Has anybody worked on the business side of either leagues? There’s a Strategy role that I’ve been eyeing for the NBA. Id like to learn a bit more or the culture and what the pay is like? TC: $170 Yoe: 2.5
Depends, seems cool though
Yes I have worked at 3 professional teams in 2 different leagues. Pay is awful. You will be shocked. With less than 10 years of experience, don’t expect anything more than 150K. Culture can be hit or miss depending on what time you are on, like any company. Perks can be really nice at the team level because you get free game tickets, but also concert tickets at the arenas/stadiums.
Haven’t heard the best things in terms of pay relative to other strategy roles for your YOE. Not sure which strategy team the role you were looking at is for, which makes the biggest difference
After my stint at JPMorgan, I have worked for the owners of 2 sports teams (NFL and Premier League) as well as a sports conglomerate (MLS, NHL and NBA) in quantitative leadership roles (strategy, analytics, business analysis) Culture: As a former college athlete who was used to finance “bro” culture, the culture was similar. If you can tolerate that, you’ll like it. Compensation: It depends on who runs the business ops side. On the one hand, if the person who started from the bottom at minimum wage washing jerseys when he/she was in college and lucked out over the years by knowing the right people and thus getting promoted up to President of Business Operations, that leader will always choose to keep salaries low. On the other hand, if you manage to work directly for owners or have managers who came from highly paid outside industries like MAANG, consulting, or IB like I did, usually you’ll be compensated over $175K in tech oriented leadership (Director +) roles and in major metro markets. You’d be hard pressed to find that kind of salary outside of major metro markets in sports (I’ve seen the budgets) whenever I did due diligence on teams that were for sale or looking for capital infusion. I’ve left the industry after Covid hit the industry. My personal opinion is this: sports is fun to watch, but not worth it knowing that there are far better paying opportunities in other industries. Look elsewhere and be paid more.
I hear it bounces around a lot