If one is interested in receiving real world experience, managing athletic events or making connections with professional athletic teams, then the Sports Management program is designed to appeal.

Recently, 158 colleges and universities offering sports management programs were identified, studied and compiled into a list of the 50 best degree programs for affordability. Southeastern was ranked number five on the list.

A major factor in Southeastern’s placement was its strategic location within Louisiana, which allows easy access to many sporting venues in the state. Instructor Jill Sharp was happy about the role the location played for the program.  

“Our location is a very strong asset to our program,” said Sharp. “We are literally in the ‘heart’ of Louisiana sport. We are surrounded by two professional teams [the Pelicans and Saints], several strong college athletic departments, Sports Foundations, recreation sports and lots of fitness clubs. Our students have many choices when it comes to internship opportunities, especially right here in our backyard.”  

Besides a geographic setting with easy access to local sports teams and athletic associations, Southeastern’s program offers other strengths within its internship opportunities. 

“Our interns have the choice to intern at a location of their choice with approval through our department,” said Sharp. “Our very large list of internship sites include: New Orleans Saints, Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, Baton Rouge Area Sports Foundation, Hammond Recreation Center, Chappapeela Sports Park, Southland Conference, LSU Game Day Operations Team, YMCA, Tulane University Athletics, Houston Rockets, SLU Athletics, New Orleans Zephyrs Baseball Club and many many more. Many interns choose to complete their internship doing facility and event management, game day operations, team and event organization and a wide variety of other sport management skills.”

The program is much more than simple geography and blind internships. According to Sharp, numerous partnerships exist between Southeastern and local sports teams which allow students to get real world experience. One such instance was allowing students to organize an athletic event for children.  

“The partnerships we have with the local sport organizations increase the opportunities our students have to gain the real world experiences,” said Sharp. “As we continue to learn from these professionals about what skill sets are necessary to succeed in the field, we can continue to teach and guide our students in that direction. These partnerships also allow for our students to gain contacts in the field and allows for a bigger network for them to utilize after they finish their degree at Southeastern.”

For more information on the sports management program, visit selu.edu.