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Best opportunities outside of team sports

In the early 1950s, Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley looked into his crystal ball and saw a future in which sports organizations would be run by professionally trained business and marketing managers. O’Malley and Clifford Brownell of Columbia University were colleagues who regularly discussed the business of baseball. O’Malley told Brownell the Dodgers lacked future leaders for the team’s revenue-generating areas. The Dodgers and Columbia began to outline a master’s program that would focus on key sports business areas such as contract negotiation, ballpark operations, ticket sales, marketing, advertising, public relations and promotion.

When the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958, the program discussion ended. However, James Mason, who was a doctoral student under Brownell at Columbia, had moved to Ohio University. There, Mason resuscitated the discussions with the Dodgers that led to launching the first sports management master’s curriculum in the U.S. in 1966.

As a 1971 graduate of the Ohio University program, it is mind-boggling to me that there are now more than 350 educational programs training tomorrow’s leaders in the world of sports. Then as now, the ongoing challenge for many graduates is finding viable positions and creating road maps for career advancement.

In a recent talk at a top-10 MBA program, a student asked me what is the “one career lesson I learned that could translate to their sports career pursuit.” My response: “Subtract the one.” The puzzled student said, “What the heck does that mean?” She was going to begin her career at $145,000 working for a Fortune 100 tech giant. “If you want to work in sports, just subtract the one from the first part of your salary in the world of sports,” I said.

I advise many aspiring sports careerists on paths they might follow to maximize their passion, skill set, education, life-work balance, upward mobility, opportunity and bank balance. The thought process from many is that professional team sports is the place to be. Yes, the 122 franchises that make up the big four pro sports leagues afford many career opportunities. But today, the three most exciting, dynamic and active career adventures will be found outside the pro sports franchise environment:

1. The business of collegiate athletics. Changes in the world of collegiate athletics move at warp speed with a present and a future that is as exciting and financially rewarding as any discipline in the sports world. Athletic department business models are changing every day to meet the demands of increased revenue creation. University presidents are running complex businesses, and the old models are being changed around the country.

2. Tech goliaths. Many of these billion-dollar businesses are just now figuring out the lure of sports in building future user loyalty. If you have a sports business background, they will be looking for you. There are few, if any, stock options for employees who work in pro sports. In the tech business, you may get rich and buy your own franchise. Think Steve Ballmer, Vivek Ranadivé, Mark Cuban.

3. Global sports organizations. Sports has joined the global languages of science, religion, art and music. Olympics, World Cups, team ownership and broadcast networks are shrinking the sports world. If I were entering the business today, I would focus on becoming fluent in at least one other language. If you are a U.S.-based sports manager with a sense of adventure, the opportunities are immense. Join the sports business, see the world.

The seeds of innovation that Walter O’Malley planted have matured into a vast educational network of institutions that are training the future leaders of the sports industry.

Andy Dolich (andy.dolich@gmail.com) is managing director of the U.S. sports practice for Odgers
Berndtson.

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