Brian McCullough, PhD

Dr. Brian McCullough is an associate professor of sport management at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology. He also serves as the sport management program chair. 

Before his time at U-M, Dr. McCullough was an associate professor and chair of the Center for Sport Management Research and Education at Texas A&M University and the Director of the Laboratory for Sustainability in Sport. He also held faculty positions at the Albers School of Business at Seattle University and Bowling Green State University. He completed his PhD at Texas A&M University.

Dr. McCullough has published more than 55 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Sport Management Review, Journal of Sport Management, European Sport Management Quarterly, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Climatic Change, and Sustainability Science, and has been the lead co-editor of two books on sustainability in the sport sector. He has also received over $500,000 in funding. He has consulted for environmental organizations such as Protect Our Winters, Keep America Beautiful, Green Sports Alliance, and sport entities such as the International Olympic Committee, UEFA, International Biathlon Union, USA Special Olympic Summer Games, and various collegiate athletic departments. He has presented his research over 100 times to practitioner and academic audiences worldwide. He is the leading researcher and a sought-after expert on topics involving sport and the natural environment and sport ecology. He has been featured in numerous media outlets such as Forbes, USA Today, PBS News, Sports Illustrated, and The Athletic.

Dr. McCullough's research expertise serves the sport industry to more deeply understand the environmental impacts of the sport sector, sport spectator environmental behaviors, and attitudes; design their environmental messaging and narrative for internal and external stakeholders; increase fan engagement with a sport organization’s sustainability initiatives; and track return on investments through sponsorships. This focus earned him an invitation from the United Nations Framework for Climate Change Secretariat to participate in meetings to create the Sport for Climate Change Framework and, most recently, served as a contributing author to the US Global Change Research Program’s Fifth National Climate Assessment on the impacts of climate change on sport, recreation, and physical activity. Dr. McCullough is recognized as a Research Fellow by the North America Society for Sport Management.