| Sports management is a vocational program that prepares students for jobs in the sports industry. Sports entrepreneurship courses are offered to students in collegiate level sports management programs because these students hope to own and operate their own sports-oriented business. In addition, major sports conglomerates look to hire employees with business-related skills and the ability to "think outside the box", two traits commonly associated with entrepreneurs. It is up to the sports management faculty to prepare their students for the challenges of running their own businesses or being able to effectively manage existing sports corporations. However, not all sports entrepreneurship instructors have owned and operated their own businesses nor have worked for large sports corporations. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to see if there is a universal set of content standards for sports entrepreneurship courses. The study was also undertaken to see if sports entrepreneurship instructors and sports entrepreneurs agree on what should be taught in sports entrepreneurship course in order to prepare students for the real-world.; The study consisted of two research groups: sports entrepreneurship instructors in NASPE/NASSM accredited sports management programs, and sports entrepreneurs located throughout the United States of America. Data was collected via survey method with two separate questionnaires that were created by the researcher and examined by a panel of experts. The questionnaires were sent to the research populations via regular mail, as well as offered online, through the Internet.; The data was analyzed quantitatively through the use of SPSS statistical software. SPSS was used to test the validity and reliability of the questionnaire as well as determine the normality of the data. A variety of statistical procedures were utilized to analyze the data, including: frequencies of demographic, teaching experience, and business-related data. Additionally, Mann-Whitney U Tests and Independent T-tests were used to determine any relationships between the two research groups with regard to their responses to the questionnaires.; Results of the study indicate that sports entrepreneurship instructors do agree that there are a universal set of content standards sports entrepreneurship courses, specifically, the National Content Standards as developed by the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education. Additionally, sports entrepreneurs indicated that those same content standards were more than enough to prepare students to become sports entrepreneurs. Finally, sports entrepreneurship instructors and sports entrepreneurs agreed on four of the top five skills that every student should be taught in order to be successful sports entrepreneurs.; What follows is the basis for the research study, the procedures taken to conduct the research, an analysis of the data, and conclusions and recommendations for further research. |
