Texas resident Tori LaDieu wanted to change careers. But she didn't want to give up her full-time job to further her education.
The 46-year-old, who works as a teacher at a virtual elementary school, turned to the online, for-profit American Public University System for her master's degree in sports management. She hopes to eventually shift to working as an athletic director or a similar role at the collegiate level.
LaDieu isn't alone; sports management is a growing field, especially in online education, experts say. Simply put, sports management generally explores the business of sports and can lead to a range of jobs, from coach to sports agent to sports marketing manager, among many others.
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At Drexel University Online, sports management master's students enroll in both general and sports-specific business core classes and fulfill an experiential component where they apply what they learn to a sports industry practicum, research thesis, seminar in international business or independent study. There are many different sports business electives – from ticket sales to sports tourism strategies.
Prospective online students should expect a lot of diversity among their classmates, says Joel Maxcy, director of Drexel's Center for Sport Management. Graduate students in Drexel's online sports management program come from various professional backgrounds and live around the country, he says.
"More often than not, they have some sort of liberal arts or business-based undergraduate degree, and a fair amount of them actually have some sort of sports background, although it may not have been sport management," Maxcy says, citing student-athletes as one example. A few may have a bachelor's in the field.
Given that online sports management degrees usually cover a range of subjects, faculty assign a wide variety of coursework.
Along with proctored exams and papers, discussion boards are common, Maxcy says. For one recent assignment in Maxcy's sports economics online course at Drexel, for instance, students discussed how some college and professional teams are shifting away from fixed-pricing ticketing to more dynamic models. Online students had to predict where this system is headed, focusing on a sport of their choice.
Many online master's degree programs in sports management also require students to submit assessments or projects with a real-world application.
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"Even in sports, you're going to have to do some research, and analytics is a big part of sports these days," says Jim Reese, sports management online program director at the American Public University System.
And experts say many online master's programs integrate other types of technology into the curriculum.
When students do their economic impact project for a sports finance online class at the University of Miami, "If they're looking at different locations around Miami where they might consider building a new sports stadium, they actually use a software where they go through a simulated activity and can actually virtually visit those areas of town," says Windy Dees, associate professor and director of sports administration graduate programs at the school, which offers an online Master of Education in sport administration.
Whether online master's programs have an on-campus residency component varies. At Drexel, students are encouraged – but aren't required – to visit campus for a week during the summer, to meet instructors and learn more about sports teams and facilities around Philadelphia.
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When it comes to internships, the University of Florida gives online master's students the option to complete one near home, says Michael Sagas, professor and chair of the Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management at the institution, which also offers an online bachelor's. But this can be challenging given that online students typically also work full time, experts say.
"Getting our students real-world experience in sports to help prepare them for the transition is one of the biggest challenges that we have," says Reese, from APUS. Even though it's not required, he encourages students without experience in the field to still try interning or even volunteering if at all possible on top of their other commitments.
That's also a reason why the University of Miami online master's program connects students with industry professionals in every class, Dees says.
Many online programs in sports management are completely asynchronous, meaning students work at their own pace, but they must still meet weekly deadlines. Others may have regular synchronous, or live, class sessions, where students attend class at a specific time through videoconferencing.
Even without these real-time class sessions at Miami, students still have plenty of interaction through discussion boards and videoconferencing and can attend virtual office hours, Dees says.
"It's still deeply interactive and engaging," she says.
