Sport continues to grow, continues to professionalize and therefore, more and more students and professionals in the sports industry, want to do the master’s degree in sports management. In this post we are going to analyze some of the most important aspects about this master in sport, both positive and negative, here you will find what they do not tell you anywhere, so you can make one of the most important decisions in your life and get the most out of your academic experience.

What is a MBA in Sports Management?

A MBA in sports management is a master in sports that allows you to professionalize and to know all areas of the sports industry in a generic way. The master in sports management has also come to be called MBA in Sports Management or master’s degree in sports management, giving itself the category of MBA, which in many cases is more of a marketing strategy to attract more students. In other words, is an MBA in Sports Management the same as a Master in Sports Management? Yes, yes it is, but beware, the most important thing is not the name or whether one is called one way or another, the most important thing is to choose a good university or graduate school in sports that offers a competitive program that fits your career goals in the sports industry.

Sport has become highly professionalized in recent years. For example, the sports industry in Spain accounts for 3% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, a clear sign of the professionalization of this industry that has grown a lot, especially in the last decade.

The arrival of the MBA in Sports Management

The offer of any master in sports management has increased and many sports organizations have already launched their own specialized postgraduate programs in sport. Sport is an industry that is becoming more and more visible, more and more people are working in the corporate side of sport and this means that many more people are beginning to see these managers as authentic references, that is, the new and not so new generations want to belong to an industry that is becoming more and more global and that offers many opportunities.

The conclusion is that the industry is becoming more professional and this professionalization is being led by organizations such as UEFA, with the UEFA Academy, clubs such as Real Madrid with the Escuela Universitaria Real Madrid Universidad Europea or sports associations such as La Liga Santander with La Liga Business School. All of them have created their own graduate schools that today have masters in sports management, from the most generic ones such as the Masters in sports management or MBA in sports management to more specific ones such as masters in sports marketing, masters in sports psychology, masters in sports journalism, masters in sports nutrition or masters in sports physiotherapy.

By the way, remember you can find all these sports masters in the “Academics” section at Impulsyn, you just need to download the app, register for free and create your account.

Globalization of the MBA in Sports Management

All these masters in sports business administration or masters in sport can be done today in almost any country in the world since sport is a global industry that is expanding and developing in any region worldwide.

It should be noted that doing a MBA in sports management is not like going on an Erasmus, nor should it be approached in that way, it is a very important decision in the professional career of any person and should be treated as it deserves. Doing a master’s degree in sports management is a unique opportunity that you may have obtained yourself or that may have been financed by your family or a bank, a unique academic year in your professional career that will need the best version of yourself.

Is a MBA in Sports Management worth it?

If you are thinking of studying a master in sports management, we recommend a first task of analysis or market research. Studying a master or MBA in sports management will bring you very positive things, many of them will change your career forever. Remember you can search for masters in sports management at Impulsyn according to different filters like the following ones:

• The language in which they are carried out.
• Its modality, i.e. if they are on-site, online or blended.
• Its duration, i.e. 6 months, 11 months, 1 year, 2 years ….
• Your budget, i.e. the budget you have for a master in Sports Management.
• The location, i.e., in case they are on-site, where they are taught, in which country and in which city.

Professors in the MBA in Sports Management

Unlike the degree programs offered by many universities around the world, the professors of a master’s degree in sports management are not the regular professors you are get used to, they are usually professionals from the sports industry who teach you how they work, what they do and what their day-to-day life is like, that is, they share their experience and show you the real life of the industry. These professionals are generally people with an extensive professional background and proven track record in the industry. All these professionals share their knowledge with the students, generally in a very practical and interactive way during the classes. We recommend you to empathize with them and be proactive, but be careful, we do not recommend you to be heavy and insistent, instead of asking better ask questions, instead of demanding work demonstrate with your facts that you can work in the industry and little by little you will achieve your goal. When you talk to a teacher, no matter who they are, remember that they are people too, try to empathize and instead of selling yourself, try to find out who the person is, what their career path has been like and what it has taken to get to where they are. If you are empathetic and connect with the professor you will have an opportunity to start establishing more personal relationships.

Last but not least, remember that Real Madrid CF, FC Barcelona, La Liga, the NBA, the ITF, the NHL, Adias, Puma, Nike ….. Whatever club, federation, association, sporting googs or sports agency you’re thinking about, it’s not the comopany or organizations the ones that will hire you, but the people who work in those organizations who will give you the chance you are are currently dreaming about, never forget it, networking always play a very important role.

Entrepreneurship

A master in sports management is synonymous with starting a business. The explanation is very simple. By being in contact every day with a very wide network of leading professionals in your industruy, it is possibly for the first time in your life, if it has not happened yet, that you realize that you can also do great things, you unblock yourself and begin to understand that you can also create things from scratch and become an actor, not just a spectator. By getting in contact with so many successful professionals you start seeing things different and you start getting in touch with an infinite range of possibilities that have always been there, but now they have awakened and are within your reach.

Knowledge and contacts are everything in any industry, if you surround yourself with the best, learn and be overly proactive you will have a better chance of becoming what you have always admired.

Of course, we make it clear that entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Nobody becomes an entrepreneur overnight. Entrepreneurship is not something you choose, it is something that chooses you. Ideas are not sought, ideas and opportunities come along with them and it is essential to be aware not to let them pass by. Everyone has ideas, but ideas are worthless. The challenge is to know how to execute the ideas and demonstrate that your idea is what people want and not what you think.

If you want to start a project our advice is to validate your product before investing in marketing or try to make it scalable, the product is everything, give people what they want, not what you think. Validate your product, reach product market fit and go for your dreams. Don´t you know what we are talking about? We recommend you then to learn more about LEAN START-UP methodology, by Eric Ries.

Contacts and Network in Sports

Networking in sports, as in any other industry, is critical. Networking is selling yourself, and sales is a numbers game, this means that the more people you meet the more likely it is that someone will be able to offer you a job in the world of sports, unless the job is created by you as an entrepreneur. Selling yourself doesn’t mean that you have to talk to every professional who comes to teach you or that you are desperate to find a job in sports, selling yourself means first taking an interest in how people work in sport, getting to know the different departments in the sport industry and seeing where you, as a sport professional, can add value as an employee. Also, always remember that looking for a job is a job and you have to put in a lot of hours to get where you want to be.

Now, take advantage of your master in sports management, it is a great opportunity to meet many people and very well connected, not many people have the opportunity that you have or will have. Identify your goals, always be clear about this double question: why and what am I doing this master’s degree in sports management for? This will ensure that you do not forget your goal and that you are clear about the means you have to put in order to achieve it.

When should you start a MBA in Sports Management?

When should I study a master’s degree in sport management? Is it better to study a master’s degree in sport management at the end of my bachelor, or is it better if I already have some professional experience? There is never an exact time to start a master in sport management. There are advantages and disadvantages of studying a master’s degree in sports management once you just finish college and there are also advantages and disadvantages when you want to do it with more age and professional experience. We leave you following all the points of view, so you can evaluate all the options, telling you things clearly and without misleading you, evaluate them and make your decision.

Advantages of studying for a MBA in Sports Management after graduating from college

Studying for a MBA in sports management just after college allows you to:

• Specialize in the sports industry
• Get to know many areas of the industry and be able to identify the one you like the most.
• Make international contacts, masters in sports management are very global and there are usually a large number of international students.
• Access the job board from the university or graduate school where you are doing your master in sports management. If you do not have any experience, this can be your entry to the job market in the sports industry with a good internship.
• After so much theory during your bachelor, you will finally have access to very practical knowledge and a first taste of what it is like to work in the sports world.
• Your enthusiasm is your driving force. In the entrepreneurial aspect you will be able to create your first projects with a low risk and you will have more margin for error and opportunities in case of not succeeding.

Disadvantages of studying for a MBA in Sport Management after graduating from college

Studying for a MBA in sports management just after college also has some disadvantages:

• You have never worked and have almost no work experience, so you don’t know exactly with what purpose you are going to do a master in sports management.
• You don’t know what you like, a master’s degree in sports management is a very broad master’s degree: marketing, finance, sales, sponsorship, operations… and you may want or need to study something more specific for what you want to do in the future within the sports industry.
• You are not aware of what it costs to pay for a graduate program in sport like this. It is an investment that either you are very conscious of what you want or you are not going to amortize it as much as possible. Many times parents fund these programs and many students do it for the sake of doing it, they are never aware of the opportunity they have nor do the master with the right attitude.
• It ends up becoming just another year after you finish your bachelor, since it is right after finishing your undergraduate program and you continue being a student in a row.

Advantages of studying for a MBA in Sports Management if you already have some professional experience

Studying for a master’s degree in sports management with some work experience has many advantages:

• You already have some work experience, you have most likely identified both what you like and what you are good at, and where can you add value. Therefore you have more defined the objective of why you want to do a master’s degree in Sports management.
• You do the master in sports management to specialize yourself. This is one of the best points since your goal is to be a better professional and acquire more knowledge. It is one of the ways in which you will enjoy and get the most out of this graduate program in sports.
• It is also possible that you do it because, until this moment, you may have been working in a different industry all your life and you want to dedicate yourself to your passion and finally go and follow your dream. It is very positive because it will allow you, already knowing how real life works, to give everything you have to dedicate yourself to what you like.
• More job opportunities and hiring possibilities and not only with internships. Normally, regardless of your age, you will start with an internship, but once you finish it, your chances of being hired will be greater thanks to your experience and your professional career.

Disadvantages of studying for a MBA in Sport Management if you already have some professional experience

There are not many but there are also some disadvantages of studying a master in Sport Management having already some professional experience:

• If you have been working your entire professional career in another industry, for example banking or FMCG, it is more difficult to make a quick breakthrough in the sports industry. Mostly because, as in any industry, contacts and your networkin sports will play a fundamental role, and even more so in certain areas of sport, since there are still many steps to reach its professionalization.
• Knowledge: The same, if you want to work in the sports management of a football/basketball club and you have been working all your life in a bank or even in the industry itself but in another area such as sports marketing, you will have great difficulties because you will have to be aware that there are many people who are way ahead of you. You can see this as a fear or as a challenge. You will need to put in a lot more hours in order to get to the level you need to be at, you have to be aware of that.
• Age should never be an issue in anything you set out to do, we see it that way. Ray Crock founded McDonalds at the age of 52, he is a very inspiring example, but you have to be aware that the older you get the less margin for error you have because you have a more and more defined profile. Recruiters are always looking for specialized people who can bring specific things to the table, not people they have to teach. Remember that a sports company pays you for generating value.

How much does it cost to study a MBA in Sports Management?

There are many sports graduate schools around the world with very different prices. These universities or sports graduate schools offer a wide variety of programs within the sports industry in different regions and offering different prices. You can find masters in sport management from €5.000, €10.000 to €40.000. Below we will discuss with you what the price difference depends on according to all the possible variables.

Country where you want to study your MBA in Sports Management

Depending on the country or city where you want to do your master’s degree in sports management you will have to pay one price or another. It is not the same to do an MBA in sports management in Spain in cities like Madrid or Barcelona as it is to do it in Switzerland in cities like Geneva. The cost of living in each city is different and the location of your graduate school is the determining factor for your final price. Keep in mind that many of these graduate schools in sport include travel, attendance to events, matches in different sports…all included in the final price, so ask and make sure everything is included, don’t take anything for granted and make sure you are paying for what you are paying for. If you do a master in sports management in the United States it can never cost the same as if you do it in Spain, UK, Germany, France or Italy. Watching a soccer game in Spain does not cost the same as watching a soccer game in the US. Watching a basketball game in Europe does not cost the same as an NBA game. There are already many organizations, especially sports graduate schools, that have begun to specialize in different sports in order to attract more students and offer greater specialization.

That is to say, if you want to work in a soccer club, within its marketing department, you will have to orient yourself to do a master’s degree that will allow you to access that soccer club, whether you want to work in a specific club or if you do not know in which club, but you know that it has to be a soccer club.

Regarding this, let’s give a couple of examples to understand what I mean:

1. If you are sure you want to work at Real Madrid C.F., what better than to do a sports master at Escuela Universitaria Real Madrid Universidad Europea. They offer 15 graduate programs related to sports, which by the way you can find in Impulsyn. You will find many of the club’s professionals as your professors, that is, many of the people who work at the club, both at the corporate and athletic levels (depending on the sports master you do), will teach you, and there begins your networking to be able to do your internship at Real Madrid CF.
2. If you want to work in a club but you don’t know where to work, what better than to do one of the La Liga Business School’s sports masters. The 1st and 2nd division clubs in Spain are La Liga’s clients, that is to say, if the clubs do well, La Liga does well. La Liga is the association that regulates the annual competition of the clubs and the clubs are the assets that La Liga has, you get it?. What better than to do a master’s degree in the association that manages the national soccer competition in Spain where all the clubs are? La Liga has relationships with each and every one of the 1st and 2nd division clubs in Spain, don’t forget: CONTACTS.

Budget you have to study your MBA in Sport Management

Your budget is another key factor to consider when studying for a master in sport management. In addition to paying the tuition or the total cost of the program, we remind you that if you go abroad you will have to pay other costs such as accommodation, meals or transportation. Take into account all these additional expenses as they will raise your monthly budget.

Online Sports Management MBAs

You also have the opportunity to do an online master in sports management. The goal of this program is the same, to train managers from all over the world, since it is online and can be taken by people from any corner of the planet.

In Impulsyn you can find all kinds of masters according to their modality, whether on-site, online or “blended”. Students use to have teachers who work with them on the platform and participating in group activities is highly valued. The online master’s degree in sports management is usually cheaper than any on-site master in sports management. This does not mean that it is better or worse, it is different. This online master in sports management is especially aimed to professionals who seek to combine study and work while the on-site master is aimed to people who can invest time in attending to classes.

Advantages of taking an online MBA in Sports Management

• Flexibility of schedules, you organize yourself and invest the time you consider per day at the time you can do it.
• Combine classes with your work activity. You don’t have to give up your job, the online master’s degree in sports management is a perfect complement to help you in your professional sports career.
• Personalized sessions with your tutors. It may seem that an on-site master in sport management is more personal but the reality is that the tutorials of an online program are more productive and efficient.

Disadvantages of taking an online MBA in Sports Management

• The first disadvantage in an online MBA in sports management is networking. But understanding networking as daily contact with people. Personal relationships are established in person, you can generate them online of course but there comes a time when physical presence gives something that can never be transmitted through a screen. This seems a disadvantage but it can also be seen as an opportunity to meet people online with whom you can then meet and exchange impressions, the disadvantage can become an opportunity if you are able to take advantage of it.
• Contacts with professorts are not so personal until you meet face to face. A bit of a reiteration of the importance of face-to-face relationships again. This is not a negative aspect, it is an aspect that you should keep in mind not to be satisfied with just attending online classes, but to be proactive and seek to have a coffee with your professors, do not limit yourself to sessions through video calls.

What can a MBA in Sports Management do for you?

So, is getting a MBA in sports management worth it? Does it really pay off? There is no exact answer and no one can assure you that you will succeed in your adventure, what is clear is that it is not just another master’s degree nor is it just another year, it is the master’s degree and it is the year, an experience that can change your life completely.

The advice we can give you is that no matter how much you go to the best universities or sports graduate schools with the best professionals in the end it all depends on each one of you. You will have the best resources at your fingertips but if you don’t take advantage of them or give 100% you will not make a difference. If you begin to study a master in sports management, ask yourself first of all, what is your goal, and from there start to put the means to reach it. Remember that winners and great professionals in the sports industry do not have dreams, they have goals.

If you liked this post and now you have a better idea of what it is and what it involves to study a master in sports management help us spread our message and share this post with friends / family or colleagues who are looking to study a master in sports management either online or on-site anywhere worldwide.