“The Employment Landscape Has Shifted Massively, and We Must Shift With It”: A Review of Sports Public Relations Courses within Sports Communication Programs

Undergraduate sports communication programs have increased in popularity. Recent studies have reviewed the sports journalism side of the industry, but there is scant research regarding sports public relations. This exploratory study reviewed sports communications programs to document if public relations courses were available, what types were offered, and what related applied learning existed. Results indicated disjointed course offerings with partial curricular development into sports public relations along with wide variance in potential skill development and unclear applied learning.