As participation and viewership increase, the complexity of sport management grows too. Just recently, the 2025 World Series that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays had an average viewership of 15.71 million, the best since 2017. Additionally, the recent Super Bowl LIX broke the record for the highest viewership in history, with 127.7 million people watching the game. And with the next World Cup just around the corner, 38% of US sports fans are reported to look forward to watching the tournament. This is why many sports organisations today are continually looking for leaders with specialised training to navigate these changes.
A bachelor’s degree in sports management equips you for exactly that. The programme aims to equip you with the skills to manage sports organisations, events, and facilities, with an emphasis on the business operations behind the sports world. With a sports management degree, you could be on your way to becoming a sports agent, event manager, facilities manager, athletic director, or marketing director.
Want to add sports management to your business career? These North American universities provide the pathway to start.
International students are eligible for the International Transfer Scholarship. Source University of Guelph
University of Guelph
The 2026 World Cup is reportedly set to create a US$4.5 billion sponsorship economy for the 13 cities in the US and Canada hosting matches. For sports management majors, this would be a golden opportunity to learn and gain exclusive insights from the biggest sports event of the year. For everyone else, it’s one of the many compelling reasons to apply to the University of Guelph‘s Bachelor of Commerce in Sport and Event Management.
Offered by the AACSB-accredited Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, this BComm combines core commerce courses — marketing, accounting, economics, human resource management, and strategy — with the business of sport: sponsorship, media, event hosting, stakeholder engagement and organisational leadership.
For a programme that provides the best of two worlds, the ROI is unmatched. International students are eligible for a $10,000 CDN ($7,122.65 USD at the time of writing) entrance scholarship to offset the cost of tuition. That means less financial stress and more space for you to focus on what matters: building the skills for your future career with government organisations, commercial clubs, professional teams, or sports businesses — locally and internationally.
And with the new fully asynchronous online Sport and Event Management BComm, you can opt to get the same great content as the in-person programme that has launched many into thriving careers in the sport industry. With the SPMT-O, you can even fast track to complete the programme in three years.
The highest honour an international student can receive is the George J. Eppright ‘26 International Student scholarship, which comes with various perks. Source: Texas A&M Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management/Facebook
Texas A&M University
As one of the largest academic departments at Texas A&M University, Kinesiology & Sport Management is on a mission to understand human movement and its impact on health and performance. While its Kinesiology and Physical Education Activity programmes inspire excellence in movement and health, it is the Bachelor of Science in Sport Management that uniquely combines business administration with the world of sports and recreation.
The programme includes a Culminating Experience, where you will apply what you have learned in class to the real world. You choose one of its four options – an internship, a capstone project, an international experience, or undergraduate research. This will allow you to customise your learning experience and complete your degree that best suits your career goals. Whether you want to work in areas of sport marketing and promotions, sales, marketing analysis, or fan behaviour, your Culminating Experience will help you align your goals and aspirations.
To help you focus on your learning experience, international students here may apply for scholarships. The highest honour they can receive is the George J. Eppright ‘26 International Student scholarship. Students who have excelled in academics, leadership, service, and participation in extracurricular activities are presented with at least a US$3,000 scholarship for a full academic year.
University of Florida is one of the top collegiate athletic institutions in the US. Source: University of Florida/Facebook
University of Florida
As home to one of America’s top collegiate athletic programmes, the University of Florida drives future-making education that trains you to solve problems, change lives, and widen your view of what’s possible in the world of sports. That is translated in its Sport Management department too, where you will commit to making meaningful and innovative impacts in areas of professional sport franchises, intercollegiate athletic departments, sports media industries, sporting goods merchandising, and more.
The online Bachelor of Science in Sport Management is evidence of this. It equips you with the tools to apply the fundamental concepts of management, marketing, finance, and law to sports organisations. Although it is delivered online, the programme provides the same curriculum you would receive on campus, and is taught by the same elite faculty. With core courses like Social Issues in Sport, Sport Operations and Facility Design and Management, and Sport Marketing, plus a few electives, you are well on your way to working as a sports agent, franchise sales representative, university athletics administrator and more.
For outstanding students who need help financially, the College of Health & Human Performance, where the department is held, provides approximately 80 scholarships. With amounts ranging from US$500 to US$2,000 per award, the college awards more than US$200,000 in scholarships annually. All you need to do is complete at least one semester here with a minimum of 3.0 GPA.
UCLA offers merit-based scholarships to international students. Source: UCLA Anderson School of Management/Facebook
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles‘s Anderson School of Management maintains strong relationships and professional connections with many top sports organisations. This is why you often see the school’s business graduates working in the NBA, the NFL, Nike, Wasserman, and Los Angeles FC. If you want to combine business and sports, the school’s Sports Leadership and Management Programme is for you. Here, you will cover marketing, finance, business development, and data analytics, all within the sports industry.
You will not only learn from world-class faculty, but you will also get the opportunity to engage with real-world sports leaders, as the programme often invites special guests to share their experiences in the field. You will also be part of live projects. This is where you will gain hands-on experience as you work with existing projects led by top companies in the sports realm.
Unfortunately, UCLA does not offer financial aid to undergraduate international students. They just need to certify that they possess sufficient funds for their entire educational period. However, international students remain eligible for certain merit-based scholarships administered by the campus. This can come from fellowships and working as a teaching assistant or graduate student researcher.
*Some of the institutions featured in this article are commercial partners of Study International
