SportMedia Certificate

SportMedia is one of the most popular, dynamic, and fastest growing industries today.

Changes in media technology are revolutionizing the ways we think about and engage with sports. New media innovations have given rise to new relationships between athletes, fans, leagues, cities, events, and advertising. New technologies have brought us e-sports and fantasy sports, and given more people access to both broadcasting and following action and adventure sports. Media has changed the business of sports even at the level of ticketing, payment and stadium design. The innovations keep coming with no indication that they will be slowing down anytime soon.

By providing students with coursework that emphasizes the technological changes that are radically reshaping sports entertainment, this SportMedia Certificate provides a practical foundation useful for understanding or working in today’s—and tomorrow’s—SportMedia industries.

Requirements:

  • The SportMedia Certificate is a 15-hour undergraduate certificate.
  • All courses for the SportMedia Certificate must be taken through Illinois. Coursework from other universities cannot be used to meet the SportMedia Certificate requirements.
  • Courses taken for the SportMedia Certificate may also be applied to undergraduate degrees. Contact your college for more information about transferability.

Core course requirements:

  • MACS 224: SportMedia, Technology & Culture 
  • JOUR 361: Sports Journalism
  • ADV 314: Sports Public Relations

If you are entering your final or second-to-last semester and need a course that is not offered, please reach out to Amy Wolff at aewolf@illinois.edu.

Two courses from the following list of electives:

  • MACS 264: Creative and Information Economies
  • MACS 320: Popular Culture
  • MACS 326: New Media, Culture & Society
  • KIN/MACS 346: Case Study: Endless Summer
  • MACS 364: ALL SECTIONS
  • MACS 199: Sport & Documentary
  • MDIA 390: SportMedia Industry Immersion
  • ADV 201: Social Media and Personal Branding
  • JOUR 101: Interactive Media & You
  • JOUR 161: Introduction to Sports Media (previously JOUR 199 Introduction to Sports Media)
  • JOUR 400: Newsroom Experience (Sports Night section ONLY) (previously JOUR 217, JOUR 317, and JOUR 417 Illini Sports Night sections)
  • JOUR 430: Augmented & Virtual Reality
  • LER 225: Labor Issues in Sports
  • RST 199: Business Strategies for Professional Sport Orgs
  • RST 199: E-Sports Foundations
  • RST 301: Sport Brand Management
  • RST 325: Marketing, Sport and Tourism
  • RST 407: Sport Analytics: Data-driven Decision Making
  • THEA 461: Intro to Media Design

AFTER you have completed all requirements of the SportMedia Certificate, submit the completion form below for final verification.

Once we verify completion, we will email you your certificate. Upon request, we are happy to mail you a paper copy of the certificate.

If you have remaining questions, contact Amy Wolff at aewolf@illinois.edu.