Reimagining Sport Management Programs Within Kinesiology and Public Health

Abstract

The growth of Sport Management programs in the United States over the past 50 years has sparked debate about where they should reside on college campuses. However, it has also provided significant opportunities for collaboration and integration with other academic programs in Kinesiology and Public Health. This paper explores relevant literature and current issues that highlight the intersection of sport management, physical activity, and health and then describes two academic programs that were redesigned to better integrate sport management and the health sciences. The Sport Marketing and Management program at Indiana University provides students with the opportunity to expand their business training, with particular emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion, through coursework in health and movement-related programs in the School of Public Health. The School of Kinesiology’s Applied Exercise Science program at the University of Michigan offers students the option of pursuing a management elective track that incorporates courses from the school’s Sport Management program. This paper provides leaders in Kinesiology with explicit examples of integrating kinesiology and public health with sport management and serves to encourage leaders to promote and support greater collaboration within units of Kinesiology and other health science programs.