Sports Business Career Trek - Nov. 14

On November 14, the Wharton Sports Business Club organized their first career trek of the semester to New York City. First up were the offices of the NFL, where we were greeted in the reception by a 150 inch plasma screen TV beaming the latest news from the world of American Football. After a brief presentation from five members of the NFL, we were given the opportunity to ask questions about the NFL’s functions, strategies and possible career opportunities.

Many questions centered on the international strategy of the NFL. While internationalization is something that the NFL has been working on for some time now, it is only recently that they have realized that the key is to offer their best product. This means that instead of hosting less-intense preseason games overseas or supporting a developmental league such as the now disbanded NFL Europa, they must offer competitive regular season games. While concerns were voiced about whether this was fair to fans of the teams that had to travel to Wembley Stadium in London to play a regular season game, it was pointed out that the NFL offered travel packages and first option on the tickets to home fans should they wish to travel overseas for the game. Further, under the current arrangements each NFL team will only have to play one game abroad every sixteen seasons.

Following a tour of the memorabilia laden offices of the NFL, it was then time to visit the NBA. Although the NBA has 1,187 employees and offices all around the world, it soon became clear from the presentation that the real focus for growth and hiring over the next few years would be NBA China. With 100 employees already working in China, the NBA seeks to double this number in the next 2 years. So if you’re a MBA with a passion for sports and are lucky enough to speak fluent Mandarin, then the NBA could be the perfect opportunity. If on the other hand you’re like me and can barely speak English never mind Mandarin, then there are in the range of five paid internship positions available this summer in functional areas ranging from marketing, team partnerships and business development to mention a few.

The fact that the NBA seeks to hire those with functional rather than sports backgrounds was emphasized by Nina Tamenbaum, who herself joined the NBA from Blackstone 2 years ago. In her role as a Senior Director for Strategic Development she also emphasized the importance of China and India, where her department were focusing on grassroots events to grow the market. In addition to the international growth another topic that came up throughout the day was the impact of the current economic climate. The NBA is not immune to this downturn, and a large amount of time and energy is currently being spent on developing new strategies to ensure that people renew their season tickets, given that ticket sales are still the largest source of revenue for the NBA.

Next stop was the Jockey Club, where the smell of rich mahogany represented a striking contrast to the more contemporary offices of the NBA and NFL. For those of you unfamiliar with the work of the Jockey Club, its mission is to improve thoroughbred breeding and racing in North America and you must be registered with the Club in order to breed or race a thoroughbred. A thoroughbred is a breed of horse whose ancestry traces back to three foundation sires – the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerly Turk. This selective breeding process in the horseracing industry has been going on for more than 300 years.

There was a period in the US when horseracing filled grandstands to capacity but in recent times it has dropped down the list, being eclipsed by the likes of Nascar in terms of popularity. With regards to how to respond to this, James Gagliano, Executive VP and Chief Administrative Officer of the Club explained that unlike the NFL and NBA which operate revenue sharing schemes, one of the problems with racing is that each racetrack is by and large out for itself as a result of the organizational structure. Further, there is no central marketing authority to promote the sport and there is no central regulatory body in the United States with each State having its own racing commissioner. A very informative Q&A session ended with a discussion about the interrelation between horseracing and gambling, and with an estimated $15 billion bet (legally) on the sport of horseracing last year, it’s safe to say that the sport still has a great deal going for it even in these difficult economic times.

Thanks again to Wharton Sports Business Club Trek Directors Jeff Wilen and Amrita Bagaria for organizing the event and to the NBA, NFL and Jockey Club for their time and hospitality.

Article Contributor: Donal Mcelwee