9781422285329

The popularity of college athletics creates many job opportunities for people who love sports but aren’t college

athletes themselves. In many cases, the skills people need for these college athletic jobs are the same ones they would use in parallel careers in the business world. Making money, marketing a “product,” and creating a positive image are essential in both worlds. As people who work in college athletics stress, however, their field has a major difference. They get to see young men and women develop both as athletes and students and to bond with them. “You don’t get that in another industry,”saidMarkMassari,deputy athletic director at Oregon State

The Business of College Sports

These numbers from USA Today show how much money is at stake in college athletics. They show the revenues that sports generated for ten leading Division I schools in 2013. Texas $165,691,486

Wisconsin $149,141,405 Alabama $143,776,550 Michigan $143,514,125 Ohio State $139,639,307 Florida $130,011,244 Oklahoma $123,805,661 LSU $117,457,398 Oregon $115,241,070 Tennessee $111,579,779

University. For Massari and others, building that connection and seeing the student-athletes mature, “is what [the job] is all about.”

10 C areers O ff the F ield • Working in College Sports