4 Exciting Jobs in the Sports Industry
The sports industry is the second fastest growing sector for brands. Brand values have grown by more than 10% compared to the previous year. Career opportunities abound in the sports job market, especially those related to technology and eSports. Check out the jobs below, which are in high demand in the sports industry.
Event organizer
The sport business is primarily an entertainment industry. Competitions are very complex events that involve many stakeholders such as athletes, sponsors, clubs, agents, spectators, and companies.
The event organizer orchestrates every part of the event: he must create, organize, and coordinate an entire sports event up to quality monitoring. He frequently needs to renegotiate, adapt, and find solutions, sometimes in emergency situations.
The event organizer’s main mission covers a central organizational role, negotiation of purchasing services or products, coordination of different services and customers, overall management of the event, and qualitative follow-up.
Qualities: Creativity, organizational skills, negotiation and management abilities, capacity to work under pressure
Merchandising manager
The merchandising manager defines and manages the implementation of the brand’s visual identity and presentation of products to optimize sales. He designs and organizes with his team the attractive staging in stores or on the brand’s website.
The merchandising manager’s job also involves collaboration with marketing, sales, manufacturers, creatives, and designers. He regularly travels to the stores to check the implementation of his projects.
Furthermore, he recommends and negotiates several plans and locations by brand, type of store, and region. To that end, he identifies, implements, and follows all the studies required for defining the various merchandising models.
To rally the sales force around this approach, the merchandising manager proposes training axes that are intended for it and develops all forms of support and tools for the argumentation as for the follow-up.
Qualities: Creativity, organizational skills, management ability
Sports agent
The sports agent’s job is essential in the sports world. He chiefly ensures that his client focuses almost exclusively on his sports performance. Generally specialized in a particular discipline and initiated in the field of sports, the sports agent acts as a guide for his clients.
One of the sports agent’s primary responsibilities is to put his players in touch with the clubs that are likely to recruit them. Banking on his deep knowledge of sports and his extensive network, the sports agent intervenes in the relationship between two parties and represents the interests of one of them. He is responsible for negotiating the contracts, making sure that these contracts are the most advantageous for his client.
At the beginning of his career, the sports agent must initially build his clientele by identifying talents and players after games and/or training or on social networks, and subsequently attempt to convince these players to be represented by the sports agent.
Qualities: Negotiation skills, fluency in English, interpersonal skills
Marketing manager
The marketing manager conducts advanced marketing analyses based on the evolution of the market and the information collected in the field. From these analyses, he then identifies and evaluates market opportunities and establishes an action plan. He also examines sales and sets business and strategic objectives.
Additionally, the marketing manager participates in the definition of the marketing plan (i.e., catalogs, market studies, and argumentations) and contributes to the development of the product and branding strategy.
Qualities: Analytical and critical thinking skills, creativity, thoroughness
If you’re interested in building a career as a event organizer, merchandising manager, sport agent or marketing manager, the MSc Sports Industry Management allows you to distinguish yourself in the sports industry.
