Our History
Business of Sports School opened in September 2009 as a public, unscreened high school with the support of New Visions for Public Schools and F·E·G·S. BOSS is a member of the innovative New Visions affinity group and is based on a Career & Technical Education (CTE) model and highly personalized small-school structure. BOSS was a full high school of 432 students from 9th to 12th grade by 2013 and the first alumni graduated college in 2017.
The original concept of BOSS was inspired by the Mayoral Task Force on Career and Technical Education (CTE), which called for new, creative ways to prepare students for the careers of 21st Century. A planning team of teachers, administrators, sports industry professionals, and representatives from New Visions, ESPN The Magazine, and F·E·G·S designed and proposed the BOSS concept during Fall 2008 and the official announcement by the New York City Department of Education in February 2009 was covered by media and sports blogs around the country.
As part of the Mayor’s integration initiative, in 2017 BOSS moved to an Education Option (Ed-Opt) admissions method, where 50% of the entering class is partially screened and half is admitted on a lottery basis without regard to background or academic record. BOSS receives approximately 1,600 applications for each of its entering classes.
BOSS is one of the only New York State-approved CTE programs to focus on sports business. Students fulfill the Virtual Enterprise (VE) program sequence, which offers students a full CTE Business Entrepreneurship curriculum that includes industry certification in Microsoft applications, national and international expositions, in-depth business simulations and competitions, and college-level business classes, culminating in a New York State endorsement in Business and Marketing. In 2013, the New York State Business Teachers Association awarded BOSS New York City Business Department of the Year (under 500 students). In 2020, BOSS was selected as a NAF “Distinguished Academy of Finance.”
BOSS offers a dedicated, highly-trained college adviser through the CollegeBound Initiative, one of the most successful college access programs in New York. In 2013, BOSS became a member of the iMentor network, which provides a one-to-one professional mentor to every entering 9th grade student. BOSS students are also mentored through our partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters.
The school is one of five schools within the Graphics Campus in midtown Manhattan. In addition to regular public funding, BOSS has been awarded grants by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the FILA Foundation, UJA Sports for Youth Foundation, the Ford Foundation Good Neighbor Fund, and many other foundations. BOSS is also supported by an Industry Advisory Board and a Young Professionals Leadership Committee of sports and business professionals.
