Sports Marketing Major

There are few better places to study Sports Marketing than a sports city like Philadelphia, which boasts four major sports franchises, the City Six College basketball rivalry, as well as a number of smaller private teams like the Philadelphia Union.

The Marketing Department at Saint Joseph's University provides a rigorous education in the theory and practice of marketing while also providing opportunities to investigate more thoroughly the sports-related aspect of the field so that students can succeed and thrive in today's ever-changing and competitive sports.

Sports Marketing courses at SJU are taught by industry experts, with guest lectures by current industry professionals. In addition to comprehensive courses in Business of Sports, Sports Marketing and Sports Analytics, each Sports Marketing major is encouraged to have an internship, as internships are essential to breaking into this highly competitive industry. Internships help students to gain real-world experience and contacts before they graduate so they are best prepared to anticipate and meet the needs of this exciting and dynamic industry.

Goal 1: Functional Sports Marketing Skills:

Outcome 1.1: Students will gain knowledge of specialized terminology, the structure and operations of the professional and amateur sports industry and the organizations that comprise the industry, from both an historical and contemporary perspective.

Outcome 1.2: Students will gain a keen understanding of the difference between marketing of sports (events and properties) and marketing through sports (building brands via alignment with a sports property) by conducting research which will enhance their knowledge of the critical role that fan affinity plays in the marketing of and through sports.

Goal 2: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Outcome 2.1: Students will be able to identify and critically analyze the application of select intellectual property laws, vital to monetizing sports business activities and protecting the significant revenue stream in the sports industry.

Goal 3: Ignatian Values

Outcome 3.1: Students will gain knowledge of and develop proficiencies for utilizing compelling and ethical techniques for selling sports as a product.

Goal 4: Communication Skills

Outcome 4.1: Students will demonstrate clear and persuasive oral and written communication skills.

The traditional undergraduate programs includes a minimum of 120 credits distributed across three components: A General Education component divided into Signature Courses, Variable Courses, and an Integrative Learning requirement; a Major and Divisional component; and Free Electives. In addition to course requirements as specified in each area, students must complete one certified course in each of the following overlay areas1:

  1. Diversity, Globalization or Non-western Area Studies,
  2. Ethics Intensive
  3. Writing Intensive, and
  4. Diversity
1

Overlay requirements are part of the 120 credit requirements

General Education Signature Courses

See this page about Signature courses

General Education Variable Courses

See this page about Variable courses. Six to Nine courses

General Education Overlays

See this page about Overlays.

General Education Integrative Learning Component

See this page about Integrative Learning Component. Three courses:

ECN 102Introductory Economics Macro3
Select two additional courses from ECN (except ECN 101 and ECN 102), PSY, or SOC or PHL 326, ENG 363, ENG 206, ENG 263)6
Philosophy of Sports

Business Foundation 

Ten courses, including:

ACC 101Concepts of Financial Acct3
ACC 102Managerial Accounting3
DSS 100Excel Competency1
DSS 200Intro to Information Systems3
DSS 210Business Statistics3
DSS 220Business Analytics3
FIN 200Intro to Finance3
or FIN 225 Fund of Quantitative Finance
MGT 110Essent'ls of Organzational Beh3
or MGT 120 Essentials of Management
MGT 360Legal Environment of Business3
MKT 201Principles of Marketing3
BUS 495Business Strategy 13
or ACC 423 Accounting Control Systems
Total Hours31
1

Accounting Majors can choose between ACC 423 and BUS BUS 495

Major Requirements

All Sports Marketing majors should take Business of Sports (MKT 351) as their first Sports Marketing course. The second course you should take is Sports Marketing (MKT 353) which is a pre-req/co-req for other SPMKT courses.  The major requires six courses as follows:

MKT 202Marketing Research3
MKT 351Business of Sports3
MKT 352Sports Law3
MKT 353Sports Marketing3
MKT 355Sports, Selling, & Sales3
Select (1) upper-level Sports Marketing elective: Students are strongly recommended to take an internship course (MKT 490 or MKT 497).3
Total Hours18

Free Electives

Six courses