketing or sales. Each of these departments can be more diverse — if we make a concerted effort to make it happen. read more…
