Last Updated: November 13, 2025

Study Sports Management in Colorado

You really can’t do better than Colorado as a place to study sports management. The state is home to teams in all four major professional sports and has college programs dotting its landscape, too. Plus, Colorado is an outdoor paradise, with sports like skiing, fishing, and mountain biking extremely popular. All of that adds up to the perfect location for learning how to manage sports and recreation organizations.

Fortunately, Colorado also offers many different sports management programs at the bachelor’s and master’s degree levels. You can study in person or online, at a small school or big school, or in a rural or urban area. Whatever you envision your education to be, Colorado has a program in this field to accommodate you!

Accredited Sports Management Programs in Colorado - Best Sports Management Degrees in Colorado Online

Sports Management Programs in Colorado

Listed below are some of the popular schools offering sports management programs in Colorado:

  • University of Colorado-Denver
  • Metropolitan State University of Denver
  • Colorado State University
  • Adams State University
  • University of Colorado Colorado Springs
  • American Public University
  • Purdue Global
  • Southern New Hampshire University

University of Colorado-Denver

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Sports Business

The Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Sports Business from the University of Colorado-Denver is a traditional on-campus, four-year degree that requires you to complete 120 credits to graduate. Despite being an on-campus program, many of the required classes are offered online to provide you with more flexibility to complete your studies.

This program, which is accredited by the ​​Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), offers rigorous studies in the Mile High City, where you have easy access to professional sports teams like the Denver Nuggets, Denver Broncos, Colorado Avalanche, and Colorado Rockies. Denver is also home to major league lacrosse and soccer teams.

What’s more, as the state’s business hub, Denver provides you with opportunities to meet and learn from business executives across niches, from entertainment to recreation to sports. Working with these professionals and the experienced faculty at CU-Denver will help you develop skills like:

  • Critical thinking
  • Effective communication
  • Relevant technology skills
  • Leadership skills
  • Ethical decision-making

The program begins with a 34-credit Denver Core sequence of classes. These courses are at the introductory level and survey key liberal arts fields like humanities, English, social and behavioral sciences, math, and natural sciences. You will also complete coursework focusing on international perspectives and cultural diversity.

Courses within the Denver Core are meant to help you become a more well-rounded student and citizen. You will develop an improved understanding of the natural world and human behavior, develop enhanced communication skills, and learn about the cultures, religions, and traditions of people outside the U.S.

This program also requires you to take four general non-business courses. These classes, which include Business Writing, Microeconomics, Experiential Learning, and Professional Speaking, contribute to your growth as a business leader and future sports manager.

From there, you will take 36 credits of Business Core classes. These courses are required of all undergraduate business students. Naturally, they focus on critical business fields, such as:

  • Business Statistics
  • Managerial Accounting
  • Operations Management
  • Business Problem-Solving
  • Business Policy and Strategy Management

Additionally, you will take classes like Career and Professional Development, which focus on the many different career paths you can take with a degree in this field. Likewise, you will discuss professional development strategies for staying at the top of your game as a sports manager. For example, you might explore professional development activities that focus on leadership, team building, and shaping the workplace culture.

Another key Business Core class you will take is Marketing. This class examines common marketing strategies with proven results for engaging consumers in businesses of all kinds. You will analyze the effectiveness of print media, social media, and television. You will also discuss the role of radio broadcasting and the industries for which marketing on that platform provides the greatest returns.

There are four major-area classes as well:

  • Business of Sports
  • Social Media in Business
  • Sports Management
  • Sports Marketing

Together, these classes help you clarify your role as a leader in a sports organization. For example, the Sports Marketing class builds on the Marketing class discussed above to provide insights into the specific application of marketing principles in the sports world. For example, you might learn how to use social media as an effective vehicle for building fan excitement about a new player on the team.

Likewise, the Sports Management class helps you learn how to apply general management principles in sports settings. A good example of this is using your understanding of business finance to further the bottom line of a sports organization. You might seek promotional partners, for example, who pay a yearly fee for their logo to be placed on player’s jerseys. That income can then be used to help pay players’ salaries or offset the maintenance costs of the stadium or arena where they play.

This program also requires you to complete an experiential component. You can choose between an internship, a study abroad opportunity in London, or a project-based course. Whatever path you choose, you are required to demonstrate your learning by applying sports management principles in real-world or research-based settings.

You can apply to CU-Denver online if it seems like a good fit for your needs. The admissions requirements for first-year students are as follows:

  • Complete a high school curriculum that includes four years of English, four years of math, three years of social studies, three years of natural science, one year of a single foreign language, and two years of academic electives.
  • Submit official high school transcripts or equivalency scores.
  • Have a GPA that’s equal to or above the mean of CU-Denver.
  • Submit official transcripts from every college or university where you’ve earned credit.
  • Submit official SAT or ACT scores if you wish.

Metropolitan State University of Denver

Bachelor of Arts in Sports Management

At Metropolitan State University, you can complete a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Management that gives you deep insights into the business operations of sports organizations. The program is career-focused, so your coursework and experiential activities focus on the unique business knowledge and skills that will help you rise to the top of management.

One of the unique features of this program is its accreditation by the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA). This accrediting body ensures that member organizations develop rigorous and relevant curricula that help you acquire the business acumen to lead sports organizations of all sorts and sizes. And since COSMA-accredited programs must continually seek quality improvement, you can rest assured that your experience in this program will be top-notch.

You are required to complete 120 credits to graduate. Typically, you need four years to finish these requirements, though taking extra classes each semester can lead to an early graduation.

As is typical for undergraduate degrees, you must take general education classes that help you acquire essential skills for success in college, work, and life. This program requires 33 credits of general classes in numerous fields, including:

  • Written Communications
  • Oral Communications
  • Quantitative Literacy
  • Arts and Humanities
  • History
  • Natural and Physical Sciences
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • Global Diversity

You are further required to take at least one course that focuses on multiculturalism and two general electives of your choice.

A full 60 credits are required within the major. Some of these classes, like Introduction to Sports Management, Sports Venue Management, Sports Event Management, and Sports in Society are lower-division, introductory-level classes that help you develop a foundation of knowledge in this field. Other courses are higher-division and focus on more specific sports topics.

For example, you will take Technology and Social Media in Sports, which evaluates the role of technology in the day-to-day operations of a sports organization and the value of social media as a marketing tool for sports teams, events, and venues. Likewise, you will take Sports Promotion, which discusses the importance of promotional partners in generating revenue for sports organizations and getting fans excited about and involved in activities related to the organization.

You’re also required to take Sports Media Operations. Unsurprisingly, this class discusses the role of traditional and modern media in the sports world. For example, you might learn about TV and radio broadcasting for sports and how these entities help bring sports into the mainstream lives of Americans, even if they aren’t necessarily sports fans.

Additional major-area courses include the following:

  • Sports Governance and Policy
  • Organization and Administration of Sports
  • The Sports Enterprise
  • Legal Liability for Physical Educators, Coaches, and Administrators
  • Seminar in Sports Management

You must take three elective classes within sports management, too.

The final component of this program is a nine-credit internship in sports management. The university has a deep relationship with dozens of sports organizations in the greater Denver area, where you can get hands-on experience working in a supervised setting. From professional sports to college sports to facilities management and beyond, the internship is an excellent opportunity for you to gain the experience you need to hit the ground running with your career after graduation. The internship takes place over the course of a semester. You must accumulate at least 405 hours of work during that time.

The criteria for guaranteed admission as a first-year student are as follows:

  • Have a high school diploma or its equivalent.
  • Have a cumulative high school GPA of 2.0 or higher.
  • Submit official high school transcripts or equivalency scores.
  • Submit official transcripts from every college or university where you’ve earned credit.

Colorado State University

Master of Sports Management

The Master of Sports Management at Colorado State University is a leadership-focused program that prepares you to take the reins of a collegiate sports or professional sports program. The interdisciplinary curriculum is combined with professional field experience that helps you become a well-rounded, highly-skilled, and well-informed sports manager.

This program is administered online, so you can take advantage of greater flexibility to complete your studies. In many cases, students finish this program in just 12 months, though you can take up to 21 months to finish your classes, too.

You will need 32-36 credits to graduate, depending on your specialization. The curriculum is divided into two parts: core courses and electives.

One of the first classes you will take is Sports Media. This course explores the role of media in the daily operations of sports organizations. You will learn about traditional types of media (e.g., print, radio, and TV) and explore modern media types (e.g., live streams and social media) as well. What’s more, you will develop an understanding of how media helps connect fans with their teams and favorite players and helps build brand loyalty.

Another early course in the program is Sports and Communities. This class details the relationship between sports organizations and their fan bases. But more than that, you will discuss the social, cultural, and economic impacts that sports organizations can have on communities.

The Sports Governance and Policy and Sports Law classes take a look at relevant laws and regulations with which you must be familiar as a sports manager. You will discuss everything from tort law to contract law to fair play. Likewise, you will examine professional league rules, policies, and procedures to better understand the moral, ethical, and legal obligations you will have in your future career.

You will also take Economics and Data Analytics in Sports. Just like analytics has become a major tool for coaches and managers to help their players improve their performance, you can use analytics to make the organization run more efficiently and make more money. This class takes a look at various economic principles and data tools to help you achieve these ends.

The final two required classes—Sports and Ethics and Organizational Communication in Sports—look at crucial areas that help define your work as a sports manager. On the one hand, the Sports and Ethics class works hand-in-hand with early studies on governance, policy, and law to ensure you understand your ethical obligations to players, employees, fans, and the community at large. On the other hand, the Organizational Communication class ensures you acquire the necessary skills to communicate and work with every person in the organization, from custodial staff to executives and everyone in between.

As far as electives go, you must take at least one four-credit class. Your options are as follows:

  • Sports and Environments
  • Sports Marketing
  • Contemporary Sport, Society, and Globalization
  • Risk Management in Sports
  • Sports Facility and Event Management
  • Sports Management Seminar

This program is unique in that you’re required to complete an internship as well as a capstone project. The internship is a real-world, hands-on experience in which you work in a local sports organization. Your internship placement depends on your area of interest. So, for example, if you want to use your studies to pursue a career in management in professional baseball, you might work with the university to find an internship placement with the Colorado Rockies organization.

The capstone, meanwhile, is a research-based project. Rather than working in a sports organization, you might develop a hypothetical situation—such as declining attendance for a local sports team—and conduct research regarding why attendance is declining and offer suggestions for reversing that trend.

You must meet the following requirements to be considered for admission:

  • Have a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited institution.
  • Submit official transcripts from every college or university you’ve attended.
  • Submit a statement of purpose in which you explain how this degree will help you achieve your professional goals.
  • Provide a current resume.
  • Provide three letters of recommendation.

Adams State University

Master of Science in Sports Administration

Adams State’s Master of Science in Sports Administration gives you yet another option for pursuing a career in the fast-paced world of sports. Over the course of a 36-credit curriculum, you will acquire much-needed skills that make you a valuable asset for a sports or recreation organization. In fact, this program prepares you for many different career options, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • High School Sports Administrator
  • Event Manager
  • Sports Promoter
  • Collegiate Sports Director
  • Professional Sports Manager

You must complete 36 credits to graduate. Since this is an online program, you can work on these credits at a pace that’s right for you. Typically, two years are required to finish. However, you can complete the degree requirements in as little as one calendar year by taking extra classes each term.

The curriculum is divided into three parts: required core classes, sports administration classes, and either a capstone or thesis.

First, the required core includes two classes: Introduction to Research and Practicum in Applied Sports Psychology. The research course explores introductory concepts of research on human performance, such as quantitative research, qualitative research, action research methods, and mixed methods of research.

Second, the sports psychology class discusses the crossroads of psychology and human performance. You will learn about psychological and behavioral mechanisms that can affect an athlete’s performance. You will also learn how to use psychological principles to help athletes improve their on-field performance. This class has a practicum component, too, so you will put your learning into practice during a 100-hour placement in an approved and supervised sports setting.

The required sports administration classes include typical studies, such as:

  • Leadership Skills for Managers
  • Sports Marketing and Public Relations
  • Administration of Sports
  • Managerial Accounting
  • Sports Law

Another important required class is Facilities and Events Management. As a sports manager, you will likely oversee the day-to-day operation of sports venues. As such, it’s imperative that you have the skills needed to plan events, design event plans that make effective use of the available space, and create event schedules that allow activities to unfold smoothly. Likewise, you will learn how to promote events and evaluate the effectiveness of your efforts to execute those plans.

Financing Sports is another essential required class. On the one hand, you will discuss topics like financial management, financial systems, and economic theory to give you a practical understanding of key financial forces. On the other hand, you will learn how to administer economic plans, gather data on their effectiveness, report your findings, and evaluate the economic performance and impact of the organization.

Lastly, you must choose between completing a capstone project or a thesis. The capstone is a three-credit project that requires you to integrate what you’ve learned in an applied research setting. For example, let’s say you’re interested in sports marketing. In that case, you might develop a capstone project in which you research the most effective marketing strategies for mid-market professional sports teams.

Choosing the thesis path requires a slightly different approach. The thesis is an extensive research project in which you draw on your practical training to address a critical problem or issue in sports administration. For example, your thesis might investigate the most effective leadership strategies for changing a dysfunctional culture in a sports organization. You are required to defend your thesis in writing and in an oral presentation to your thesis committee.

The graduate admissions requirements are as follows:

  • Have a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited institution.
  • Submit official transcripts from every college or university you’ve attended.
  • Provide contact information for two professional references.
  • Submit a letter of intent in which you discuss your background and interests in this field.

How Much Can You Earn With a Sports Management Degree in Colorado?

As of June 2025, sports management professionals in Colorado earn an average annual salary of approximately $76,626. More experienced sports management professionals in Colorado earn well over $110,000 per year.

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