Sports Communication
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Overview
Sports communication is a program that focuses on the methods and techniques for communicating about sports in a variety of formats, media, and contexts; and that prepares individuals to be sports reporters and writers, photojournalists, radio and television announcers, producers and directors, recreational sports promoters, and public relations specialists. includes instruction in sports writing, photography, broadcast journalism, sports production, game rules, media and public relations, and sports promotion.
Highlights
School with the highest reported median starting salary ($51K) with a Bachelor's Degree: George Washington University
Career with the highest median salary ($91K) where most workers have a Bachelor's Degree: Computer Programmers
Explore Pathways
Careers for program graduates
Sports communication majors work in these careers, which are sized by percentage of majors in the career (at least 1%) and colored by the predominant level of education.
Specialized ManagersMarketing ManagersPublic Relations SpecialistsCustomer Service Representativ...Wholesale and Manufacturing Sa...Elementary and Middle School S...Market Research Analysts and M...Labor Relations SpecialistsSales ManagersAdvertising Sales AgentsSecretaries and Administrative...Chief executives and legislato...Advertising and Promotions Man...First-Line Supervisors of Reta...Sales Representatives of Servi...Lawyers, and judges, magistrat...Retail SalespersonsFirst-Line Supervisors of Offi...Writers and AuthorsAccountants and AuditorsEducation and childcare admini...First-Line Supervisors of Non-...Project Management SpecialistsReal estate brokers and sales ...Management AnalystsFinancial ManagersGeneral and Operations Manager...
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Current completions
What level of degree do most graduates achieve, and do they match what your goals?
02004006000-1 Year CertificateAssociate's DegreeBachelor's DegreeMaster's Degree
SOURCES:
Completions over time
Have completions for advertising and public relations changed over time? Increasing completions may mean you'll likely have an easier time finding a school that offers this degree, with the opposite being true as well.
Show percentages
Number of graduates
01002003004005002010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Master's Degree
Postbaccalaureate Cert
Bachelor's Degree
Associate's Degree
0-1 Year Certificate
Salary and Debt
How are students who recently completed a degree in sports communication doing?
Below is the distribution of starting salaries along with accumulated federal and private education loans across schools that offer a degree in the field public relations, advertising, and applied communication, which includes sports communication.
Median starting salaries
$38K$51K$0$20K$40K$60K$80KMaster'sBachelor's
Median cumulative loan amount
$24K$40K$0$20K$40K$60KMaster'sBachelor's
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Context: median salaries
How does the median (middle) salary for advertising and public relations majors compare to the median salaries for other college majors?
$55K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100K
Distribution: advertising and public relations majors' salaries by education level
What is the salary distribution for graduates with a bachelor's inadvertising and public relations by the level of their highest degree (Graduate degrees may not be in the same field as the bachelor’s)
$54K$61K$82K$77K$0$50K$100K$150K$200KBachelor'sMaster'sDoctorateProfessional
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
Is a bachelor's degree all you need?
Education level of workers with a bachelor's in advertising and public relations
Is a bachelor's degree going to be sufficient to make you competative in the job market? We can look at the education level of workers with a bachelors in this degree to see if there is a likely need for a graduate degree. You'll also want to check out the careers section on this page to where they are employed.
This chart shows the level of education of workers with a bachelor's degree in advertising and public relations. The worker's graduate degree may have been completed in a different field.
Education level of workers
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Context: Graduate degrees in any field by undergraduate ACS degree
About 18% of advertising and public relations majors chose to also earn a graduate degree (possibly of a different major). The percentage of advertising and public relations majors also earned a graduate degree is near the middle in comparison to other fields.
18%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Percentage salary boost obtained with a graduate degree
How important is a graduate degree for earning a higher salary? We can see the difference in salary of workers with a bachelors in this degree to workers with a bachelor’s AND a graduate degree.
14%43%53%0%20%40%60%80%Bachelor's to Master'sBachelor's to DoctorateBachelor's to Professional
Careers
Top careers for those with a degree in advertising and public relations
Following are the most frequent jobs held by people who earned a bachelor's degree in Advertising and Public Relations (which combines 10 programs), though may not be limited to just those with a bachelor’s.
  1. Specialized Managers
  2. Marketing Managers
  3. Public Relations Specialists
  4. Customer Service Representatives
  5. Wholesale and Manufacturing Sales Representatives
  6. Elementary and Middle School School Teachers
  7. Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
  8. Labor Relations Specialists
  9. Sales Managers
  10. Advertising Sales Agents
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Careers for advertising and public relations majors
Where do advertising and public relations majors work, and how well do those jobs pay? A ** in the job title indicates that the Department of Education recommends this job for this program.
Not so much?
The top ten careers for workers with a bachelor's in advertising and public relations
Take a minute to interact with this sankey diagram. Follow the top ten jobs held by advertising and public relations graduates through to their most hired majors. Learn where it may easiest to find work. Expand the careers to explore other majors that might lead to the job that excites you the most. *For many majors, the top ten jobs don't even include half of graduates!*
Expand careers
Specialized ManagersMarketing ManagersPublic Relations Spe...Customer Service Rep...Wholesale and Manufa...Elementary and Middl...Market Research Anal...Labor Relations Spec...Sales ManagersAdvertising Sales Ag...All othersThis degreeTop 10 Careers
What careers hire advertising and public relations majors as one of their top 10?
To the left of this diagram, see all careers that hire advertising and public relations majors as one of their top 10 majors, and on the right, see what proportion of openings for the jobs on the left are filled by advertising and public relations majors.
Advertising and Public Re...All other degreesAdvertising and Promotion...Public Relations Speciali...Advertising Sales AgentsSpecialized Media and Com...Public relations and fund...Meeting, Convention, and ...Artists and related worke...All other careersDegreeDegree in top 10 employed
Where can I complete this degree
Explore schools that offer sports communication degrees and certificates
You can use this table to find schools that offer this program based on location and program level offered. Each entry goes to a school page similar to this one with all our information about that school.
Understanding the columns

The school list includes a few facts about each school that give you an idea of the educational quality each school might offer:

  • Student-Faculty Ratio: A small number of students per full-time instructor suggests individual attention for each student and an up-to-date curriculum.

  • Satisfaction Rate: A high percentage of returning first-year students should correlate with satisfaction (schools call this their retention rate).

  • Repayment Rate: A high repayment rate means most alumni earn enough to make progress repaying loans within 7 years of leaving.

We also show the total enrollment for the school as measured by full-time-equivalent (FTE) students enrolled annually.

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Offering this program at this level
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AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
Related Programs
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Careers for advertising and public relations majors
advertising and public relations is part of a larger collection of programs: Public relations, Advertising, and Applied Communications. Is there a different program that's close to advertising and public relations that might be a better match for your interests? You can use this table to see a little about the programs that fall under this umbrella. If you click on any of the table headers, that will sort the table by that column, or click on a row and see Ididio's profile for that program.
Gender
Gender of recent graduates
Of all people with any degree in sports communication earned in the last academic year, 28% were women.
Gender
Men
Women
SOURCES:
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Completions over time
Have completions by gender changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
0100200300400500Number of graduates2010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Women
Men
Context: Gender representation
How does the gender distribution in this major compare to all other majors?
64%36%0%20%40%60%80%100%WomenMen
Context: Percentage women
This major has a lower percentage of women than 75% other programs.
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary with this degree? The closer the bar are, the less discrepancy there is.
$64K$52K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K$250KWomenMen
Context: Salary inequity
For advertising and public relations graduates, men have a 22% higher median salary than women, This is high: 65% of programs have graduates with lower salary inequities.
22%22%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race/Origin of recent graduates
Here is an overview of race/origin for all sports communication graduates from this last academic year. We found a lower percentage of international graduates than in 55% of other programs.
Race/Origin
White
Black
Pacific Islander
Hispanic
Asian
American Indian
Multiracial
Not Reported
International
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Completions over time
Have completions by race/origin changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
0100200300400500Number of graduates2010201120122013201420152016201720182019
International
Not Reported
Multiracial
American Indian
Asian
Hispanic
Pacific Islander
Black
White
Context: Percentage of Minority Graduates
Minority students comprise a lower percentage of graduates than in 70% of other programs.