Picking a major at a university/college

Cadet35

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What would be an ideal major for someone who wants to work in the professional sports world? I know this a very rare competitive field but I’ve always thought it would be awesome to be involved whether it be through the media with ESPN per say or any other high paying way. Thoughts?
 
Sports management is a major at some schools and my daughter's former softball coach (young guy) graduated with this major from Univ of Texas and works for the San Antonio Spurs organization. He has worked on both the Spurs side of the house as well as the pro hockey and soccer teams affiliated with the same organization. Dream job for him. I think he started out working for US Tennis Association.
 
In terms of media, students can be Journalism majors and volunteer in their school's Media Relations department housed within Athletics. That would provide a pathway to other Media Relations departments (pro or college). It might help to reach out to the athletic department's Media Relations department early to find out how they take in students. There are other opportunities to get experience at a University by working in the Equipment Room or the Athletic Training Department. I guess it depends on the student's passions. In addition to the Sports Management Major already discussed, some Universities have similar programs as a Master's Degree and can come with an opportunity to be involved in different areas of the Athletic Department.
 
My oldest son wanted to major in Sports Management at a major university and while I had misgivings, did not push him away from it.
He ended up completing his Bachelors in 4 yrs with a second major in Economics. While his grades were not high, he did do two majors in four years and had several internships including two in Minor League baseball and one in Major League Soccer. When he graduated, he was offered several but all were about $30 K per year with about half of that commissions on ticket sales. He did not jump on those and instead took a job teaching English in Asia. After a couple of years, he returned and got a lower level management job in a local company while he went to grad school for an international MBA. When he completed that, he was immediately on a plane back to Asia and has worked for a variety of start-ups and established internet based companies since then, mostly in Asia and has done pretty well. As for the Sports Management part in all of it, I don't think that he would recommend that to young people at this point as there are a LOT of people majoring in it with a limited number of good jobs for them to compete for.
 
Go to law school and become an agent. Although, probably not many openings there either.
 
No matter what your degree is in you'll need to have family connections and/or put in a lot of years of free or low pay to build a track record before you might make any real money. Teams don't need to pay a lot for these people because so many folks dream of having the job, not being rich. So go help run a team in Sioux Falls, or live off your group ticket sales while you intern with the data analysis group, or wear a polo shirt and do a lot of press room setup before games, fan services during and press releases afterwards. But you're not going to roll out of college with your fresh diploma in one hand and a ream of job offers in the other like some sort of mechanical engineer.
 
No matter what your degree is in you'll need to have family connections and/or put in a lot of years of free or low pay to build a track record before you might make any real money. Teams don't need to pay a lot for these people because so many folks dream of having the job, not being rich. So go help run a team in Sioux Falls, or live off your group ticket sales while you intern with the data analysis group, or wear a polo shirt and do a lot of press room setup before games, fan services during and press releases afterwards. But you're not going to roll out of college with your fresh diploma in one hand and a ream of job offers in the other like some sort of mechanical engineer.

Woah there partner. What does Sioux Falls have to do with this. Sioux Falls is a great place to live (and grow up) and not a bad gig at all!!
 
Sioux Falls = Independent league baseball, not part of the MLB organizations and where you go to prove yourself before you go somewhere affiliated, somewhere awesome like Cedar Rapids. :groupwave:
 
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