For the Sports Culture (Toledo, Ohio)

Toledo, Ohio may seem insignificant in the world of sports, with there being no major professional sport teams and the nearest power five conference college miles away, the city can easily be overlooked. But take a closer look, the city of Toledo has an intense sports culture as well as the potential to grow in the business of sports. Toledo has produced some great athletes, coaches and teams and I believe its time they capitalize on that.

Toledo is home to some of the biggest names in sports today. IBF Lightweight Champion Robert Easter Jr. hails from the glass city and is currently undefeated as a professional boxer. Another Toledo native making waves in the sports world is rookie quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, DeShone Kizer. Kizer is the starting quarterback for the browns and is expected to play well. Toledo is also home to Olympian, Erik Kynard who earned a silver medal in the high jump at the 2012 games, as well as Gretchen Bleiler who won silver in snowboarding at the 2006 games. Not only are the athletes from Toledo having success but coaches Urban Meyer, Jim and John Harbaugh come from Toledo and are all having very successful coaching careers. The city is filled with talent and has a rich sports culture.

The city of Toledo does not have any major professional sports teams but natives love the teams they do have. The University of Toledo currently has 15 total varsity sports and students, faculty and the community are very supportive of the rocket athletics. Toledo's minor league baseball team, the Mudhens garner a lot of support from the community as well as their minor league hockey team, the Walleye. These teams also offer the opportunity for internships and jobs in the sports field. This left me thinking, why does the University of Toledo not offer Sport Management as a major?

Sport Management is a popular major on many other campuses but at the University of Toledo it is only offered as a concentration and most students do not know it exists. I have talked to many students on this campus who are interested in working sports but with their being no program for that, they rarely get the opportunity to do so . I am amazed that a city with such a good sports culture and enough sport programs to offer internships as well knowledge in the field of sports does not have a Sport Management major at its main university. In response to this I founded my own sport management club last semester at the University of Toledo. I hope the club will help students are interested in working in sports one day by becoming ate gateway for sport internships at the school and in the community as well as be a source of information about sports careers. I hope the University capitalizes on the strong sports culture here in Toledo and one day incorporates a Sport Management major.