Lindsay Amstutz
Be great. Be curious. Don’t be a jerk.
Bryce Blum
Prove your value before asking for a job.
Kary Brock
Learn from everyone — up, down, sideways and diagonal.
Matthew Caldwell
It’s not all glamorous, but worth the hard work and late nights.
Lindsay Kagawa Colas
Google “grit.” You set yourself apart by being fearless, resilient and the one to get things done — but don’t forget, the business side of sport is not a zero-sum game. Find your tribe and work to elevate each other and celebrate your achievements together.
Tory Dandy
Put in the hard work to obtain their degrees. Constantly network. Attend different events. You never know what a handshake or call could lead to.
Nili Doft
Don’t limit where you look for opportunities. There are sports-related positions in many industries and at many companies; build transferable and relevant skill sets.
Sean Eggert
Balance classroom work with real life sports business experiences to discover a direction that you are most passionate about.
Todd Fleming
Have the hard conversation with yourself and self-evaluate where your skill set lies. Figure out what you are good at and go after jobs/roles that allow you to showcase the things you do well.
Junior Gaspard
Good things come to those who hustle. You combine hustle with creativity and smarts and you’ll be able to stand out from the crowd, which is key to being successful in sports especially early in your career.
Brandon Gayle
Your dream job in sports may not necessarily be at a league, team, broadcaster, or talent agency. Think outside the box and explore companies at the intersection of technology and sports.
Matt Grandis
Less sports fan, more business and marketing fan is what works.
Brad Griffith
Apply to a lot of jobs and be willing to move, go to the offseason meetings.
Matt Hill
Do whatever it takes to get in; even if that means taking an unpaid internship with a small property.
Court Jeske
Treat every work experience as a job interview; someone is watching.
Nina King
Be open to pushing yourself and learning, be curious, ask a lot of questions, challenge yourself. Network, network, network. Grind really hard constantly, your hard work will get noticed.
Pat LaCroix
You’d better like business and marketing as much as you like sports, if not more.
Chris Marinak
Meet as many people as you can — you never know where it will lead.
Michael Melnitzky
There are many different paths you can take within the “sports” industry. You need to like the day-to-day job demands not just because it’s sports. If you don’t find marketing interesting, you won’t like sports marketing. If you don’t find finance interesting, you won’t like sports finance.
Kim Miale
Stay resilient. The people who succeed in the industry don’t let “no’s” dissuade them. It only takes one “yes.”
Ben Milsom
Don’t overlook the ticket sales job. I was once told nothing in sports happens until a ticket is sold.
Brendan Moynihan
Get involved early, and do as many different things as you can.
Megha Parekh
Think about the various ways you can get involved and do your best to research the different organizations operating in the industry (teams, leagues, collegiate conferences, the Olympics, etc.). I’m the least athletic person I know, but I was able to work in sports by getting my law degree. There are all kinds of positions teams and leagues need, from public relations to video engineers to programmers to marketing to sales.
Deepen Parikh
Gain broader knowledge than just sports business or management. Sports is an industry, not a specific skill set or role. Learn about media, digital advertising, etc. Invariably, all skill sets or roles can be applied to the sports industry in some form.
Dave Pietrycha
Don’t take things for granted. Treat opportunities to work in this industry as your dream job even if they are not. Be intellectually curious and try to understand the big picture beyond your role.
Josh Pyatt
Work hard, take every meeting, don’t cut corners, be aggressive, and be truthful.
Jake Reid
Start in ticket sales, best foundation you can get. Learn to be organized, and hard work can make up for what you might lack elsewhere.
Brent Rossi
Get your foot in the door and then work harder than anyone else around you.
Angela Ruggiero
Get an MBA or a master’s degree. It will separate you from those that just “want to work in sports.”
Frank Saviano
For law students hoping to work in “sports law,” seek out the field within the law that interests you first, become well-trained in that field, and then apply that expertise to the sports industry.
Erin Schnieders
Get involved in as much as you can and in any way you can. Volunteer to work events, have informational interviews, read the news — get exposed to as much as possible. From there, foster the connections you make — you never know when that call will come.
Nzinga Shaw
Don’t give up if you don’t land your dream job immediately. It is OK to take small steps so long as you are working hard and charting out a plan to help you land at your ultimate desired destination.
Dan Shevchik
Give a lot of thought to what you mean when you say you want to work in the sports industry. The executives on this list do a lot of very different things.
Jordan Solomon
The future of sports is in one of three areas: Analytics, sales and operations. Pick one of these to focus on and develop deep skills and relationships so you can thrive.
Ryan Spoon
Seek out opportunities not by sport, geography or salary but by 1) the quality of the people you get to be around and learn from, and 2) the ability to put your fingerprint on the business and work.
Steve Starks
Work hard, be curious, be humble and willing to do any job; be yourself and stay confident!
Josh Veilleux
Just get in … don’t be afraid to start at the bottom. Then outwork the people around you.
Miheer Walavalkar
Read up on the symbiotic relationship between new technologies and sports.
Danny White
It’s a lifestyle, not a job and early on in your career be prepared to work long hours for little money and live places you never thought you would. But at the end of the day you work in college sports and what the hell could be better than that!
Josh Whitman
Stay focused and be prepared to work harder than you’ve ever imagined.
