sports tourism management

tourism & city branding

Sport tourism: an ever-growing sector with high potential for cities.

Jul 3, 2021

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By Young Hoon Kim, Ph.D, Professor, Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management University of North Texas, USA, and John Nauright, Ph.D Dean, Richard J. Bolte, Sr. School of Business Mount St. Mary’s University, Maryland, USA

Definition of sport tourism

As defined by Gibson (1998, p. 49), sport tourism is a “leisurebased travel that takes individuals temporarily outside of their home communities to participate and/or watch physical activities or to venerate attractions associated with physical activities”. Human beings are born to travel to fulfil their motivational needs and sports can be one of the reasons and tourism will be one of the ways to satisfy those leisure activities (e.g., trail with family or attending sport events). In theory, it is a naturally generated social phenomenon to satisfy human’s physical and psychological desire through travel or vice versa. Each domain (i.e., sports and tourism) is one of the most significant areas which impact our life from many perspectives, such as social, economy, political, and many more. In particular, Zauhar emphasised (2004, p.13), “the points of contact between sport and tourism have increased dramatically – the mutual benefits for both are quite perceptible and the relationships very compatible. In fact, the term ‘sports tourism’ has been coined to better understand the use of sport as a touristic endeavour”.

The impact of COVID-19 on the sport tourism industry

Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 has significantly impacted both sport and tourism industries. Since its original break in Wuhan, China on 21 December 2019, it led to the world pandemic declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 11 March 2020. There was no way to stop this disaster and its global spread across every continent. Although our life has been getting better after vaccine and some medical treatment, it is still a question to get back to our “new” normal. The impact on global sports tourism and income from events has run into billions of dollars of lost revenue. The impact has been particularly hard for smaller scale events and lower-level leagues that do not have protection from significant television, streaming and advertising revenues. It is the key solution for major sport cities to get back to the “new” normal by recovering from the down-turn stage after being negatively impacted by COVID-19. However, it is a great opportunity for specific sport tourism sectors, such as e-sports and golf industry.

Role of cities in sport tourism

As Kim et al. (2018) pointed out in their research, “a destination brand with strong equity leads to greater commitment in the form of loyalty and willingness to revisit the destination” (p. 1196). Not only for its image developed by sports tourists but also it is critical to prepare the destinations (i.e., cities) for sustainable growth. While sport tourists select and look for a city (i.e., destination) to experience “unique” sport tourism components (e.g., physical activities or sport events), most cities are not primarily designed for sport tourism except some cases (Settimi, 2020). In addition, it is strongly recommended to partnership with educational institutions to maximise the outcomes as well as sustainable development for cities (i.e., destination) (Kim et al., 2018). The specific following suggestions can be emphasised for sport cities:

• Accessibility (e.g., transportation and highway access)

• Basic sports facilities

• Hotel and lodging facilities

• Local government (city) involvement

Sport tourism trends

Hosting of major events (spectators) is still a successful way for cities to develop their sport tourism strategy.

Sport tourism strategy will lead sport cities to the next level by approaching destination as a travel package or products which eventually increase the brand equity of destination. Thus, systematic recovery strategies are keenly needed to prevent from unexpected health-related disasters in the future (e.g., pandemic). In addition, foreseeing framework and business structure will help cities to prepare for next stage.

The development of active sport tourism should be looked at closely

Probably, the 2020 Olympics in Japan will be the best case for cities or city cluster to examine the critical cases how to react and follow up. The given lists below will be considered and discussed:

• Organise a special committee under the IOC to monitor,

• Require pre-examination systems to evaluate the current condition,

• Establish disaster-related control centre,

• Provide the stages and steps to react the outbreaks,

• Follow-up strategies to minimise the damages,

• Assess the post-Olympics, and

• Report and share the results to the public.

While global sport tourism has been damaged in the short term by the COVID-19 pandemic, immediate return of spectators and plans for new events and seasons suggests the upward trends of the latter 2010s will continue by 2022 and into 2023 and beyond. Regional events could become more important, as spectators do not travel as far. Cities and municipalities should consider the appropriate mix of major events and more local and recurrent events.

Kim, Y. H., Li, H., & Nauright, J. (2018). A destination development by building a brand image and sport event tourism: a case of Sport City USA. Sport in Society, 21(8), 1196-1203. Gibson, H. J. (1998). Sport tourism: A critical analysis of research. Sport Management Review, 1, 45-76. Settimi, C. 2020, July 17). America’s best sports cities 2020. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasettimi/2020/07/17/ americas-best-sports-cities-2020/?sh=6c36d2bedaef Zauhar, J. (2004). Historical perspectives of sports tourism. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 9(1), 5-101.

To learn more

young hoon kim

john nauright

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What is sports tourism and why it is so big?

Disclaimer: Some posts on Tourism Teacher may contain affiliate links. If you appreciate this content, you can show your support by making a purchase through these links or by buying me a coffee . Thank you for your support!

Sports tourism is BIG business. We all know that sport tourism involves sporting activity, that much is pretty obvious, but there is much more than a game of sport involved in the multi million Dollar global industry. In this article I will explain what sports tourism is, I will tell you about the different types of sports tourism and I will discuss the benefits of sports tourism.

What is sports tourism?

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Sports tourism is the act of travelling from one locality to another, with the intention of being in some way involved with a sporting activity or event .

Many people believe that sports tourism relates only to watching a sporting event. However, this is not correct. The sports industry is much more than this.

Sports tourism encompasses travelling for your own sporting purposes, such as a yoga teacher training course, a badminton competition or to learn to surf. Sports tourism includes attending sporting events such as a Formula One race or a Premiership football match. Sports tourism includes nostalgic visits to places of historical importance, such as the Olympic stadium in Barcelona or to see memorabilia related to your favourite sporting hero, such as the museum at the Maracana football stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

There are, in fact, four main types of sport tourism. These types are known as:

• Sport Event Tourism
• Active Sport Tourism
• Nostalgia Sport Tourism

Passive sports tourism

While sports tourism has not always been extremely popular, during the recent decade the amount of people attending out of area sporting events has drastically increased. People are now traveling far and wide just to attend their favorite events, and it is no wonder as to what has encouraged the sudden spike in popularity.

Sport tourism is a relatively new concept, although it has been around for a long time.

There are many academic studies which delve into the concept of sports tourism, particularly sports tourism that involves large sporting events, such as the football World Cup or the Olympic Games. Some scholars and sports tourism stakeholders have attempted to define the term sports tourism.

According to Neirotti (2003), sports tourism can be broadly described as;

‘Including travel away from one’s primary residence to participate in sports activity, for recreation or competition purposes, travel to observe sport at grassroots or elite level, and travel to visit a sports attraction such as a sports museum, for instance’.

Weed and Bull (2004), provide a conceptualisation of the sports tourism phenomenon as;

‘A social, economic and cultural phenomenon arising from the unique interaction of activity, people and place’’.

Gammon and Robinson (2003) state that sports and tourism is;

‘Not just about the management and operation of mega events; it also concerns offering consumer-specific sports and tourism-related services and experiences to the sports tourist.’

Read also: Sustainable tourism- everything you need to know

Gammon and Robinson (2003) further argue that the sports tourism industry cannot be defined easily and that there should be different definitions according to the type of sports tourism that is being discussed. They visualise this in the model below.

Today, sport is regarded as the world’s largest social phenomenon. And, tourism is predicted to become the world’s biggest industry early in the next century. So it doesn’t take a genius to work out that sports tourism is pretty big business!

The sports tourism industry has grown considerably in recent years. In 2016 the sports tourism industry was worth $1.41 trillion and this figure is expected to increase to approximately $5.72 trillion by 2021. This is a whopping 41% growth in only four years!

**Studying sports tourism? I recommend- Sports Tourism: Participants, Policy and Providers **

The sports tourism industry makes up a significant part off the overall tourism industry. Some people claim that this figure is as high as 25%, meaning that a quarter of all tourism in the world is sports related!

The importance of sports tourism is further emphasised by the media statements from the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which in 2004, announced their commitment to reinforce their partnerships on collaboration in the sports and tourism domain. They stated that; 

‘Tourism and sport are interrelated and complementary… both are powerful forces for development, stimulating investment in infrastructure projects such as airports, roads, stadiums, sporting complexes and restaurant-projects that can be enjoyed by the local population as well as tourists who come to use them.

This demonstrates that sports tourism has a wider economic and social impact than simply the sporting occasion itself. It provides social and economic opportunities for the local population , as well as visitors to the area.

The different types of sport tourism

Sport tourism can be segregated into four main types: sport event tourism, nostalgia sports tourism, active sports tourism and passive sports tourism. Below I have provided a short explanation of what each type of tourism is, along with some examples.

Sport event tourism

Sports event tourism is tourism which centres around a sporting event. Sporting events can be of any size and importance, however it tends to be the major sporting events which gain the most gravitas.

Hallmark events, such as the Olympics or football World Cup, are important centres for sport event tourism, bringing millions of tourists to the host destination.

Smaller events, such as the Henley Regatta in the United Kingdom or a national tennis competition also clarify as sport event tourism.

An often overlooked example of sport event tourism are amateur sporting events. Events such as regional school competitions, youth sporting leagues and non-profit community based sport events are just a few examples.

Wimbledon, also known as ‘The Championships’ is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. A prestigious sporting event, Wimbledon is often associated with the upper class, where spectators sip sparkling wine and Pimms whilst dressed in their best frocks.

Knowing very little about tennis, I attending Wimbledon a couple of years ago just to experience this famous event, which is an integral part off British heritage!

Dating back to 1877, Wimbledon has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, on the outskirts of London, each year. The tennis is played on outdoor grass courts, which is unlike tennis matches played in many other parts of the world.

Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open.

The tournament takes place in late June/early July each year.

The football World Cup, known officially as the FIFA World Cup, is an international football tournament held every four years.

The  Fédération Internationale de Football Association  (FIFA) is the sport’s global governing body. The football consists of mens only teams and boats the most skilled footballers in the world.

Teams must first pass the qualification phase, which takes place over the preceding three years. After this, 32 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation, compete in the tournament. The World Cup tournament generally lasts about one month.

The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition that takes place. It involves what are considered to be the six best nations in terms of rugby in Europe The six nations are:

The Six Nations tournament begins on the first weekend in February each year and finishes with ‘Super Saturday’ on the second or third Saturday in March.

Each team is required to play every other team once (making a total of 15 matches). Each team will play one match at home and one match away from home.

I attended a six nations match once and whilst I’m really not into rugby (surprise!), I really enjoyed the sophisticated and supportive atmosphere at the venue.

Inspired by the ancient Greeks, the modern Olympic Games have been running since 1896. But, in fact, the games have been played in some form or another since long before this date.

The Olympics is perhaps the most famous and the most popular international sporting event. It features both summer and winter sports competitions which take place every four years. Like many other major sporting events, the Olympics are held in a different location each time.

Read also: Slow tourism: Everything you need to know

The Olympics involves thousands of athletes from around the world who compete in a range of different sports, from trampolining to running. Over 200 nations participate in the event.

The Super Bowl is the annual championship of the National Football League (NFL). Based in the Unites States of America, this is the most popular sport tourism event of the year.

Some interesting facts include The Super Bowl being the second-largest day for food consumption in the USA (after Thanksgiving) and the Super Bowl being the most-watched American television broadcast of the year.

Nostalgia sports tourism

Nostalgia sport tourism involves travelling to famous sport-related tourist attractions.

Nostalgia sports tourism may celebrate sports of the past or the present. It may include visiting museums or exhibitions, visiting sporting hall of fames or visiting sporting venues.

The nostalgia sports tourist does not need to be actively participating in sport or to be spectating. They may simply want to learn more or to reminisce.

Here are some examples of popular nostalgia sport tourism attractions.

We visited Calgary Olympic Park on travels through Canada with a baby and loved it!

WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park (COP), (formerly known as Paskapoo Ski Hill) was one of the venues used in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Nowadays, it is open to the general public and iw well known for its ski jumping, bobsleigh and luge.

Whilst we did learn a little bit about the Olympics on our visit here, we actually sent more time on the luge ride than anything else because it was so much fun!

The Maracana is a famous football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is rich in history and was once the largest stadium in the world.

The stadium was opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup. The venue has seen attendances of 150,000 or more at 26 occasions. Over time terraces were replaced with seating, and after the renovation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Maracana’s original capacity was reduced to 78,838.

Nowadays, it is popular to take a tour to visit the Maracana stadium, like I did when I travelled to Buenos Aires with my friend who is football mad!

The Olympic Village, known in Spanish as La Vila Olímpica del Poblenou is an area in the Sant Martí district of Barcelona, Spain.

The Barcelona Olympic Village was built in the late 1980s and early 1990s in preparation for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, which were held in Barcelona.

Nowadays, visiting the Barcelona Olympic Village is a popular sports tourism activity undertaken by many tourists visiting Barcelona.

Active sports tourism

Active sports tourism is when a person travels to actively participate in their chosen sport, or when they travel for other reasons, but taking part in sport is an important part of their tourism experience.

Active sports tourists can be segregated into three classifications: The amateur sports tourist; the hobbyist sports tourist and the professional sports tourist.

I would say that I would generally come under the first category. I am an amateur (at best!) at every sport I try my hand at. But, I still like to give it a go! I’ve attempted skiing in Argentina, kayaking in Vietnam and surfing in Costa Rica, to name but a few.

Read also: Business tourism: Everything you need to know

My husband, on the other hand, is usually either a hobbyist sports tourist or a professional sports tourist. He plays for badminton and football teams and loves playing a large number of sports in his free time. He is also a former athlete, having competed for Britain as a trampoline gymnast. As part of this role he travelled around the workload for professional sporting competitions. This qualified him as a professional sports tourist.

There are a large number of active sports that a tourist may choose to get involved with around the world. Here are a few that I have experienced on my travels. But there are sooo many other sports that you can get involved in as a sports tourist!

• Diving in the Galapagos
• Swimming at the Great Barrier Reef
• Playing tennis in Morocco
• Learning archery in Spain
• Going running in France
• Cycling in Amsterdam
• Taking yoga classes in Bali
• Learning tai chi in China
• Kayaking in Vietnam
• Sailing in Australia
• Skiing in Argentina
• Surfing in Costa Rica
• Playing baseball in Boston
• Hand gliding in Rio de Janeiro
• Fishing in The Gambia
• Climbing in Thailand
• Horse riding in Equador
• Walking in Jeju

Here are a few active sports tourism examples:

Did I ever tell you that I completed a Tough Mudder Race? This was a BIG achievement!

Tough Mudder is an endurance event. It is a an obstacle course, originally designed for army training. It is a test of the mind and body.

The race is usually between 10-12 miles in length. It includes a number of obstacles, many of which involve mud! The obstacles often play on common human fears, such as fire, water , electricity and heights.

**Buy now: Sport and Tourism – a recommended textbook for sports studies students!**

Common obstacles include:

• Arctic Enema – Participants plunge into a tank filled with ice water, where they must swim under the water and past an obstacle to the other side.
• Electroshock Therapy – This is where participants will run through a pit of mud where electric wires sway in the air. Participants will often get small electric shocks.
• Funky Monkey – Monkey bars over a pit of cold water. The bars are covered with a mixture of butter and mud.
• The birthing canal- A small, confined space that the participant must crawl through. The upper layer is filled with water so it feels like you are being compressed as you crawl through the tunnel.

Of course, you will need to travel to a Tough Mudder venue to be classified a sports tourism, but many people do!

Many people choose to travel to South Korea for martial arts holidays and Taekwondo-themed events. These might be amateur sports tourists, hobbyist sports tourists or professional sports tourists, depending on the level of involvement and activity type.

Portugal is a popular destination for surf holidays. You can go it alone, if you have the skills and ‘know-how’, or you can book a tour. There are a number of tour operator who offer specialised surfing holidays for all levels of sports tourists, ranging from beginner to advanced.

There are several golfing hotspots around the world. One of the most popular places to travel to for a golfing holiday is Florida . With its year-round pleasant weather and large open spaces, Florida welcomes golf tourists from all over the world to play on their first-class golf courses.

There are many parts of Asia that are known for the popularity of yoga. However, done attracts so many tourists as Bali. Bali is famous the world over for offering top quality yoga retreats and yoga teacher training courses.

Lastly, it is important to recognise that whilst sport is inherently active , not all those who participate or who are involved with the sport are themselves active. In fact, passive tourists can actually contribute more to the sport than those who are active!

A passive sports tourist is a person who is not actively participating in the sport. They are spectators or fans. Passive sports tourism involves tourists watching sport being played. This could take place at a major sporting event (qualifying this also as sports event tourism), or they could simply be supporting a family member of friend. Most passive sports tourists are fans.

Football, or soccer, is arguably the most well-known and popular sports in the world.

Manchester United is a particularly famous football club. It is estimated by the BBC that Manchester United has a whopping 659million football fans!

I always find is fascinating when I travel to a country that is so different and so far removed from my own, yet the locals are also quick to ask me about Manchester United!

Many sports tourists will follow Manchester United, or which ever football team is their favourite, around the world to watch their games.

Anthony Joshua is a British professional boxer. He has many millions of followers, both from the UK and abroad.

Anthony is a two-time unified heavyweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles since December 2019, and previously between 2016 and June 2019. At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles from 2014 to 2016.

Anthony Joshua participates in fights around the world and is often accompanies by his passive sports tourism supporters.

The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for any of the Home Nations – the national teams of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. 

If rugby is your thing and your from Britain or Ireland, then this is a pretty big deal.

The Lions have many thousands of passive sports tourism supporters who cheat them on each match.

Cricket is pretty big in Australia. So big, in fact, that the Australian cricket team has an estimated 24million supporters! Many of these supporters travel with the team around the world as passive sports tourists.

As with any type of tourism , there are a range of benefits and advantages of sports tourism. Whilst the most obvious is perhaps the economic advantage of tourism , there are also positive social impacts as well as environmental impacts . Below I provide some examples:

• Sports encourages tourists to visit the area
• Sports tourism creates economic growth through tourists booking hotel rooms, eating in restaurants and opening money in local shops
• Sports tourism helps to create exposure and enhances a positive image for the local community
• Many sports tourism infrastructures and facilities can also be used by members of the host community
• The development of sports tourism helps to build a sense of community
• Sports tourism has the potential to attract high-yield visitors and repeat visitors
• It can provide opportunity to develop new infrastructure in the area
• The media can help to promote the destination
• Sports tourism can improve overall tourist numbers
• Money made from sports tourism can be reinvested into the local economy
• Sports tourism creates jobs for local people
• Sports tourism which relies on the natural environment may result in better environmental management and preservation

Whilst there are many positive impacts of sports tourism, however, it is also important that there are a number of negative impacts too. Aspects such as environmental degradation when gold courses, employing foreign rather than local people for major sporting events and locals who feel that their cultural norms are being overlooked (such as not covering your shoulders in the Middle East, for example), are just a few example of negative impacts of sports tourism.

It is clear that sports tourism is big business. Whether its events sports tourism, active sports tourism, nostalgic sports tourism or passive sports tourism, there is a huge market for tourists worldwide. However, as with any type of tourism, sports tourism must be carefully managed to ensure that it is sustainable .

For more information on sports tourism, I recommend the texts below;

• Sports Tourism: Participants, Policy and Providers – explains sports tourism as a social, economic and cultural phenomenon that stems from the unique interaction of activity, people and place.
• Sport Tourism Development – a text book covering the growth and development of sport tourism.
• Sport Tourism Destinations: Issues and Analysis – with contributions from international experts, this book looks at the dramatic effects sports tourism has on the economy and future of tourism destinations. 
• Sport and Tourism – This book proposes a groundbreaking theoretical model which explores globalization, mobility and authenticity providing insight into the unique interrelationship that exists in a sport tourism context between activity, people and place.

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What is Sports Tourism?

Last Updated on May 11, 2023

Sports tourism is the act of travelling for the sake of either participating or viewing sports, and the management and marketing of sports to attract tourism for commercial means. Dr Paul Symonds

Many definitions fail to give consideration to the perspective being looked at in sports tourism.

These definitions fail to include, for example, how the term is viewed from the perspective of a destination, a marketing company, an airline and so on.

Sports tourism, in other words, refers not only to the sports tourist, but also the industry that provides and facilitates this form of tourism.

Sports tourism can have an incredibly wide impact on so many stakeholders in sports and in tourism and this is all discussed below, as we analyse what sports tourism is.

Table of Contents

Sports Tourism Examples

There are numerous sports tourism examples but let me give you a few:

• Spectator : Travelling across the USA to attend the Super Bowl
• Participant : Travelling to take part in the Honolulu Marathon
• Destination : Creating the infrastructure and marketing yourself as a destination in order to be awarded the Olympic Games.
• Spectator : Going from the UK to Barcelona to watch an FC Barcelona game at the Nou Camp Stadium .
• Tourist: Travelling to Japan to see the Baseball Hall of Fame in Tokyo
• Participant : Going on a cycling holiday in France with friends
• Organisation : A local tourism board helping to market the Sydney Marathon, in Australia.
• Services : An airline laying on special extra flights to transport fans to an international football (soccer) game such as for the Champions League Final.

Sports Tourism Ontology

Depending on the perspective you have, sports tourism and its importance can mean different things.

We can use the term ‘Sports tourism ontology’ to express our outlook (viewpoint or perspective) and to define what sports tourism is for different stakeholders.

As you can see in the diagram above and from the sports tourism examples we listed in the bullet list above, sports tourism can be viewed from differing perspectives.

What Different Types of Sports Tourism Tourists are there?

When it comes to defining exactly what a sports tourist (rather than tourism is) , there are various definitions that exist and these definitions are often debated by academics.

Some of the main ways of classifying sports tourists though are as follows.

1. Active Sports Tourism

This refers to those who travel and stay away overnight and who participate in sports themselves.

Examples of this are people who travel from:

• The UK to take part in the New York Marathon
• Australia to Spain for a golfing holiday
• China to Spain for a sports fishing holiday

2. Sports Events Tourism

Rather than travelling for actively participating and taking part in sporting activities, sports event tourism refers to when you travel in order to watch a sporting event.

Examples of this include travelling to watch the:

• Kentucky Derby
• World Snooker Championships
• Brazilian F1 Grand Prix
• French Open Tennis tournament

3. Nostalgia Sports Tourism

This form of tourism refers to travelling to famous sports-related attractions including Hall of Fames, famous stadia, and sporting museums.

Some great examples include the:

• FIFA Football Museum in Zurich, Switzerland
• Chicago Sports Museum , USA
• Liverpool Anfield Stadium Tours , England
• American Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, USA
• Australian Sports Museum in Melbourne, Australia
• Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada
• Museum of Sport and Tourism in Warsaw, Poland

Case Study: Barcelona 1992 Olympics and Sports Tourism

Let’s take the example of the city of Barcelona in Spain .

Barcelona held the 1992 Summer Olympics but to do this, the city of Barcelona spent a reported USD$7 billion in order to win the right to stage the games ( Time Magazine, 2016 ).

The city invested massive amounts of money to completely regenerate two miles of an industrial area that is now the beach area and the city used sports tourism as the vehicle to completely market, rebrand and reposition Barcelona.

The 6-year renovation project started in 1986 and needed to be finished (and it was) ready for the 1992 Olympics.

The Olympics, as one of the world’s most important sporting events, was used by the city of Barcelona as a springboard to attract investment, attract tourists, to brand the city, and to make the city well-known worldwide.

So, from the perspective of the decision-makers of the city of Barcelona in the 1980s, sports tourism can be defined as a vehicle for urban regeneration and destination marketing combined.

Sports tourism in another sense, in respect of the Barcelona 1992 Olympics, is represented by all of the tourists who visited the city during the Olympics to see the events and to be in the city to absorb the atmosphere.

Likewise, those who have since visited Barcelona and gone on the Olympics Stadium Tour, for example, can be classified as sports tourists.

It is worth also considering the massive entourage of TV crews and other media outlets who attend an event such as the 1992 Olympics.

Whilst these media personnel are there for the sake of work, outside of work hours these staff, in essence, often become sporting tourists as they go sightseeing in the city and use the restaurants, visit the museums and so on.

By default, these people who are in the city to temporarily work, become a part of the sports tourism phenomena in the city during the event.

For the airlines , such events mean an opportunity to increase the number of flights to and from Barcelona, whilst often being able to raise prices and profit from sports tourism in a commercial sense.

For local transport providers such as taxi drivers, airport limousine service providers and local tourist guides, the Olympics also provided a benefit.

As you can see from this example of the Barcelona Olympics, sports tourism has a broad reach and can benefit a significant number of stakeholders.

How Sports Tourism Contributes to Economic Growth and Statistics

As we have seen from the Barcelona Olympics example above, sports tourism can have a dramatic impact economically on a city, region, country or at a venue level.

Research suggests that worldwide, by 2027, global income as a result of sports tourism will be USD$14.4 trillion dollars (so about GBP£10 trillion pounds).

This form of tourism is continually growing and being seen by stakeholders at all levels (events organisers, venue owners, local councils and governments, etc.) as being a potential opportunity to develop infrastructure and income.

The reality is that measuring the economic impact and benefits of sports tourism is extremely hard, given that there are what are known as soft and hard benefits.

The expression ‘soft benefits’ refers to indirect benefits.

An example of this can be the Cricket World Cup being held in Auckland, New Zealand, and, as a result, local food vendors such as hot dog sellers benefit.

Another way of viewing soft benefits in relation to sports tourism that is also often used is to group non-major events under the umbrella of soft events.

So, travelling to Spain to play golf, go road cycling in the Alps, or going on a hiking holiday would be seen as soft events.

Events such as a formula Grand Prix, a major league baseball game, the Olympics (i.e. major events) would be considered ‘hard events’.

‘Hard benefits’ refer to the direct benefits.

An example of a hard benefit can be the income generated from flights laid on specifically for transporting sports fans to a specific event such as the Olympics or for a major football (soccer) tournament.

How Far Do You Have to Travel for It to Be Sports Tourism

A question that is often asked by students of sports tourism, is what constitutes tourism.

In other words, how far do you have to travel for something to be considered tourism?

If you travel to the next city to where you live for the sake of sports, are you a sports tourist?

The best way to understand whether or not a journey should be classified as tourism is to ask whether or not the trip meets two requirements:

• Was the trip taken outside of your local area
• Did the trip require an overnight stay?

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNTWO) provide a definition here of tourism as:

tourist (or overnight visitor) if his/her trip includes an overnight stay, or as a same-day visitor (or excursionist) otherwise. UNWTO (2008)

For sports tourism, thus we are looking at a trip to another place that includes an overnight stay and that is for the sake of some purpose related to or includes some relation to sports.

What Is a Sport Tourist

So a sports tourist could, for example, be someone:

• travelling abroad to go on a walking holiday in Italy
• heading to the ski slopes for a week of skiing in Utah
• taking a trip for a few days to do the Wembley Stadium tour and to watch a live Premiership match

What Are the Benefits and the Importance of Sports Tourism

The value of sports tourism lies in the ability to:

• generate significant levels of income
• create jobs and employment locally
• use the opportunity for destination marketing
• use the generated income for the regeneration of an area and to improve the local infrastructure

What Are the Issues and Disadvantages?

There can also be issues that arise from sports tourism, much in the same way that other forms of tourism also can cause issues and conflicts.

As you can imagine, large numbers of people arriving in a destination for a major sports event can cause conflicts for the locals. The following can be a result of both tourism and sports tourism:

• Overburden over the local resources including transport and resources such as water
• Overcrowding, safety and security issues
• Noise pollution
• Increase in waste and litter

Unlike general tourism, in the case of sports event tourism, it can mean a significant rise in visitor numbers but for a short specific period of time.

This might, for example, be for a one-off major event such as the Super Bowl (American Football), FA Cup Final (English football), or Kentucky Derby (Horse racing).

Alternatively, the event might be for a few days, weeks or a month, such as for the Summer Olympics, Football World Cup, or the Winter Olympics.

For the one-day events, solutions can include:

• extra policing
• extra rubbish (garbage) collection provision,
• provision of human helpers (for providing directions and guidance)
• extra transportation for the event

For longer sporting events solutions can additionally include:

• infrastructure improvements or moderations
• strategic plan to work and coordinate planning with the locals

What Sports Tourism Tour Operators Are There?

We have written a separate post on the best sports tourism tour operators from around the world to visit major events worldwide.

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Lessons Earned From the Evolution of Sports Tourism

Sports Tourism’s Evolution, Maturation to Returns on Investment, Mission & Effort

The expanse of sports tourism is a matter of past, present and future contexts, a series of evolutionary events, if you will.

One such instance occurred during a transitional period within the Sports Events & Tourism Association (Sports ETA) in 2018 shortly after Al Kidd began his new role as president and chief executive officer at the Association.

“It was clear from the onset that the value chain was much wider and broader than what we were engaged with. From a business standpoint, there was so much more opportunity,” says Kidd. “One of the goals was to expand the organization’s footprint and be fair and equitable across all the different categories.

“The strategic roadmap and 2020 Vision was finalized in 2018 and refined as we went forward. The plan formed in June 2017 during the first couple weeks on the job. Once Jennifer came on board, we quickly solidified and expanded our vision. It was a seminal moment for the organization. We clicked immediately and set out to establish our key points of light to build the assets and services to establish a nationally recognized and prominent force. She and our team have been working with me on the execution of that plan ever since.”

Kidd, who previously served as president of the San Diego Sports Commission with additional career stops in venture capital investing, online education services, marketing, advertising and strategic planning, possesses a penchant for data and research that aligns well with the philosophy of Dr. Jennifer Stoll, STS. After serving on the Sports ETA board while she was executive director of the Greater Grand Junction (CO) Sports Commission, Stoll was contracted by Sports ETA in late 2018 on the heels of earning her PhD from Troy University.

To complement a PhD-level research expertise—her work has been published regularly in academic publications including the Journal of Sport & Tourism—Stoll’s applied and lived experiences also include numerous nonprofit, athletic, coaching, faculty, volunteer, event management and entrepreneurial successes. Stoll lives with one foot in in the academic arena while also understanding first-hand the value of being a practitioner, a balancing act of learning and application that is ideal for today’s competitive nature of sports tourism.

“A lot of the research is based on theory, which is fantastic, but our core mission is to help our members do better business and be better at the business they’re in,” says Stoll, principal of Stoll Strategies and director of research and education with Sports ETA. “And that really needs to be with practical implementation.”

From Kidd and Stoll’s earliest conversations, Sports ETA began quickly refining its primary delivery mechanisms to include education, advocacy, resources and networking as the Association’s four strategic pillars, and the acronym E.A.R.N., a new organizational compass, was adopted.

SPORTING A NEW DIMENSION

A quarter century before Kidd and Stoll joined the Association staff, the National Association of Sports Commissions (NASC)—rebranded as Sports ETA in 2019—was established in 1992 to protect the integrity of the industry and to deliver quality education, networking and event management and marketing opportunities to its members. What started as a couple handfuls of sports commission members is now more than 800 destination, rights holder and industry partner members.

By the late 1990s, Frisco, Texas —which had a population of less than 10,000 in 1998—entered the game when it opened the Superdrome, where the 2000 U.S. Olympic Track Cycling Trials introduced the world to this once-small Texas town. “You have to understand that sports doesn’t just start with someone sending you an RFP; it starts with destination management and making sure that your destination is hospitable to sports,” says Josh Dill, STS, director of sports & events at Visit Frisco. “I can’t take credit for that. This infrastructure existed so much earlier, and I’ve just been able to capitalize on it.”

The Superdrome project was Frisco’s first foray into a public private partnership (P3) in sports, an entrepreneurial spirit that reverberates loudly more than 20 years later. Some of Frisco’s other projects of note include the Comerica Center (opened 2003, practice facility of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, home of NBA G League Texas Legends), Toyota Stadium & Soccer Center (2005, home of FC Dallas of Major League Soccer) and The Star in Frisco (2016, Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters). This continued investment in sports has helped spark Frisco’s exponential population growth to more than 200,000 residents. As sports continues to breathe life into the destination, Visit Frisco also shifted its tourism marketing tagline to “The City That Plays” and its sports-market-specific slogan to “Sports City USA”.

“I think that there are people in this city who are proud to say we are Sports City, but when Jerry Jones gets up in front of a press conference and says this is Sports City USA, that really catches on,” says Dill. “I don’t think people can argue the amount of success we’re having in sports.”

After three years at the Fort Worth CVB and five years at the Lubbock CVB, Dill joined Visit Frisco in late 2016 where he’s since helped Sports City USA deliver on its brand promises. The Visit Frisco team recently helped extend the NCAA FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) Championship through 2025 at Toyota Stadium, and it also brought the 2021 International Ice Hockey Federation U18 Men’s World Championship to Comerica Center amidst the pandemic.

“I made the leap to Frisco because it had all of the sports teams,” Dill says. “I had the backing that if I wanted to do an event, I had partnerships with teams that say we can make it work. Over time, I was playing tic tac toe, then I was playing checkers and now I get to play chess.”

FCS football is growing in popularity.

FROM UNDERSTUDY TO PRACTITIONER

As the industry has matured, so too have the needs of Sports ETA’s membership. Kidd and Stoll remember parsing out bits of data in 2018 so the Association could better understand its members, and in turn curate programs more representative of Sports ETA’s whole membership. And it turned out that a polling of sports tourism leaders verified a high industry turnover rate for the Association to act on.

“It became clear that we had a lot of gaps on the research and education side. Not only did we only have a few courses, but they were only available in person so you had to make the travel roster,” says Stoll. “We were collecting data about content, topics of interest, the level of professionals in terms of tenure, and what markets they were involved with, and we started to realize quickly that we had a few hundred attendees to our first-timers events every Symposium.

“That’s really what led to the cultivation and development of the (Sports Tourism) Learning Institute. With limited resources in time and money that we have, we asked, ‘How do we serve the largest swath of our membership?’. That’s what you see developing out of the Power Plays and Certificates (online courses) is us really trying to hone in on topics as we build this bike while riding it.”

Sports ETA leaders are trying to guide the organization through a decimated tourism industry.

The flagship of the education pillar, the Sports Tourism Learning Institute (STLI) was unveiled in late 2020 as Sports ETA’s targeted applied learning center that serves the entirety of sports events and tourism. Moreover, the Sports Tourism Research Institute (STRI) is a work in process.

“With our education delivery, you have small markets, you have mid-size markets, you have brand new people, you have senior people, you have large markets that do primarily large events. On the destination side, we have significant differences between membership,” says Kidd. ”Coagulating a centralized research or programming output was wrong. We needed to do a better job of developing target market products and services, and that also includes our industry partners and rights holders.”

As part of the Association’s new certificate stacking model, the STLI currently offers Power Plays (free topical sessions) and a Certificate Playbook (lengthier asynchronous self-paced coursework). Moreover, there is a Front Office Education platform in the works that will be, according to Stoll, more rigorous, admissions-based, and built on consistency and credibility to place everybody who enrolls on equal footing. And as the Association’s contact database indicates—there are more than 13,000 venue contacts—Kidd adds there are substantial growth opportunities related to facilities education and practice.

“The area of great opportunity we see is in sports facilities and that is coming like a train,” says Kidd. “They are going to be considered a destination and will someday compete, as they already are in some places, with destinations and sports commissions.”

An experienced practitioner now, Dill admits he has grown from listener to event executioner to tactician to strategist throughout his career. Still, there is much to learn and Dill commends Sports ETA—a collective of professionals of all backgrounds and expertise to glean from—for expanding its programs.

“These things are not happening by accident. It’s a very deliberate growth plan and what you’re starting to see is a snowball effect,” says Dill, also a fourth-year Sports ETA board member. “We’ve continued to raise the value of the Association, and people are starting to see that value. The next evolution is to have more resources to reinvest into the Association. Financial resources and human capital will lead to even more value for the members. I’m very appreciative of where NASC brought us to, and I think now it’s an evolution, that next step of becoming an association truly for the industry.”

PARTNERING THROUGH A PANDEMIC

The pandemic decimated tourism, and sports tourism’s 2020 impact is projected to show a 60 percent decrease from the previous year—which would be a $27 billion yearover- year decrease in direct impact—when updated figures are released in late 2021 as part of Sports ETA’s State of the Industry Report in partnership with Tourism Economics (A Division of Oxford Economics). However, the segment enjoyed five straight years of growth (up nearly 17% from 2015-19) prior to the pandemic, a trend that figures to return in due time. Despite the effects of COVID-19, there were pockets of strong 2020 performance that included increasing preferences for outdoor activities and regional tourism. And as facilities have continued to come online even throughout the last 18 months, sports tourism is widely regarded as fuel for the future.

“We are not leading out of the pandemic—we are catalysts to the restart to tourism across America. And there is no debate by any CVB president that we are the main catalyst right now,” Kidd says. “The CVB world understands our value. We’re going to continue to develop the research around the support of those numbers.”

Sports ETA’s partnerships with Tourism Economics, Longwoods International, U.S. Travel Association and Destinations International activate the advocacy and resources pillars, amplifying its data capacity and credibility. Moreover, the Association continues to lean into techcentric industry partners like Playeasy and EventConnect, a deliberate play on the networking pillar, to serve destinations and rights holders.

“This is the most fun aspect; it’s been incredible to watch the positioning and credibility that Al (Kidd) has built in tangential industries,” Stoll says. “While we were at the Destinations International Convention, people were stopping us all over the place to let us know all the great things Sports ETA has been doing, and how sports has carried them through. That didn’t happen a few years ago, so the partnerships are a really exciting piece of it.”

The Association’s distribution partners on the event operator side include the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM), American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA). Kidd notes the influx of partnerships is about looking inside and outside of the industry and associating with the best of the best, both of which ultimately benefit Sports ETA members.

“Within each of these partnerships, the educational delivery is a big part of the expansion of our capacity outside to build relevancy and aspirational revenue,” Kidd says. “When we get to the resources, we spend a great deal of time on data collection and trying to move this industry into a better understanding of the importance of data. And frankly, COVID helped us get past the speedbump of getting participation in our surveys and studies, and now we have significant participation by our members that is producing some terrific information.”

The numbers demonstrate the industry’s compound growth is indeed economic, yet indirect impact, induced impact, brand value, return on mission and economic development have also become integral parts of the larger value presented by sports tourism.

“I think as it continues to evolve and get more sophisticated, as people are dipping their toes there’s just one more straw in that bucket,” Dill says. “I still think facilities will set you apart and just taking that approach of being involved in the event and having skin the game. Honestly, that economic development piece is how you end up being a chess player instead of a checkers player in sports tourism.”

The Star Entertainment District in Frisco, Texas.

WHERE STARS ARE BORN

Another partnership that pushes the narrative about an expanded definition of success includes Sports ETA’s alignment with the 2021 U.S. Sports Congress (USSC) this December in Frisco, where the Economic Development & Sports Tourism Summit (ED&STS) and the Collegiate Championship Symposium will be produced jointly with USSC.

“We realize it’s not necessarily the people that sit at our sports tourism shows that need to hear this, it’s city leaders that need to hear this,” Dill says. “By creating an opportunity for colleges or economic development and city staff, they get to hear and see it first-hand. We’re going to take city and economic development leaders to The Star to show this isn’t just an idea, this is what it became, a whole district. We’re continuing to build districts as miniature city centers around sports venues, and it works.”

According to Dill, the U.S. Sports Congress ED&STS and College Championship Symposium partnership helps magnify an important conversation for those places that want to evolve and operate a high level. It also underscores an important story that Sports ETA is perpetuating.

“From our industry’s contributions to job and company recruitment and retention to our economic development efforts, which ties into school quality and property values, there’s a much bigger onion with a lot of layers that we have yet to tap into,” Stoll says. “We are looking in the future to provide some industry standardization as to how and what is measured, as well as how those metrics are communicated so we can take the platform that sports provides and start to do it justice for our members in terms of the funding behind it. That’s on the destinations side, the rights holders side, and that’s on the venues side across the board.”

And for Frisco’s expanding value proposition, that means continuing to double down on economic development and weaving sports into all of the destination’s work.

“We have some really smart people here in the arts and a lot of our NFL and MLS owners are art collectors. We’re building a performing arts center that is the newest project, and it’s going to sit across the street from The Star,” Dill says. “It’s literally going to be an intersection where sports and art meet. It’s just fun to be in a city where there is constant evolution.”

By Nick Povalitis, Plus Seven Company

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General Education (40-41 hours)

(see General Education    for list of approved courses) 

Program Requirements

• One approved statistics course
• ECON 1020 - Principles of Economics: Microeconomics (SB)
• DATA 1000 - Computers In Business  or 
• CPSC 1000 - Introduction to Computing

Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism Core Requirements

Minimum grade of C is required in all SORT Core Requirements.

• HHP 1020 - Introduction to Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism
• HHP 2120 - Field Experiences I in Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism
• HHP 2130 - Field Experiences II in Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism
• HHP 3010 - Principles of Travel and Tourism
• HHP 3060 - Outdoor Recreation
• HHP 3100 - Research Methods in Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism
• HHP 3210 - Tourism Impacts
• HHP 3320 - Event Management in Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism
• HHP 3460 - Program Planning in Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism
• HHP 3640 - Sociology of Sport
• HHP 4060 - Law and Ethics in Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism
• HHP 4140 - Marketing and Promotion in Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism
• HHP 4790 - Internship in Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism

Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism Electives

Choose 18 hours from the following:

• BUS 3350 - Legal Environment of Business
• ESC 1100 - Conservation of Biodiversity (NL)
• ETR 1010 - Entrepreneurship: The Mindset and Skillset (SB)
• ETR 3200 - Foundations of Entrepreneurship & New Venture Creation
• ETR 3400 - Innovation and Creativity in Business
• GEOG 4010 - Geography of Travel and Tourism
• HHP 1050 - Adventure Tourism
• HHP 2020 - Camping and Outdoor Education
• HHP 2990R - Special Topics in Sport, Outdoor Recreation and Tourism
• HHP 3070 - Outdoor Leadership Skills
• HHP 3440 - Facilities Management
• HHP 3990R - Special Topics in Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism
• HHP 4160 - Finance in Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism
• HHP 4170 - NCAA Governance
• HHP 4180 - Wilderness First Responder
• HHP 4230 - Tourism Planning and Management
• HHP 4800 - Internship in Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism
• HHP 4990R - Special Topics in Sport, Outdoor Recreation, and Tourism
• MGT 3150 - Management Concepts, Theory, and Practice
• MGT 3320 - Human Resource Management
• MKT 3130 - Principles of Marketing
• MKT 3630 - Professional Selling
• PSPS 2600 - Introduction to Nonprofit Sector

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Electives to complete 120 hours.

2.0 GPA in all required major and related courses.

Minimum of 39 hours of 3000 and 4000 level courses.

See Degree and Graduation Requirements    for additional requirements.

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Program info, score your career in the sports industry with troy’s sports management degree.

Are you an avid sports fan, athlete or enthusiast who hopes to work in the sports industry after you graduate? Whether you want to work with athletes, teams, media outlets or fans, Troy University’s bachelor’s degree in sports management prepares you to excel in various roles. Covering hospitality, sports and tourism management, the sports management major allows you to create your own path to a career in sports. At TROY, you’ll learn at a respected, accredited institution — and gain the knowledge and experience you need to land sports management jobs.

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Beyond their commitment to mentorship, TROY’s sports management faculty also bring diverse experiences to the classroom. They have worked in parks and recreation management, collegiate recruiting, collegiate coaching, intercollegiate athletics marketing, intercollegiate athletics compliance and data analytics. Through dynamic, current content, they’ll challenge you to think critically, use data and research to inform decisions and prepare to solve problems and add value in your future career.

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The 5 best sports travel companies

What to look for when choosing a sports travel agency.

• Large inventory : sports travelers are constantly traveling to new places, not just within the US but to Europe or even further afield. Having a wide range of options enables you to access the best rates on the market, regardless of where you’re headed.
• Integrated travel policies: staying compliant is high on the priorities list, enabling businesses to estimate travel spend, determine future budgets, and plan safe and successful trips.
• Fast customer support: corporate travel can be subject to factors out of your control, meaning that on-hand advice is essential.
• Ability to invite guests : sports travel often involves people outside an organization, for example, referees.
• Traveler tracker: visibility is important in the sports travel sector, as many organizations like to keep close tabs on traveling team members.
• MICE & group bookings: teams might organize team-building events or get-togethers, meaning that team travel must be catered for with specialized services.
• Flexibility: this is a must for sports travelers, as this industry is prone to last-minute changes due to factors like bad weather or injury.

The 5 best sports team travel companies

1. travelperk: your top all-rounder option.

Main offerings and features:

• An online self-booking tool
• Flexible booking with FlexiPerk
• Safety alerts with TravelCare
• Integrated travel policy & approval flows
• Centralized invoicing
• Easy & real-time expense reports
• Carbon offsetting with GreenPerk
• 24/7 customer support with a 15s target response time
• VAT reclaim to save up to 25% on travel (only in Europe)
• Integration with 3rd party tools : such as expense management platforms or HR software like Expensify and BambooHR

Want to find out more about streamlining corporate travel and reducing expenses?

2. ctm travel: a vast range of specialized services.

• A central point of communication for all bookings
• 24/7 customer support
• Expense management solutions
• Full due diligence and local language support
• Security, tracking and emergency planning
• Team of sporting consultants on hand
• On-side travel desk and logistic support
• Venue sourcing
• Event registration tool

Click below for a more detailed comparison between both platforms:

3. allsports: affordable expertise in group and team travel.

• Partnerships with leading hotel chains
• Access to top facilities and venues
• Event management support
• Competitive travel rates
• Team-building activities and tourist attractions
• Insurance support
• Travel policy compliance expertise

4. Peak Sports Travel: an all-in-one platform

• Bucket list activities guide for longer trips
• Expense management support
• Discounted pay packages
• Bespoke website design for event pages
• End-to-end travel booking

5. Corporate Traveler: a reliable choice for frequent travelers

• Expense reports to help analyze & streamline travel spend
• Real-time safety updates
• Duty of care with traveler tracker
• Discounted airfares and exclusive vehicle rental rates
• Negotiated travel rates on many itineraries

Get to that tournament on time! Start booking today.

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Recreation, Sport, and Tourism Management (B.S.Rec.)

Career information is not specific to degree level. Some career options may require an advanced degree.

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in ID, WA, OR, MT and HI

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• Agent and Business Manager of Artists, Performers, and Athletes
• Environmental Restoration Planner
• Recreation and Fitness Studies Teacher, Postsecondary
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• Coach or Scout
• Umpire, Referee, or Other Sports Official
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*Job data is collected from national, state and private sources. For more information, visit EMSI's data sources page .

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As a recreation student and professional, you should, first and foremost, lead by example by living an active and healthy lifestyle. The career requires an ability to work with and motivate people of all different activity levels and ages, in both indoor and outdoor settings. You should also build strong interpersonal, planning, organizational and leadership skills.

During your first year in the University of Idaho's Bachelor of Science in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism Management program, you may take:

• Introduction to Recreation Professions
• Outdoor Leisure Pursuits
• English Composition
• River Reading and Whitewater Safety
• First Aid: Emergency Response
• Wilderness First Responder
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Students who graduate with a degree with a B.S. in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism Management (RSTM)  will complete 120  required credits toward the degree in addition to university core requirements. All Recreation majors are required to have a minor or cognate (area of emphasis). Your advisor can help you choose based on your career goals.

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With Idaho’s scenic backdrop and outstanding outdoor resources, it is among the best settings to earn a degree. Moscow and the surrounding areas have consistently been ranked among the best places to live in the U.S. by media outlets including Outdoor Life, Outside Magazine, ABC News, Mother Earth News and Businessweek. Within an hour of Moscow, you will find rivers for fishing, boating and rafting, wilderness for hiking and camping and mountains for skiing. Outside Magazine also ranked the Recreation, Sport, and Tourism Management program #25 in its Top 25 list of universities where you can embrace adventure.

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This practicum is intended to provide students with experiences in observing (assisting and working, where possible) in supervised setting. The exact nature and setting may vary according to the situation. The program is experiential and the outcomes will vary with each individual.

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This internship is intended to provide students with experiences in an agency setting relevant to the student’s professional interests. The exact nature and setting may vary according to the situation. The program is experiential and the outcomes will vary with each individual. (Minimum 400 hours required)

Download the REC 498 handbook .

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Discover how to help people of all ages lead active, healthy lifestyles in the only accredited recreation program in Idaho. You will gain hands-on training and experiences in swimming, river guiding, outdoor adventure, wilderness emergencies, program planning and management and much more with the campus’s excellent recreation facilities and Idaho’s mountains.

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25 Best Universities In Moscow For International Students 2024

Moscow is surely one of the places you should be considering if you’re looking to study in Russia . This location has a lot to offer for international students, including world-class universities and exciting student experiences. With more than 59 universities and colleges in Moscow, you’ll surely have a wide range of choices.

Out of 59 universities in Moscow , RUDN University and Moscow State University are the top-performing schools in Moscow. This list covers both public and private institutions in Moscow.

To help you narrow down your school options, we’ve compiled the best universities in Moscow. We based our rankings on academic reputations from reputable sources and the number of international students. By doing this, you’ll have an efficient way of comparing your target universities and choose your host university in Moscow.

How do I get admission to the best universities in Moscow?

Applying to the universities in Moscow involves submitting requirements and following specific admissions procedures set by your chosen university. The requirements often include a student visa, application packages, and language scores. Check out our guide for international students who want to study in Moscow to learn more about applying for admission in this country’s universities!

How much are the tuition fees at the best universities in Moscow?

Tuition fees at Moscow’s universities can vary depending on which university, degree, and program you will be enrolling in. Generally, tuition fees for the bachelor’s level range from 0 RUB to 730,000 RUB , while tuition fees for the master’s level range from 0 RUB to 870,000 RUB. If you are interested, check out the affordable universities in Moscow !

As we cover the best universities in Moscow for international students, feel free to check out the university’s information on Admission, Tuition, Courses, and Language Requirements by looking at the individual university pages.

Top Universities in Moscow for International Students

1 rudn university.

RUDN University is one of the best universities in the capital city of Russia and is known as The People’s Friendship University of Russia. This higher education institution is mostly known for the high number of international students attracted to this university’s high ranking. The university is ranked among the world’s top 500 universities, which speaks volumes about the level of study this university provides.

2 Moscow State University

Moscow State University is one of the largest public universities in Moscow, Russia. This university is the cornerstone of formal higher education, and it provides education to close to 40,000 students. Some of the most attended programs are in the fields of economics, politics, and finance, where students gain real-world experience that may help them in their careers.

3 National Research Nuclear University MEPhI

The National Research Nuclear University MEPhI is one of the world’s most prestigious universities in its field and the perfect place for candidates that would like to specialize in nuclear technology. It focuses on fostering innovation, creativity, and internationalization. The university is known for its wide and highly specialized degree offer and its outstanding research performance. It has multiple institutes that develop studies in areas like nanoengineering, cyber-physical systems, and plasma technologies. These projects are completed in state-of-the-art facilities that include a research nuclear reactor and an accelerator.

4 National Research University Higher School of Economics

The National Research University Higher School of Economics, or otherwise known as HSE University, is one of the best universities of higher education in the capital city of Russia. This institution has one of the largest campuses in the country that houses approximately 50,000 students and can provide them with all the necessary equipment for them to have the best possible experience.

5 National University of Science and Technology MISIS

The National University of Science and Technology MISIS started as a mining academy and then became a steel institute. Over time, it expanded its course offer and modernized its facilities, but it’s still widely known for its programs in metallurgy and mining. Nowadays, the university has six campuses, 8 academic colleges, and multiple research institutes. They also have cutting-edge specialized laboratories in fields such as nanomaterials, cryoelectronic systems, biophysics, casting technologies, and much more!

6 I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University

I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University or usually referred to as Sechenov University was founded in 1758, making it the oldest medical school in Russia. It was initially the medical faculty of the Imperial Moscow University and eventually became independent in 1930. At present, the university has more than 18,000 total enrollment and offers undergraduate to Ph.D. programs in Medicine, Sciences, and Professional Education.

7 Plekhanov Russian University of Economics

The Plekhanov Russian University of Economics is a public university with over a century’s history of world-class economics and management education. Programs at the university are strongly focused on practical learning and provide opportunities for students to gain professional and international experience with its numerous partner employers around the world. The university also conducts several initiatives and projects that aim to address different educational, industrial, and social issues. 

8 Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration

The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration is a very young institution of higher education located in the capital city of Russia. This university has grown in popularity in the region, and it now has over 46,000 students studying in various fields. Despite its youth, this university is ranked among the top 801 universities in the world by the prestigious QS World University Rankings.

9 Bauman University

Bauman University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. It specializes in education and research in applied sciences and engineering. The university boasts excellent programs for all levels of higher education and is home to some of the most advanced scientific laboratories and facilities in the country.

10 Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation

Ranked among the best universities in Russia and the world, the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation is a specialized institution that aims at contributing to the country’s economic development and financial transformation. This is a prestigious university known for being the educational home of many important Russian figures including prominent politicians, millionaires, and CEOs of important companies. It focuses on providing hands-on learning and encouraging critical thinking by using methods like case studies, discussions, and financial projects. It also has partnerships with governmental bodies and major businesses in order to offer workshops, academic collaborations, and internship opportunities.

11 N.R.U. Moscow Power Engineering Institute

N.R.U. Moscow Power Engineering Institute is a public technical university in Moscow with a prominent reputation for producing outstanding scientists and engineers for more than 90. It is also one of the most sought-after universities for aspiring engineers from around the world. The university also has numerous cooperation agreements with foreign universities and companies for its students and faculty to participate in different international programs and activities. 

12 Moscow State Pedagogical University

Moscow State Pedagogical University is a Russian higher education institute that offers Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral programs. It was established as the Women’s Courses of Higher Education in 1872 and underwent a transformative journey to what it is now. The university is well-recognized with International Partners across the globe, such as the University College of Teacher Education Vienna in Austria, the University of Pardubice in the Czech Republic, and the CY Cergy Paris University in France. Accessibility is a forefront advocacy with dedicated institutes for it, such as the Center for Student Disability Services and Psychological Assistance Center.

13 Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia

The Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia is the largest institution that offers education, training, and research in chemical technology in the country. The university was established in 1898 and is dedicated to raising future engineers and specialists who can formulate solutions to the most pressing scientific, industrial, and societal problems. It is also the alma mater of several notable individuals with significant contributions to different branches of science and chemistry.  

14 Russian National Research Medical University

Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University (RSMU) is a private university specializing in medicine located in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1906 as the Higher Medical Course for Women. Among the programs available at the university are general medicine, pediatrics, biochemistry, dentistry, pharmacy, social work, psychology, neuroscience, and radiology.

15 Moscow State Institute of International Relations

The Moscow State Institute of International Relations is one of the most prestigious and elite universities in Russia and the world, making it the perfect place for studying anything related to diplomacy, economics, international affairs, or languages. This institution strives for internationalization, which is why it has partnerships with multiple universities worldwide with which it offers dozens of double and triple degrees. It has different research institutes that develop studies in diplomacy, governance, energy policy, and global matters. Additionally, it constantly collaborates with international organizations and local governmental bodies.

16 Moscow Aviation Institute

Moscow Aviation Institute is an aviation school that offers Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Postgraduate level programs. Both the Russian and English languages are used as mediums of instruction. Aside from these university programs, Pre-university and Professional training programs are also offered. Nine dormitory options filled with quality service facilities are present for student residents. Three Metro stations are also near the campus, providing sufficient access for students with no personal vehicles.

17 Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas

The Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas is a specialized institution of higher education. This institution mostly focuses on developments in the field of oil and gas extraction and the safety of this direction. The main attraction for students is the affordable tuition prices for top-of-the-crop programs that are taught by experts in the relevant fields.

18 Russian State Social University

The Russian State Social University is a distinguished university in the country of Russia because it provides all levels of study to both domestic and international students with the opportunity to gain various financial aid through university or state-funded scholarships. This university is located in Moscow and was founded in 1991, but it is making its way slowly toward the ranking of the best universities in Russia.

19 Moscow Polytechnic University

Established in 1865, Moscow Polytechnic University, or Moscow Poly, is one of Russia’s educational institutions that provide technology-related programs. Currently, they deliver education to more than 16,000 local and international students. As they provide top-quality education and research in various fields, they also have various activities on campus to foster diversity.

20 Synergy University

Synergy University was established in 1988 and is one of the top business schools in Russia. The university’s programs are focused on providing strong fundamental knowledge of different principles, theories, and concepts and combining it with experiential learning to develop its students’ skill sets, thereby preparing them for the professional world. Synergy University has a student population of over 65,000 and has international campuses and branches in Dubai, London, United Arab Emirates, and New York.

21 National Research University of Electronic Technology

The National Research University of Electronic Technology is a public university that offers undergraduate and graduate-level education. In total, there are 40 Bachelor’s programs and 42 Master’s programs. It was founded in 1965 and was only officially renamed to its current title in 2011. Annual enrolment is estimated to be 4500 students, and over 600 academic staff are present to handle them. Not only do other universities partner with the National Research University of Electronic Technology, but over 131 corporations also cooperate with it.

22 Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism

Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sport, and Tourism is a leading sports university in Russia. It was established in 1918 and is known for producing over 200 outstanding athletes that have made their marks in prestigious international competitions such as the Olympics. The academic and research programs at the university are conducted by highly qualified and reputable coaches, experts, and scientists to further enhance athlete training and prepare future sports champions and professionals. 

23 Moscow City Teachers’ Training University

Moscow City Teachers’ Training University is a public university in Moscow, Russia. The Ministry of Education established it in 1995 as a pedagogical university, with only 1300 students in its first year. The university currently has over 18,000 students and offers degree programs in the humanities, natural sciences, sports technology, law, business, and language studies.

24 New Economic School

The New Economic School (NES) is a private institution located in Moscow that focuses on teaching and research in the field of economics. It takes pride in having a faculty made up of established professionals from the field, most of them holding a Ph.D. NES aims to train students who will be able to make valuable contributions to the growth of Russian society and business.

25 State University of Management

The State University of Management has been a frontrunner in providing management education in Russia for over 100 years. The university offers practice-oriented management education and training in different specializations such as business informatics, hotel management, and advertising. The State University of Management also conducts intensive research and innovative projects aimed at improving its academic programs and responding to the needs of the country’s economy. 

We know that choosing your dream school in Moscow not an easy task. After all, you need to consider other factors like the cost of your education, school background, and population, as it can be overwhelming on your part.

So, to help you out further in weighing your school options for studying in Moscow , make sure to visit our list of the best public and private universities in Moscow! These articles will surely help you in deciding your next study destination!

Former Clemson outfielder Reed Rohlman passes away at 29

(2017 VIDEO ABOVE FROM ROHLMAN’S TIME AT CLEMSON)

CORAL GABLES, FLA. (FOX Carolina) – Former Clemson outfielder and two-time All-American Reed Rohlman passed away on Wednesday in Florida. Rohlman was only 29 years old.

The native of Moore graduated from Byrnes High School and went on to letter from 2015 to 2017 with the Tigers.

In his Clemson career, he was a .329 hitter with a .410 on-base percentage in 187 games. He also had 59 doubles, 11 homers, 135 RBIs and 127 runs.

He went from redshirting in 2014 to becoming only the second freshman in Clemson’s history to earn All-America honors in 2015, when he hit .356 with 58 RBIs and was third in the ACC in batting average.

He earned second-team All-American honors in 2017 after helping the team to the ACC championship in 2016 under Monte Lee.

Before turning pro, Rohlman graduated from Clemson in May 2017 with a degree in parks, recreation & tourism management.

Rohlman was drafted in the 35th round of the 2017 MLB draft by the Kansas City Royals. He played three seasons (2017-19) in the organization.