The sport industry is progressively growing, valued at $498.4 billion in the U.S. and (Kearney, 2021) and globally valued at $1.5 trillion (NASSM, 2021). This type of industry growth has prompted an increase for professionals in the field with skills to meet this demand. Consequently, there has been a surge in academic programs in sport management especially in the U.S. The first graduate program in Sport Management commenced in 1966 at Ohio University (Parkhouse, 1996) and now there are over 400 programs in the U.S. (NASSM, 2021). Sport management programs have expanded to many countries in Europe, Asia and Australia (NASSM, 2021). Sport plays a major role in many different societies around the world. People who decide to study sport must be able to embrace its global outreach and its increasing power to transform lives. As the field of sport management continues to evolve, it is imperative for educators to prepare future professionals for a growing global industry.
This paper highlights the unique projects constructed by sport management professors for students to develop professional skills and prepare them for the job market. The projects include Esports production/collaboration, National Basketball Association rural development marketing plan, and research participation project (focusing on coaching perception). All projects were designed to build the quintessential skills in sport management. In addition, the projects involved higher levels of student engagement, critical thinking, and technology usage and have garnered high student satisfaction.
