The Sports Info Business

Today, I’d like to address a bit of college football that went on yesterday.  It would be too easy to speak about the UCLA vs USC game last night, a 50-0 debacle that was solopsided, I was glad I taped it on the DVR instead of watching it live.  I normally watch sporting events live but gave into the post thanksgiving/ get out of the house for a few hourstheory on a Saturday night.  I knew something was amiss when a friend of mine, who was at the game, texted me early on and said “Are you watching this?”

Most of the other news sites, sports blogs and USC fans have already pointed out the the obvious.

** The Trojans beat the Bruins for the 12th time in the last 13 meetings.

** UCLA head coach, specifically Rick Neuheisel’s head, appears to be on the chopping block after going 0-4 to USC since taking over the program.

** Will Matt Barkeley, the USC quarterback who tossed six, yes six touchdowns and threw for 423 yards last night go pro?

What I’d rather talk about is football on television.  With the remote in hand, and well before the Trojans slaughtered the Bruins, I was looking for a game to watch around noon, west coast time.

Here is what was on TV, at the same time.

Preview of the #2 Alabama vs #24 Auburn, Iron Bowl game (KCBS, Channel 2)

Grambling State vs Southern (KNBC, Channel 4)

#15 Michigan vs Ohio State (KABC, Channel 7)

Tennessee vs Kentucky (KDOC, Channel 12)

Maryland vs North Carolina State (Channel 13)

#23 Georgia Tech vs Georgia (ESPN, Channel 15)

UConn vs Rutgers (ESPN 2, (Channel 16)

Iowa State vs, #9 Oklahoma (FX, Channel 17)

and I did manage to bump into the Rice vs SMU contest on Fox Sports West, which was not even close to the other stations on the dial.

Nine, count ‘em nine different football games at the same time.  ….And that is just what I found on the dial.

The question is, at what point is so much too much?  I am not one to curtail football games on television.  I am a sport guy and love the options.

That said, can the industry survive this level of saturation?  Deals are done for exposure and the markets are so fragmented that at some point, there will have to be some sort of fall out.  Until then, get ready for the 2011 college football Bowl Season.

When it comes to working in college athletics, there is a default website that has always provided terrific insight.  It is called the NCAA (Jobs) Market site. it is a terrific resource and if you click on the link I made available to you today, you will find 263 jobs listed.

On this site you can narrow a search for positions based on location (State/province), category, level, type, country and education.  Click on the state/province link for example and a drop down menu provides you with choices by U.S. state (see image below).

As an experiment for this post, I clicked on the California link and it provided me 32 links to positions within the West Coast State.  These included an Assistant Basketball Coach at Fresno State, a Director of Compliance at the University of Southern California (USC) and a Student-athlete services coordinator at San Diego State as well as a Director of Athletics at Santa Barbara City College.

The last position I mentioned, in Santa Barbara, has a pay range of $91K – $110K.  The range of listings are also amazing.  From coaches positions to opportunities at Stanford, Cal as well as junior colleges, it is a resource you must consider if college athletics appeals to you.

However, my point here is that it should not be the only place you look.  In order to target the job and the area you want to work you must also visit individual athletics sites.

I used California as the example for this post and yes, there were 32 positions listed.  However, you went directly to the University of California website, that’s Cal Bears for those living out west, you would find that the school has listings nt he site that are not even found in the NCAA market page.

I found a position currently advertised for an assistant ticket manager (general description below), an assistant director of game day experience, as well as two coaching positions.

The Assistant Ticket Manager supports the work of the Associate Ticket Manager, Associate Director of Ticket Operations, and the Director of Ticket Operations. His or her duties include managing and supervising all ticket sales and customer service issues at the window, on CalBears.com and over the phone.  This position is solely responsible for the ticket operations of several ticketed sports, including Women’s Volleyball and Softball as well as assisting with the ticket operations of Men’s Basketball.  He or she must project a positive image of the University Of California Athletics Department to the public, our donors, the faculty-staff of the University of California, and exemplify the highest level of customer service in all activities.  The Athletic Ticket Office processes over $18 million in sales annually, and this position helps in that process.

If the Northwest speaks to you in terms of location, you may consider working at the University of Washington.  At this school, jobs are not even listed by the Athletics Department website, There is a link that takes you to the main jobs page for the entire University and here you can narrow your search down to Athletics and Administration.

Once again, I wanted to see what they had to offer and the Huskies currently have a Director of Marketing and Game Day Experience publicly Listed.  (See Below).

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND GAME DAY EXPERIENCE
Req #: 72610 Department: INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS Job Location: Seattle Campus Posting Date: 03/21/2011 Closing Info: Open Until Filled Salary: Salary and benefits are competitive. Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience.
The University of Washington (UW) is proud to be one of the nation’s premier educational and research institutions. Our people are the most important asset in our pursuit of achieving excellence in education, research, and community service. Our staff not only enjoys outstanding benefits and professional growth opportunities, but also an environment noted for diversity, community involvement, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty. Our Department of Intercollegiate Athletics  has an outstanding opportunity for a Director of Marketing and Game Day Experience. This individual will report to the Associate Director of Marketing & Strategic Programs. Marketing responsibilities: The Director of Marketing and Game Day Experience will work closely with the Ticket Office, Tyee Club Office and external vendors to develop marketing, renewal, sales and communications plans for the Department’s revenue sports, Football and Men’s Basketball.  The Director will be responsible for focusing those above mentioned plans on the following audiences: • Season Ticket Holders • Potential Season Ticket Holders • Students, Graduate Students • Faculty & Staff • Internal Staff • General Public The position will be responsible for assisting the Associate Director in the creation of marketing, renewal, sales and communication plans, while taking the lead on the implementation of those plans.  Those duties include, but are not limited to: • Working with the Creative Team and our preferred Creative Agency to distribute deliverables to outside vendors and media outlets • Tracking and reporting sales numbers • Working closely with New Media Team on all web and social media efforts • Assisting the Ticketing and Tyee Club Office in assuring messaging throughout all consistent sales materials • Leading the Department’s internal sales campaign/competition Game Day Experience The Director of Marketing and Game Day Experience is also responsible for the team that oversees the management of game day presentations and promotions. This includes supervising the daily operations of the Assistant Director of Promotions and Game Day Experience. Managing the Game Day Experience team includes: • Work closely with the Assistant Director of Game Day Experience to ensure that the video board productions incorporate all sponsorship, department announcements and sales opportunities effectively and at the highest quality. • Train and mentor • Serve as the on-field “show producer” at all home football games. • The Director of Promotions and Game Day Experience will serve as the main contact to the Department’s multimedia rights holder, which includes sponsorship fulfillment, on air promotion and script development. • Engage the “Dawg Pack Advisory Committee” into the day of game experience as well as serve as a liaison to the department to further engage our student groups. • Striving to have the University of Washington’s in game experience the best in the country, while enhancing our brand and core values. This position must stay within the rules and regulations of the University, the NCAA, the Pacific-12 Conference, the State of Washington and any other governing body.  The overall responsibility of this position is for the successful operation of the program in full compliance with all such rules and regulations.  As a condition of employment, the Employee shall be required to participate in rules education programs offered by the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website

Most schools are required to list the jobs.  You will not find this for many jobs ont he professional level but in college there are not many secrets to finding current openings.  It just takes digging and a bit of perseverance.

Happy hunting!

Over the weekend, I updated a PowerPoint presentation.  It provides a brief glimpse into folks that have graduated with a Master’s degree from the Long Beach State Sport Management program and who are now working in the sports management field full time.  The presentation is meant to show the incoming graduate students that despite a horrible economy, the system does work.

During this process, I reconnected with a student who graduated from the Long Beach State program to take an internship, not a full time job mind you but an internship, with ESPN in Bristol.  This person finished their seven-month internship in October and now is employed full time by ESPN. …. Success.

The second person I reconnected with also has a full-time job in sports management and is working in college athletics.

She emailed me to thank me.  At the end of the program, this person “lost faith and wanted to get out of the sports business.”  In the end she learned hard work, patience and a little luck is all it took.  Now, six months later, she is living her dream.  Lesson learned.

All of that said, I try to offer links to published sports jobs on a regular basis.  Today is no different.  Hope it helps lead you to the sports career you want.  Happy hunting!

Creative Services Editorial Intern – Cincinnati Reds

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Main responsibility is to work within the Reds Creative Services department for 2-3 days per week. Duties include, but are not limited to, developing original content and feature stories, updating existing text and helping anticipate future editorial needs for the team’s publications, reds.com and Reds e-newsletters. Additional responsibilities include copy writing and editing for Reds promotional materials, assisting in photo cataloging and fulfilling image requests, and general clerical tasks and production assistance to the department. Full Job Description Here

Assistant, Community Outreach – Texas Rangers Baseball Club (Arlington, TX)

Responsibilities
• Coordinate the maintenance and activation of the Community Development Speakers program
• Assist the Assistant Director with the coordination of Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation programs including, but not limited to the Medical Center of Arlington Fitness All-Stars, Community Corner, Summer Academy, mentorship program, scholarships, and other Foundation projects. Provide updates to Executive Director related to programs and feedback as needed
• Coordinate community outreach events, particularly those in the Hispanic community, including coordination of promotional team
• Assist with translation/transcreation of marketing and community outreach collateral into Spanish
• Assist with in-house auctions held during Texas Rangers home games. Requires attendance at games
• Assist with Foundation and Community Outreach events including but not limited to Triple Play, Golf Tournament, Welcome Home Luncheon, Awards Dinner, Teacher Appreciation Night, Scholarship events, and Hall of Fame Luncheon

This job description is also listed on the same page as the reds job. Just scroll down from this page and it is at the bottom

I looked up sales and marketing jobs in baseball and there was a long list of different types of jobs listed.

Instead of listing each job description, here is a one liner witj links.

» D-backs Legends Racing Mascots – Arizona Diamondbacks
» Promotions and Entertainment Manager – Brooklyn Cyclones
» Part Time Event Ticket Sellers – Houston Astros Baseball Club
» Season Ticket Sales – Temporary Opportunity – Houston Astros Baseball Club
» Park Partol – Houston Astros Baseball Club
» New York Mets Pepsi Party Patrol 2011 – New York Mets
» New York Mets Fan Fest Staff 2011 – New York Mets
» Fan Photos Staff Photographers – New York Mets
» Partner Activation Specialist ( Part-time) – Pittsburgh Pirates
» Account Executive, Premium Seating – Pittsburgh Pirates
» Inside Sales Representative – Pittsburgh Pirates
» Suite Services Coordinator (part-time/seasonal) – Tampa Bay Rays
» Account Executive, Radio Sales – Texas Rangers Baseball Club
» Gameday Ticket Seller, Part Time – Washington Nationals

A few prime football job listings have been made public.  The first is

Director, Corporate Sponsorship Sales with the Cleveland Browns.

The Director, Corporate Sales is responsible for the creation and negotiation of corporate partnerships, media packages and hospitality programs. The Director will have a thorough understanding of the rules and guidelines set forth by the National Football League for trademark usage and licensing, various broadcast mediums, in-stadium inventory usage and special community events.  View the job listing here

A second job witht he team is also listed on the Prodigy Sports recruiting website.  It is for a Manager of Corporate Sales position.

The Manager, Corporate Sales is responsible for the creation and negotiation of corporate partnerships, media packages and hospitality programs.  The Manager will have a thorough understanding of the rules and guidelines set forth by the National Football League for trademark usage and licensing, various broadcast mediums, in-stadium inventory usage and special community events.  The link

UCLA head football coach Rick Neuheisel will be honored as the 2011 Sportsman of the Year when the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation (OCYSF) roasts him at a special banquet on Tuesday, April 26, 2011, at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa beginning at 6:00 pm.

Earlier this week, I wrote about going to UCLA and visitng with Rick in a blog entry I called “You Have to Pick Up the Phone.”

Okay, so he went 4-8 last year for the UCLA Bruins and he’s struggled a bit. Rick Neuheisel is entering his fourth year at UCLA and owns a 81-52 career record in 11 years as a head coach.

I heard him speak to a group of UCLA supporters before the Bruins took on and beat USC in hoops and Rick knows how to work a crowd.  I think he will be a great sport and of course all of the money raised is put to good use in the community.

This is the second time I have written about an OCYSF banquet.  For a bit of perspective, I encourage you to read abut the Mark Sanchez Sportsman of the Year banquet from a year ago. This event is the largest event does each year and the list of past recipients reads like a Hall of Fame reunion.  It includes Jerry West (1998), Peter Ueberroth (1984) Tommy Lasorda (1989), Bill Walsh (2000) and Jim Nantz (2007).

I ask each person working in sports, what are you doing to give back to your community?  How are you making an impact outside of the office.  It is nice when a team does something in the community, but volunteering your time is what really makes a difference.  The OCYSF is made up of about 40 business leaders in our community.  Not all of them work or have worked in sports.  Some, like Janet Evans, Peter Vidmar and Brian Goodell are Olympic Athletes.  Together, we are committed to have a good time while making a positive impact.

Want to get involved in this event?  You can, become a sponsor, buy a table or help by donating something for the auction. Even if you can’t do any of the above, I would welcome you posting a link to this blog on your Facebook page or using other social media like Twitter, Digg, Tumble, Stumbleupon or other ways to help spread the word.

Its not really about Rick Neuheisel, me or any of the other board members.  it is about doing something good for the community.  I hope to see you in April at the Newport Beach Marriott.

————-

I end the day with one of my photography shots, a lone basketball player playing hoops in Newport Beach on a Sunday morning.

Photography by Charles Harris

When the phone is ringing and you know who it is, do you pick it up? …Even when you know the news might be bad news?  It’s a great question and the following story is certainly a lesson we can all take something away from, as I did.

Let me explain.

On February 2nd, I found myself speaking with the Bruins head football coach Rick Neuheisel on the UCLA campus.  I had travelled there with three other members of a non-profit broad I sit on:  Tom Johnson, the Publisher of the Newport Beach Independent, restaurateur and UCLA alum John Ursini and wealth manager  Greg Whelan (you can read Tom’s account of our visit here).  We were on campus to speak with AD Dan Guerrero and other sports management folks at UCLA about a banquet honoring Neuseisel, but more about that tomorrow.

Neuheisel was in sound-bite mode as it was also national signing day for college football programs and he had an up and down day to say the least.

I am going to paraphrase the conversation a bit, but this is the story that Rick told us.

A nationally ranked high school recruit had committed to going to UCLA a while ago.  The head coach thought this was a done deal, although nothing is really ‘done’ until the athlete signs the national letter of intent and faxes it back to the school.

National signing day is here and then Rick turns on the TV that morning only to see the same recruit wearing a UCS baseball cap on television.  The same recruit said he was going to sign with the Trojans.

Stunned, Neuheisel was beside himself.  He was beyond disappointed, as he told the four of us during an informal chat session before the coach was set to address more media.

“This is just not possible,” he said.  ”It is just not happening.  I needed a moment of silence.”

Now mind you, at this point, this young recruit is not the only player Neuheisel is counting on to help bring back a UCLA football program that went 4-8 last year.  He had others he is also waiting on.  This particular student athlete, however, was seen as already coming to UCLA until he appeared on TV.

Then Rick’s phone rings and it appears to be the student’s father calling the coach.  He sees the name on the caller ID.  He knows who it is and he doesn’t want to answer the cell phone.

It would have been easy to ignore the call.  Let it go to voice mail.  Deal with the ‘I’m sorrys’ later.

However, he answers it.  This is what he learned.

The student athlete he saw on the TV earlier talking up USC and their football program had since changed his mind.

“Here is a guy who thought he was doing the right thing,” said Neuheisel.  ”But in his heart of hearts he could not do it.  I thanked him for coming to his senses (laughs by the group) and he faxed in his letter of intent to attend UCLA in the fall.”

By answering the phone, even when he didn’t want to UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel received the good news he thought was gone.

Lesson learned.

You always have to pick up the phone.  You never know who or what awaits you on the other end of the line.

————-

The conversation reinforced how college coaches must jump through hoops to sign prospective athletes and nothing ever seems like it is done. I told Rick during the conversation that he needed a stomach of steel to deal with things like this and he just laughed.

I thought about others who are in similar situations and quickly came to sports agents.  Players hop from one agent another all the time, often seeking bigger and better deals, more attention or other intangibles.

Last thought on UCLA:  The football coach announced during a meet the boosters session before UCLA and USC squared off for basketball later that day, that 81,000 people had applied to UCLA for the fall, one of the largest totals for any college in the nation.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Self Portrait of Charles Harris. I took this on the Pier overlooking Newport Beach this last weekend.

Once upon a time, tickets were sold by teams and scalping tickets was seen as illegal.  With the rise of companies like StubHub and RazorGator and eBay, a legal secondary ticket market emerged which teams and leagues embraced.

The market had changed.

FanSnap is a relatively new online ticket comparison search engine. Fans use FanSnap to shop 50+ of the most trusted secondary market ticket sites for the best deals on sports, theater and concert tickets. Partners include TicketsNow, TicketNetwork, StubHub, RazorGator, Las Vegas Tickets, Gold Coast Tickets, eBay, Barry’s Tickets, AllShows.com, Tickets-for-Charity and Ace Ticket. FanSnap claims its detailed ticket-level search results are made possible by the combination of strategic industry partnerships and systems integration, as well as FanSnap TicketData^sm systems and patent-pending dynamic FanSnap Maps^sm.

FanSnap also provides ticket comparison shopping for media partners including: TimeWarner’s RoadRunner.com, PollStar, Philly.com and STATS Inc. partner sites.

I wanted to test the site based on the current college football bowl season and see what was available.

This morning, I read on the web that UConn was struggling to sell its share of tickets ahead of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.  In fact, the University still needed to sell more than 10,000 tickets or have to buy them at a cost to the school.  This is a great example.   Why might they be struggling?

* We can use a bad economy as one example

* Second, ticketing prices range from

* Probably most important is where the game is being played.  Arizona. Will Huskie fans travel cross country for the game?  Doesn’t look like it?  Is there a large interest in UConn football in Arizona?  Survey says, probably not.

So for fans that are in the are and want to attend here is what the website produced.

In general, FanSnap is promoting more than 14 million tickets to 65,000+ events.

More than 7,000 tickets are available starting at $15 per seat for the UConn Bowl game.  The site is great for fans.  However, without a strong demand for specific games from teams and businesses, fans will be less willing to pay top dollar.

The company is based in Palo Alto, CA-based and was founded in 2007.  FanSnap is funded by General Catalyst Partners and Highland Capital Partners.

Photo taken from the FanSnap website that shows the stadium and ticket availability for the Tostitos Bowl game

Graphic from espn.com

Hat tip goes out to Dedan Brozino and his marketing team at Long Beach State Athletics for putting together a great basketball YouTube video.  Yes, I am biased since Dedan was a student of mine.  For the record, I love college basketball but my allegiance is with UC Irvine and the Anteaters, my home during the undergraduate days. The hat tip has nothing to do with Dedan’s effort to get Long Beach State ranked in the first Top 10 pre-season college basketball poll (they aren’t there). The poll is reserved for teams like like Duke, Michigan State, Kansas State, Pitt and Ohio State. However, the sports management team at Long Beach decided to use a few of the free creative tools on the net.  Why sports management front offices don’t take advantage of this is beyond me.  LBSU put together a 46 second video called “No Sick Days.” One of the men’s basketball players begins the video by stating: “Me and my teammates have been working hard in the off-season. We even come to practice when we are sick.” Dedan emailed me the link right when it launched.  He hoped it would get 2,500 hits.  Well, the video took off online and wound up on the Top 10 plays of ESPN SportsCenter last night.  As of this morning, it had totaled more than 40,000 views.  Not bad when you do not have big budgets to advertise like other programs.  Here is the video.

Takeaways:

** Be creative.

** Money is no longer an object for having an impact.

** Marketers are still marketers and those that embrace this technology can have an immediate impact.

If you want to see the preview of the NCAA basketball season, ESPN interviewed Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski as part of its show last night.  Here is the video:

USC was back in the court on Monday but beleive it or not, it had nothing to do with Reggie Bush or Athletic violations.

The United States Supreme Court was back in session and one of the cases it debated on taking was a classic USC vs USC case — that is, the University of Southern California vs, the University of South Carolina.

The West Coast version of USC was seeking to have its interlocking letters SC kept from being used by the East Coast version of USC.

The 13 year legal battle came to an end when the Supreme Court refused to hear the case brought by the folks in Columbia, South Carolina and therefore the lower court ruling stands.

The sale of official licensed college sports memorabilia is a $3-billion-per-year business, according to estimates provided to the court and reported in a story by the Los Angeles Times.

For a different take on the same story, I suggest you check out this article, by the Sunnews.com It certainly gives a different perspective on a passionate issue for two proud schools, Trojans and Gamecocks.

According to the Supreme Court Calendar, today was one of five days scheduled for arguments during the month of october.  The remainder of the month for the nine judges including new Supreme Court justice Elena Kagen is set for non argument sessions, conference days and approved holidays.

———

Supreme Court Note

October 7, 2010, marks the 75th Anniversary of the first sitting of the Supreme Court in its own building.  To commemorate the occasion, 15’ x 25’ flags will be flown from the flagpoles on the Court’s front plaza from October 4-8, 2010.  Similar oversized flags were flown when the building opened in 1935.  In addition, an exhibition entitled The Supreme Court Building: America’s Temple of Justice, highlighting the building’s construction and sculptural program will open on the ground floor on October 4.

Sometimes we look ahead and sometimes we look behind us.  Here is a little of both in sports to start off your Monday.

◆ Raise your hand if you picked the Kansas City Chiefs to be the only defeated team in the National Football League after four weeks…… I thought so.

◆ The San Francisco Giants winning the division on the lasdt day of the season vs. the Padres should take Northern California sports fans off of professional football for a little while longer.  With so many “experts” picking the 49ers to win their division, it may surprise everyone that the Oakland Raiders (1-3) have a better record than their Bay Area rivals in San Francisco (0-4).  A combined 1-7 for Northern California teams?  Yikes.

◆ At least Stanford remained in the AP Top 25 even after falling to 4-1 after a 52-31 meltdown to Oregon over the weekend.

◆ Happy for outgoing manager Bobby Cox to get one more chance at a title as the Atlanta Braves squeaked into the NL playoffs as the wild card with a victory vs. the Phillies on the final day of the 2010 baseball season.  I stopped being a fan of the Braves when Bobby’s 1991 Braves team kept out the Dodgers, my first year as an executive with the Los Angeles club, from the playoffs.

◆ The Monsters of the Midway looked more like the Bad News Bears in a 17-3 debacle on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.  Ten sacks and a concussion for Jay Cutler didn’t help matters for a previously undefeated Chicago team.

◆ I feel bad for Jeff Moorad, Dan Migala, Paul DePodesta and the rest of the san Diego Padres front office folks.  Baseball has the longest season and take more sacrifice than any other sport.  For the team to come that close and miss it by one game is just painful.

◆ Six NFL games in Week 4 were decided by three points or less

And looking ahead……

◆ The Miami Heat open the pre-season on Tuesday, October 5th.  Let the LeBron, Bosh and Wade hype begin.

◆ Major League Baseball Playoffs get started on Wednesday this week and one front office team’s dream of putting a championship ring on their finger is down to 1 in 8.  In the American League:  Texas Rangers vs Tampa Rays, and the New York Yankees vs the Minnesota Twins.  The National League features the Cincinnati Reds vs the Philadelphia Phillies while the Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants square off. Click here for the entire post-season schedule.

◆ No one is yet talking about possible danger to U.S. sports team playing in Europe now that the U.S. Government has warned Americans traveling abroad that tourist sites may be targeted by terrorists.

The second most asked question I get is how much money do people make working in the sports industry.  The first one is usually ‘how do I get a job in sports’ which is the main reason why I started writing this blog back in January of 2008.

Honestly, for entry level jobs, the answer is not much.  With more and more people vying for a small number of positions, teams, leagues and organizations are able to keep salaries at a level less than what the business sector at large pays.

There may be a bit of a game changer though.  Yesterday, the Associated Press published a story about the Athletic Director at The Ohio State University.  For those of you not familiar with the title, the AD would be equivalent to the CEO of a business unit.  According to the AP story, Ohio State Athletic director Gene Smith could earn as much as $1.2 million annually, based on a new contract.

He was quoted in the piece, saying,  ”"Yeah, if I came back to my time when I started in this profession, I’m shocked at how fast it’s grown.  But at the same time, we have a lot of risk and responsibility. So I understand how it’s gotten to be where it is today.”

The contract will reportedly pay him a base salary of $800,000 and also will receive $200,000 for media and public relations duties.  I am sure most SID’s (Sports Information Directors) today would sign up for $200,000 as their base salaries but are nowhere near it.

The pay scale game has changed.  As (former) college football coaches like Pete Carroll signed contracts of $4 million per season, the trickle down effect has taken place that has reached top tier Athletic Directors.

Most of us never got into the sports management game to get rich.  Some now, may get it after all.

——————-

There is no published scale for sports management jobs.  It fluctautes greatly from sport to sport and from city to city.  many people try websites like salary.com but I often find them unreliable.

Other Links

Ohio State Sports Administration Structure

Gene Smith Bio

Plain Dealer Take on Smith’s Raise