Sports Communication (BA)

This program is offered by the School of Communications/Communications and Journalism Department and is only available at the St. Louis main campus.

Program Description

The many manifestations of sports constitute a large and growing industry with an expanding need for professional communicators stretching across contexts such as family and youth sports, personal fitness, the amateur, high school, college and professional leagues that fill stadiums, newspaper columns, talk radio and television channels, video games, fantasy sports, sports betting and social media platforms. Sports communication explores the various aspects of the sports industry, focusing on communication strategies and media. Webster University's program provides a unique balance of theory and practice that spans the breadth of sports cultures. The Sports Communication curriculum also frames core and elective coursework in a way that builds a solid foundation with flexibility for the pursuit of individual interests within sports fields. The combination of a broadly framed curriculum and a senior capstone internship or thesis project equips students for a variety of careers as professional sports communicators. 

Learning Outcomes

Successful graduates of this program will be able to:

• Define and engage a personal connection within professional and academic sports communication fields.
• Critically analyze the socio-political connections with the culture and industry of sports.
• Effectively communicate sports messaging across a variety of platforms, including writing, speaking and mediated communication. 

Degree Requirements

For information on the general requirements for a degree, see Baccalaureate Degree Requirements under the Academic Policies and Information section of this catalog.

• 42 required credit hours
• 30 Applicable University Global Citizenship Program hours
• 48 Elective hours

Required Courses

• EPMD 1000 Introduction to Media Production (3 hours)
• MDST 1050 Media Writing (3 hours)
  or JOUR 1030 Multimedia News Reporting I (2 hours) and JOUR 1031 Multimedia News Reporting I Lab (1 hour)
• MDST 1160 Communications for Media Professionals (3 hours)
• SPTC 1800 Sports Communication (3 hours)
• ADVT 1940 Introduction to Marketing Communications (3 hours)
  or PBRL 1010 Fundamentals of Strategic Communications and Public Relations (3 hours)
• SPTC 2400 Culture of Sports and Society (3 hours)
• MDST 3300 Media Law, Ethics & Policy (3 hours)
• SPTC 3737 Communicating Sports and Business (3 hours)
• SPTC 4600 Sports Media Strategies (3 hours)
• SPCM 4616 Communication Research and Analysis (3 hours)
• MDST 4950 Internship* (3 hours)
  or MDST 4620 Media Practicum/Thesis* (3 hours)
  or SPTC 4620 Senior Overview* (3 hours)

* Capstone Course

In addition, a minimum of 9 credit hours must be chosen from the following:

• ADVT 3200 Sports Marketing Communications (3 hours)
• AUDI 1063 Introduction to Podcasting (3 hours)
• BUSN 2037 Introduction to Sports and Entertainment Management (3 hours)
• BUSN 4747 Sports Operations and Logistics (3 hours)
• FTVP 1010 Fundamentals of Video Production (3 hours)
• JOUR 3050 Sports Reporting (3 hours)
• SPTC 2000 Sports Announcing and Reporting (3 hours)
• SPTC 2300 Youth Sports Culture (3 hours)
• SPTC 2500 Practicum in Sports Announcing (1-3 hours)
• SPTC 3150 Topics in Sports Communication (3 hours)
• SPTC 3200 Communicating Baseball (3 hours)
• SPTC 3600 Sports Analytics (3 hours)
• SPTC 4610 Readings in Sports Communication (3 hours)