As an early pioneer in this rapidly evolving discipline, Rice established one of the world's first dedicated undergraduate majors in Sport Analytics in 2022. The major emphasizes advanced statistical modeling and sophisticated computer programming. This ensures our graduates build a robust technical foundation for the fast-paced evolution of sports technology.
The primary goal of the major is to graduate professionals who are ready to contribute to sport organizations from day one. Through integrated internships and a comprehensive senior capstone project, students develop substantial professional portfolios before graduation. These practical experiences allow students to demonstrate their ability to address critical questions in the sports industry.
Our results speak for themselves: Rice graduates regularly beat out national competition to claim highly selective front-office roles in Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association, and the National Football League. This track record of high-impact placement is matched by a vibrant student culture, which led graduating seniors in 2025 to rate the Sport Analytics major number one in overall satisfaction across the entire university.
Program Learning Outcomes
- Analyze data using statistical analysis, data mining, visualization, predictive analytics, and machine learning
- Communicate sport analytics, statistics, and data science results effectively to a non-technical audience (written, verbal, graphics)
- Develop computer programming skills to be able to extract, scrape, manage, and parse data for use in statistical analyses
- Identify and understand how to apply the various skills, roles, and functions of the different areas in the sport management industry
For general information on the Sport Analytics Major, contact: Diane Crossey | dmc8@rice.edu.