Working in the SPORTS industry

College Majors
1

<p>I get messages from tons of kids about getting into the Sports Industry who don’t realize how competitive it is. I tell them, look, you’re going to work in ticket sales, you’re going to get paid crap for a few years, and most likely it will be for a minor league team.</p>

<p>There was just an article in ESPN the Magazine about Michael Thompson’s journey to become the Director of Corporate Communications for the New Orleans Hornets. I can’t type the entire article, but here was his career path. If you ever want to become a GM/Personnel assistant, you have to go through ticket sales, live paycheck by paycheck, and work your way up, as he did. That’s about the only way into the Sports Industry. Teams hire you because you can make them money, and once you are in the door, either you quit because you want more money, or you gut it out and move up to other positions.</p>

<p>Here’s the Career Timeline:</p>

<p>1998-99: Client Services Specialist, Yakima Sun Kings, CBA. Sold tickets and sponsorships. Salary: $20,000
[“It took me five-plus years to get a sports job,” Thompson says, “even though I majored in PR with a concentration in sports administration. Even then, I got the job only because the team’s GM was a fellow PLU grad who was also on the board of the Yakima Symphony Orchestra, where my wife’s dad just happened to be the conductor.”]</p>

<p>1999-2000: PR Director, Yakima Sun Kings, CBA. Salary: $24,000
[“I pretty much did everything including starting a community relations program,” Thompson says. “I knew every NBA team had one and figured CR would be an easier entry route than PR. Then, after a year in Yakima, I sent resumes to all 29 NBA teams but got zero responses, just like when I crafted a Dear-Sir-or-Madam-I-Want-to-Work-Anywhere-in-Sports cover letter out of college and went 0-for-61.”]</p>

<p>It was Thompson’s community relations portfolio that persuaded the Hornets to give him a shot. “There were a lot of sleepless nights, wondering if I was an idiot for chasing my dream,” Thompson recalls. “When it finally came true, the feeling was indescribable.” Seven years later, Thompson’s resume looks like this:</p>

<p>2000-02 Community Relations Assistant, Charlotte Hornets, NBA. Salary: $28,000
[“Did assistant stuff”.]</p>

<p>2002-04 Director of Youth Programs, New Orleans Hornets, NBA. Salary: $35,000
[“I gave tons of clinics wearing a Hornets polo shirt, which probably made kids think I was a player, even though my hoops career ended when I graduated from the American high school in Hong Kong.”]</p>

<p>2004-05 Coroprate PR Manager, New Orleans Hornets, NBA. Salary: $35,000
[“I assisted in all nonbasketball communications.”]</p>

<p>2004-present: Public Address Announcer, New Orleans Hornets, NBA. Salary: $100/game
[“‘At guard, six feet, from Wake Forest…’ You get the idea.”]</p>

<p>2004-present: Director of Coroprate Communications, New Orleans Hornets, NBA. Salary: undisclosed
[“Lets just say we’re not living paycheck to paycheck anymore.”]</p>

2

<p>A2,</p>

<p>Your absolutely right…</p>

<p>If you want to talk football it’s ten times harder.</p>

<p>I am a scout for a major scouting service that caters to most NFL teams. If you watch the NFL Draft, you’ll notice that almost every single team table will have are teams draft guide on it (Thanks to me, I was the representation for my company at the 2007 draft, so I got press access)</p>

<p>I am lucky enough to earn such an early start, but typically, if I followed my possible career ambition to wanting become a Director of Player Personnel, the typical road will look something like this:</p>

<p>Doing freelance scouting for an NFL team- No salary, just trying to get your foot in the door kind of thing</p>

<p>Regional scout for an NFL team- Involves constant traveling from college to college. This takes a lot of time and it’s a job one might be stuck at for many year’s. This could involve being in a designated area of the USA such as “Northwest Regional Scout” where you would travel from college to college in that area to scout players or “National scout” which could involve being in Houston, Texas one day and a couple days later being in Cleveland, Ohio.</p>

<p>Assistant director of college scouting- Helps oversee all the scouting that goes on. Also does scouting too.</p>

<p>Director of college scouting-Self explanatory</p>

<p>Then you might be getting into the range where you can get jobs like assistant director of player personnel and so on. Until then, the money is pretty low.</p>

<p>Some people aren’t even that lucky. They might have to start off doing personnel work and scouting for for Arena football, CFL etc… </p>

<p>It’s a tough business to get into and you really have to start young and work your way up.</p>

<p>I’m trying my best to network myself by doing work with this company (Which I hope to continue doing,) radio appearances, meeting people at the draft etc…</p>