Sport and Recreation Leadership

Overview

Sport and recreation are competitive markets, so our faculty is comprised of professionals who have actually worked in a sport and/or recreation field. Real world experience and understanding of the practical knowledge and skills that students will need in their careers provide the edge that they will need to move ahead and stay ahead of the herd.

The professors who teach at the Sport and Recreation Leadership program offered by James Madison University have real-world experience and understand the practical knowledge and skills that graduates need to move ahead and stay ahead of the herd. 

Career Opportunities

• The hospitality field, also known as the mega-industry, includes many career opportunities.  Recent statistics include:
• Hospitality management provides $98.3 billion in tax revenues or federal, state and local governments.
• Total hospitality employment in the U.S. includes 15.4 million jobs.
• Pleasure travel volume was 950.4 million; personal trips with business travel accounted for over 251 million trips in the United States alone.
• The World Tourism Organization forecasts a growth in international tourist arrivals of between 3% and 4% in the next year. International visitors spend $79.4 billion a year. 
• The travel field is America’s largest services exporter, with international travelers spending over $110 billion in the United States.
• The US hotel and motel industry consists of about 40,000 companies that operate 48,000 properties, with combined annual revenue over $120 billion.
• The restaurant industry’s total economic effect is $1.5 trillion.
• The restaurant industry remains one of the nation’s largest private-sector employers with its 12.7 million employees, comprising 9% of the U.S. workforce.
• The restaurant industry is projected to add 1.3 million career and employment opportunities by 2020. Dining is the most popular domestic trip activity and is included in 31% of all domestic trips. On a typical day, 130 million Americans will visit a restaurant.
• The private club industry represented by The Club Managers Association of America had $13 billion in revenue in 2008 employing 290,749 associates.