BA (Hons) Sports Management

This module aims to introduce you to the principles of marketing through a series of lectures and seminars. The module will provide you with an understanding of marketing models, concepts and theories. Marketing is a business philosophy that places the customer at the heart of all its activities (customer centric) and regards satisfying customer needs and wants for the purpose of building sustainable competitive advantages. You will explore the application of traditional marketing concepts and evolving technologies which impact the sports industry. In a continually disruptive environment, marketing is all about creating customer value and building profitable customer relationships. It is no different in the world of sport and football.

The contemporary sport industry has embraced a number of dynamic innovations used in other sectors, helping to transform both its management and administration, steering it in a more professional manner in some aspects of sport, yet not others. Growing revenue has taken on increasing importance yet some sports still have issues with the media monopoly of others. Resistance to change, amateur practices and poor treatment of some players remain within the industry. You will explore these and other key issues through examining how the core parts of the business (marketing, finance, the media, sponsorship, event management, leadership and HR) operate. You will analyse the development of sport and governance of both elite and grassroots organisations.

In order for you to achieve your university and future workplace goals, you need to be aware of a number of personal qualities and behaviours that can impact your ability to succeed. It is also important that you understand the industry and societal context in which you plan to work. This module aims to introduce you to personal and professional factors relevant to employment in the sport industry, and to enhance your awareness of the industrial landscape. Additionally, it will support you in developing some essential academic skills for higher education (such as academic writing and referencing). The module will introduce you to a wide range of perspectives, philosophies, and principles of critical and ethical thinking which will equip you with the competencies and confidence to achieve your academic and employability goals.

You will develop an understanding of sports fans, their motivations, experiences and interactions with sports clubs. It will ask you to consider how sport fan behaviour is regulated by different psycho-social factors such as involvement, identification, motivation, loyalty, as well as forms of social exclusion. You will examine how the unique relationship between fans and sports clubs has developed over time and explore some of the key issues underpinning this dynamic. This module will allow you to study sport through the intersection of sociological, psychological and marketing perspectives underpinning sports fan experience and behaviour. You will also develop your understanding of some of the methodologies underpinning market research and scholarly studies of sports fan behaviour, examining processes, variables and outcomes associated with sports fan behaviour research.

This module aims to enable you to demonstrate your understanding of the role of the accounting function in an organisation and the importance of internal controls in minimising the risk of loss. This module will build on the knowledge and understanding gained from Introduction to Football Finance. Having taken this module, you will have gained a greater appreciation and understanding of the accounting system and the impact it has on all areas of an organisation. You will be introduced to a variety of internal controls designed to support the accounting system and reduce the chance of fraudulent activity by internal organisational stakeholders and external parties. In addition, you will also be introduced to the audit function (both internal and external) and how it supports the integrity of accounting information.

The sports industry does not exist in a vacuum. Rather, it is an environment which cuts across much of wider society, including politics, media, and popular culture. This module, drawing both on historical and contemporary examples, will explore the place of sport within the wider world. The module will aim to develop your academic understanding of the growth of sports within wider historical and theoretical frameworks, and how those frameworks continue to shape the present sports and media industries. The module will introduce a wide range of academic concepts, principles and case studies that will equip with a greater understanding and appreciation of the cultural significances of sport, past and present.

The negotiation and winning of contracts is fundamental in industry. In an increasingly competitive market the ability to attract, secure and deliver contracts to promoters, artists and organisations alike is paramount in driving core industry revenues. The module will examine negotiating and securing contracts, developing relationships with client needs, with reference to resolving legal disputes without recourse to litigation. This module will draw upon industry partnerships to bring to life the negotiation and securement of contracts.

The aim of this module is to understand and analyse the political and economic contexts in which sport operates, and to understand the structure of the sports industry. You’ll develop a higher-level understanding of business and management principles and their application to the sport industry. This will allow you to advance your knowledge of the processes that have contributed to the emergence of sport as a global phenomenon at significant political and policy levels across public, private and voluntary sectors of international economies. Many tensions have emerged as sport has become more globally salient, and this course will arm you to assess and act on the implications for the future development and management of sport.

Following on from your previous training regarding personal qualities and behaviours that can impact your ability to succeed, this module focuses on developing your practical skills relevant to a workplace environment. This module will ask you to apply your knowledge and personal skillset to problem-based learning scenarios, and live projects. You will learn project management skills, develop your personal pragmatism, and enhance your industry-based interests and understanding. You will work both as part of a team and independently, developing essential aspects of your emotional, social, and professional self.

As a practitioner in your discipline you will be required to engage in evidence-based practice. This module supports your ability to become an evidence-based practitioner by providing you with an introduction to the processes involved in conducting research within your discipline and equipping you with the skills and knowledge to be able to critically analyse the work of others. This module will build on skills and knowledge which you will have acquired throughout your course so far, and has been designed to prepare you for conducting your own independent project as part of the Professional Project module at Level 6. Specifically, this module will enable you to gain an applied understanding of the research process. This will involve identifying a contemporary industry-relevant issue; developing project aims and objectives; understanding reflexivity and the role you play in the design and execution of a project; understanding methodologies and different methods of data collection, analysis, and interpretation; and appreciating the importance of ethical practice. The delivery of this module will be facilitated by your engagement in a research project to investigate contemporary industry-relevant issues.

This module critically examines the regulatory framework affecting the governance choices made by a range of sports governing bodies. In doing so, the module critically reviews how the decisions of governing bodies can lead to legal challenge and in what way. The module also explores the claim that sports has ‘specific characteristics’, that make it unique to other forms of organisation and that it should be free to determine its own organisational and regulations without legal intervention under the auspices of sports law (Lex Sportiva). To support and refute this claim, the module will explore the role and regulatory function of governing bodies by examining a range of legal sports cases, how and why they have come about and in what ways the legal process has been applied. The knowledge and skills gained from this module will be highly beneficial in preparing you for roles in sport, which relate to governance, regulation compliance and law.

Entrepreneurship is more a state of mind than an actual discipline. It involves the full gamut of business knowledge and skills, commonly taught on business related courses. You will develop a business idea within a group. To realise this idea, you will produce a pitch deck which will be presented to an investment panel. Based on feedback and comments from the panel you will then produce a business plan. There is also an increasing need for innovative and entrepreneurial thinking in a wide range of industries. This practical focused module will therefore also provide you with the skills and knowledge from the world of business underpinned by relevant theories and models to help you succeed in a variety of careers. The ultimate aim of this module is to give you a realistic and viable alternative career opportunity establishing and running your own business.

Studying this module will develop your knowledge and appreciation of strategic management in different organisational and environmental settings. You will learn how strategic thinking and planning is applied within football (grassroots/professional) and sporting ecosystems. You will also be able to critically evaluate how leadership approaches support strategy expectations. The module will provide you with theoretical concepts and relevant tools for undertaking strategic analyses, considering strategic choices and making strategic recommendations for any sports related organisation.

This module aims to provide you with a theoretical and applied understanding of planning, organising and operating a live event. Special events in the modern sports, hospitality and entertainment industries take place in a wide variety of arenas and contexts (i.e. different sports/activities such as football, rugby, ultimate fighting championship, event launches, after dinner speaking and awards ceremonies). There are considerable logistical elements and potential challenges which must be considered in the planning and delivery process. This module provides you with theoretical knowledge of event planning and management which is subsequently applied to the experiential assessment of you organising and delivering a live charitable fundraising event with fellow students to be held at a stadium.

This module provides you with the opportunity to synthesise the knowledge and skills you will have developed during the course of your studies and independently design, develop and execute an individual professional project. This project aims to investigate an original contemporary industry-relevant issue and will be a platform through which you will demonstrate the knowledge, skills, understanding and expertise you have developed in your discipline thus far. It is expected that your project output will contribute to industry practice and/or academic and practitioner knowledge. To achieve this, you will investigate an original contemporary industry-relevant issue and make judgments on the basis of sound evidence and therefore, the project will be research- and inquiry-based. The project will be directly relevant to your course and will be produced and disseminated in the format best suited to the project aims and to developing a career of your choice. The project will build on the L5 Research Methods assessment and you will be working closely with a project supervisor who will provide guidance and support throughout your project.

Following on from your previous training regarding personal qualities and behaviours that can impact your ability to succeed, this module focuses on practical application of that knowledge during a workplace visit. Until now, your modules have provided learning opportunities about the industry and societal context in which you plan to work. This module aims to introduce you to a workplace environment. Doing so will allow you to enhance your awareness of the industrial landscape through experience. This module creates a space for you to apply competencies developed in your modules to date to a real-life setting, leading to experiential and reflective learning.

This module explores current global, national, and local issues that are challenging traditional ways of thinking about and delivering sport. Contemporary sports management is an ever-evolving discipline. It requires sports managers to daily appreciate and interact with a diverse array of modern challenges that affect their ability to influence sporting environments. This engaging module will provide you opportunities to critically discuss important topics ranging from the global commercialisation of sport to national issues of social diversity in sports governance. You will explore how technology and innovation is disrupting traditional methods of sports management as well investigating matters of sports leadership and corporate social responsibility. Lectures and seminars will provide you with the opportunity to engage with such important topics through theory presentation, group discussion and individual investigation.

This module will provide you with the opportunity to identify the skills, competencies and experience required for successful development to embarking on their university degree and successfully completing it and progressing on to a range of potential future career areas. Central to the developmental process is for you to cultivate the reflective skills, openness and self- awareness to enable you to assess what you are doing, identify areas for improvement, and confidently receive and give constructive feedback.

This module will provide you with the opportunity to identify the skills, competencies and experience required for employment. This will support you in your ‘transition’ from school, college or the work place towards degree level study. You will begin to recognise the areas for your own personal professional development (including emotional, social, physical, cultural and cognitive intelligences) through taught and workshop activities. This will allow you identify attributes that are important to develop that are important for your career in the sports professional related to your programme.

The module will introduce you to the research processes when undertaking a project within your field of study. You will explore the important ethical considerations when planning and conducting a research project safely to analyse a problem or question specific to your subject area. This will require you to utilise and apply key research skills alongside selecting appropriate methods to collect data and report significant findings regarding your research question.

This module introduces you to many of the challenging and complex contemporary issues faced in the rapidlychanging and demanding, world of sport. It will allow you to build and consolidate knowledge, through understanding of key issues within the broad arena of sport in a discursive manner that will underpin your future work. You will be encouraged to research events, themes and issues that have affected the world of sport and, in some cases, changed the structure and behaviour of the sports industry.

This module will introduce you to the framework within football finances and the decision-making process of
clubs, players and agents while applying this to the context of international football. You will examine key
principles of leadership styles in management. This will allow you to identify and develop management
knowledge and understandings. You will analyse which leadership styles are considered to be successful in the
business management of others.

This module will introduce you to the foundations towards a range of concepts and models related to understanding and managing people, work and behaviour in national and international football related organisations. In order to identify and explain how clubs operate and are organised from a commercial and sporting perspective, while preparing an interactive resource (eg. Podcast, website, visual or audio resource) undertaking an examination of a clubs use of the marketing function to engage with audiences.