The downturn in the U.S. economy is causing companies to shed jobs across various industries, but the effect on the sports business is mixed, according to a sampling of firms that specialize in sports recruiting.
| Turnkey Sports Poll |
| The following are results of the Turnkey Sports Poll taken in August. The survey covered more than 1,100 senior-level sports industry executives spanning professional and college sports. |
 How has the economic downturn personally affected your business during the past six months? | | When do you think economic conditions will improve? |
| | |
| Minor drop in business | 52.26% | | More than a year | 57.61% |
| No effect | 24.28% | | Within the next year | 36.63% |
| Business has improved slightly | 11.11% | | Within the next six months | 4.53% |
| Major drop in business | 6.58% | | No response/Not sure | 1.23% |
| Business has improved significantly | 3.29% | | |
| No response/Not sure | 2.47% | |
| Source: Turnkey Sports & Entertainment in conjunction with SportsBusiness Journal. Turnkey Intelligence specializes in research, measurement and lead generation for brands and properties. Visit www.turnkeyse.com. |
TeamWork Online, which fills roles ranging from public relations interns to team presidents, is expanding its business despite tough economic conditions.
“The economy does not seem to be affecting whether people are hiring in sports,” said founder Buffy Filippell, who works with nearly every major sports league and its teams.
If job postings continue on their current pace of 573 per month, TeamWork will be up 30 percent over last year, Filippell said.
However, Turnkey Search, a division of Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, is on pace to fill 55-60 sports executive positions this year, about 30 percent fewer than the average year. “It started slowing down in the summer,” said Turnkey President and CEO Len Perna, whose clients include NASCAR, the NBA, NHL, DirecTV and New Balance.
Perna believes companies are waiting longer to fill open jobs and seeking more sales executives to help drive business. “In the last 12 months I have seen an incredible trend toward finding elite sponsorship sales people,” he said. “They are looking for candidates who can have an immediate impact.”
Michael Speck leads recruiting in the media, entertainment and sports sectors at Heidrick & Struggles and identified two differences between this slowdown and the one earlier this decade.
“Companies don’t want to get too lean, which they did the last time the economy turned,” he said. “People clinged to their existing positions with white knuckles [last time]. This time around there is more openness to look at other opportunities.”
