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Learning to Pitch: A Review of Content in Sport Sales Courses

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Title: Learning to Pitch: A Review of Content in Sport Sales Courses
Language: English
Authors: Mandy Barefoot (ORCID 0009-0000-3819-9957), J. Michael Martinez (ORCID 0009-0006-7011-5657)
Source: Sport Management Education Journal. 2025 19(1):62-71.
Availability: Human Kinetics, Inc. 1607 North Market Street, Champaign, IL 61820. Tel: 800-474-4457; Fax: 217-351-1549; e-mail: info@hkusa.com; Web site: https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/smej/smej-overview.xml
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 10
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Team Sports, Sales Occupations, Merchandising, Salesmanship, Course Descriptions, Management Development, Instructional Materials, Content Analysis, Credentials, Course Evaluation, Higher Education
DOI: 10.1123/smej.2023-0027
ISSN: 1938-6974
2163-2367
Abstract: Sport-sales-specific coursework is emerging as a crucial addition to sport management curricula for a variety of institutions. However, a new sport sales course can present instructors with the unique challenge of developing a course without any departmental precedent. The current study collected syllabi from recent sport sales courses to provide a community-based solution to the deficit of historical sport sales course materials and syllabi in any given department. Syllabi were analyzed using a combined content-analysis approach. Findings include prevalent content themes, a summary of required materials, and the adaptability of skills learned through sales coursework. Similarly, the utility of microcredentials as course content in sport sales, a concept not previously explored in sport sales pedagogy literature, is highlighted by the current findings and discussed as an avenue for future research.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1467664
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0184090771;[egpc]01apr.25;2025Apr02.02:33;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0184090771-1">Learning to Pitch: A Review of Content in Sport Sales Courses </title> <p>Sport-sales-specific coursework is emerging as a crucial addition to sport management curricula for a variety of institutions. However, a new sport sales course can present instructors with the unique challenge of developing a course without any departmental precedent. The current study collected syllabi from recent sport sales courses to provide a community-based solution to the deficit of historical sport sales course materials and syllabi in any given department. Syllabi were analyzed using a combined content-analysis approach. Findings include prevalent content themes, a summary of required materials, and the adaptability of skills learned through sales coursework. Similarly, the utility of microcredentials as course content in sport sales, a concept not previously explored in sport sales pedagogy literature, is highlighted by the current findings and discussed as an avenue for future research.</p> <p>Keywords: sport sales pedagogy; sport sales course development; microcredentials as pedagogy</p> <p>Sales positions in sport organizations are often touted to sport management students as one of the primary ways to enter the sport industry. At the same time, turnover and attrition in entry-level ticket sales positions are staggering, with 50% of employees in these positions leaving the sport industry altogether in a little more than 2 years ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref1">29</reflink>]). Formal sales education has been shown to reduce turnover and improve performance for new graduates in entry-level sales roles ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref2">5</reflink>]). Similarly, sport sales coursework within a degree program has previously been shown to set realistic expectations of sport sales employment for students ([<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref3">26</reflink>]) and assist in developing practical skills relevant to sales, such as interpersonal communication ([<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref4">37</reflink>]). The increased availability of sales courses offering high-quality and relevant skill development within sport management programs may influence graduates' future employability and near- and long-term success. Pierce ([<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref5">25</reflink>]) found that a significant number of sport management departments had indicated they would likely offer a sport sales course in the near future.</p> <p>However, developing a new sports sales course can present a unique set of challenges for first-time instructors. Current and former sport sales professionals serving as first-time, early-career, or adjunct instructors may come armed with extensive content knowledge but a burgeoning understanding of rigorous academic course development. In turn, they may rely on materials from their colleagues' previous courses to provide a foundation for their own course development ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref6">31</reflink>]). Conversely, experienced academics and instructors whose careers have been far removed from revenue generation may lack the content knowledge or industry experience to understand how to effectively teach sports sales in a way that develops practical or in-demand skills. In either case, inaugural instructors developing a new sport sales course offering for their department likely lack the benefit of access to archived syllabi. Such access can provide new instructors with limited course development training with a framework on which to base their course ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref7">13</reflink>]). To address this need, the current paper seeks to provide a community-based solution to this dearth of historical information available within any one department. Findings from the current study can inform administrators and instructors in areas of sport sales course development and design.</p> <p>Using a corpus of syllabi from sport sales courses, the current study utilized a mixed-methods approach to identify commonalities in content areas and resources in sport sales courses offered by sport management departments to provide actionable insights for instructors developing a new sport sales course. Syllabi from recent sports sales course offerings (<emph>n</emph> = 19) were collected from both Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA) -accredited sport management programs (<emph>n</emph> = 13) and sport management programs not currently COSMA accredited (<emph>n</emph> = 6). Programs were identified as offering a sport sales course based on publicly available information, such as department websites and course catalogs. Only courses specifically focused on sales in a sport-specific context were included. The analysis did not include courses more broadly focused on general sport marketing concepts.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-2">Lead Author's Positionality</hd> <p>The lead author's interest in this project was informed by their own experience developing a new sport sales course as a graduate student instructor of record in the Spring 2023 semester, supported by their PhD advisor and second author. As a former inside sales leader in minor league sports, the lead author facilitated many short-form "boot camp" sales trainings and helped dozens of young employees transition from student to professional. The desire to continue teaching sales and help students enter the sport industry with the necessary skills and expectations informed their eventual interest in leaving industry employment and entering academia. At a paradigmatic level, this paper incorporates Cuneen and Parks's ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref8">12</reflink>]) view of a "symbiotic" (p. 125) relationship between practitioners and academics as guided by each institution's missions and goals.</p> <p>The institution in which this course was developed had only previously offered a sports sales course once before, in the spring of 2016. This course was led by an adjunct instructor who also worked full time at the nearest NBA (National Basketball Association) franchise, and much of that initial course's content was structured around their professional network. Although there is no doubt that the course provided invaluable experiential learning and networking opportunities, the course structure was too specific and would not work as a foundational structure for future course offerings.</p> <p>These circumstances framed our approach to the current study. We believe the lead author's professional background equipped them to discern the practical value or transferability of course content to sport employment and assess the relevance and authenticity of outside course materials ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref9">2</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref10">23</reflink>]). However, there was a need to find content resources available to help frame these skills in a way that was accessible to all students regardless of their specific career aspirations, soundly based in sport management theory, and academically rigorous. The quest to find enough information to make data-driven decisions about developing the sport sales course allowed the lead author to problematize their circumstances and design the current study to share findings with other instructors tasked with sport sales course development. It is important to note that through that sharing, we neither decry nor advocate for any specific pedagogical approach or the inclusion of a particular content resource over another. The efficacy of individual or competing sport sales instructional methods is certainly a worthy topic for continuing empirical research.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-3">Review of Relevant Literature: Considerations for Sport Sales Course Developers</hd> <p>The popularity and rising demand for sports sales coursework ([<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref11">25</reflink>]), especially at the undergraduate level, represents a continued shift in the business orientation of sport management programs. Seifried et al. ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref12">36</reflink>]) advocated for a business orientation in sport management programs through their recommendations that business schools continue to consider the integration of sport management programs into their programmatic offerings, partially under the guise that sport management as an academic discipline has evolved past specialized career preparation and into a more mature academic discipline concerned with developing novel theoretical contributions. Similarly, a focus on developing and expanding sport sales education within sport management education mirrors the same emphasis on developing professional selling programs offered within many business schools in the past decade ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref13">5</reflink>]). This correlation is exemplified in the founding of Baylor University's Center for Professional Selling in 1985 ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref14">5</reflink>]) and the subsequent implementation of its sport sales counterpart, the Center for Sport Strategy and Sales, in 2004 ([<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref15">41</reflink>]), both housed within Baylor's Hankamer School of Business.</p> <p>At the same time, not all students enrolled in a professional selling course want to enter a sales profession ([<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref16">38</reflink>]). A clear articulation of the adaptability of sales skills both across customer types and inside and outside of revenue-generating transactions ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref17">5</reflink>]) could also potentially positively influence the experiences of students who are law school bound or who become leaders in roles that require influencing, communicating, and other forms of persuasion. Because sport sales represents not only a typical career path for graduates but also an emerging area of sport management research, sport sales instructors should be mindful that future sport management graduate students, researchers, and academics may also be present in their courses.</p> <p>Previous approaches to sport sales pedagogy have been more overtly focused on preparing students for entry-level sales employment and may not wholly consider the needs of these other groups of students. The Pentagon of Sports Sales Training (PSST) provides a sport sales course delivery framework based on an experiential learning model that encourages hands-on learning opportunities with a partner sport organization. The PSST positions sales success as supported by the pentagonal support of performance, practice, philosophy, prospect, and product ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref18">16</reflink>]) and seemingly seeks to mimic entry-level, on-the-job training that new sales employees would receive. Although the PSST has been shown to be an impactful pedagogical approach to developing applicable skills in sport management students ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref19">21</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref20">27</reflink>]), its success is functionally predicated on access to a suitable experiential learning environment that can accommodate students' consistent interactions with sales practitioners and clients in real-world sales scenarios. However, many instructors developing new courses may not have access to the social and organizational capital necessary to facilitate such a large-scale experiential learning exercise. Challenges in accessing these resources may also be compounded for part-time and graduate student instructors of record, by large class sizes, or for instructors at regional or rural institutions.</p> <p>Drawing from general sales education literature, reviews of sales education research highlighted the need for incorporating critical thinking skills, data analytic skills, and engaging discussions on sales ethics as necessities across sales education ([<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref21">11</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref22">10</reflink>]). When including an experiential learning-based course component such as those based on the PSST paradigm, sport sales course developers are, therefore, implored to ensure that reflective exercises are given the appropriate consideration compared with the experience itself.</p> <p>Cummins et al. ([<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref23">11</reflink>]) also specifically encouraged sales course facilitators to consider their course's curricular position relative to marketing as many marketing graduates enter the workforce via entry-level sales employment. As many sport management graduates potentially interested in careers in a variety of business operations roles are routinely advised to enter the workforce via entry-level sport sales employment, sport sales instructors should similarly consider sport sales' place not only within the broader sport management curriculum but also within the career goals of our students.</p> <p>Although sport management degree programs should ideally prepare their students for gainful sport employment in and out of sport sales positions, a lack of appropriate industry-side job training for entry-level salespeople ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref24">16</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref25">37</reflink>]) is not a problem to be solved solely by undergraduate educational institutions and individual sport sales instructors. Although we, as sport management educators, can work to mitigate this skills gap in our students and prepare them to succeed in the transition to professional sport sales employment, we are only empowered to do so as guided by our institutions' missions, values, and resources. Perhaps it is not the role of the academy to supplant on-the-job training but, instead, develop creative, critical thinkers and empowered communicators who will excel in entry-level sport sales positions after the appropriate employer-side training.</p> <p>At the same time, many students enter sport sales coursework with negative perceptions and misunderstandings about sales. Sattler and Warren ([<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref26">35</reflink>]) found that as sport management students progressed through a graduate-level sports sales course, their negative perceptions diminished as they gained a "more holistic view of sales" (p. 98). This holistic view included highlighting the transferability of sales skills to nonsales employment throughout the course. As a result, students could identify various other sports roles, such as coaching, recruiting, marketing, and development, wherein sales skills could meaningfully enhance their performance.</p> <p>When considering the unique needs of our student audience, Thacker ([<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref27">38</reflink>]) asserted that the changing generational dynamics of Gen Z, as both buyers and sellers, mandate reflections on how sales courses, in general, have been structured and delivered. Thacker argued that the future of sales is more about generating innovative solutions for clients than simply facilitating a transactional exchange of goods. Therefore, one might similarly argue that developing creative solutions in a dynamic environment may be equally, if not more, important than understanding the sales process. Thacker found that a sales course designed around "interactive experiences" (p. 196) resulted in better student performance and course evaluations with Gen Z students. Although these interactive experiences could, indeed, include large-scale experiential learning opportunities similar to those based in the PSST paradigm, many classroom-based alternatives, such as discussions, simulations, games, and project-based activities, also meet Thacker's interactive criterion while developing critical and creative thinking skills.</p> <p>Rocco and Whalen ([<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref28">32</reflink>]) provided an archetypal example of the efficacy of one such interactive classroom activity: an improv theatre exercise called <emph>Yes, And...</emph> used in a sports sales course to develop interpersonal communication skills. Students in the experimental group that participated in the <emph>Yes, And...</emph> exercise outperformed their peers in a ticket sales experiential learning exercise later in the course, both when communicating with clients throughout the sales process and in total revenue generated. Overall, applied improv theatre games like <emph>Yes, And...</emph> are interactive learning strategies that require very few physical or organizational resources and are widely accessible to instructors across employment roles at various institution types.</p> <p>Rooted in constructive alignment ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref29">4</reflink>]), this review produces four considerations for sport sales course development: one existential and three more pragmatic. As the name suggests, constructive alignment focuses on how students <emph>construct</emph> meaning through course activities, which <emph>align</emph> with the instructional efforts to create the proper environment to support this applicable learning ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref30">4</reflink>]). At the broadest level, sports sales course developers might consider what their sport sales course conveys about the maturing nature of sport management as an academic discipline and their positionality within the debates in our field. More pragmatically, first-time sport sales instructors should inventory and assess their available institutional resources. What organizational capital or relationships can one leverage to provide high-value experiential learning opportunities or access to industry leaders? Again, at the institutional level, instructors should consider where their course fits within the program's curriculum. What skills and competencies should and could be introduced or reinforced through a sports sales course to meet program-level goals? Finally, instructors should consider their course's contribution to students' career goals. Does the course prepare them solely to churn out season ticket renewal phone calls in a sales bullpen, or are students also ready to be strong critical thinkers, compassionate leaders, and valued teammates in a variety of employment roles?</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-4">Methods</hd> <p>The purpose of the current study is to identify prevalent themes in learning outcomes, assessments, and content areas in sports sales courses to provide actionable insight for instructors developing new sport sales courses for their institutions. Informed by this purpose and a review of relevant literature, we developed the following research questions:</p> <p> <bold>RQ 1</bold>: How are current sports sales courses structured in terms of instructional activities, content areas, etc.? What are the most common content areas in sport sales courses?</p> <p> <bold>RQ 2</bold>: How is sport sales course content delivered? What materials and resources are currently used by sport sales instructors in academic coursework? How is this delivery assessed?</p> <p>The current study utilizes a mixed-methods design to analyze sport sales course syllabi collected from current or recent sport sales instructors. A combined approach to content analysis was used to provide both quantitative count data and identify themes from unstructured data ([<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref31">22</reflink>]). Sport management undergraduate degree programs were identified as offering a sports sales course based on publicly available website data and course catalogs. Prior research on sport sales course offerings ([<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref32">25</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref33">37</reflink>]) has used similar publicly available data to draw conclusions about the broader state of sport sales education. The current study extends this line of research by collecting additional privileged information in the form of individual course syllabi that allow analysis at the course level rather than the institution level.</p> <p>The research team identified the appropriate points of contact (i.e., instructors and/or department chairs) from department websites to request their most recent sport sales syllabi. We then contacted them via email with a request to participate by providing a copy of a recent syllabus. The email recruitment message assured participants that no unique identifiers for their courses, institutions, or industry partners would be used in any publications of the study's findings. This anonymization was designed to protect the intellectual property rights of institutions and individual course instructors.</p> <p>The first recruitment cycle focused on COSMA-accredited programs as identified by the COSMA website. We sent email recruitment messages to 13 COSMA schools, and 10 of these programs provided a total of 12 syllabi. After this initial round of recruitment, we collected additional syllabi from non-COSMA schools that offered a sport sales course until thematic saturation was reached in the qualitative analysis ([<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref34">8</reflink>]). As a result, any interpretation of the quantitative count should not necessarily result in an endorsement of a particular resource based on its prevalence. Six non-COSMA programs were contacted, with five responding to provide seven additional syllabi. The final sample consisted of 19 syllabi from 15 different sport management programs, representing a response rate of 79% to the request to participate. Three programs provided two syllabi each: the same course taught by two different instructors, the same course in two modalities (one on campus and one online), and two courses in the same course sequence.</p> <p>Qualitative data extracted from syllabi included any narrative descriptive information about the course, including sections labeled as "course description," "learning outcomes," "learning objectives," "course objectives," and the like. A two-cycle inductive coding approach ([<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref35">33</reflink>]) was used to identify themes within this data set. First-cycle codes were grouped together to form broader themes. Quantitative count data extracted from syllabi included required course materials such as textbooks, online platform subscriptions, and professional development books as well as the prevalence and relative weights of reflection essays, experiential learning projects, and exams as assessment methods.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-5">Findings</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0184090771-6">Content Themes</hd> <p>The thematic analysis of the qualitative data set identified five central content areas prevalent in the sport sales courses included in the current sample.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-7">The Sales Process and Sales Techniques</hd> <p>Unsurprisingly, many sport sales courses primarily focused on teaching students various sales techniques and strategies relevant to the sports industry across the steps of the sales process. This domain included discussions of the major theories applicable to ticket and sponsorship sales, pricing, product knowledge, consultative sales philosophy, and the role of sales within the larger sport organization.</p> <p>Assessments for outcomes in this content area included role-play activities, preparing phone call scripts, and experiential learning activities with external industry partners. Although both the fundamental sales process and techniques were prevalent across the syllabus categories included in this phase of analysis, language focusing on the steps of the sales process was slightly more prevalent in the learning and course objectives sections. Similarly, language focusing on sales strategies and techniques was more commonplace in the learning and course outcomes sections.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-8">Revenue Sources and Revenue-Generation Strategies</hd> <p>In this content area, students learned about different revenue streams, such as ticket sales, media rights, sponsorships, and event-based revenues, such as parking and concessions sales. Variations in the availability and value of each of these revenue streams between major and minor league professional teams and by collegiate division ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref36">7</reflink>]), the relationship between these revenue streams, and their contributions to the overall financial operations of different types of sport organization provided a foundation for discussion in this domain. Similarly, the relationship between sales and marketing as part of an overall revenue generation strategy was included in this content area.</p> <p>These foundational and theoretical concepts were commonly assessed through quizzes, exams, and applied projects. Focus in this content area skewed heavily toward revenue generation strategies, perhaps because revenue sources may be covered in introductory or sport finance coursework. Like the previous thematic category, language focusing on revenue sources was more prevalent in the objectives sections, whereas language focusing on strategies was more common in the outcomes sections.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-9">Practical Experience and Industry Connections</hd> <p>Many of the courses utilized practical experiences to provide students with hands-on learning opportunities and exposure to guest lecturers from the sport industry. This domain was the most directly associated with related industry-based experiential learning assessments.</p> <p>Assessments related to industry connections included group work, research projects, presentations, sales projects for local sports organizations, and practicum experiences in industry settings. The use of sport industry organizations as an experiential learning environment was not limited to large schools or schools in metropolitan areas. The smallest school in the sample, located in a suburban area, was also the only one to provide two separate experiential learning opportunities. Other experiential learning opportunities included supporting on-campus athletics, marketing and services operations for an on-campus event produced by the sport management department, a regional multiuse venue, minor league sport organizations, and major league teams. Notably, all of the major league teams in the current sample were NBA and WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) teams. Courses from institutions without access to such experiential learning opportunities incorporated guest speakers and case study-based experiential learning opportunities to supplement more traditional, lecture-based coursework.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-10">Client-Relationship Management</hd> <p>An emphasis was placed on building and fostering client relationships across the customer life cycle, including exploring how tracking a customer's engagement with marketing content could facilitate and enhance the sales process. Ticket operations technologies and the use of a customer-relationship-management (CRM) software platform such as Salesforce throughout the sales process and customer life cycle were included in this domain. Given the importance of customer retention to the financial longevity of many sport organizations, this thematic area also included objectives and outcomes related to managerial goal setting and forecasting.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-11">Communication Skills</hd> <p>At the broadest level, many courses aimed to improve students' overall communication skills, recognizing their importance in sales, sales support positions, and across the sport industry. Effective communication was emphasized to sell both products and ideas. Perhaps especially for students not interested in a career in sales, the benefits of communication skills development could provide an essential justification for their engagement in the course. Language focused on demonstrating, developing, or improving interpersonal communication skills was one of the most common themes across the current sample, chiefly in syllabus sections focused on learning outcomes.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-12">Course Materials and Assessments</hd> <p>Course materials, including required textbooks, supplemental readings, and online subscription platforms, were inventoried from each syllabus. Similarly, methods of assessment, such as exams, essays, and group projects, were also extracted and compiled.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-13">Required Textbooks, Readings, and Subscriptions</hd> <p>Many courses included in the current sample utilized a mix of specific sports sales and general sales resources, although three course syllabi listed no required textbooks, readings, or subscriptions. Notably, five online subscriptions allowed students to earn professionally oriented microcredentials: LinkedIn Learning course completion certificates, Ultimate Toolkit certification, Adobe Creative Cloud proficiency badges, Front Office Learning badges, and Salesforce Trailhead microcredentials. Based on the current sample, instructors utilized the online learning modules for these microcredentials as semester-long projects and independent homework assignments. Two syllabi specifically highlighted that the content in these modules would also be included in quizzes or exams. Although microcredentials have been a topic of research in several other academic fields (e.g., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref37">24</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref38">40</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref39">44</reflink>]), their use is virtually unexplored in sport management education literature. In the subsequent discussion section, we address some of the potential utility of microcredentials in sport sales and present a brief summary of the debated use of microcredentials across higher education.</p> <p>Table 1 summarizes the required materials and subscriptions while delineating between general business and sport sales-specific resources and identifying resources that provide opportunities for students to earn a microcredential.</p> <p>Table 1 Required Materials</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup span="1"><col align="left" span="1" /><col align="left" span="1" /><col align="left" span="1" /><col align="left" span="1" /><col align="left" span="1" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Textbooks</th><th align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">Sport industry digital resources</th><th align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">Sport industry books</th><th align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">General industry digital resources</th><th align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">General industry books</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>Developing Successful Sport Sponsorship Plans</italic>. Stotlar. 4th ed.</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Front Office Sports<sup>a</sup> (<italic>n</italic> = 3)</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>Ice to Eskimos</italic> by John Spoelstra</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">LERI method of sales and communication and DISC assessment</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>How to Win Friends and Influence People</italic> by Dale Carnegie</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>Sales and Revenue Generation in Sport Business</italic>. Shonk and Weiner. 1st ed. Human Kinetics</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">The Ultimate Toolkit<sup>a</sup></td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>Find Your Yellow Tux</italic> by Jesse Cole</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Lynda.com/LinkedIn Learning<sup>a</sup></td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>Integrity</italic> by Henry Cloud</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>Selling in the Sport Industry</italic>. Pierce et al. 1st ed. Kendall Hunt (<italic>n</italic> = 3)</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>Sports Business Journal</italic></td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Keystone Sales Challenge</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>The Catalyst</italic> by Jonah Berger</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>Selling: Building Partnerships</italic>. Castleberry and Tanner. 10th ed. McGraw Hill</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">The Clubhouse</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Rainmakers.org</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>The Challenger Sale</italic> by Brent Adamson and Matthew Dixon</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>Sport Promotion and Sales Management</italic>. Irwin et al. 2nd ed. Human Kinetics</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Salesforce Trailhead<sup>a</sup></td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><italic>The Sales Game Changer</italic> by Cornilles</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">None (<italic>n</italic> = 3)</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Adobe Creative Cloud<sup>a</sup></td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p> <emph>Note</emph>. LERI = listen-empathy-rapport-influence; DISC = dominant-influential-stable-compliant. <sups>a</sups>Students can complete activities to earn a microcredential.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-14">Assessments and Assignments</hd> <p>Data extracted from each syllabus included the types of assessments used and their respective contributions to students' course grades. Assessments were then classified into one of five categories based on the information available on the provided syllabus: exams; essays and written reflection; projects; graded participation, including quizzes, discussions, and attendance; and homework and other assignments. These categories were developed through the data analysis to reflect how these assessments were grouped together on individual syllabi. For example, some instructors in the current sample listed "attendance" and "participation" as separate grade categories, whereas others chose to combine them. These combinations in grade weights by instructors contributed to the grouping of the resulting categories.</p> <p>Table 2 summarizes the prevalence of exams, reflective essay assignments, graded participation, and the available project details from the wide assortment of assessment types appearing in the current sample. First, we include the percentage of courses in the current sample that contain each assignment type. In addition, we present the average and median percentages of the weight of each assessment type in determining a student's overall course grade along with the range of weights for that assessment type. These summative weights were calculated using only the syllabi that included that assignment category. Each average and median percentage in Table 2 should be interpreted as the percentage of that category's weight only in syllabi that included that assignment category.</p> <p>Table 2 Course Assessments</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup span="1"><col align="left" span="1" /><col align="center" span="1" /><col align="center" span="1" /><col align="center" span="1" /><col align="center" span="1" /><col align="center" span="1" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Assessment type</th><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">No. of courses</th><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">% of courses</th><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Avg % of course grade</th><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Median % of course grade</th><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Range</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Exams</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">27%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">26%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">5%–50%</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Final exam</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">11</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">55%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Midterm or other exams</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">10</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">50%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Essays and written reflection</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">13</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">65%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">13%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">10%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">5%–28%</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Reflection on reading</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">15%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Reflection on guest speaker</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">4</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">20%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Other reflection</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">6</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">30%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Projects</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">18</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">90%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">37%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">39%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">13%–72%</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Sponsorship pitch</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">15%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Ticket sales preparedness</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">7</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">35%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Group work</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">15%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Experiential learning projects with industry partners</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">5</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">25%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Graded participation including quizzes, discussion, and attendance</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">16</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">80%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">25%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">19%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">5%–77%</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Homework and other assignments</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">16</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">80%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">28%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">30%</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3%–53%</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Combined undergraduate/graduate courses</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">2<sup>a</sup></td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p> <sups>a</sups>Commission on Sport Management Accreditation schools require an additional assignment for graduate students.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-15">Exams</hd> <p>Approximately half of the courses in the current sample used exams, accounting for an average of 27% of students' grades in courses utilizing exams. During the early stages of data analysis, we conjectured that, perhaps, the courses requiring traditional textbooks might be more reliant on exams. However, this hypothesis was not supported by the current data. Both courses requiring textbooks and not requiring exams and courses with no required text and required exams were about equally present in the current sample. In addition, it is worth noting that exams were almost a third of on-campus students' grades for the two courses offered in different modalities (on campus and hybrid). In contrast, exams were not used at all as an assessment in the hybrid course.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-16">Essays and Written Reflection</hd> <p>Almost two thirds of classes required written reflection assignments or essays, accounting for an average of 13% of students' grades. Topics for essays and reflection were broadly tied to required course readings or other activities. Two courses included reflections on required industry-focused books. Additional reflection assignments (<emph>n</emph> = 4) asked students to reflect on guest speakers or interactions with working sports sales professionals. Two courses included reflections on personality tests assigned as part of coursework. Other reflection topics included in-class role-play activities and assigned academic journal articles. Reflections were used as both stand-alone major assignments (e.g., essays) and regular recurring assignments throughout the course (e.g., reflections on a series of guest speakers).</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-17">Projects</hd> <p>Although each syllabus in the current sample included some form of a project, the details of each project were limited on many syllabi. Both courses in the current sample that were combined undergraduate and graduate courses required an additional project for graduate students as the major differential in how each group of students would be graded.</p> <p>Five courses partnered with outside industry partners to provide experiential learning opportunities for students, exemplifying the PSST paradigm of sales education. In these projects, students provided sales and event operations support on their campuses as well as to neighboring professional teams, multiuse venues, and tournaments. While on site with these partners, students actively participated in the sales process through observation, training, and making outbound sales calls.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-18">Graded Participation</hd> <p>Most of the syllabi in the current sample listed some form of graded participation. Some syllabi listed participation as a solitary weight in the course grade, whereas many others combined participation with weights for quizzes, discussions, and attendance. This variety contributed to the broadness of the graded participation category in the current analysis and to the range of weights (5%–77%) across the sample. Notably, the three syllabi with no grade for participation or attendance outlined an attendance policy that would result in a grade reduction for excessive absences.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-19">Homework and Other Assignments</hd> <p>Homework and other assignments is another broad category of assignments represented in the current sample. This category was the vaguest about the actual details of each individual assignment. As a result, this category may be the least insightful in the current analysis. However, it also provides new sales course instructors an opportunity for flexibility, innovation, or customization when designing a new course.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-20">Discussion</hd> <p>The current findings illustrate how considering a course's positioning within an institution's curriculum can guide an individual course's content ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref40">4</reflink>]). For example, one institution in the current sample offers a two-course sport sales sequence. This sequence provides an additional opportunity for depth and breadth of content compared with stand-alone sports sales courses. Similarly, the perennial comparison of sport management programs housed in business schools versus those housed elsewhere may influence what general business sales programming is available to students and what resources are available to instructors. This wide variation in institutional and curricular structures prevents adopting a universal approach to sport sales course design.</p> <p>These institution-level considerations of structure and organizational resources may, instead, guide instructors in how content areas are incorporated into overall course design. The five themes identified in the current sample may all vary in their individual importance in a given course when placed in the frame of any particular degree program and overall student experience within that program. For example, Walmsley et al. ([<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref41">42</reflink>]) questioned the value of experiential learning activities designed to mimic entry-level employment over more traditional classroom activities when a large proportion of students are already employed in roles that provide a similar experience. Instructors at institutions with large athletic departments, recreation centers, or neighboring professional teams may not need to recreate a less realistic version of the authentic working environment where many students are already employed as part-time, event-based, or student workers. Instead, an instructor in this environment might choose to focus on exposing students to industry connections that might otherwise be inaccessible to students through live guest lectures or archived interviews with industry professionals available on platforms like The Clubhouse or YouTube.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-21">Developing Industry Partnerships</hd> <p>For instructors seeking to incorporate external partnerships, an intentional balance between internal and external resources in sport management coursework must be struck ([<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref42">9</reflink>]). Braunstein-Minkove and DeLuca ([<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref43">9</reflink>]) suggested a wide variety of ways to incorporate industry partnerships into sport management, such as field experiences, semester-long assignments that align with the goals of industry partners, informational interviews, and networking opportunities. However, programs should be aware that the responsibility of initiating relationships with external stakeholders often falls on individual faculty members ([<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref44">9</reflink>]). Management of this relationship is not unlike the relationships that sport sales courses are ideally preparing students to manage.</p> <p>Overall, building relationships with external organizations to provide experiential learning opportunities for students involves proactive engagement and mutual collaboration. Mirroring the sales process, sports sales instructors should first identify potential partners. Prospective partners outside of the campus athletic and recreation departments may include local professional teams, community sport organizations, or organizations employing alumni. Industry-focused conferences and professional associations may also provide an opportunity for instructors to connect with industry partners. Faculty members with the requisite administrative support might also form industry advisory boards to help further integrate experiential learning across the institution's curriculum.</p> <p>Just as sales students are taught to discover a client's need before making a product recommendation, instructors seeking to develop sustainable relationships with external organizations should similarly consider the needs of their industry partners: What problems for the partners can be solved by providing students with experiential learning opportunities? Based on the needs of the partner organizations, instructors should then strive to clearly articulate the benefits of collaborating with the university and highlight how the organization can contribute to student learning and professional development. Authentic collaboration entails tailoring partnership proposals to the specific needs and interests of external organizations while also considering how the proposed partnership would contribute to positive student learning outcomes.</p> <p>Although the needs and motivations of individual partner organizations may vary, Ferns et al. ([<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref45">14</reflink>]) discussed some of the broadest perspectives of industry partners on the development of experiential learning opportunities. Partners indicated the need for support resources in managing the learning environment for students, including clarification of roles, expectations, and how students will be assessed. When incorporating industry partners into a sales course, clear expectations and communication are requisite to both engage students in content and protect them from exploitation ([<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref46">45</reflink>])</p> <p>From a more practical standpoint, Portway ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref47">30</reflink>]) suggested that the widespread use of collaboration technology, like Microsoft Teams, reduced the time commitments for industry partners and administrative burdens for faculty when inviting partners to engage with students as that engagement can take place virtually. This allowed the industry partner in Portway's case study to more frequently and meaningfully engage with students. This example suggests that industry partnerships need not be limited to the geographic location of a particular institution to provide valuable experiential learning opportunities and professional development. Such technology may make collaboration with geographically distant alumni and professional contacts more feasible.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-22">Revenue Generation, Communication, and CRM Content Areas</hd> <p>Different institutions require varying prerequisites, including sport economics, sport finance, and sport marketing, that can influence what background or foundation information may be omitted in a sport sales course. When evaluating how to incorporate discussion surrounding revenue sources and revenue generation strategies, the learning outcomes from these prerequisite courses could dictate what foundational information to which students might need to be exposed to grasp the importance of individual revenue-generating transactions within broader revenue streams to the overall financial health and goals of the organization.</p> <p>At the same time, the need for an organization to generate revenue is often independent of the financial structure of the organization (e.g., nonprofit vs. for profit). Customer relationship management has increasingly been explored in other environments outside of professional sports teams and other for-profit firms. With financial support in many nonprofit sectors waning ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref48">20</reflink>]), theories and strategies for CRM have been applied within the nonprofit sector to increase donor engagement ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref49">17</reflink>]) and build trust between donors and the organization ([<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref50">43</reflink>]).</p> <p>Along with customer relationship management, the communication skills content area allows another key opportunity to demonstrate the broad applicability of sales skills across roles. Table 3 presents a selection of sport sales communication skills and their relevance to the sales process adapted from one of the required textbooks in the current sample, <emph>Selling in the Sport Industry</emph> ([<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref51">28</reflink>]). We then give suggestions on how these skills could potentially be practically adapted outside of sport sales employment.</p> <p>Table 3 Applications of Sales Skills</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup span="1"><col align="left" span="1" /><col align="left" span="1" /><col align="left" span="1" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Skill</th><th align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">Application in sales</th><th align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">Application outside of sales</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Active listening</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Sales classes emphasize the importance of active listening to understand customer needs and concerns.</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">This skill is valuable in any situation where effective communication is required, such as in personal relationships, teamwork, or conflict resolution.</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Effective questioning</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">The need analysis step of the sales process implores salespeople to ask open-ended questions to gather information and understand customer needs.</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">This skill can be valuable in any conversation or situation where uncovering insights is important.</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Building rapport</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Establishing rapport is crucial in sales as it helps to create a connection and build trust with customers.</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">This skill is equally important in other settings, such as networking events, job interviews, or building relationships with colleagues.</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Persuasion and influence</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Sales training often teaches techniques for persuading and influencing others.</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">These skills are also vital to those in leadership and coaching roles.</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Negotiation skills</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Sales training typically covers negotiation techniques, such as finding common ground and reaching mutually beneficial agreements.</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">These skills can be applied in various situations, including contract negotiations, resolving conflicts, or making decisions within a team.</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0184090771-23">Microcredentials as Pedagogy in Sport Sales Courses</hd> <p>As noted in the preceding section, the use of microcredentials in sport sales and across sport management education presents an emerging opportunity for course development and additional research. In their systematic review of microcredential literature, Varadarajan et al. ([<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref52">40</reflink>]) found that microcredentials are often presented as opportunities to increase student motivation, provide a flexible learning environment, promote life-long learning, and increase employability. From the higher education institution's perspective, Varadarajan et al. also found that microcredential literature presents institutions with the opportunity to support emerging and innovative methods of pedagogy. From an employer's perspective, Maina et al. ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref53">19</reflink>]) found that employers perceive microcredentials as enhancing a candidate's employability by demonstrating and highlighting in-demand skills.</p> <p>The microcredentials in the current sample reflect the wide range of microcredentials available to sport sales course developers. The Ultimate Toolkit provides an opportunity to earn microcredentials related to ticket sales ([<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref54">39</reflink>]). Adobe Cloud certifications are available for specific Adobe products, such as InDesign and Photoshop, and can be stacked to result in Adobe Certified Professional certification ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref55">1</reflink>]). Similarly, Salesforce Trailhead provides several learning paths with stackable microcredentials based on different roles in the sales ecosystem ([<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref56">34</reflink>]). Front Office Sports Learning provides a ticketing-focused badge developed in partnership with Ticketmaster, a sponsorship-focused badge developed in collaboration with Pepsi, and badges surrounding emerging technology like cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in the sport industry ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref57">15</reflink>]). LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) offers a broad menu of programming related to potential sports sales course content areas, including courses in communication skills development, Microsoft skills, and other technical data analytic skills ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref58">18</reflink>]). LinkedIn Learning and Front Office Sports Learning offer no-cost microcredential-granting short courses. The Ultimate Toolkit and Adobe both provide a small selection of free materials, but portable microcredentials from these providers can cost hundreds of dollars for formal certification. Similarly, many Salesforce Trailhead modules earn certificates of completion, but formal certification requires an outside proctored exam with an additional fee. The wide variances in cost and quality of microcredential providers ([<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref59">44</reflink>]) highlight the need for further empirical investigation on student learning and employability outcomes.</p> <p>However, the use of microcredentials in higher education is not without critique. Boud and Jorre de St Jorre ([<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref60">6</reflink>]) argued that microcredentials expose curricular shortcomings in higher education degree programs to be addressed through curricular reform rather than incorporating outside microcredentials into higher education coursework. Wheelahan and Moodie ([<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref61">44</reflink>]) posited that incorporating microcredentials into university coursework allows industries to have a back-door influence on higher education by perpetuating the function of university education as simple vocational preparation. From a more practical standpoint, instructors should also consider the outside costs to students for subscriptions and microcredentials from providers that are not covered under an institution's financial aid system.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-24">Additional Implications and Future Research</hd> <p>The introduction of publicly available text-generating artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and Bard AI has implored many instructors to reevaluate and redesign course materials and assessments. Although the findings of the current study rely on data collected from a pre-artificial-intelligence (AI) era of instruction, the utility of the current findings is timely due to its potential application not only by new instructors but also by instructors who may be revisiting elements of a course due to the quick rise of text-generating AI and its associated academic integrity concerns. The content area of sport sales courses perhaps most impacted by large language model artificial intelligence is communication skills. Based on their assessment of the uses of ChatGPT as a pedagogy tool, Al Afnan et al. ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref62">3</reflink>]) suggested that instructors covering communication and business writing content shift their strategies for take-home assessments away from demonstrating theoretical knowledge and toward demonstrating critical thinking in applied scenarios. Many of the assessments in the current sample, such as personal reflection, guest speaker reflection, experiential learning activities, and group case study projects, are already based on the applications of theoretical knowledge. Experiential learning activities commonly used in sales coursework, like role-playing or applied improvisation (e.g., [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref63">32</reflink>]), which involve real-time, face-to-face student interaction, are less affected by the rise of text-generating AI compared to traditional writing assessments such as essays or research papers.</p> <p>Text-generating AI as a pedagogy tool is an emerging area of research for sport sales and across the sport management curriculum. Future research in this area could include investigation into how sport organizations may be using text-generating AI in the marketing and sales processes to identify the AI skills that may influence the employability of future sport management graduates. In addition, further investigation into the relationship between sport sales education and sales and marketing employment outcomes for early-career sport management graduates may highlight areas where sport sales education is and is not preparing students for gainful employment and job or career satisfaction. The current study also provides an essential baseline for future studies on how sports sales pedagogy may evolve as technology and communication norms shift with Gen Z and Gen Alpha entering the sales workforce and becoming more influential consumer market segments.</p> <hd id="AN0184090771-25">Conclusion</hd> <p>Instructors developing a new sport sales course or redeveloping an existing course are seemingly presented with a particular and multifaceted pedagogical challenge that requires both existential and practical reflection at the individual and institutional levels. After this reflection, the current findings suggest that the unique nature of sport sales and the importance of revenue generation to the financial health of sport organizations can be addressed with two complementary approaches to designing the course content and selecting the appropriate course materials, each requiring effective balance:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> a. Incorporating general sales theory and resources alongside applications and resources specific to sport sales</item> <p></p> <item> b. 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Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Learning to Pitch: A Review of Content in Sport Sales Courses
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Mandy+Barefoot%22">Mandy Barefoot</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0009-0000-3819-9957">0009-0000-3819-9957</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22J%2E+Michael+Martinez%22">J. Michael Martinez</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7011-5657">0009-0006-7011-5657</externalLink>)
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Sport+Management+Education+Journal%22"><i>Sport Management Education Journal</i></searchLink>. 2025 19(1):62-71.
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  Label: Availability
  Group: Avail
  Data: Human Kinetics, Inc. 1607 North Market Street, Champaign, IL 61820. Tel: 800-474-4457; Fax: 217-351-1549; e-mail: info@hkusa.com; Web site: https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/smej/smej-overview.xml
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 10
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2025
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Audience
  Label: Education Level
  Group: Audnce
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Higher+Education%22">Higher Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Postsecondary+Education%22">Postsecondary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Team+Sports%22">Team Sports</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Sales+Occupations%22">Sales Occupations</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Merchandising%22">Merchandising</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Salesmanship%22">Salesmanship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Course+Descriptions%22">Course Descriptions</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Management+Development%22">Management Development</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Instructional+Materials%22">Instructional Materials</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Content+Analysis%22">Content Analysis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Credentials%22">Credentials</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Course+Evaluation%22">Course Evaluation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Higher+Education%22">Higher Education</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1123/smej.2023-0027
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 1938-6974<br />2163-2367
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Sport-sales-specific coursework is emerging as a crucial addition to sport management curricula for a variety of institutions. However, a new sport sales course can present instructors with the unique challenge of developing a course without any departmental precedent. The current study collected syllabi from recent sport sales courses to provide a community-based solution to the deficit of historical sport sales course materials and syllabi in any given department. Syllabi were analyzed using a combined content-analysis approach. Findings include prevalent content themes, a summary of required materials, and the adaptability of skills learned through sales coursework. Similarly, the utility of microcredentials as course content in sport sales, a concept not previously explored in sport sales pedagogy literature, is highlighted by the current findings and discussed as an avenue for future research.
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  Label: Abstractor
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  Data: As Provided
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  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2025
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  Label: Accession Number
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  Data: EJ1467664
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        Value: 10.1123/smej.2023-0027
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      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 10
        StartPage: 62
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Team Sports
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Sales Occupations
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Merchandising
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Salesmanship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Course Descriptions
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Management Development
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      – SubjectFull: Instructional Materials
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      – SubjectFull: Content Analysis
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      – SubjectFull: Credentials
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      – SubjectFull: Course Evaluation
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      – SubjectFull: Higher Education
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      – TitleFull: Learning to Pitch: A Review of Content in Sport Sales Courses
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            NameFull: Mandy Barefoot
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            NameFull: J. Michael Martinez
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              Y: 2025
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              Value: 1938-6974
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            – TitleFull: Sport Management Education Journal
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