American Sports Brand Curriculum Model

This ASB model was developed by program staff based upon relevant scholarly literature on the sports industry, as well as upon best practices used within the industry today. This model and the American Sports Brand theme will guide all program curricula, individual lesson plans, readings, speakers, the three broadly defined curriculum modules, site visits, activities, and discussions in both the residency and educational study tour components.

The model is based on an understanding of the American Sports Brand as a series of reciprocal relationships. At the core of these relationships is American history and culture, which have been shaped by and also influenced American sports history and culture. Further, these phenomena have developed and shaped the American sports industry as a multibillion dollar business, while the business aspects of sports have also shaped much of the historical and cultural realities of sports in the United States. At the outermost level, the model depicts the sports industry environment. This environment includes the legal realities and regulations that control and inform the sports business industry, as well as the unique and often controversial social landscape of sports in America, such as issues related to women’s sports, class in sports, and race in sports, to name just a few. The curriculum will also introduce sports as a global product, discuss how economic development through sports has occurred, and how the American Sports Brand is marketed internationally. This component of the model, depicted as an environmental outcome and influence, will be emphasized throughout the curriculum.

The proposed curriculum will be introduced in three modules containing several unit guides each. These modules include: I) United States History and the Foundations of the American Sports Brand, II) The US Sports Industry as a Business, and III) The Environmental Influences that Shape and Inform the American Sports Brand. As suggested, each of these modular descriptions are apparent in the model as reciprocal phenomena that have shaped and established the current American Sports Brand.