The Rowland School of Business is offering a new sports management major this upcoming fall semester.
“These new academic offerings will enable students who have a sports focus to take a deeper dive into their area of interest and better prepare students for careers in sports,” sports, art and entertainment (SAEM) Chair Robert Derda said.
According to Derda, the new sports management major will also make the SAEM program more competitive for incoming students who are interested in a sports degree.
The new sports management major isn’t the end of the upcoming changes. According to Derda, SAEM faculty are currently working on developing a music business major and an arts management major.
The decision was made by using results from student exit surveys. In the surveys, SAEM students asked for more specific courses in their area of interest.
Students who prefer a broad education in entertainment will be able to continue to major in SAEM and take courses that focus on areas in sports, arts, and music, according to Derda.
Additionally, students will continue to have opportunities to work with teams such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins, Pirates and Riverhounds, which offer shadowing, internships and event experience.
Students are also able to get hands-on experience with ticketing sales through teams such as the Pens Sales Team, Bucs Sales Team and Cavs Sales Team. These experiences will likely result in job offers for students, Derda said.
Derda said the goal is to continue to grow relationships with Acrisure Stadium, PNC Park, PPG Paints Arena, Stage AE, the Petersen Events Center at Pitt, Duquesne athletics and Point Park University’s athletic department.
Over the past four years, Point Park has competed in the National Collegiate Sports Sales Competition, where the university finished in the top 25 among 130 schools competing. In January, Point Park student Devon McGee finished in the top 25 among 300 students who competed across the country in Atlanta, Ga.
“Though I did not reach my goal of reaching the top 16, I was still very happy with my performance and got really good feedback from the judges that will benefit me in my career going forward,” McGee said. “It was an amazing experience to network with so many potential employers and peers who are going into the field.”
The connections that McGee made from the competition have given him many professional opportunities. He received his first official offer from the Chicago Fire, and he is in the final interview process for the Philadelphia Flyers, NASCAR, and the Washington Commanders because of experience at the competition.
“I can honestly say that if not for Professor Derda getting me involved with this competition, I do not know if my goal of landing a job in sports sales directly after graduation would have come to fruition,” McGee said.
Stephen Tanzilli has been Dean of the Rowland School of Business for eight years, and during that time the curriculum has been revised roughly five times to offer classes that the marketplace is demanding.
“I would like to state that our faculty are working hard to reduce the overall Rowland School of Business core in order to enable our students more choice, opportunities and have classes that are directly tied to what our students need to know to be employable,”Tanzilli said.
