Sport Management Department

The study of sport management consists of three major segments: theoretical perspectives of sociology and history of sport, foundations of business and management, and the application of management theory to the specifics of the sports industry. These areas include sport marketing and public relations, sport law, sport economics, financial and business operations for sport organizations, the management of events, media relations, broadcasting, and collegiate athletics.

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About McCormack

McCormack Department of Sport Management

The Collection

In 2010, The Mark McCormack collection, a vast accumulation of documents, letters, photographs and memorabilia occupying 35,000 to 45,000 boxes in a warehouse in Cleveland, found a home as the family transferred ownership of the historic papers to the Department of Sport Management at Isenberg at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

McCormack and Isenberg

Renamed the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management at Isenberg, also in 2010, the program houses the collection on the 24th floor of the W.E.B. Du Bois campus library. The McCormack family also made a $1.5 million gift to endow educational initiatives at the school.

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BS in Sport Management

The bachelor program is uniquely housed within the nationally ranked Isenberg School of Management. McCormack students are hard-working and passionate, and share an enthusiasm for sport. The combination of business, leadership, and sport-specific education sets our students up for long, successful careers within the diverse and growing sport industry.

The McCormack Advantage

Four-year Sport Program taught by a large, diverse faculty devoted exclusively to sport management

Collaborative Learning Environment that brings the most passionate, driven sport students into one program to grow and develop one another

Career Focused Curriculum designed to give students the skills they need to land the job they want in the industry they’ll love

Promote Student Success by fostering alumni connections, advancing existing relationships with industry leaders, and preparing students for life after graduation.

Curriculum

Step 1: Students receive a thorough foundation in all of the business focused courses, as well as an introduction to sport management.

Step 2: Students build on their business foundation with sport-specific courses. These courses are designed to supplement the prior business courses, with an additional eye toward the sport industry, such as Sport Leadership following Business Management.

Step 3: Students have the opportunity to tailor their education and coursework towards specific career goals through their choice of electives. Elective courses range from Sport Analytics to Labor Relations to self-designed independent studies. Students may also opt into a semester or summer-long internship for credit.

Careers

McCormack graduates go on to careers across a broad spectrum of industries, including professional sports, amateur sports, marketing agencies and event management companies.

Recent McCormack graduates have been hired by:

Major League Baseball – Major League Soccer – Under Armour – Fox Sports – ESPN – IMG Agencies – Octagon Marketing – Disney Sports – Boston Red Sox – NY Mets – Boston College – Duke University & more.

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MBA/MS Dual Degree in Sport Management

Widely respected for the breadth and quality of its faculty, curriculum and research, the McCormack Department of Sport Management has been hailed by The Chronicle of Higher Education, SportsBusiness Journal, The Wall Street Journal and other publications as a world leader in its field.

Key attributes of the program

Our affiliation with a highly-ranked business school -- Isenberg School of Management
Our program has among the world's largest, most professionally diverse faculty devoted exclusively to sport management creating a veritable sports think-tank that includes experts in law, marketing, finance, sociology, economics, and collegiate sports
Our international stature is confirmed by the fact that our program boasts graduates from Australia, Canada, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom and more
Our emphasis on active, experiential learning
Our close, diverse, and symbolic ties to the spectator sport industry and a network of over 3,000 alumni

Curriculum

Teaming up with the Full-time MBA Program the student will receives two degrees over approximately two years. Some courses offered are:

MBA Program
Strategic Information Management
Financial and Managerial Accounting
Human Resource Management

MS Program
Sport and the Law
Applied Sport Marketing Research
Socio-Historical Foundations of Modern Sport

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Student Insight

“I chose the Sport Management program because of its unmatched support and alumni connections. I have been blown away by how deeply professors and McCormack alumni care for students and how willing they are to help. Academically, I have been challenged to think beyond the classroom and apply knowledge to real client projects. To top it all off, working with classmates from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities has afforded me a much broader perspective on the sport industry.”

- Rachel Lee, '17 MBA/MS Candidate

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MS in Sport Management

Get a competitive edge with a graduate degree from the "Business School for Sport Business."

The Master of Science in Sport Management requires 35 credits, and students generally complete the program in 1 year. Through course work and a wealth of experiential learning-based projects, students will gain an in-depth understanding of business in the sport industry across a multitude of topic areas.

Our Curriculum, Your Future

Our rigorous curriculum - taught by one of the largest full-time faculties in the country - is specifically designed to blend theory with practice. We offer the broadest selection of experiential learning classes in the country. You will acquire real-world experience from our classes, including sport marketing, sport communications, sales promotion, and sport analytics.

Our commitment to diversity is also found in the array of career interests we help foster. The field of sport management is thriving, and there is a driving demand for sport business-trained professionals. Having students pursuing careers in a wide range of industry segments not only adds to the classroom dynamic, but also begins to build each students' long-term network.

Student Insight

"I chose UMass to assist with my professional pivot because of the exceptionality of the faculty, the strength of the alumni network, and the high esteem that the program holds in the sport management sector. The cherry on top is the engaging community that fosters growth through collaboration in a non-competitive space."

- Kellen Williams, '15

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MBA with a focus in Sport Management

The Isenberg MBA program is flexible enough to fit your needs and rigorous enough to make you competitive.

Our comprehensive, experience based programs offer best-in-class curriculums, and exposure to instructors and alumni from the highest levels of sports. Earn an Isenberg MBA with a focus in Sport Management and kick off your career today.

Offered Online & In-Person

Pursuing an Online MBA or Full-time MBA with a Sport Management focus can provide the next step in changing or elevating your profession. Our high-energy, high-intensity program provides you with the core business skills as well as the high-level understanding and insights into cutting-edge issues and trends in sport management that can best prepare you for a leadership position in the sport industry.

Program Requirements

To earn an MBA with a focus in Sport Management, students take core curriculum classes as well as electives for a total of 45 credit hours. To achieve the 45 credits, students will take the core MBA curriculum, 36 credit hours as well as 9 credit hours of Sport Management electives for the focus. There will also be an option for students to complete a practicum for additional credits.

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PhD in Sport Management

Isenberg’s PhD in sport management is a full-time, residential program that prepares students for careers in academia.

Janet S. Fink

Department Chair & Professor

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Research

Isenberg has a strong focus on research. Faculty members are working on a wide variety of research projects, investigating such topics as:

Gender and race dynamics in sport
Economic testing of ethnicity discrimination amongst referees
Federal regulation of sports agents
Impact of social media on companies and athletes
Ticket price strategy
Sport leadership development
Ambush marketing
Labor relations in professional sports

Degree Timeline

Students must take 48 credits of coursework. Students must pass both a qualifying and comprehensive examination, and must complete three years of teaching at Isenberg. During the final years, students research, write and defend a dissertation.

YEAR 1: Coursework, including statistics, research methods and sports management core courses; Qualifying exam

YEAR 2: Coursework, including statistics, major field electives and minor field courses; Comprehensive exam

YEAR 3: Development of dissertation proposal; Teaching

YEAR 4-5: Dissertation research; Teaching

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Our Faculty

Elizabeth B. Delia

Assistant Professor, Sport Management

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Janet S. Fink

Department Chair & Professor, Sport Management

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Matthew Katz

Assistant Professor, Sport Management

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Tony Lachowetz

Director Internships & Senior Lecturer, Sport Management

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Neil Longley

Professor, Sport Management

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Lisa Pike Masteralexis

Senior Associate Dean, Sport Management

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Mark McDonald

Honors Program Director & Associate Professor, Sport Management

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Steve McKelvey

Professor, Associate Department Chair for External Relations & Graduate Program Director, Sport Management

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E. Nicole Melton

Undergraduate Program Director & Assistant Professor, Sport Management

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Emily Must

Lecturer, Sport Management

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William Norton

Director, McCormack Center for Sport Research and Education & Lecturer, Sport Management

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Nefertiti A. Walker

Associate Dean for an Inclusive Organization & Associate Professor, Sport Management

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