What Is Sports Management And What What Skills are Needed?
In professional football, the spotlight will always centre on players. That much is inevitable; after all, these are the stars of the game, the people capable of creating magical moments on the pitch, inspiring fans all over the globe, and raking in huge salaries for doing so. But over the last few years, the amount of attention focused on those working behind the scenes at top clubs has increased.
Prominent sporting directors like Dan Ashworth and Edu Gaspar have become in-demand figures, with certain clubs willing to splash out serious cash to acquire their services (Manchester United's reported £3m spend on short-lived director Ashworth being a prime example of this). And given the importance of unearthing untapped potential, generating profits from player sales, and ensuring clubs stick to modern financial rules, those who are in charge of business operations are now deemed more crucial than ever before.
In this article, we'll be focusing on how those pivotal boardroom figures develop their skills and rise to the top, by diving deep into the topic of sports management. We'll answer important questions like 'What is sports management?' and 'What can you do with a sports management degree?' and we'll explore exactly what skills and assets are needed to perform well in this field.
What Is Sports Management?
Sports management is a term that is used often within the football industry and other professions, but many people remain a little unsure about exactly what it means. This is because ultimately, sports management is a very broad career field that encompasses a wide variety of different roles.
There are coaches and scouts with a background in this field, and there are PRs and marketing professionals who also come under this umbrella; ultimately, sports management covers all aspects of managing sports teams, athletes, organisations, events, and facilities, from a business, executive, operational, sporting, or marketing perspective.
Sports management can involve coaching or scouting for a professional team, running sports operations behind the scenes at a college or university, being employed by a sports marketing company, working in sport and fitness administration, or managing a particular facility or group of facilities.
Some people with sports management backgrounds work in consultancy for talent agencies, helping create connections between top athletes and brands or sponsors, while others pride themselves on sharing their financial expertise with players, teams or organisations.
The spectrum is huge, hence the popularity of this field; in the UK alone, 580,000 people are employed in sport and leisure and a large number of these roles come under the sports management category. Below are a few well-known positions associated with sports management:
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Sports agent: a player agent responsible for scouting talent, negotiating player contracts, penning sponsorship deals, offering financial guidance and providing everyday advice to clients
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Sports marketing manager: an increasingly important position, focused on building relationships with fans and promoting a sports organisation's events and identity to the public
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Financial manager: someone responsible for managing the financial accounts of a sports club or organisation
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Football coach: responsible for coaching a professional or amateur football team. To become a coach, a background in sports management (as well as specific coaching qualifications) can help open doors
What Skills are Needed for Sports Management?
The list of duties performed by sports managers will vary massively depending on what the role is. Things that you could be doing on a day-to-day basis might include:
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Managing accounting and finance for a team and being responsible for income, budgets, debts, and accounts
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Scheduling public events involving a team, individual athletes, or fans and community members
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Monitoring ticket sales and providing solutions for increased outreach
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Managing public relations between your team or organisation and the media/supporters
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Taking responsibility for recruitment, from hiring coaches and other members of staff to sourcing volunteers to help your organisation
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Finding sponsors and brands interested in partnering with your club or your players
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Coming up with digital and traditional marketing strategies and promotional campaigns that increase the club's visibility and drive meaningful connections with supporters
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Handling business operations at a club or organisation
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HR responsibilities including negotiating contracts and making hiring decisions
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Ensuring that facilities, stadium events, and training ground events run smoothly
While clearly there is a lot of variety here, some skills are non-negotiable when it comes to handling this array of sports management duties. A few crucial skills related to this career pathway include:
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Work ethic - competition is extremely high when it comes to landing sports management jobs, so anyone wanting to go far in this field needs to be willing to work extremely hard to get there
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Analytical skills - being able to problem solve and think about tasks with logic and strategy is essential within sports management
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Leadership skills - while some sports managers will take more of a back seat, many people working in this area will be required to motivate others and adeptly lead a group towards a common goal
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Communication skills - having an intricate understanding of the inner workings of football isn't much use if you're not able to communicate that knowledge to others in simple, meaningful terms. Being able to adapt your approach to communicating depending on the individual is also extremely helpful
We've interviewed a wide range of people who showcase these skills on a daily basis, from FA Senior Recruitment and Volunteer Manager Susan Couper — who played a key role in ensuring the smooth running of the UK-hosted Women's European Championship in 2022 — to the Brighton & Hove Albion CEO Paul Barber, who is highly respected for his work helping stabilise the Seagulls in the Premier League and compete against some of England's richest clubs.
Is it Worth Getting a Sports Management Degree?
Some of the most respected figures in the game started their careers by getting a sports management degree at an esteemed university. Acquiring a sports management degree can open up opportunities in various different areas of the game, and it can also allow you to develop a wider network than if you were simply focusing on one particular field.
That being said, people who are set on working as a finance manager, for example, will often complete an undergraduate or postgraduate qualification related to finance and then go directly into a relevant sports management role off the back of it.
It's worth remembering that sports management qualifications can be obtained via online courses as well as by attending a traditional university with an undergraduate or postgraduate course. Once you've obtained a qualification, there are a number of different roles you could go into.
There are player-facing roles like working at a football club as a coach, assistant coach, scout or analyst. There are teaching/instructing jobs like working as a secondary school physical education teacher or as a physical trainer. Other options include managing a local fitness centre or leisure centre, or working behind the scenes as a sports administrator.
Exactly what role you end up in will often relate to the previous experience and knowhow you bring into the role; sports managers with a background in marketing might head down to the route of working on promotional campaigns or brand partnerships with players and sports teams, while someone with a degree in finance is probably more likely to combine their sporting interests with this business passion, for example in a finance administrator or chief executive officer role at a professional football.
Sports Management Salary: How Much Money Can You Make?
The answer to this question is complex, because there are so many different jobs related to sports management, and while some of them are extremely lucrative, others don't pay quite so well. A first-team head coach at an elite-level professional football club could earn millions every year, with Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola rumoured to be on a jaw-dropping annual salary of roughly $25.8m. However, coaching at amateur level is generally done on a volunteer basis, earning no income at all. For experts in finance, elite clubs like Man City will pay serious wages to ensure they have the best possible Chief Financial Officer working for them, but further down the pyramid salaries for finance administrators and managers might be a little less (although this is often a lucrative position).
Some of the best-paid sports management professionals in the world are those working as football agents. This is an extremely lucrative field that has seriously increased its influence in the game in recent years, and to work as an agent at the highest level you need to have a diverse array of talents. Firstly, business acumen is a must, as is a strong understanding of the legal system. On top of that, agents need to have excellent interpersonal skills and should be able to communicate fluidly and skillfully with their clients and with other business professionals working in football. Industry contacts are also useful, while organisation and a motivated outlook are essential; therefore, the highest-performing agents in the game typically earn a huge amount of money.
If you want to find out more about this field check out our article on how to become a football agent.
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