Quick Highlights
Graduates with a master’s in sport administration can work in athletic departments, professional sports organizations, stadiums and arenas, community sport organizations and fitness clubs, in roles from athletic director to events and facilities manager.
If you coordinate events, coach or supervise a recreation facility, a master’s in sport administration covers the business and legal side of that work. The online Master of Science (M.S.) in Sport Administration at Arkansas State University (A-State) teaches that material in core courses on sport law, finance and budgeting, and leadership. The sections below cover the settings the program prepares students for, what BLS reports for the closest occupation groups and how two people who studied in the program describe the work.
Careers With a Master’s in Sport Administration
The online M.S. in Sport Administration program prepares students for six kinds of settings, listed below. If college athletics is your focus, A-State’s article on careers in college sports covers coaching, sports administration and agent or management roles in more detail.
- Collegiate athletic departments
- Professional sports organizations
- Stadiums and arenas
- Community sport organizations
- Health and fitness clubs
- Country clubs
Beyond the settings above, the program prepares students for leadership roles in segments such as athletics administration, facility management, and sports marketing and sales. BLS reports pay for broader occupation groups that overlap with those segments, so the table pairs each segment with the closest group and shows national medians as context.
| Job Family | Example Titles | BLS Group for Context | National Median (May 2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics administration | Athletic director, assistant AD, director of operations | Postsecondary education administrators | $104,590 |
| Events | Events manager | Meeting, convention and event planners | $61,160 |
| Facilities | Facilities manager | Administrative services and facilities managers | $106,660 (facilities managers) |
| Marketing and promotion | Sports marketing manager | Advertising, promotions and marketing managers | $165,780 |
These are national medians for broad BLS occupation groups across all experience levels and employers, so they show typical pay for the group rather than pay for a specific job or graduate. BLS does not name athletic directors in its postsecondary education administrators group, which covers student services, academics and faculty research, so that median reflects the broader group. BLS says marketing managers typically need experience in a related advertising, marketing, promotions or sales role, and facilities managers typically need related work experience.
Important Note
No degree guarantees a job, salary, promotion or admission, and pay varies by role, employer and location. Use the medians above as context, then compare posted salary ranges for the exact title and employer you want.
Jobs in Sport Administration Besides Coaching
If your strength is running the details, such as scheduling, budgets or facility rules, the work below covers the behind-the-scenes side of athletics. A facility supervisor who studied in the online M.S. in Sport Administration program explains what drew her to that work, a former player now teaching and coaching names academic support as his goal and the third bullet points to the program courses that cover the legal, ethical and governance side of athletics. Note that their accounts are individual experiences, and pay, hiring and advancement vary by role, employer and location.
- Running games and facilities: Shana Howlett, a facility supervisor at Loudoun County Parks and Recreation, said in December 2019, “People only see what’s on the field, or on the court. … They don’t see everything that goes on behind the scenes or all the people who are doing everything to get these games running. That’s what I fell in love with in the sports industry.”
- Academic support in athletics: Shaquille Spearman, an instructor and coach in Irving, Texas, named this as a career goal in January 2022, saying, “I want to be over the academic portion of an athletic department to emphasize the demand for academic success.”
- Operations and compliance: Inside an athletic department, this work covers the rules, budgets and logistics behind each season. The program’s Sport Law, Ethical Issues in Sport, and Sport Governance and Operations courses cover legal, ethical and governance topics.
Howlett’s said the Sport Law course shaped the safety and liability policies she suggests to her managers, and Spearman said the program’s Sport Finance and Budgeting course “opens your mind to what it’s like to run sports as a business.” Each connected a specific course to the daily work of running a facility or program, and you can run the same test for the role you want: compare the posted requirements for that role with the program’s course list, and read the pay figures above as national context. The course list shows where the program covers operations, finance and legal topics, so it is the quickest place to start that comparison.
Program Recognition
Intelligent.com ranked Arkansas State University’s online M.S. in Sport Administration #2 of 45 in its Best Online Master’s in Sports Management Degree Programs of 2025. The list features only nonprofit, accredited institutions and counts regional and programmatic accreditation status in its scoring, and A-State’s program holds accreditation from the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA).
Explore Arkansas State University’s M.S. in Sport Administration program, a 100% online, 36-credit program that students can complete in as few as 12 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find the pay for the job I want?
Read the posted salary ranges in recent postings for that exact title at that level. National BLS groups give context but do not replace a posting.
Do I need a master’s for events or marketing roles?
Not for entry-level roles: BLS lists a bachelor’s degree as typical entry-level education for both event planners and marketing managers and notes that some employers prefer a master’s for marketing managers. The online M.S. in Sport Administration program includes courses such as Sport Marketing as well as Sport Finance and Budgeting, along with a COSMA-accredited credential.
Does the program have a compliance track?
A-State’s curriculum doesn’t feature a standalone compliance course, but the core curriculum does include Sport Law, Ethical Issues in Sport, and Sport Governance and Operations, which cover legal, ethical and governance topics.
Will the degree help me reach a professional team’s front office?
The online M.S. in Sport Administration program prepares students for leadership roles in collegiate and professional sports, and professional sports organizations are one of the settings the program names. Employment is not guaranteed, and available roles depend on the position and employer.
Is the degree useful if I want to stay in parks and recreation?
Yes, the online M.S. in Sport Administration program prepares students to pursue upper management positions in parks, recreation and leisure, and community sport organizations are one of its named settings. Shana Howlett, a facility supervisor at Loudoun County Parks and Recreation as of 2019, said what she learned in the program about liability and safety shaped the policy suggestions she makes to her managers.