Score a Career in Sports and Events...giant such as Nike or Reebok, identifying new markets for products and developing plans to enter those new markets. If you work for a team or

1Score a Career in Sports and Events LAP: PD-006-CS © 2004, MarkED

LAP Professional Development LAP 6 Performance Indicator: PD:051

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Beyond thebig leagues

More thanpromotions

Gettingstarted

Score a Career in Sports and Events

Leadership, Attitude, Performance ...making learning pay!

LAP: PD-006-CS © 2004, MarkED Score a Career in Sports and Events2

Do you love playing or watching sports? How about going to con-certs or fairs? Do you like planning the meetings for your school clubor organizing your class fund-raisers? If so, you might be interested inpursuing a career in sport or event marketing. Careers in sport andevent marketing are fast-paced, fun, and can be very rewarding.

Sport and event marketing are very broad fields, and as a result, thereare a great number of career paths within them. Since marketing itself

is so complex and integrated, people with all kinds of different talentsand interests can excel in a sport or event marketing career.

You might imagine yourself designing advertising for the Super Bowlsomeday. Or, you might want to run the box office at a Broadwaytheater. Maybe you are interested in communications, sales, manage-

ment, or even finance. No matter where your talents lie, if you wouldlike to work in sport or event marketing, there will be a place for you.

Now, take a little time to discover what career opportunities might bewaiting for you!

Some athletes need marketing programsseparate from their teams or leagues as well.Many people work in sport marketing jobsrepresenting sport celebrities such as LeBronJames or Derek Jeter. Sport media entitieshave marketers also. Television enterprisessuch as ESPN and magazinessuch as Sports Illustrated

boast many jobswithin theirmarketingdepartments.

Along with sport teams, events,venues, personalities, and media aresport products. There are acountless number ofpositions for those whomarket sporting goods,such as tennis shoes orhockey gear. Even products

that aren’t related to sports aremarketed through the use of sports,and everyone involved is part ofsport marketing. For example, ifyou are in charge of advertisingfor Pepsi, and you purchase a sign at abaseball stadium or produce a thirty-secondtelevision commercial to air during an NFLgame, then you are a sport marketer.

ObjectivesExplain career opportunities in sport marketing. Explain career opportunities in event marketing.

Beyond the Big Leagues

When you think of sport marketing careers,you might automatically picture those bigshots working for the Dallas Cowboys or forMajor League Baseball. But the field of sportmarketing is actually much deeper than that.Sport marketing careers are everywherethat sports are. From youthand communitysports to collegeathletics to minorand pro leagues,sports marketing jobsabound. And don’t for-get about hallmark sportevents such as Wimble-don or the Olympics.These events create manysport marketing jobs and sodo the venues, stadiums, andarenas where the events take place. Largevenues such as Madison Square Garden orthe Georgia Dome need marketing programsof their own, separate from the teams who playthere. Smaller sport venues such as fitnessclubs and local recreation centers employmarketers, too.


Beyond Promotions

When you think of sport marketing careers,you might also automatically picture those crazypeople who rush out onto the court at halftime givingaway T-shirts and entertaining the crowd. But the field of sportmarketing is actually much broader than that. In-game promotionscoordinators are certainly sport marketers, but it’s important toremember that all the general functions of marketing are functionsin sport marketing as well.

For example, think about all the different departments under theumbrella of marketing you could work in with just onesport organization, such as aprofessional football team:

• Advertising• Sales• Ticket management• Market research and

development• Promotions• Merchandising• Public relations• Media relations• Community relations

Media re la t ions

M a r k et r e s e a r c h

Merchand is ing

Are you surprised at the variety of all these sport marketing opportunities?What’s even more surprising is that those are just the basics! There are alsocareers in media buying, administrative support, financing, and other areas thatyou might be interested in pursuing.

MARKETING

you don’t have to pursue marketing to havea career in sports. You might be interestedin other aspects of the industry such asbroadcasting, writing, human resources,coaching, scouting, or athletic training.

you don’t have to pursue marketing to havea career in sports. You might be interestedin other aspects of the industry such asbroadcasting, writing, human resources,coaching, scouting, or athletic training.


As sports become more and morecommercialized, the role of sport/event marketer continues to gainimportance in the business world.A significant advertising activity insport and event marketing is cor-porate sponsorship. Corporatesponsorship is a very valuableadvertising strategy because it isflexible, broad in scope, and offersan enormous amount of brand ex-posure. In other words, there’s alot of money to be made in spon-sorships, both for the teams/eventsbeing sponsored and for the corpo-rations that sponsor them.

Some of the biggest corporate spon-sors in sport and event marketingtoday are alcohol and tobacco com-panies. For example, Anheuser-Busch has sponsorships in all themajor leagues. And until recently,Winston, a cigarette manufacturer,was the title sponsor of NASCAR’spremier racing circuit. A major reasonalcohol and tobacco companiesget into sport/event sponsorship isthat it gives them an opportunity tocounteract the negative publicitytheir brands receive and associatetheir products with something“healthy.”

However, some people argue thatthese companies’ corporate spon-sorships are nothing but a way toget around laws restricting their ad-vertising to children. Do you thinkit’s ethical for sport/event marketersto sell corporate sponsorships toalcohol and tobacco companieswhen they know that children willbe exposed to the advertisements?With so much money at stake, howdo you think sport/event marketersshould handle this issue?

Let ’s Get Specific

So now you know more about the places you could work as a sport marketer and thedepartments where you might serve. But what exactly would you be doing? Let’s breakit down a little.

First of all, if you’re a good manager and enjoy supervising others, you might wantto become Director of Marketing for a team or an organization. You would be in chargeof all marketing efforts and would oversee each of the other departments such as sales,research, merchandising, and the rest. One of your main jobs would be to create amarketing budget for the organization and allocate money to all the directors workingbeneath you.

If you’re a more creative type,then you might lean towardadvertising. In sportmarketing, advertisersdesign and create copyand illustrations usedin a variety of ways.For example, if youare working for a pro-fessional team you mightbe responsible for design-ing a billboard advertisementto be seen all over the city. If you areworking for a local health club, your jobmight be to create flyers to advertise topotential new members.

Sales is a major component in the sport marketing mix. You might want to go intoadvertising sales, where you would sell ad space in your team’s game-night programsor verbal ads broadcast over the public-address system at games. Stadiums and arenashave a great need for advertising sales employees as well. There, you would sell ad spaceon the jumbo scoreboard oron the varioussigns through-out the venue.

There are many career options in ticket sales as well. In corporate sales, you wouldsell private boxes to businesses to use for their “company nights” or to entertain clients.Group sales are similar to corporate sales except that you would sell boxes or seats tosocial groups or organizations rather than businesses. Season ticket sales are important,too. Most teams have account executives whose sole job is to sell season or “fullmembership” tickets to individuals or companies.


Not only are ticket sales an importantmarketing activity, ticket management is aswell. If you become a ticket manager, youwill be responsible for the entire ticket-officestaff and for allocating all tickets to theirproper outlets. You will also be responsiblefor keeping detailed ticket sales records. Butyour job description won’t end there. Ticket

managers are also incharge of press creden-tials and guest passes.It will be up to you tomake sure that membersof the media and specialvisitors have what theyneed to get into thegame or event.

Perhaps you’reinterested in marketresearch and devel-opment. There isdefinitely a placefor you in the sportmarketing industry.

You might want to work for a sporting goodsgiant such as Nike or Reebok, identifying newmarkets for products and developing plans toenter those new markets. If you work for a teamor league, you might be in charge of oversee-ing or managing the web site.

Promotions might be your calling. You mightrun a sales promotion for American Snow-mobiler magazine subscriptions or an adver-tising promotion for a Joe Montana autograph-signing event. If you work for a professionalor college team, you might be responsiblefor planning in-game promotions such as amascot race or walk-in promotions such asa hat giveaway.

Merchandising is a huge part of the sportmarketing field. Professional leagues have en-tire departments called “properties divisions”devoted solely to licensing activities. You mightbe in charge of licensing team logos or evenbecome a “trademark cop” who travels fromcity to city investigating fraud. Or maybe you’llwork for a minor league team or a local rec-reation center in the pro shop. Managingsouvenir and sport equipment sales is veryimportant to the marketing process.

A Day (or Night?!!) in the Life of a Sport/Event Marketer

If you are a gifted communicator, then public relations might be the right sport marketingdepartment for you. In this field, you could work in either media relations or community relations.Media Relations Directors are responsible for getting all the correct information to the press.They write press releases, develop media guides, and organize news conferences. As a MediaRelations Director or anAssistant Director, youwould work with the TicketManager on press passesand manage the press boxon game nights. CommunityRelations Directors are re-sponsible for developingrelationships with the localcommunity. They plan sportcamps, youth clinics, andcommunity nights at gamesand events. As a CommunityRelations Director or an Assistant Director, youmight be in charge of scheduling athletes’ or coaches’public appearances or opening and responding to fan mail.

Summary

Sport marketing careers are everywhere, not just in the big leagues. People with different talentsand interests pursue careers successfully in the sport marketing industry. Since marketing is suchan integrated concept, jobs are available in a variety of areas, such as advertising, sales, ticket man-agement, market research, promotions, merchandising, and public relations.

As fun and glamorous as these jobs mightsound to you, sport/event marketing is still hardwork! Most sport/event marketers work more thanjust 40 hours a week. As a matter of fact, eveningand weekend hours are common due to gameschedules and other deadlines.

1. List five different places wheresport marketers work.

2. List four different marketingactivities that sport marketerscan perform.

3. Name one responsibility of theDirector of Marketing in a sportorganization.

4. List two different types of salesactivities in a sport organization.

5. Name one responsibility of a sportmarketer working in marketresearch and development.

6. Name one responsibility of a sportmarketer working in merchandising.


Beyond Event ManagementIf you decide to pursue a career in event marketing, you won’t findtoo many firms solely dedicated to your interests. Event firms arealmost always in charge of everything from planning to manage-ment to financial consulting, but they usually cover marketing, too.While event planning or consulting may not be exactly the same asevent marketing, the two functions are quite dependent on each other.

In event marketing, you will find almost all of the same jobfunctions as in sport marketing. Events need advertisement, ticketsales and management, research, promotions, and public relations.Three other major event marketing positions are sponsorship manage-ment, hospitality, and volunteer/vendor coordination.

and limited only by the imagination.Conventions are events. Car showsare events. Movie premieres, concerts,fashion shows, and charity auctions—anywhere companies or organizationsare trying to increase awareness is con-sidered an event to an event marketer.

Whether the event is a small art festival, an employee appreciationday or party, or the unveiling of a luxurious new resort in the Carib-bean, you will find people working hard on the marketing end.Because there are so many events, there are a great number of jobsin event marketing.

vent marketing issimilar to sport marketingin many ways. Like sportmarketing, this field is verydeep and broad. There’sroom for employees with avariety of skills and inter-ests. But what separates thetwo industries?

First of all, while eventmarketing includes sportsas a major portion of itsevents, its scope extendsmuch further. Event mar-keting is everywhere—restaurant openings, charityfund-raisers, new productreleases, and book tours,just to name a few. Eventmarketers may have even

more opportunities for jobs than sport marketers be-cause events aren’t limited to just sports.

Second, event marketing focuses more on businessesand corporate sponsorship than sport marketing does.When companies are trying to increase sales, createpositive public relations, enter new markets, or giveback to the community, they use events and eventmarketing to help achieve their goals. The types ofevents can vary greatly, but event marketers usuallywork for a larger corporation or a marketing firm.

Beyond the State Fair

When you hear the word “event,” you might picture the state fair that occursevery summer or the local community festivals that come to your town.However, events are big, small, medium-sized, everywhere in between,

E

Charity

auction


Sponsorship is such a big part of event marketing thatyou may want to pursue a career in sponsorship manage-ment someday. Coordinators for events such as tennis orgolf tournaments might hire you to secure corporate spon-sors for them. On the other hand, you might offer yourconsulting services to corporations by helping them findevents to sponsor that reach their target audience and area good fit with their marketing goals.

For major events, hospitality is key. Perhaps somedayyou’ll be working in event marketing, planning a majorrestaurant opening in Chicago. Your job may be to co-ordinate the travel schedules (flights, airport shuttles, etc.)of all the media and special guests who will be attendingthe opening. You’ll also be responsible for reserving hotelrooms for them and for arranging their meals and enter-tainment. Or, you might be working for a conference centerin Dallas. Your duties could include welcoming guests asthey arrive, passing out important papers and schedules,and directing foot traffic. All these responsibilities are im-portant parts of hospitality, which in turn is an importantpart of event marketing.

Volunteer and vendor coordination are also marketingessentials for major events. Fund-raisers such as the Racefor the Cure draw thousands of participants each year andas many volunteers. Delegating responsibilities and as-signing workers where they’re needed are absolutely vitalto the success of these charity events. And think of yourannual state fair—imagine yourself in charge of organ-izing all the food stands, game tents, and rides that willline the midway. Volunteer and vendor coordination canbe full-time jobs, depending on the size of the event.

Traits, Training, andExperiencePerhaps after learning howmany different career oppor-tunities exist in the fields ofsport and event marketing,you’re excited about the possi-bilities that are waiting there for you.What kinds of people make the best sport/event marketers?Generally, they are people who possess personality traitsand work-style qualities such as:

• Competitiveness• Positive attitude• Ability to solve problems• Accuracy with details• Leadership• Creativity

Let’s Get SpecificWhat would your job responsibilities be as an event marketer? As in sport marketing,it all depends on which path you want to take.

• Ability to negotiate• Flexibility• Ability to manage

time effectively• Ability to work

under pressure• Ability to multitask

Events need heavy advertising.If you are working for a charity run/walk event, your job might be todesign the postcards the eventorganizers will mail out to poten-tial participants. Maybe your firm will be coordinating a jazz festival for a major metro-politan area, and you will be responsible for placing ads in the newspaper and on localtelevision.

Ticket sales and management are important parts of event marketing as well. A majorconference or convention can attract attendees from all over the country or even theworld. Your job might be to sell tickets, take group ticket orders, and make sure thateveryone receives their ticket in the mail on time. Or, you might be working on a high-profile celebrity party or premiere in Hollywood where tickets are required to get in.You could be responsible for allocating tickets and passes to the right guests andmedia personalities.

Market research is also crucial to successful events. Companies want to reachtheir target market and must choose the right type of event in order to do so. Supposeyou are working for a corporation that wants to increase awareness among teenagers.Your job might be to research current trends among that age group and to suggestthat the company align itself with a rock concert rather than a play.

If you’re an outgoing “people-person” type, you may find your event marketingniche in promotions. Think of all the ways that organizations grab people’s attentionat different events. You might enjoy passing out literature for a charity group at a fairor conducting product demonstrations such as taste tests at a food and beverageindustry convention.

Just as in sport marketing, public relations play an enormous role in event marketing.Perhaps you will be working on a book-signing tour someday. You may be responsiblefor writing news releases and ensuring that the media know your author is coming toa local bookstore. Or, perhaps you will be working on a press tour for a new movie that’sbeing released. Your job might be to schedule all the actors’ interviews and publicappearances.

Sponsorship Management, Hospitality,and Volunteer/Vendor CoordinationAs you learned earlier, event marketing focuses on corporate sponsorship. Companiesand businesses want to reach their target market in a more real, tangible way thantraditional marketing and advertising allows them to. They create or sponsor eventsto bring their company and its products to life before the public.


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As you’ve learned in thismodule, careers in sport andevent marketing can be foreveryone, no matter what theirtalents or interests might be.Take some time to discoverwhat opportunities might beawaiting you in this field.Conduct a quick job search atwww.teamworkonline.com,www.marketingjobs.com,

1. How does event marketing differfrom sport marketing?

2. List five different types of eventsthat use marketing.

3. Name one responsibility of anevent marketer working in adver-tising.

4. Name two responsibilities of anevent marketer working in publicrelations.

5. What are the two different ap-proaches an event marketer couldtake in a sponsorship manage-ment career?

6. Name two responsibilities of anevent marketer working in hospi-tality.

7. List four personality traits or work-style qualities found in successfulsport/event marketers.

• The job requirements (neces-sary training or experience)

After you’ve learned the basicsof the position, decide if you thinkthis job would be right for yousomeday. List all the aspects ofthe job that appeal to you alongwith those that don’t appeal toyou. Determine what you need todo between now and then to meetthe requirements for a job like this.

or another Internet job board thatfeatures sport or event marketingjobs. Select a job that looks inter-esting to you and determine:

• The company, team,or organization

• The job location

• The job department (e.g., sales,merchandising, public relations)

• The job title

• The job description or list ofresponsibilities

You will also need a firm educational background in order to succeed in sport or eventmarketing. Many colleges and universities offer sport or event management/marketing de-grees, but a strong marketing, business, communications, or liberal arts degree could bejust as useful for you if you channel your energy in the right direction.

Regardless of the degree you pursue, volunteer experience and internships are absolutelycrucial to getting your foot in the door of the industry. Not only do they provide you with thenecessary hands-on experience that potentialemployers are looking for, they allow you tonetwork with people who can help you get aposition in the sport/event marketing field.Almost 70 percent of sport marketers startedout in an internship with a sport organization,and 90 percent of sport organizations offerinternships of some kind.

How Can I Get Started?If you’re interested in pursuing a sport/event marketing career, you don’t have to wait until collegeto get going. The industry is highly competitive, so the sooner you get started, the better! Seekout opportunities to volunteer at games or events. The booster club might let you sell advertise-ments in your school’s athletic programs. Or, your athletic director may allow you to assist himor her in writing press releases for the local newspaper. When charity events or arts festivalscome to your town, contact the organizers to see where you might be able to help out. They couldhave a spot for you in promotions or hospitality. Remember that no experience is small or insig-nificant, and all of it can help to build up your resume.

SummaryEvent marketing is similar to sport marketing, except it is broader in scope and focuses moreon corporate sponsorships. In addition to the traditional marketing functions, event marketersalso pursue careers in sponsorship management, hospitality, or volunteer/vendor coordina-tion. Sport/Event marketing is a competitive field, so it’s important to get as much experienceas possible.

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Score a Career in Sports and Events...giant such as Nike or Reebok, identifying new markets for products and developing plans to enter those new markets. If you work for a team or