I had a similar idea about "basketball studies." There is plenty to fill a curriculum and it's less ridiculous than many programs that exist today.

A big-market sports program is not necessary. Many accredited universities offer sports management and sports marketing degrees, both undergrad and graduate, and most of the ones I just googled are at schools known more for their academics than sports programs.

True, but I mean a program where most of the sports-specific classes are devoted to the playing of the game itself.

You could easily fill half of the non-general credits with topics like strategy, history of the game, general game theory, etc.

If I read between the lines correctly, I'm skeptical that students majoring in sports backoffice do any work at all in the school's own sports programs. Like maybe some interships? Access to some people for research and writing? I'm thinking: not enough to justify keeping them linked, and even so, the teams/sports would still be in the area. My point is that as far as the school is concerned, the potential for any overlap at all is slight. This is proven by the success of backoffice programs at schools with uncompetitive teams.