Sports Management Jobs: What’s out there?

You love sports but you also need to earn a living. How can you combine the two? Sports management jobs are within your reach and we tell you how.

With an ICMS Bachelor of Business (Sports Management) degree, you can make a career out of your passion for sports. As Mark Twain famously said, “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

According to leading statisticians Ibis World, the Sports industry market size in Australia, measured by revenue, is $13.3bn in 2022, with a growth rate in 2022 projected to be 6.6%.
That paints a glowing picture of a robust industry, so let’s take a closer look at some of the sport management jobs you could choose from should you study sports management.

Types of Sports Management Jobs

Within the sports industry, there are a wide variety of jobs available, from physical-type jobs, such as trainers or coaches, to management jobs and even cerebral jobs where you could work with statistics and research.

Sports management jobs include, but are not limited to:

Sports Agent: Acting as a business manager for athlete clients, sports agents handle contract negotiations, manage finances and play a leading role in public relations. A great sports agent can take a player from average to amazing, and pocket a lucrative percentage from deals and endorsements along the way.

Sports Manager: A day in the life of a sports manager is never the same. Sports managers look after team travel plans, sort out public relations between coaches, the media, athletes and other stakeholders, and has to have a head for figures: balancing a team’s income against expenditure and other obligations. Other responsibilities include organising public events such as fundraisers and endorsements, monitoring ticket sales and advising other members of the team on how to interact with the media.

Sports Marketing Manager: As with marketing managers in any industry, it’s all about raising awareness and building hype. Sports marketing managers focus on marketing sports events, teams and players through effective advertising and by building brand associations.

Facilities Manager: A Facilities Manager is responsible for the operational control of buildings and other facilities belonging to a public or private organisation. These could be stadiums or sports grounds, and vary in size and prestige. They coordinate the building’s maintenance and repairs in order to maintain a safe, clean and productive environment for the occupants. They also monitor and report on operational expenses and any income streams received by the facility.

Sports Promotion Manager: A sponsorship manager is in charge of coordinating sponsorship solicitation and fundraising efforts, typically in a corporate environment.

Brand Manager: The best sports brand managers make us want to buy all the merchandise and branded kit, support all the matches, and fully experience the highs and lows of the team we identify most strongly with. The brand manager is the puppet pulling the strings of your wallet, and is essential to the dollar value of a sports club or player’s brand.
Other roles include: Merchandising Manager; Sponsorship Manager; Sports Centre Manager; Warehouse Manager; Events Manager; Sports Media Manager; and more.

How do I get a sports management job?

Most sports lovers would love a job in the sports industry which makes it a highly competitive career path to choose. A relevant tertiary qualification will help you stand out from the crowd. An ICMS Bachelor of Business (Sports Management) combines business subjects with sports specialisations to give you a well-rounded degree from which to venture into your particular field of interest.

There are other options, such as the Aspire Institute’s Diploma of Business (Sports Management), which is a standalone qualification or a pathway to an ICMS degree. This shorter length course (1 year) is a springboard into the sports industry and lays the foundation for future study or growth.

The International Sports College Australia (ISCA), aligned with ICMS, offers Diploma of Sports Management (High Performance) will provide you with an innovative blend of training, coaching, learning and mentoring.

Tips on how to get that sports management job you’ve dreamed of:

As with any role, a sports management job can be yours if you stand out through exceptional work and through good connections.

Here are some pointers:

* Pick a “hero”, someone who has the sports management job you want, and trace back to the point at which you are at. How did they get the job, what steps did they take, who did they approach, and how can you do something similar? Even better, approach your “hero” (in person, through their office or via LinkedIn) and ask to be mentored through the process. Many successful leaders of industry are happy to offer advice to bright and eager upstarts such as yourself.

* Don’t give up. As ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky famously said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Keep sight of your dream sports management job and keep working towards your goals.

* Be a superstar. Everyone has to start somewhere and, if you study an ICMS Bachelor of Business (Sports Management), you will likely start as an intern within a larger sporting organisation. Differentiate yourself from the other juniors, be better, get better! Sports people are competitive, so be competitive with yourself and land a home run in the career stakes.

Work experience gives the edge in the hunt for sports management jobs

Nothing makes a resume stick out from the rest like a solid internship in the sports industry.
All ICMS degrees, including the Bachelor of Business (Sports Management), include industry training (internships) with ICMS industry partners as part of the degree. This means you graduate having already worked in the business. The ICMS Work Integrated Learning (WIL) team will place you in an internship best suited to your interests.

ICMS industry partners with a sports focus include:

Northern Suburbs Rugby Football Club
Wests Tigers
Eastern Suburbs Rugby Football Club
Sydney Blue Sox
Central Coast Mariners
Greater Western Sydney Giants
Rowing NSW
Manly Warringah Football Association
Sydney Roosters
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles
South Sydney Rabbitohs
International Premier Events (IPE)
And more!

ICMS students give their sports internships bonus points

ICMS sports management students who have seen the value in their ICMS internships relating to their future careers include Angus Richards, Ewan Metcalfe and Zoe Grout.

Angus worked in the ticketing and membership departments at the GWS Giants.

“I aim to continue building my career within the sports industry through the connections I made in my degree and industry training. My ultimate goal is to either run my own company as a sports professional or work as an executive in a large national sporting organisation,” he said.

As part of his ICMS industry training, Ewan was offered a trial in the sales department of International Premier Events (IPE) and from there he was offered a full-time role with the company. His current title is Sales Executive at International Premier Events, selling corporate sports packages to new business for any events the company is connected with as well as maintaining strong relationships with his own clientele base.

The blend of business and sports in the ICMS Bachelor of Business (Sports Management) was an attraction for sports lover Ewan as he appreciated the balance this gave him in perspective.

“Developing an idea about business models….and being able to balance those business subjects with subjects like Innovation in Sports Management makes you keen to go to class and be involved in discussions,” Ewan said.

In her second year of her ICMS Bachelor of Business (Sports Management) degree back in 2019, Zoe completed her industry training as an Events and Game Day assistant with the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

“All the staff at Sea Eagles, from the membership team to the CEO, push me to work to the best of my abilities and challenge me to work out of my comfort zone which has allowed me to learn so much in a short period of time,” Zoe said.

“The sports industry is full of passionate individuals who are driven to provide entertainment through competition, which I align with.”

Watch Zoe reflect on her industry training in the video below.

Go out and get that sports management job you’ve been dreaming of

With the right education, industry connections and a high level of motivation, a career in sports is a reality for you.

For more information on the ICMS Bachelor of Business (Sports Management) degree, click here.
For more information on the Aspire Institute Diploma of Business (Sports Management), which is a standalone qualification or a pathway to an ICMS degree, click here.
For more information on the ISCA Diploma of Sports Management (High Performance), click here.