What career path can someone majoring in sports management follow?

Hi Shawn -
As previously mentioned, careers in sports management are varied dependent on what interests you.

There are numerous categories including: college sports, professional sports, sports agencies, facility/arena/stadium management, events (both private and non-profit), etc. And within each of those categories are potential areas of expertise. Working for an individual team (college or professional) may include: team operations, stadium/arena management, ticketing, grounds maintenance, finances and accounting, media relations, promotions, player relations, etc.

By event-based organizations, I'm speaking of all the organizations which organize, plan, execute specific events such as Olympics, golf tournaments, bowl games, boxing matches, tennis matches. Behind every sporting event such as the above or even non-profits who stage 5Ks or special olympics, etc there must be an organization or group behind the scenes who takes care of all the details of planning those events.

If you have a particular interest or hobby, chances are that you can combine that with sports and potentially make a career out of it. For example, if you enjoy photography you may be interested in a sports photography career (every team, pro or college, has a team photographer). If you enjoy drawing, sketching and creating, perhaps a career in sports graphics (logo designing, designing and marketing team apparel, etc) may interest you. If you enjoy architecture, perhaps you might make a career with an architecture firm that specializes in stadium and arena design. If you enjoy medicine, perhaps you might explore a career in sports training and sports medicine.

Lots of avenues to take in sports. Continued best.

I would suggest you first look into internships either through school or local sports venue. Having internal perspective of sports organization will give you overall understanding of options going forward. Try to decide specific interest-you may need further education or degrees. Wish you luck and success.

The options are limitless really. There are many ways a career in Sports Management can take you. You can join a professional sports team in their ticket operations and/or sales team, you can work in their facilities management area, or you can work in Parks & Recreation departments for any city who has a Parks & Recreation department, or you can work for a local sports facility (think ice rink, indoor soccer arena, etc.), or you could combine multiple aspects - it all depends on what your passion is.

As mentioned above, start creating contacts and networking now. The hardest thing about getting in to sports is getting your foot in the door. Because I was able to network I was able to make contacts which lead to multiple career opportunities in sports.