Sports Corp Dev / Professional Sports Career Paths
Wanted to get thoughts on the career path / opportunities that exist in professional sports / sports media Corp Dev. Thinking more on the business side. I am currently an analyst at a BB industry coverage group and headed to a PE fund soon. Played basketball in college but didn’t want to go into coaching or scouting because I wanted to make money and the allure of IB —> PE / HF was too good to pass up. Maybe this is the quarantine / sports lockdown talking but ever since I’ve gotten past the couple months of bliss that come after you finish a career in athletics, I have been dying to fill my life with the emotion of sports and competition again. I work in an industry that is somewhat far from the consumer and so my exposure to funds, companies, etc is very limited in this space. if anyone who works more closely with sports companies or pro sports leagues could help provide insight with respect to the opportunities that exist for an IB / PE junior level guy at any level within the business side of sports that would be really helpful for me. Thanks all in advance
Bump ^
interested as well
Obviously easier said than done given the obscenely competitive hiring process, but there are groups like Raine and Silver Lake who are advising and in investing in sports/media. I think Allenco used to be and maybe still is involved with transactions in the sports space as well. That said, the only deal I’ve overlapped with them was not in tech/media (seemed far from what I previously thought was their industry mandate - was a little strange to be honest). Only mentioning these names as examples for a potential alternative (eg stay in banking / PE but try to move to a platform with a lot of sports/media domain expertise) - Im sure there are others. Maybe you don’t have the industry background but working in IB / PE at least gives you a desirable and transferable skill set that could help you move to one of these places
Appreciate the insight, thank you
Allen and co are selling the mets (retained by the family) after Steve Cohen bailed PJT Partners sold the KC Royals Raine did a lot of UFC Deals, but haven't seen many recently
In direct response to your Q, I know one banker that went to the MLB after a few years and another who went to a MLS strategy team! Seems possible.
I think even there is some small sports coverage groups at some BB. My buddy did a summer in Goldman's sports group, but they seem to not hire many juniors. I know for sure there is one at RBC.
Anyway, I am as interested as you are! Seems the opportunities are out there. I honestly googled "sports investment banking" and there are a number of shops that would have relationships with the corp dev/strat teams/owners at a number of teams. I would guess best bet is to get into the industry vertical -> then go to a corp team.
Let us know how it works out! Will be looking for an update.
I know the NFL corp dev/strat team has some ex bankers on it.
Yep. Seen some on the NBA side too.
Also some public companies could be interesting - MSG, and liberty owns at least some of the Braves.
Not exactly on the Corp Dev business side, but my dad is a Pro Sports exec that lateraled into player analytics and operations before position he has now. Started off in banking and did short HF stint as well, but he also had quantitative skills from college. So, it’s not unheard of, but obviously think you have to bring something to the table to differentiate yourself depending on what you want to do in the organization. He says the pay wasn’t great to start compared to finance, but given more autonomy to work and with hustle climbed the ladder fairly quickly.
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I definitely want to echo this along with my previous post above that my dad loves his job but from what he’s told me, the sports world is much more glamorized compared to what actual work is like. At the end of the day it’s still a job. You have to really have a passion to make it to the top because in some aspects it can be as competitive as IB (limited number of roles) and you will be living very modestly until you make it to the upper ranks as well as working long hours.
Still IB / PE, but Galatioto Sports Partners and Bruin Sports Capital are two other firms to check out. Can second that Allen & Co.'s TMT group works with sports teams.
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I know a guy who worked at a top VC firm (think it was insight? somewhere like that) then went to H/S/W b-school and ended up at Fenway Sports group, which owns the Redsox and Liverpool. He's doing sports investing so essentially VC/PE but for other sports teams, sounds like an amazing gig.
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