Consider the Kirtland's Warbler

Abstract

This paper challenges the conventional wisdom of departments of parks and recreation taking sport management under their “wing.” Based on a review of the sport management literature and a polling of sport management and park and recreation educators, we argue that departments of parks and recreation are but temporary refuges for migratory sport management programs that eventually will want to build their own “nests.” Efforts to accommodate sport management only serve to undermine the mission of academic programs in parks and recreation by sapping resources, compromising the education of park and recreation majors, and eroding park and recreation faculty members' sense of professional purpose.