To give some more insight into the ins-and-outs of the sports industry and help parents with their decisions, we have compiled a list of career prospects in the sports marketing and brand management industry – for both athletes and non-athletes – ranging from PR marketing to influencer marketing and everything in between.

PR Executive & Communications

In the realms of this thriving sports industry, PR (Public Relations) executives play a vital role in generating information and spreading positive news between sporting organizations, a club or governing body to the press and general public in the form of media – print, online or broadcast. Many of the Indian sporting governing bodies like AIFF, Hockey India, Boxing Federation of India and Badminton Association of India, and even BCCI employ a huge army of PR professionals, and almost all of the sporting clubs across the world have one or two to ensure they are always in the headlines – both on and off the pitch.

Marketing and Operations Specialist

If you are a game for working with corporate and brands, this is the one for you. Marketing is a vastly different discipline today than it was a decade ago. And sports organizations want marketing and operations expertise to help them strengthen, and clubs and teams want to expand their fan base, attract new sponsors, organise campaigns and build programs with existing sponsors, run fan conventions, improve website rankings, increase social media visibility and help in organizing sports events. Sports marketing is an extremely competitive field. The usual primary qualification is a degree in marketing, communication, or a related field, such as The Sports School’s Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) or Master of Business Administration (MBA).

Brand Manager

In today’s thriving sports market, many sports organizations spend huge money in hiring brand managers who can effectively create and compose unique and subtle strategies and execute them perfectly – whether marketing a team, athletes, an event to bring profitable returns for sports organizations or teams while boosting the value of the brand. The education qualification required to make a career in the branding industry, one needs to earn an undergraduate degree in sports management, marketing, advertising, communications, or economics. With that being said, getting a master’s degree here at The Sports School’s Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) or a Master of Business Administration (MBA) could facilitate faster job promotion onto the brand management team.

Graphic Artist

To compete in today’s cut-throat environment and to captivate your audience with amazing designs, the graphic designer plays an important role in sports brands, organizations, clubs’ marketing strategies. Considering it is a career that never goes out of demand, a graphic design career in the sports industry requires creativity, attention to detail, and advanced skills in a variety of tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, as well as an aptitude for animation, motion graphics, and web design. There are no specific requirements needed in terms of qualifications and courses to be pursued. However, if you do not have much experience, a strong portfolio with a range of personal projects can help interest employers, you can start freelancing to build your portfolio.

Influencer Marketing

As digitalization continues to evolve, the cult following of influencer marketing rose to fame over the last few years. Brands aim to exploit the strength of sporting stars and influencers to engage with their target audiences while achieving their marketing objectives. 2021 saw Neeraj Chopra partner with CRED advertisement and Bajrang Punia and Mirabai Chanu, partner with Amrutanjan for a campaign, playing a large part in the power of these partnerships. To become an influencer marketing manager, you must have expertise in the world of content and social media marketing strategies and be able to multitask and be socially adept as well.

Merchandise Manager

Largely under-appreciated by many, the role of the merchandise manager in sporting organizations and clubs is just as vital as the other counterparts. Merchandise managers are responsible for overseeing the planning and implementation of merchandising strategies, building a collaboration with brand partners, buyers, and suppliers, and ensuring longer terms profitability. For example, take Decathlon which is one of the largest sports retail brands. And the department store divided into categories of men’s, women’s, children’s and different sports division too from weightlifting to tennis and badminton to football and many other sports. The role of merchandisers in the store ranges from planning to directing and co-coordinating to controlling.

Conclusion

Noticeably the above-mentioned list is incomplete as the careers listed here are closely connected with each other in many ways, and other employments not mentioned here can be brought to the table to provide virtually infinite possibilities. Don’t forget that there is a sea of possibilities out there. Who knows what’s coming next? Regardless of what happens, one thing we know for certain is that the future is bright if you are looking for a career in sports.

The post Exciting Career Prospects in the Sports Marketing and Brand Management Industry appeared first on The Sports School.

Parents and schools have long ignored sports as a career option. Only those who play the sport professionally garnered a significant amount of reception and recognition. However, the rules of the game have changed and today’s youngsters are showing interest in making a career in the relatively obscure yet largely unexplored sporting industry that most miss out on.

To give some more insight into the ins-and-outs of the sports industry and help parents with their decisions, we have compiled a list of career prospects in sports management, analytics, and technologies – for both athletes and non-athletes – ranging from athlete representative to performance analyst and everything else in between.

Sports Agents / Athlete Representative 

The majority of the sports don’t invest in this area properly but in no time, this will be a lucrative career option for many in the distant future.

As the name suggests, sports agents supervise the negotiation of employment contracts as well as other business endorsements for athletes on behalf of the athletes or coaches they represent.

Having only completed a Bachelor’s degree in Management Studies and simultaneously dabbling between corporate jobs, Wilbur Lasardo has made a name for himself in the uncharted territory and is now considered one of the most prominent agents in Indian football, boasting the likes of Sahal Abdul Samad, Kiyan Nassiri, Norem Roshan Singh and many talented footballers across the world.

Apart from having a degree in business management, to make a name for oneself as a sports agent, it is important to study the sporting market, gain legal & business knowledge through agency experience, and of course, build your network as much as possible.

Sports Scouts

Sports scouts are the people who unearth the talent of tomorrow.

Scouts follow players from their formative years through school and college through zonal, district, state, and national level tournaments before reporting potential talents to the management.

Though scouting is still in its infancy stage in the country, however, given the rise of ISL and IPL, many the franchise keen to set up more scouting and talent identification network domestically and internationally with scanning players through tournaments like TNPL, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and ISL along with other divisional leagues in football and other sports like badminton, tennis, athletics, and etc.

Performance Analyst

Performance analysts are the ones who live, sleep and breathe sports.

Their job is to provide objective feedback of individual performance or team to coaches from filming the action of every game to break down the play by collecting data and analyzing opposition weeks in advance and presenting to the respective members to improve overall performance in which both athletes and coaches benefit directly from the analysis.

For instance, in football, analysts gather valid and reliable data from programs such as Understat, Scout7, and STATS plus data compiled by the likes of Opta, to help prepare players and coaches for the next game.

To pursue this field, an undergraduate degree in Sports and Exercise Science or a related subject is needed. And an MSc in Sports Performance Analysis would be an additional asset.

Sports Data Analyst / Statistician

For years, technology has been quietly transforming the world of sports, with investments in areas such as statistics and analysis. From how athletes train and compete, how fans engage with content, and how world-class stadiums are built, as well as sports medicine to marketing and fundraising – data play a huge part in modern sports.

For example, in Athletics, analysts use data to chart the performance of every athlete’s run time and calculate throws not only during the main tournament but also in practice as well to help them to hone skills accordingly. The list goes on in Football, Hockey, Badminton, tennis, and more.

Though the profession is still in its early years, at least in the country, there are few colleges in India such as The Sports School’s two-year course SEBA that covers Statistics, Economics, Business Studies, Accounts, and others offer courses specially designed for those who want to get in the field on a professional level, along with IIM (Kozhikode), GNIMS (Mumbai), Sports KPI (Bengaluru), and Symbiosis School of Sports (Pune).

Sports Business Manager

Sport is a multi-billion-rupees business, and it is the business manager’s responsibility to ensure the money being spent results in desired success.

Business managers are in control over all aspects of the day-to-day supervision of sports clubs and organizations as they will deal with big-money sponsors. They also spearhead public relations between organizations or clubs, athletes, coaches, and media and scheduling events and partnering with brands et al.

A business management degree can be an ideal choice such as The Sports School’s Bachelor of Business Administration or Master of Business Administration because it allows you to learn multiple areas of business, from finance to marketing, as well get specific training in management and strategy.

Sports Operations Manager

If you are a sports fan fascinated by behind-the-scenes working, pursuing a career in the operations sector offers the opportunity to be part of the dynamic field and its process – planning, executing, and managing an event.

For example, if a big sporting event is set to be held in the country and its operations team’s job is to get the event venue ready. During the event, they oversee all arrangements and make sure everything is in working order without revisions. In such a situation, and events operations manager will help out with other teams such as security operations or venue/stage operations on the day of the event.

When you earn a degree in sports business management, you can open up a wider range of possible career paths and Sports Operations is one of them.

Sports Equipment Manager and Supply

A sports equipment manager oversees the maintenance and stocktaking apparel both new and used by team players and individual athletes. They also supervise locker rooms, uniforms, and athletic equipment that are clean and well-stocked.

 A diploma degree is the least educational requirement for an aspiring sports equipment manager, however, to be employed with the more popular sports teams or clubs, additional training and work experience may be required.

Sound and Lighting Technician

Not widely known due to the fact they generally work freelance, but sound and lighting technicians are part of the designing teamwork under the order of the director or set designer to help bring their vision to life in television, stadium, and sporting events.

They are well-equipped with the technical ins-and-outs task from setting up the equipment ready for a show to installing color and sound effects & patterns and to creating programming sequences during the events and matches.

If this is your area of interest, then it is important to expand your contacts and become a well-known face in the industry as most of the work is offered through directors with who they are familiar.

Conclusion

Noticeably the above-mentioned list is incomplete as the careers listed here are closely connected with each other in many ways, and other employments not mentioned here can be brought to the table to provide virtually infinite possibilities. Don’t forget that there is a sea of possibilities out there. Who knows what’s coming next? Regardless of what happens, one thing we know for certain is that the future is bright if you are looking for a career in sports.

The post Exciting Career Prospects in the Sports Management, Analytics and Technologies appeared first on The Sports School.

Now people can enter and thrive in this world by representing their countries on the field and helping those who do. The sporting world is much more elaborate than just the players. There are several functions undertaken by people who love and understand the game but work behind the scene to organize matches, monitor team finances, negotiate contracts of athletes, etc. These people are Sports Managers, who have the responsibility to manage all aspects of the game, at all levels – from schools to colleges and from local, national to international standards.

Sports management offers roles for individuals in diverse areas and functionalities. According to the FICCI- International Institute of Sports Management knowledge report, there will be a sharp increase in the number of job opportunities in the sports sector by 2022. Moreover, India has been identified as the key player in the sports market and set to hold more international championships.

Why should Indian students consider Sports Management as a career?  

While India has a long connection with sports contribution at a national and global landscape, there is still a significant shortage of suitably qualified sports management professionals in the country. 

While Sports Management education around the globe has expanded to reflect the consistent growth within the sports industry, these education platforms are not wholly available around India. This ultimately creates an opportunity for students who are or are due to become suitably qualified sports management specialists to realize career aspirations within the sports industry. Arguably, this also creates an opportunity for higher education institutions to develop Sports Management degree programs that provide a professionalized pathway for Indian nationals into the fastest expanding global industry sector.  

What are the most sought after sports management career options? 

• Sports Analysts- Several organizations are hiring people who can analyze sportspeople’s different trends and give their insights. Many media companies covering sports recruit analysts for live match analysis and analyze various sports clubs and sportspersons’ performances.

• Sports Managers- Whether it is team management or selling sporting equipment, sports managers are people on the corporate side of sports, who enable athletes and players to perform their best.

• Sports Marketers- If you like marketing and sports, this is the profession for you. Many companies involved in sports development, sports marketing, sporting event management recruit Sports Managers. 

• Sports Event Coordinators- Love sporting events? From small district tournaments to international matches, sports event coordinators are needed for every organized sporting event. 

It is extremely vital to recognize that the sports sector has changed and now demands a significant amount from suitably qualified individuals. Therefore, now is the time for individuals to seek out undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Sports Management actively, not only to be part of the sports industry expansion.

At The Sports School, we understand the current need of the Indian Sporting Industry for well-rounded professionals. Our UG and PG courses include Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Sports Management and Master of Science (MSc) in Psychology With Specialization In Sports. That way, our students can learn the basics and have a strong foundation for a career in the Indian Sports Industry. 

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