I know a small handful of people that work for pro sports teams toing inside sales and such. My advice would be, if you're still in college, get out there and network yourself. Meet as many people in the sport management field as you can, and maybe you just might meet someone who has a really good connect and can get you a job. The easiest way is to know somebody. Otherwise you'll be competing for internships that lead to low-paying jobs where you must slowly work your way up. If you love sports as much as I do.. then it's not a bad way to live if you're single, depending on what team it is.
What are the hours like working for say the Rockets in Inside Sales or other office positions? And what exactly is Inside Sales to the Rockets. That title is starting to be used more often is very broad. Is it order entry, selling to already established clients, etc?
I met a guy in Atlanta at the Hawks-Celtics playoff series (game 4) who was working inside sales. Basically, you make phone calls to people who already hold a season-ticket package of some sort, and you try to set up an appointment. You go the most of the games and you meet with these customers at the game and try to sell them another season-ticket package for the following season. You may have 3 or 4 appointments per game. The guy isn't a Hawks fan or anything.. isn't even from Atlanta. He found the job from a website called teamwork-online.com. He said he was havin fun doin it and it was cool goin to all the games and bein so close to all the stars. He also does the same job for the Thrashers (Atlanta's NHL team).
Yeah, I see teams looking for ticket/sponsorship/PSL sales people all the time. It's often not a permanent job, though, and it very often pays very little (for example, I saw an ad for an Indians ticket sales representative that paid $8.50/hr).
yes but if you do well you can always be hired on full time... I interned with the astros last summer and I can tell you from my first hand knowledge...The way to go about it is to start from the bottom and prove yourself at every step...I wanted the same thing you want...but then I realized sales aint for me and I dont want to make less than 40k for the next 7-10 years...The astros only have around 80 full time employees and the only ones making 100k+ a year are VP's and there are only a handfull of those. I gave up on that dream after my experience with the astros.
Decide what you want to do with the team. How long term? You're studying to be an accountant? Sports teams need accountants! If you're going the CPA route, sign up with a firm that works in that field and get yourself work on those accounts. Develop a skill that the team / ownership group needs. And then go get your foot in the door. They need finance people, marketing (beyond sales) and other professionals. These are mega companies in a huge industry. Maybe it's not the 'Astro's' you work for, but the company that ownes the Astros. (I have no clue on the Astro's ownership structure). Or something else related that you currently don't even know exists. A minor in sports marketing can only help. And remember -- what you eventually DO with your career may have very little to do with what you studied. So study what interests you as long as you're picking up knowledge / contacts / skills that you think will be useful to you in the future. If you want to schlep tickets, that's fine. Sales experience -- even the lousy stuff -- is always valuable. But keep in mind that the ownership groups need finance people just as other industries do. And they pay competitively for the skilled jobs. (plus you get box seats and other great perks!). Good luck.
there is a NBA jobs website where each team posts job openings, some are for video editing, or PR etc. There is also a summer intern for college students that lets you go to New York and get to know the NBA business, that would be good to go to.
Get great grades, make connections by interning, and be willing to sacrifice your salary for a chance to work for the team. I had a friend who had a job with the Rockets. She had an MBA from NYU and she was in law school. She ended up leaving when one of the Rockets execs left to start a new company. She told me that getting a job with a sports team isn't all that hard, but there is NO money in it. It's entertainment, and nobody makes money but the people putting butts in the seats.
