Sports Management, Marketing, and Communications Careers

Sports Management, Marketing, and Communications CareersSports Management, Marketing, and Communications CareersHave you dreamed of sinking that game-winning basket at the Boston Garden or hitting a home run at Yankee Stadium?Some of us have the ability to do that, but if you are not one of the talented few physically gifted enough to earn a living in professional sports, you should consider other ways to pursue your passion for sports. Check out some of the options worth considering in the field of sports management, marketing, and communication, and tips for grooming your background while in college or high school so you can enter the field. Sports Career Options There are many niches within the field to consider depending on your skills and interests. For folks with strong writing skills and a nose for a good story consider sports information at a college or sports journalism for a website (think ESPN), magazine, newspaper, TV or radio station. Communications and publicity sta ff also work for sports teams, individual athletes, leagues, athletic venues, and corporate sponsors. Those with a strong voice, confident presence, and in-depth sports knowledge might consider working as an announcer for a team or media outlet. Those with a knack for staging productions might explore a behind the camera position as a producer for sports programs. Those with a keen sense of marketing and promotion, event management, and organizational skills as well as a creative flair should consider sports marketing, event planning, promotion, and advertising. Employers include sports marketing firms, advertising agencies, teams, leagues, athletic venues and sponsorship divisions of corporate marketing departments. Individuals with assertive personalities, persuasive abilities, strong verbal skills, a competitive nature and the ability to bounce back from rejection might consider being an advertising salesperson for a sports-oriented television or radio station, magazine, newspape r, website or a sports venue. Sports agents also draw upon a similar skill set. Sporting goods salespeople at the retail and manufacturer level use persuasive and customer service skills to promote sports merchandise to individuals, teams, and retail establishments. A broad range of other jobs exists for those with numerical skills, financial ability, technology expertise, and administrative ability including statistician, accountant, financial analyst, retail store manager, human resources, information technologist, and web designer. The sports media, teams, leagues and sports-oriented corporations are the chief employers of people in these fields. Sports Management, Marketing, and Communications Careers So now that weve identified some of the options, here are some tips for high school or college students to lay the groundwork for a sports management, communications, or marketing career Sign on for a position with your schools newspaper, radio or television station and write o r produce stories and content about your schools teams and athletes.Develop a concept for a sports talk show at your schools radio or television station.Take on a position announcing or producing broadcasts of athletic contests at your school.Approach the sports information director at your college and ask if there are ways you can support their efforts to track, monitor, and report on sporting events and the accomplishments of your colleges athletes and teams. If you are mathematically oriented ask to work on stats. If you are technically or artistically-oriented, consider helping with the sports-oriented aspects of the website. Speak to the athletic director and/or coaches at your school and discuss ways you could help promote sporting events and increase attendance.For those interested in sales, consider advertising positions with your college newspaper, yearbook or magazine.Consider interning during the semester or summer for local newspapers, radio, or television stations. Cont act the sports editor or sports director for communications positions or the advertising director or marketing manager for sales/marketing positions. Consider a sports team internship. Virtually all sports organizations like teams, leagues, or sports venues utilize interns heavily. Contact promotion and marketing directors, general managers, and public relations officers with minor league teams in sports of interest in your area as well as sports venues and league offices.Take as many marketing courses as possible and participate in marketing competitions if you are interested in promotion, advertising, or public relations.Complete writing intensive coursework to help build a portfolio of writing pieces if you would like to focus on reporting or content development jobs. Approach local sports marketing firms and agencies and inquire about internships.Contact your college career office and ask for the names of contacts in the sports industry. Approach them for informational interview s. If you hit it off nicely ask if you could shadow them during a school break. Ask them for suggestions about jobs and internships. If you follow some of these suggestions and make the most of your high school and college years, you will move closer to developing an exciting career in sports. Sports Job Titles Here are some sports-related job options. Academic Adviser AthleticsAccount ExecutiveAquatics DirectorAssistant Athletic DirectorAssistant CoachAssistant General ManagerAssistant Strength and Conditioning CoachAssociate Athletic DirectorAssociate Strength and Conditioning CoachAthletic DirectorAthletic TrainerBroadcasterCoach (Soccer, Tennis, Baseball etc.)Color AnalystCommunity Relations DirectorCorporate schlussverkauf DirectorCorporate SalespersonDefensive CoordinatorDirector of Fitness and WellnessEquipment ManagerEvent CoordinatorFacilities Manager Fitness InstructorFront Desk AttendantFront Desk ManagerGeneral ManagerGolf ProGroundskeeperGroup Sales Account Executiv eIntramural DirectorMaintenance WorkerMarketing AssistantMarketing DirectorMembership SalespersonOffensive CoordinatorOfficialPerformance CoachPersonal TrainerPhysical Therapist for Sports Medicine PracticeProducerPublicistPublic Relations DirectorRefereeScoutSite ManagerSkating InstructorSki InstructorSports Camp Activities DirectorSporting Goods SalesSports AgentSports Camp Activities Specialist (Basketball, Lacrosse, Volleyball etc.) Sports Camp CounselorSports Camp DirectorSports Information DirectorSports Information OfficerSports LawyerSports PhysicianSporting Goods Store ManagerStrength and Conditioning CoachTeam ManagerTennis ProTravel SecretaryUmpireYoga Teacher Sports Management Major Skills Heres a list of the skills that employers seek when hiring sports management majors.Highlight the skills you acquired during your studies, internships, and jobs held during college in your cover letters, resume and job applications. AnalyticsAnalyzing financial issues at sports ent itiesAnalyzing legal issues within the sports sectorAnalyzing sports management casesApplying ethical principles to sports issuesArguing a viewpointAttention to detailBusiness to business marketing tacticsCollaborationCollecting data to test hypothesesComposing biographical copy about athletesConstructing financial statements for sports companiesCoordinate eventsCritically assess the contributions of group membersDecision MakingDelivering constructive feedback Developing hypothesis about sports managementDevising ticket pricing parameters for sporting eventsEvaluating performance contracts for sports employeesEvaluate playersEvaluate statisticsEvaluating the validity of sports management research studiesEvent managementFacilitating group discussionsInterpreting data generated from independent sports management researchInterviewing coaches and athletes to gather content for publicityLeadershipMathematicalMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft WordMultitaskingNegotiating OrganizationalPowerPointPre sentationProblem SolvingPromoting sports eventsProposing solutions to problems confronting sports organizationsPublic RelationsReceiving criticismRecognizing emerging trends in the sports industryRecruitingSelling to groupsSocial mediaSponsorshipsSports marketingSports writingStatisticalStrategies for developing and managing sports facilitiesStrategies for marketing spots entitiesStress managementTeamworkTime managementUtilizing information technology to enhance productivity in sports organizations Utilizing social media to develop fan baseVerbal communicationWritten communicationWriting press releasesWriting research papers about sports management issues