To provide students with a big picture view of the sports media industry and to help provide analytical skills, knowledge and concepts on a variety of different sectors for better understanding of sports media and PR theory and practice.
Competencies
This course will enable students to develop skills in the following areas:
Critical Thinking.
Basic theoretical knowledge of the subject.
In-depth practical understanding of the subject.
Problem-solving skills.
Teamwork.
Intrapersonal knowledge and development.
Interpersonal skills.
Creativity.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to have achieved the objectives set up for this course and have developed the competencies listed above, and more specifically understand the theory and practical application of:
the role of media and PR in the sports industry complex
sports content production and distribution
how media rights deals are made
communication management by major sports organizations
athlete branding and communication
how media and PR are managed at a live sports event
The main topics that will be covered:
- A history of the sport / media relationship
- Sport, PR and controlling the message
- Media perspective: changing content production
- Media perspective: TV production in action
- Media behaviour and rights deals
- Athlete branding
- Sports media consumer trends
- Sports organizations: owned, paid, earned media
- Sports and media: the new players
The learning experience is based on a range of teaching methods that seek to foster your understanding of the subject matter and most importantly the realities of changing industry practices. A hands-on approach is crucial throughout the course with out-of-class readings, assignments and exercises; teamwork activities, assignments and exercises; individual and group presentations; in class activities, exercises and discussions; and a series of company visits to key actors in the industry.
The Course grade will be based on the following point breakdown:
- quality participation, attitude, daily in & out-of-class effort, rich feedback provided & proof of readings assigned
- coursework assignment: production / rights
- midterm report and presentation: Red Bull project
- final report and presentation: sports organization digital audit project
As the organization of this class is based on the participation and practice, I expect you to treat this course like you would a job. As a main manager of this class I assume that people I am working with are professional, hard working and intelligent who are capable to respect the rules of this job
and the rest of the people in the company.
3 PILLARS: PUNCTUALITY (respect for your time and that of others!) and active PARTICIPATION (of highest quality and building on the comments of your classmates) are two essential requirements for this course. ATTENDANCE is also compulsory.
Additionally, we expect from you:
- Be punctual. Come to class on time. No excuses are allowed. Late arrivals disrupt the flow of the class. Anyone who arrives 5 minutes later than the starting of the session wont be allowed to enter the class.
- Attendance. Its compulsory to attend. You cannot miss classes. The course is based on continuous participation, cases and examples will be developed during several classes, if you miss one class you will lose out. If you have more than three absences for semester you will not reach the minimum final grade to pass this course. Special situations will be discussed one by one if necessary.
- Participate. Class participation is a must for the final grade. Nevertheless, its key to prepare out of class readings, exercises, activities or other material as requested. You will be assessed on the quality of your comments and the feedback provided to classmates.
- Meet deadlines. Meet due dates. Assignments, exercises, presentations and activities delivered out of time will be considered as not presented and you will be graded with 0 points.
- Demonstrate academic integrity in all of your work. Cheating in any form on assignments, exercises of exams will be automatically considered in the final grade as 0 points. You are the responsible for your work; we will not accept any excuses.
- Cell phones & Laptops policy. Cell phones are not allowed during class, unless related to a class activity. Laptops are only allowed for note taking and class activities. If the professor believes that someone in class is using the laptop for other purposes all laptops in class will be turned off.
- Retake. It consists of a written exam, an oral presentation prepared in advance, and a set of exercises and activities to be submitted.