Michael Fea

Ms. Davis

English III Honors

22 February 2018

Career in Sports Management

For someone that has a passion for sports, can deal with the business aspect of a job, and

has great leadership skills, Sports Management has the potential to become an enjoyable and

rewarding career​.​ However, this career requires a lot of work, and this work often goes unnoticed

by the public eye​.​ A typical day could include doing anything from flying across the country for

a meeting, to making phone calls to arrange a practice​.​ The business aspect of this job can

become stressful, but the non-business aspect requires knowledge of sports, getting to know the

players, and how to put them in good situations​.

The career of Sports Management started out as something much smaller than what it has

become today​.​ People have practiced a similar occupation for decades, but the career of Sports

Management has not existed for a long time (Peachey)​.​ As sports began to take off and get

bigger and bigger, leaders were needed to oversee or manage all of these teams​.​ Over time, this

role caught on and these people starting becoming known as “managers”​.​ Eventually evolving

into “sports managers”, this career started to take off and become taken seriously in society and

the world of sports​.

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The world of sports constantly evolves, and Sports Managers must always get on top of

these changes​.​ In order to get a well-paying job, the manager must have knowledge of what goes

on in the sports world​.​ It could make a huge different in the salary or the amount of time he or

she stays at that position. A Sports Management job involves a combination of skills related to

planning, organizing directing, controlling, budgeting, leading and evaluating within the context

of an organization or department whose primary product or services correlate to sport or physical

activity (DeSensi, 1990)​.​ This provides numerous job opportunities for people looking to go into

this profession​.

This career has the ability to open up so many other opportunities (Mangra)​.​ The chances

to meet new people within this job can become a huge positive​.​ New relationships provide more

opportunities in the future and brings success​.​ As a Sports Manager, one can try new things and

interact with people he or she has never met before by traveling across the world​.​ If he or she

finds out Sports Management does not suit them, they could use their relationships to find

another career​.

The skill set required for this career includes leadership, confidence, knowledge of sports,

and patience (Chirila)​.​ Someone pursuing Sports Management cannot lack leadership​.​ Without

leadership, absolutely nothing will get done and everyone will linger off and do their own thing​.

As another consequence of no leadership, the players will feel superior over the Sports Manager

and try to take advantage of that​.​ This can lead to several problems in an organization, which
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leads to bad morale​.​ Bad morale leads to the team losing and failing, which eventually trickles

down to the blame getting put on the Sports Manager.

Success in this career requires confidence and communication​.​ Without communication,

no one will follow the manager’s orders, therefore resulting in chaos​.​ As a Sports Manager, the

ability to understand his or her co workers can make things noticeably easier​.​ With everyone on

the same page and everyone understanding what each other wants, things will run much more

smoothly​.​ Developing a clear system and a sense of communication in an organization can lead

to great trust and morale. When people trust a process and believe that it leads to success, a lot

can get done.

Patience also ties into this topic​.​ Having a career in Sports Management includes some

long processes that require patience​.​ Some players or coaches will push the manager’s buttons,

but he or she has to remain calm​.​ This can become extremely difficult, so it requires the ability to

fight through​.​ Everyone gets frustrated in their occupation at some point​.

In most cases, people start out a career passionate and loving what they do​.​ Over time,

that passion can fade​.​ Having a real love for sports and keeping up with the world of sports aids

in remaining motivated​.​ Motivation for what one does on a daily basis can improve the overall

productivity greatly and create happiness​.

Different parts of the world have different ways of managing sports (Popescu)​.​ To

increase the chances of getting a good job, one should get familiar with all of these different

methods and
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systems​.​ The World Olympics provides a great way to get familiar with all of these diverse

systems​.​ This also a great creates a chance to meet new people and create relationships for future

opportunities​.

Being familiar with these different systems can become potential recruiting opportunities​.

For example, if a Sports Manager of an NBA team knew how the Lithuanian Sports Management

System worked, he or she could communicate with the Sports Manager of a basketball team in

Lithuania and scout some players that they might want on their team (Juravich)​.​ This could

improve the organization by making it more diverse​.​ Diversity in an organization withholds great

importance​.

If the college one attends does not offer a degree in Sports Management, alternate

degrees can include management, marketing, business administration, accounting and health​.

Any of these associate’s degrees can help start a career in this field​.​ Not everyone takes a similar

path to becoming a Sports Manager (Ratten)​.​ Of course some people major in Sports

Management straight out of high school, but majoring in a different topic and switching to Sports

Management later in one’s college experience happens quite often​.​ Many start out majoring in

Sports Marketing or Sports Broadcasting​.

The salary for this career covers a wide spectrum​.​ Coming out of college, the average

Sports Manager makes between $35,000 and $42,000 a year​.​ As one gets further into the career,

the earning can really bump up​.​ For example, the General Manager of the New York Yankees,
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Brian Cashman, makes $3 million a year​.​ However, he has worked for this organization for

twenty years and has done a great job with his opportunity and has brought great success to his

franchise​.​ The more committed to an organization, the more potential for a greater payout in the

long run​.

The sport in which he or she chooses to manage can affect their job greatly​.​ For example,

managing a soccer team in Brazil remains as one of the most difficult feats because of all the

competition in that field (Figueiredo)​.​ These soccer clubs have extreme dedication and

enthusiasm​.​ The club will fail if it lacks a great system and the characteristics of a well-run

organization​.​ By starting a career managing a smaller organization that will give one room to

grow and become more experienced in this field, it will help out later in one’s career​.

Failure will happen in this world, but in order to bounce back, one must learn from it​.

The most successful NFL coach of all time, Bill Belichick, started out his coaching career with

failure​.​ He coached the Cleveland Browns, the joke of the NFL​.​ He got fired after a below

average season​.​ He then got hired by the New England Patriots and has gone on to win five

Super Bowls and has created possibly the greatest sports dynasty of all time​.​ This shows that

everyone starts from the bottom. How one bounces back from failure and learns from their

mistakes has the ability to make or break a career​.​ He or she should not set unrealistic goals right

out of the gate​.​ This applies to anything new​.​ Experience dictates success, and if expected

immediately, it will just cause frustration​.

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The occupation of an Athletic Director often appeals to the kind of person that does not

like sitting at a desk all day​.​ This job gives him or her the freedom to go to several locations in

one day​.​ For example, the Athletic Director of a high school may attend several games in one

day, with several different sports​.​ For someone who loves sports, this part of the job creates joy

because he or she gets to watch games often​.​ However, some late nights require he or she to

clean up and get everything organized after a sporting event (Hayford)​.

Watching and involving himself or herself in sports all the time can keep the motivation

high and make one’s mood better​.​ This can make for a more enjoyable career with more

longevity​.​ Some great relationships can establish over the years; especially if he or she stays with

the same program or organization​.​ By making these relationships early on in one’s career, it will

open up more opportunities in the future if he or she decides to switch programs​.

The path to pursuing a career in Sports Management differs from person to person to say

the least​.​ Former athletes not good enough at their sport to play at the next level often make great

Sports Managers​.​ He or she has a true love and passion for sports which benefits him or her

greatly as a Sports Manager​.​ Family can also become a major factor when interested in this

career​.​ If brought up in a sports family around sports all the time, he or she will gain more

knowledge and a level of comfortability around sports​.​ This can provide a great advantage over

the competition​.
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Women pursue this career at a good rate​.​ The sixty to fourty ratio of men to women in

Management professions back that up​.​ (Rocheleau)​.​ Women have to face a little more adversity

than men in this field​.​ Some see men as generally more knowledgeable about sports than

women​.​ Because of this false assumption, women have to stand out more when trying to get a

job​.​ Women have the same capabilities as men at performing this occupation at a high level​.

Every year, the ratio of men to women equal out even more​.​ This benefits the sports world as it

brings in more diversity and more future assets​.​ It can also provide motivation and draw interest

in females around the world​.

Several different jobs can come from a Sports Management Degree​.​ These jobs include

an athletic director, a recreation director, an agent, a publicist, a sports marketing director, a

private facility manager, a promotions coordinator, a sports goods sales representative, a

sportscaster, a media relations specialist, or a sales manager (Queens)​.​ Any of these occupations

can apply at any level such as youth, high school, college, ameratur or professional​.

Performing a career as an Athletic Director requires one to oversee all athletics at a

school​.​ This can become a hectic job, but it can also become extremely rewarding​.​ To have a

powerhouse school succeed in athletics can make the athletic director feel rewarded and

satisfied​.​ On the other hand, a lot of time goes into games and field schedules​.​ The salary makes

up for it at about $90,000 per year for a high school athletic director.​ ​(Athletic Director Salary)​.

As a recreation director, one plans or directs any athletic activity for a group of people​.​ This also
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includes hiring instructors or coaches​.​ During the offseason, this occupation comes in handy for

when heavy training takes place and instructors are needed​.​ The salary for this career varies

anywhere from $50,000 to $85,000 (Recreation Director Salary)​.

As an agent, he or she negotiates all the financial parts of a player’s career such as

contracts and endorsements​.​ This can become a very interesting job because one on one

relationships can become very important​.​ The salary of an agent can vary for the different types

of athletes the agent represents​.​ For example, if an agent represents a player from the AFL

(Arena Football League), the agent gets a salary of $400 per game​.

A publicist has a lot more to do with advertisement and large groups of people​.​ As a

publicist, one works to make a team, product, person, or company more known to the public​.

This career does not include as much active work​.​ Instead, the worker does more behind the desk

and business work​.​ Publicists arrange all the commercials for their product, and that can become

very beneficial in the long run for that product​.​ A publicist makes up to about $52,000 per year

(Glassdoor)​.​ A promotions coordinator can sometimes get compared to a publicist in the sense

that they both try to get their product out there in the public​.​ A promotions coordinator’s

responsibilities include organizing contests, coupons, posters, giveaways, etc​.​ A promotions

coordinator makes around $34,000 per year (Glassdoor)​.

Not as involved with sports at times, a private facility manager’s role to manage

buildings and facilities can still affect the world of sports in a big way​.​ If the facilities do not
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function properly for the people that use them, it can really bring down a team’s morale and

make it very difficult to stay focused​.​ A private facility manager makes about $63,000 per year

(Payscale)​.

A sports goods sales representative focuses on business and industry​.​ The role of a sports

goods sales representative coordinates shipping the sporting goods in and out of all the stores,

such as Dick’s Sporting Goods​.​ A large sporting goods company need someone in charge of

shipping in new products and getting the hottest equipment on the marker in their

shelves to please their customers (RepHunter)​.​ It can become a huge responsibility at times, but

it has the potential to make an excess amount of profit​.

A very entertainment-based job that requires a lot of traveling, sportscasting can become

exhausting, but also very exciting and action-packed​.​ A sportscaster commentates live sporting

events or any news going on in the sports world​.​ This requires great communication skills and

entertainment ability​.​ While commentating, the game can sometimes go on for an eternity​.​ The

longest baseball game ever went 33 innings long, eight hours and six minutes (Brown)​.​ Imagine

sitting there trying to entertain an audience for that long! Sportscasters constantly watch sporting

events, therefore this career benefits anyone who loves watching sports​.​ One can witness some

historic events as a sportscaster​.​ Vin Scully, the face of sportscasting and the former-Dodgers

commentator did a great job calling games for over sixty years​.​ He has one of the most

well-known voices in sports history, and once said, “​It's a wonderful feeling to be a bridge to the
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past and to unite generations​.​ The sport of baseball does that, and I am just a part of it​.​ (Scully)​.

A sportscaster makes about $80,000 per year (Molis)​.

A sales manager requires great leadership ability​.​ Sales managers lead a group of

salespeople in the right direction to make a successful living in sales (Connick)​.​ In the sports

world, this can apply to advertisements at games and on commercials​.​ As the biggest stage in the

world, sports paves a way for people around the world to connect​.​ Sporting events provide the

best platform to advertise​.

Sports Management asks a great deal of one’s leadership and ability to become versatile​.

It tests one’s patience and ability to focus, but also can become a very enjoyable career​.​ In order

to enjoy a nice yearly salary, one must stay with an organization for a long period of time​.​ He or

she must remain loyal to that organization and bring it success to the best of their ability​.​ Loyalty

can destroy relationships if lost. When someone loses trust in someone else, it can really damage

some great opportunities in the future because word spreads fast in the world of sports​.

At the end of the day, it really all revolves around the love of the game. When people remain

passionate about their career, failure does not happen often.

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