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Analyze the business and social forces shaping American sports in this 2-week program for high school students on the University of Michigan campus.
Rated 4.4 out of 5 for classroom experience by students who took this course in 2026.
Course Description
A sports organization’s choices reach beyond the scoreboard. Follow the money, the fans, and the responsibilities behind a management decision.
In this course you will examine sport as a major business and part of American culture, connecting fan participation and consumer behavior with revenue across teams, schools, media, sponsors, and events.
Lectures, readings, video, discussion, and small-group cases connect sports marketing and revenue with institutional choices. Examine how Title IX protections against sex discrimination affect athletic finances, the relationship between sport and race, and strategies for reaching Generation Z. Intercollegiate athletics adds a distinctively American business structure to compare.
Use cases to trace a decision’s financial, social, and organizational consequences. Discussion, practice, and feedback help you test the reasoning. A comprehensive final assessment draws together the concepts and readings, asking how leaders generate revenue while responding to the cultural and institutional responsibilities surrounding sport.
This two-week Summer Discovery course takes place on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The course is available to residential and commuter students.
What You Will Do
• Examine why sport carries economic and cultural importance
• Analyze marketing strategies and influences on consumer behavior
• Evaluate revenue and management decisions through case studies
• Study how sex-equity requirements under Title IX affect athletic finances
• Discuss the relationship between sport, race, and institutions
• Assess the business structure of intercollegiate athletics
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Explain how marketing, consumer behavior, and revenue interact in sports business
• Analyze institutional issues involving sex equity, race, and college athletics
• Evaluate a sports-management decision using financial and social evidence
You’ll leave with your completed case analyses and a certificate of completion.
Why Sports Management Skills Matter
Sports management requires leaders to understand both business performance and the social meaning of sport. Marketing and revenue decisions can affect athletes, fans, schools, access, reputation, and public expectations at the same time.
Case studies help students examine those tradeoffs rather than treating sport as entertainment alone. They practice connecting consumer behavior, institutional policy, history, and financial consequences, strengthening strategic thinking and evidence-based discussion.
Who Should Attend?
For students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade.
Following sports can spark questions about money, marketing, or the role of a team in its community. This course lets you examine those questions through readings, cases, and discussion, including contested issues and their financial and social consequences. No playing experience or prior business coursework is required. Curiosity about the industry is a useful place to start.
A comprehensive final assessment covers the course concepts and readings.
Recommended by More Than 9 out of 10 Students
Based on students surveyed in Summer Discovery’s 2026 program at the University of Michigan.
Your Summer at University of Michigan
Programs on the University of Michigan campus give high-school students the experience of exploring an academic interest in Ann Arbor, a college town where campus and community life blend together. Tree-lined streets, downtown bookstores and cafés, the Nichols Arboretum, and trails near the Huron River create different ways to experience the setting beyond class.
Students learn alongside peers, navigate a large and active campus, and gain independence through everyday choices in a new environment. The experience helps students understand what university life can feel like while giving them space to deepen an interest without having every next step decided. For families, the program offers a meaningful combination of academic depth, community, personal growth, and clearer direction about what a student may want to study or pursue next.
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive