A team of lecturers and guests will deliver a programme of lectures and seminars examining real-world Sports PR operations, professionals who deliver real-world Sports PR. Lectures and seminars will also focus on the experiences of media professionals - reporters, sub-editors, editors and radio and TV producers - who work with Sports PR operators and the materials and experience they provide for the media. Lectures will provide a detailed portrait of working in Sports PR and the seminars will reinforce, elaborate and inform knowledge and understanding of these operations from practical and theoretical perspectives. Students will identify and negotiate with appropriate Sports PR professionals to set up route to conduct a detailed case study. The case study must be a thorough examination, picking up on best-practice examples and weaknesses and linking these to theoretical, academic and practical perspectives including: excellence theory; crisis management; the marketing mix with particular attention to digital operations including the web, mobile technology and in-house TV; budgets, staff management, planning and internal communications; the psychology of Sports PR; critical considerations of Sports PR; sponsorship, campaigns and projects. The overall study must provide an illuminating snapshot of the matrix of modern Sports PR activities and considerations.

Assessment 1 = Learning Outcomes 1-4

Assessment 2 – Learning Outcomes 2,5


A 2500 word report consisting of a case study of a real-world Sports PR operation appropriate to your specialist area of study, requiring close contact with and examination of the responsible organisation, including description and evaluation, illustrated by evidence, of their output, both self-controlled and produced (i.e. online, in print, events, campaigns and projects) and through relationships with the media (i.e. press packs, press releases, formal media meetings and one-to-one contact) (80% weighting)


Plus, a rationale and reflective evaluation of your case study (20% weighting)


Employability

The module is ideal for students interested in seeking employment in the ever-growing field of sports public relations. For those students who go on to work in media, a knowledge of public relations is also useful to prepare for dealing with public relations practitioners.

13 x lectures (1 hours) - total 13 hours to introduce and outline concepts, terminology, functions, purposes, responsibilities and duties. 13 x mixed mode sessions (2 hours) - total 26 hours to learn and develop core skills and knowledge and incorporate them into comprehensive PR practice. To deal with issues, consider progress and reinforce the importance of planning and organisation. Directed study and independent learning in the student's own time - total 161 hours

1. Demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding of real-world sports PR

2. Establish contact with sporting organisation and develop a professional relationship for case study material

3. Evaluate and analyse a sports PR operation from practical and theoretical perspectives

4. Communicate findings accurately, concisely, logically and thoroughly

5. Reflect on sport PR’s potential and constraints and own responses to case study

Newsroom facilities, including audio editing software

Blackboard

Library

Favorito, Joe (2020) Sports Publicity: A Practical Approach (3rd ed). Routledge

Hobsbawm, J. (2010) Where the Truth Lies: Morality and Trust in PR and Journalism. Atlantic

Hopwood (2015) Sport Public Relations and Communication. Butterworth-Heinemann

L’Etang, Jacquie (2013) Sports Public Relations. Sage

Moloney, K. (2006) Rethinking PR: The spin and the substance. Routledge

Morris & Goldsworthy (2012) PR Today. Palgrave MacMillan

Tench & Yeomans (2013) Exploring Public Relations and Communication (3rd ed). Prentice Hall

Theaker, A. (2020) The Public Relations Handbook (6th ed). Routledge

What really goes on in a professional Sports PR department? This module builds on Level’s Sports PR in Practice and takes all of that theory and practical knowledge into the real world. You will critically analyse the work going on in Sports PR via lectures, workshops and seminars, culminating in your own visit to a Sports PR department to report back on what you have seen and learned.

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