Sports Business Conference – UCLA
We were invited to sit on a sports marketing panel at the Sports and Entertainment Business Network Conference at UCLA on the weekend. The conference was run by UCLA undergrads interested in the sports industry and was targeted to create opportunities for the students by bringing in some marketing gurus from the Los Angeles sports business community. At this time in the economy, its hard to break into teh business side of sports, and a few interesting points came up worth mentioning.
The whole panel worked their way into the industry through internships. Their perspective was that this was the key method for getting in and almost the only way in short of family connections. While I would add the entrepreneurship route (build vs buy), the commonality is the need to “pay your dues”. If you want the glamour of a high profile internship, or to be your own boss in the sports industry, you will have a lot of competition, and you will also face some pretty simple and mundane tasks to prove your value and impress customers, clients and managers.
The panelists were all stars in the industry (Josh Rawitch-LA Dodgers, Mike Altieri – LA Kings, Steve Webster-Crimson Marketing and PR) and each also agreed that there was a serious long-term personal cost involved in getting where they were, despite their internship “breaks”. You better love sports if you want to be involved in the business side. It does not pay at the same level as many other jobs your peers may be doing, and for 99% of those in the industry it never will. To overcome that and ultimately win in the business you need to have a deeper level of commitment, and enjoyment of sports to carry through the struggles.
These guys clearly love their jobs. Combine that passion with their easygoing personal styles, and willingness to help the undergrads looking for a way in was very impressive.
