Sports Management BA Honours

In this module, you will gain a fundamental grounding in a wide range of accounting and financial issues. You will also have the opportunity to develop decision-making skills that are essential for managers through the analysis and interpretation of financial information. You will appreciate this module because you will gain a desirable skill set recognised by employers. You will also develop analytical skills through the use of a variety of techniques that will keep you interested and engaged throughout the module. The module content will be tailored to you taking the Sports Management programme, ensuring that you can relate the core concepts in the module to the sports industry.

Employability lies at the core of the BA Sports Management and this module is designed to provide a solid foundation to help you develop your personal skills and practical experience via an embedded program of work-based learning. Working closely with our industry partners and other sports organisations, the practical and vocational learning will continue throughout the BA Sports Management programme. This module also offers support towards a further work-based learning at level 5, the option of a placement year between level 5 and level 6, and a sports or events management -focussed dissertation, at level 6.

The module will enable you to discover your unique skills and attributes, help you develop your ‘personal brand’, and understand how, through your practical experience and theoretical knowledge – particularly in the areas of ‘diversity’ and ‘exclusivity’ - you can create and add value to employers in the sports and event management industries.

This module introduces you to the fundamental aspects of event planning. It examines key academic theories that inform the delivery of events, and focuses on the steps involved in the event planning process, which contribute towards informed operational decisions. The module provides you with the opportunity to develop your first event considering the role of key stakeholders and sustainability.

This module aims to provide you with an introduction to the role of marketing in the organisation and the key concepts that underpin the activities of the marketer. It aims to provide you with an understanding of the marketing environment and the importance of gathering appropriate information to inform marketing decision-making. It considers the marketing process; examining consumer behaviour and decision-making and understanding the marketing mix and its application and adaptation within different marketing contexts to be able to satisfy customer needs and business goals in a constantly evolving environment.

Sport is a high profile global business, which excites and entertains, builds allegiances and generates intense rivalries. As such it provides the perfect medium to explore important business concepts of relevance for private, public and not-for-profit organisations. The module looks at concepts such as of value and price in sport, the market for (and marketing of) sports products and services, issues of CSR and ethics in sport and the role of government regulations.

The University is committed to all students gaining a minimum of 35 hours work experience which is assessed as part of a degree programme. This module is designed to develop skills in career development management; problem diagnosis and problem solving.

The module has two key drivers: (1) management of self and leadership of others in 21st century Sport businesses, and (2) employability development through an applied Work Based Learning assessment.

The evaluation of Work Based Learning from work or volunteering, for at least 35 hours, will facilitate learners in applying general knowledge of leadership and management. This Employability related Module focuses on developing skills, business acumen and awareness, while offering support towards a placement next year and graduate applications at level 6.   

This module explores the management of community level sport and the role different stakeholders play in operating at this level of sport. It critically reflects upon a number of topics considered fundamental to the operational success of sport in the community.

Often referred to as grassroots sport, this module offers an in-depth understanding into how commercial and non-commercial sports attempt to maximise funding from multiple revenue streams and help deliver their business objectives relative to sport in the community.

This module analyses the historical development and contemporary role of sport media in the marketing of online and offline sport offerings. Contextually, it critically reviews the impact of the media on the growth of sport and evaluates the part played by broadcast and online social media in the evolution of sports marketing.

The module will build on contemporary marketing theory and apply it in a sports context, examining the subject within a broad framework of sport that covers both commercial and non-commercial sports from the live and non-live offerings that sport media stakeholders provide. As such, you'll look at the application of marketing concepts in sport, and in particular, targeted market segmentation and the roles of branding and sponsorship.

The module also explores concepts of gamification, eSports, rule changes and identity/social issues, all influenced by the role sport media has played in the marketing of sport.

This module is an action-based entrepreneurial practice designed to generate revenue for a chosen organisation. You will be expected to fulfil the learning outcomes through the entrepreneurial project and written assessment. You'll also organise a revenue generation project with a team of students, which has to be approved by the module leader. The written reflection is a key component of your learning, as it evaluates incidents from the team project through academic research, demonstrating what's next and how, thereby achieving a full reflective learning cycle. This module provides a way for you to pursue enterprise and entrepreneurial skills through the process of entrepreneurial learning.

A good knowledge and clear understanding of the principles, insights and applications of finance and economics (and how these disciplines overlap and reinforce each other) is essential for effective sports management, whether this is in the private, public or voluntary sectors. This module utilises key concepts and techniques of economics analysis and financial management to identify how sport enterprises – from large, profit-seeking corporate entities to community-based organisations – might best make evidence-based decisions to achieve their objectives.

In a fast-paced online world environment, it is also imperative to use new media and digital technologies to achieve marketing goals. The growth of digital marketing is the most important yet unpredictable trend currently in marketing, so organisations need to harness the appropriate digital technologies to grow their marketing impact. This module endeavours to introduce you to the fast-moving world of digital marketing technologies and their applications, alongside theoretical frameworks and models which are relevant to digital marketing practice.

The module offers you the opportunity to carry out a piece of sustained independent study focusing on contemporary issues in sports management. You are expected to identify, explore, and critically evaluate a current issue within one of the issues given and present this in the form of a dissertation.

Small group and individual sessions during the module provide you with the opportunity to review your understanding of the research process with specialised supervisors. The module also enables your writing skills to be developed in a professional and academic manner.

The module has benefits in terms of employability as it demonstrates the development of self-motivation and time-management skills and enables you to show-case your knowledge and capabilities to an employer.

Sport plays an increasingly significant role in peoples’ lives. In turn, this is reflected by the growing importance of the part that sport plays in society. The management of the relationship between sport and society involves interactions between a wide range of stakeholders - each of whom has a complex and deep relationship with the activity, club or team of their choice.

This module analyses the relationship between ‘sport’ and society through the prism of ethics, sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Furthermore, you also investigate notions of sustainability around the framework of people, planet, profits and on different levels – including the sustainability of organisations in competitive sport as well as the viability and long-term sustainability of a sport in carbon-neutral environments.

This module focuses on the use of digital technology and social media by sport organisations to communicate with their stakeholders. It also critically examines the evolution of digital and social media as both a communications channel and as a provider of streamed content. The aim of the module is to consider the use of social media to engage sport audiences, to evaluate the extent that digital technology has promoted innovation in sport. Students will also have the opportunity to create and optimise digital communications and through this develop important key digital skills.

Sponsorship plays an increasingly important role in the organisation and funding of sport. By critically examining the relationships and the way the sponsor, the sponsored organisation and the media work in partnership, the module will provide a contextual overview of the global sports sponsorship market and critically evaluate the component parts of the business of sponsorship, the motivations of participants and how they successfully interact. Through the analyses of live case studies, you will develop creative solutions to real-world sponsorship challenges. This will equip you with the skills to apply appropriate theory when confronted with the uncertainty and complexity of unfamiliar practical challenges and understand how culture and community may affect, and be affected, by the impacts of sponsorship.

This module will explore the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of psychological, psychometric and organisation-based assessments, and consider their practical use in employee assessment and selection, and organisation-wide interventions. Students will undergo assessments as a candidate; they will examine the role and responsibilities of HRM in overseeing the use of assessments; and learn how assessments should be administered and used following legal and ethical good practice guidelines.

This module empowers you with the competencies (knowledge, values and skills) necessary to optimally utilise entrepreneurship as a way to economic wealth and growth. You'll develop the necessary competencies such as knowledge, values and skills to be entrepreneurial at different levels of management in a variety of environments. As a successful learner, you'll be able to act as a change agent, ensuring that business entities not only have the competitive edge through new products, services and processes, but are also more effective and efficient. Entrepreneurial leaders will contribute to employee satisfaction and retention. By completing this module, you'll have the ability to develop your entrepreneurial skills, so that you have the potential to become an efficient and effective leader in the business environment.

The purpose of the module is to investigate the role of social media platforms in an organisational context and explore how their adoption fits into operations and supports business objectives. The module will enable you to tailor social media to given business needs and develop strategies for successfully using social platforms in proactive and reactive environments.