Careers in Sports Marketing
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Careers in sports marketing are ideal Jobs for those who want to work in a field that allows them to combine their love of athletics with business savvy. With entire television networks devoted to sports and sporting events, the sports industry frequently relies on corporate sponsorship and marketing in order to help cover the massive costs of paying athletes, coaches, building contractors, and other employees. This results in a wide vareity of opportunities for individuals to work in sports marketing.
Sports Marketing Sponsorships
A great deal of sports marketing involves working with corporations in order to garner event sponsorships. A sponsorship is where the company pays the event coordinators, athlete, or team to have the organization's name and logo associated with the event. Nowhere are sports marketing sponsorships more evident than in NASCAR, where cars, drivers, and crews are literally covered in corporate logos.
Buyers and Sellers
To get a sponsorship started, there must be a buyer and a seller. The seller is the team, league, event, or athlete who has marketing space or time available. The buyer is the company that wishes to get its name promoted by the team, whether on uniforms, in promotional materials, or via other methods.
Sports Marketing Agents
A sports marketing agent can help the sellers and buyers find each other, and then assist in negotiations. Agents can work fulltime for sellers or buyers, or work for a third party company, like Nelligan Sports Marketing, Inc., that is hired on behalf of one of the two other parties involved.
Typically, individuals who begin careers in sports marketing start out in supporting roles in sponsorship negotiations. They sometimes assist an account executive, serve as a liaison between the advertising, public relations, and marketing department, or work on paperwork associated with the sponsorship. Attendance at a variety of special events and sporting matches is frequently required, making this career one with long hours, a demanding schedule, and travel.
Other Careers in Sports Marketing
Not everyone who pursues a career in sports marketing works on sponsorship deals. Selling event tickets, working on other types of sales, managing interdepartmental teams, and other duties can also fall under the jurisdiction of the marketing department.
Special event planning is a huge area of sports marketing. According to Sports News You Can Use, event marketing often requires the following positions to be filled in the marketing department:
- Special event planners
- Special event brokers
- Corporate event marketers
- Sponsor-created events
International careers in sports marketing can be found for those who want to work on the global scale. From the Olympics to World Cup Soccer, there are jobs all over the world in this field. For example, Octagon is a leading corporate and marketing service that specializes in managing the needs of over 500 companies and 800 athletes/personalities and administers over 3,200 events worldwide.
Pathways to Sports Marketing Careers
Although it may still be possible to work yourself up through the corporate ladder without formal training in the field, to truly be successful in sports marketing you should consider getting a sports marketing degree. Numerous colleges and universities have added sports marketing to their business and athletics undergraduate educational programs in light of the growing popularity of this field. Visit the following colleges to learn more about their sports marketing programs:
- Indiana University offers an undergraduate sports marketing and management degree through the department of kinesiology.
- UNC Charlotte Belk College of Business has an MBA program in sports marketing and management.
- UC Davis offers a distance learning certificate in sports marketing made especially for those who are all ready working in the sports filed.
- Baylor University offers a sports sponsorship & sales degree through their school of business.
Hands-on experiences through internships are a great way for students to test out careers in sports marketing. Programs like the Panther Sports Marketing Career Experience Program offered through the University of Northern Iowa often give qualified students the opportunity to work within the intercollegiate athletic marketing department. By providing support in the office and at events, students learn about marketing, promotions and event management.
Not all colleges have a program in this field. Some schools, like University of Norte Dame offer a brief overview of the career and assistance in getting an internship with other leagues, teams, and organizations.
Sports Marketing Resources
To learn more about careers in sports marketing, the following resources may be helpful:
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