Sports Sponsorship & Sales Program

1. Join the S3 Club!
2. S3 Graduate Placement (New!)
3. S3 Advisory Board
4. S3 Courses
5. S3 Entrance Requirements
6. S3 Application Form

S3 Vision: Coming into focus

The bottom line. Professional and major collegiate athletic programs prosper or fail due to the revenue generated from the sale of sponsorships and the selling of tickets to individuals, groups, and corporations.

At Baylor, outstanding students are selected to be trained in the fundamentals of selling and serving customers, knowing that sales result from developing relationships based on listening, trust, mutual respect, and an abiding concern for the ultimate well-being of clients and customers. Following extensive experience gained from professional internships and client-based sales projects, new employees from the program will hit their new jobs running, prepared specifically to produce at the point of sale.

Competitive Positioning: #1. Due to the unique competitive positioning of the Sports Sponsorship & Sales program and Baylor's network of friends in sports organizations and corporations, Baylor’s Center for Sports Sponsorships & Sales is the premier undergraduate sports marketing degree program in the United States and the world. Only 15 AACSB-accredited universities in the United States offer a sports degree program housed in its School of Business. Of those:

• 11 focus on sports business or management (not marketing),
• two offer MBAs with a marketing emphasis (UK, IU),
• one offers a concentration in sports marketing (Duquesne), and
• only one offers a complete undergraduate major in sports marketing (University of Oregon).

None of the 15 programs in Business Schools, and none of the roughly 150 programs located in universities in non-business schools (viz., Education, HPE, Kinesiology, etc.), has an emphasis or major specifically related to sponsorships and sales. This is astounding, given that the industry revolves around the billions of dollars corporations spend on sports sponsorships and hospitality.

The Baylor Sports Sponsorship & Sales (S3) major is the only one of its kind in the United States to provide a complete major in sports sales. We place all students in internships at the highest level of professional sports for students interested in ticket sales, customer relationship management, or sports media/corporate sales.

Specialized Tracks. Within the S3 major, students may select a specialized track that leads to a clear career path for succeeding in sports:

• Ticket Sales: We have over 25 teams on our advisory board waiting to hire an S3 major with our training in professional selling of season, suites, and group tickets.
  • Teams hiring S3 graduates full-time with career path support: San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Coyotes, San Francisco 49ers, and Sacramento Kings. (Other S3 Board members hire temporary positions leading to full-time positions.)
• Customer Relationship Management: The fastest growing--and best paying--job opportunity in sports (or just about any business) for those trained to manage CRM software systems and research analytics.
  • Microsoft CRM Academic Alliance Partners: Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Coyotes, and Orlando Magic.
• Media/Corporate Sales: If you want to work in the advertising and media world of sports, students intern and train to work for media companies or agencies.
  • Corporate/Media Partners: Fox Sports Southwest, The Marketing Arm, AT&T, and HP. 

The Foundation. S3 majors take 18 hours of marketing and professional selling for sports. As our foundation, we train students in Values-Based Leadership so that our graduates make a meaningful difference in the workplace and in our culture.

Experience = Jobs. Each student will serve two internships in sales & promotion before graduating with a degree in Sports Sponsorship & Sales. To get a job in pro sports, you have to have experience. By the time students complete the major, they will have sold ticket packages for the Texas Rangers, interned with a professional team or major media company, and learned how to manage a call center.

Direction. The major accepts applications in the spring of each year. Annual admission to the major is granted for students in the business school who want to excel in sports sales & marketing. Acceptance is based on current GPA, application, and personal interview that gives evidence of character, motivation, and commitment to the field of sports sponsorship & sales. See the courses in the major here.

Contacts. If you are interested in more information about this program, please contact Dr. Darryl Lehnus (Darryl_Lehnus@Baylor.edu). Applications to be admitted in the program will be accepted in the Spring semester of the applicant's sophomore year(see Hankamer Advising Office). Applications are available here. Priority will be given to students who register for MKT 3342 (Pro Sell I for Sports) in their sophomore year prior to applying to the program. Junior transfers are considered and encouraged to apply.