Sports Business Management with a Foundation year

Foundation Year
Our Foundation Year provides an excellent alternative route to Keele, providing a unique opportunity to better prepare for your chosen degree, and with guaranteed entry onto your undergraduate course once you successfully complete your Foundation Year. This extra year of study can improve your academic skills, expand your subject knowledge, give you a better understanding of higher education and, perhaps most importantly of all, build your confidence. On the Keele Foundation Year, you'll study on campus, joining our undergraduate community from the outset, with access to all the facilities and support that you'd get as an undergraduate student at Keele.

Sport Business Management
The sports industry - a fast-paced, global sector with exciting career possibilities. If you love sport and aspire to work in this dynamic field, our Sports Business Management BA will develop your understanding of the inner workings of the industry and help you to build a comprehensive set of business skills so you can achieve your goals.

Why choose this course?
• Expand your sports industry knowledge and develop essential business skills to transform your passion for sports into a thriving career



• Gain a competitive edge with our Professional and Academic Development Programme



• Option to spend a year working in industry, or undertake an entrepreneurship year



• Opportunities to study abroad



• Study alongside innovative companies based in Keele Business School



Develop a thorough understanding of the complexities of the sports industry with our Sports Business Management degree. Build a portfolio of essential and transferable business skills for a variety of sports careers such as sports management, sports marketing or event coordination.

You will explore core topics such as managing sports organisations, examining governance and regulatory frameworks, and understanding the ethics around sportswashing, greenwashing and sponsorship.

Growth areas such as esports, environmental sustainability and women’s sports are studied and you will gain an insight into the intricacies of areas such as sports marketing, sponsorship, consumer behaviour, media relations and researching future trends. You'll develop a broad understanding of the leisure sector, discovering the importance of sport and leisure in society, politics and the economy and examine aspects such as hospitality, tourism and events.

About Keele
Keele University was established in 1949 by the former Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Founded to meet the needs of a changing world, Keele has always had a pioneering vision to be a different kind of university.

We excel in both teaching and research, with some of the most satisfied students in England, and research that is changing lives for the better at a regional, national and global level.

Our beautiful 600-acre campus is one of the biggest in Britain – but all the most important services and facilities are on your doorstep, with accommodation, teaching spaces, facilities including a medical centre, sports centre and pharmacy, and a range of shops, eateries and entertainment venues – including the Students’ Union – clustered around the centre.

Career focused courses, a vibrant student community and a beautiful 600-acre campus – this is Keele.

Whether you’re a passionate natural scientist, or eager to explore law, business, humanities or social sciences, our innovative courses are designed with your future in mind. Many of our courses offer a placement opportunity – just one of our initiatives that prepare you for real-world success.

Recognised for outstanding student experience and teaching quality, we were ranked a Top 10 UK university for student satisfaction across 15 subjects (National Student Survey 2025, broad-based English universities) and achieved Double Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (2017 and 2023).

Located in the Staffordshire countryside, but within easy reach of a bustling town, vibrant city and our noisy neighbours of Manchester and Birmingham, Keele truly offers the best of both worlds: a close-knit campus community and an exciting local area to explore.

We’d love to see you on campus soon.