Sports Management- A Rising Career!
If the industry experts are to be believed, the sports industry has witnessed a growth of 12 per cent year-on-year. While, FICCI's Vision document 2014 estimates a total requirement of 43.7 lakh human resources across the industry by 2022.
While the numbers clearly talk volumes about the opportunities that lie ahead, it’s interesting to understand the change that we’ve witnessed over the last decade, owing to the influx of various sporting leagues like ICC World Cup T20, Indian Premier League, Pro Kabbadi League, Indian Table Tennis League, ISL, Futsal etc.
These leagues have not just aided in the overall awareness of the sports but also increased the affinity towards it. The consumption of sports on television has increased immensely, giving a further fillip to the development of sports in India. One must not forget that this has thus, aided in making a middle class parent receptive to the idea of their children pursuing careers in sports—a sure facilitator in the demand for sports management.
However with growth, also comes responsibility. While, there is no doubt that the sports industry is seeing an upward surge with a slow and steady growth rate, it’s also signalling towards the need of professionals at various skill levels, Sports Managers being crucial in the same.
While, Management as a field of study, over the years has gained momentum, owing to the varied specializations available, Sports Management, is a relatively new concept and an interesting one at it.
The field offers a pool of opportunities depending on one’s interests and the sector that one wishes to join. Whether it’s managing athletes, curating venues; managing and creating sporting properties; creating wealth and marketing of events or developing businesses, etc. a specialization in Sports Management provides challenging as well as satisfying career avenues.
Like any other Management Program, it’s essential to provide an aspirant a comprehensive understanding of the multi-dimensional value of the sports industry, because the industry needs just more than man power, it needs future ready professionals who are ready to innovate, ideate and succeed.
It’s through this knowledge that they can acquire a variety of skills for sectors like business and administration, public relation, marketing, managing media, sports celebrities and officials and prepare for entrepreneurship.
Sports Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is blooming. And when we talk about sports in the start-up space in India, there’s a phenomenal growth lying ahead. Obviously it’s an exciting career for any sports industry aspirant, who aspires of becoming an entrepreneur and thus be a force behind intellectual properties. The question is how do they do that? It’s simple, for these aspirants, they must look at creating niche start -ups catering to specific requirements of clients.
Look around and you’ll see so many of examples standing right ahead of you, whether it’s Sportz Consult, that ventures into advising sponsors onto opting for good sporting investments; or its 8848 Sports, that has carved a niche for sports merchandising; or EduSports, that’s into sports education and coaching; or Bayside Sports, that caters to recreational activities ; or PlaySports, a mobile app that helps with local-level team formation, tracking of like-minded players as well as tournaments and practice sessions in your locality, the list can go on and beyond.
But what these examples serve is an understanding of how there’s no end line where your ambition needs to stop. And with these aspirations comes the need of courses or programmes that make you ready to face challenges & do more than just a “job”
Sports Management Careers thus provide with more than opportunity, some of the key areas of job opportunities, salary ranges and growth paths being as follows:
Avenues for Sports Management Aspirants
* Sports Teams and League Management
* Sports Sponsorship
* Sport Operation Management
* Sport Facility Management
* Sport Hospitality
* Sport Marketing
* Sports Communications and PR
* Sports Talent Management
* Sports Media and Production
* Sports Logistics
* Sports Human Resource Management
* Sports Tourism
* Sports Legal Aid
* Sports Psychology/Sociology
*Sports Grassroots Management
Sports Management as discussed thus has a pool of opportunities, each demanding a different yet distinct skill set. It’s obvious that with time and experience, you nurture and grow and improve your performance. The journey begins as a trainee and leads onto becoming a manager for departments such as operations, marketing, facility management, media management, or any other specific function of one’s choice.
Quite often, sporting organisations are on a look out to hire interns or part time professionals who have an inclination & passion for sports, along with training for the art of sports management and who boast of practical exposure.
In terms of salaries, being a growing sector, you could expect something close to Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 as pay packages for freshers. Overall , if you notice, the growth in sports sector will always be dependent on the size of an organisation.
When we talk about job opportunities, whether it’s Sports Management companies like IMG Reliance, SONY-ESPN, Star Sports; or Sports Event Management companies likeMarwah SPORTS, Procam; or Sports Development companies like EduSports, KOOH Sports, Sports Gurukul; they are all constantly on a look out for management trainees, assistant managers, operations/marketing/business personnel, and various other mid and senior level executives; apart from these Sporting federations and associations also scout for talented sports managers.
We are in a phase where the need has been carved and the resources to fill into those are shaping up too and that’s exciting.
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