Sport Management BA (Hons)
Coventry, United Kingdom
BA
DURATION
4 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
Key Summary
If you have a passion for sport, then this course aims to help you develop a range of practical business skills and knowledge that can be utilised in a variety of careers in this diverse, global and dynamic industry sector.
Course overview
The sports industry is dynamic and engages people and organisations all over the world. By blending the areas of sport and management, this course seeks to explore the policy, planning, management and delivery of sport-related services, products and activities.
The January start for this course is condensed in Year 1.
Why you should study this course
The course aims to offer you:
- engagement with local, national and international sports organisations, to help you gain practical experience and have the chance to learn from practitioners and the opportunity to develop your industry networks2.
- a variety of specialised sport-related modules to help you develop expertise in some of the unique challenges and issues facing the sports industry, alongside the core principles of business management.
- access to our extensive network of sports organisations in both the UK and throughout the world to gain work placement opportunities, hear from practitioner speakers, participate in site visits and carry out consultancy-based project work (subject to availability)2.
- real-world experience - the chance to explore and apply management theory, to real-world sports industry problems and international case studies.
- industry insight - students gain insight into the industry by visiting a variety of sports venues and listening to industry experts from across the world2. Past trips have included visits to sports venues such as the Amsterdam Arena, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Croke Park.
- professional network development - our cultivated links with the industry means that there are usually opportunities to volunteer at a variety of sports events (subject to availability), where past students have gained experience and developed their professional networks by volunteering in events, such as at top-flight football and rugby games2.
If you choose to start this course in January you will study exactly the same course but over a slightly shorter timescale in Year 1. This is ideal if you missed the September start, want to transfer from a different university or course or just need a bit more time to prepare for life at university.
Year One
This course has a common first year.
The common first year enables you to work alongside students doing similar courses to you, to widen your knowledge and exposure to other subject areas and professions. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with other students, so you can share your insights and experience which will help you to develop and learn.
If you discover an interest in a specific subject you have studied, upon successful completion of your first year, you could swap degrees with another course in your common first year (subject to meeting progression requirements).
Common first year courses
- Advertising and Digital Marketing BA (Hons)
- Business Administration BBA (Hons)
- Business and Human Resource Management BA (Hons)
- Business and Marketing BA (Hons)
- Business Management BA (Hons)
- Enterprise and Entrepreneurship BA (Hons)
- Event Management BA (Hons)
- International Business Management BSc (Hons)
- Marketing BA (Hons)
- Sport Management BA (Hons)
In the first year, the curriculum is shared across related courses allowing you to gain a broad grounding in the discipline before going on, in the second and third years, to specialist modules in your chosen field.
Modules
- Foundations of Management
- Organisation Behaviour
- Marketing, Digital and Social Media
- Business Decision-Making Using Data Analysis
- Entrepreneurial Ideation
- Entrepreneurial Thinking
Year Two
In year two, you will continue to develop the skills and knowledge you’ve learnt. We do this by embedding the following four principles into the curriculum:
- Technical skills – digital fluency, backed with the right academic knowledge
- Study skills – to be an adaptive, independent and proactive learner
- Professional skills – to have the behaviour and abilities to succeed in your career
- Global awareness – the beliefs and abilities to be a resilient, confident and motivated global citizen.
Modules
- Innovation in Practice
- Designing a Research Proposal
- Project Management in Events & Sport
- Operations Management in Sport and Events
- Sport Governance, Economics and Finance
- Sports and Society
Placement Year
There’s no better way to find out what you love doing than trying it out for yourself, which is why a work placement can often be beneficial. Work placement or study abroad years usually occur between your second and final year of study. They’re a great way to help you explore your potential career path, whilst developing transferable skills for the future.
Modules
- UK Work Placement
- International Study/Work Placement
Final Year
The final year aims to bring you to the level to enter the world of work by consolidating your knowledge and skills from year one and two.
Modules
- Project
- Strategic Sport Management and Marketing
- Sport Development and Policy
- Optional modules
Choose two from the following five optional modules:
- Impacts and Legacies
- Strategic Communications in Sport and Entertainment
- Talent Representation
- Digital Transformation in Events and Sport
- Contemporary Issues in Entertainment and Experience
- Impacts and Legacies
- Strategic Communications in Sport and Entertainment
- Talent Representation
- Digital Transformation in Events and Sport
- Contemporary Issues in Entertainment and Experience
Upon successful completion of this course, you will have knowledge of:
- the development needs and intentions of sports organisations and communities.
- sport policy on a domestic and global basis.
- the holistic nature of a business organisation.
You will also be able to:
- apply business principles to a range of sports organisations, including sports clubs and teams, sporting events and governing bodies.
- apply appropriate techniques to solve a range of different business and sports management problems.
- analyse and produce appropriate sports management solutions to support business decisions.
Where our graduates work
Some of our previous graduates have gone on to occupy senior management positions in the sports industry, for instance, working within the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd. (LOCOG), the Aspire Group, Decathlon, Sport New Media and Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey Club. Others have found graduate employment with Puma, Amazon, Genting Arena, Manchester City FC, West Ham United FC, Huddersfield Giants RLFC, the Italian National Olympic Committee, Ricoh Arena, Leicester Tigers and IMG.
Further study
Upon successful completion of our Sport Management BA (Hons) degree, you may wish to continue to further your studies at postgraduate level. You can do that right here at Coventry University, with our Sport Management MSc. You could continue to build on what you have learnt, further preparing you to become a professional sports management practitioner, upon successful completion, with the theoretical knowledge, skills and personal attributes to help you to become a leader in your chosen sports sector.
We also offer alternative postgraduate degrees if you decide to take a slightly different route. You can explore all of your options using our postgraduate course search tool. You may be entitled to an alumni discount on your fees if you decide to extend your time with us by progressing from undergraduate to postgraduate study