What can high schoolers do if they're interested in the business of sports?
Sports business is the work behind the game: marketing, ticketing, event operations, sponsorships, analytics, media and athlete management.
High school options include sports management summer programs at colleges, DECA's sports and entertainment marketing events, volunteer shifts with minor league teams and local races or tournaments, and online courses in sports marketing and analytics. Your own school's athletic department is often the easiest place to start.
How do you pick a sports business program?
Look for programs that put you in front of real problems, like planning a promotion night or studying attendance, rather than a week of guest speakers. Ask whether students visit a venue or work an event. Check cost and length, since some are short day camps and others are residential. For volunteer roles, ask what you will actually do and who will supervise you.
How can you start in sports business this month?
- Offer to help your school's athletic director with a home game: tickets, concessions or the announcer's script.
- Pick a local team and write a one-page plan to fill more seats for one game.
- Track attendance or social media numbers for your school's teams for a month and make one clear chart.
- Join DECA and look at its sports and entertainment marketing events.
- Interview someone who works at a local gym, team or venue about their job.
Where Nextreks fits
The plan you wrote, the event you helped run and the chart you built can all go in your Nextreks portfolio, private by default. Sports business work also leans on durable skills like communication and collaboration, since nothing happens on game day without a team behind it.
Programs in Explore are run by other organizations. Nextreks lists them but does not run or guarantee them.