As an athlete for most of my life, the world of professional sports has always fascinated me. Now, in college, the opportunity to step foot inside this industry is in my court. While the industry may seem big with so many leagues and teams, in reality, it is one of the toughest places to work with long hours and demanding workload.
With this reputation in mind, the balance of work and home life is difficult, but this difficulty is present in the lives of both men and women. At various sports business networking events over the past few months, I have been constantly reminded of this fact, especially how it could affect my time in the future with my family. I truly don’t believe that this emphasis would exist if I were a man.
The main misconception that I see women face in the sports industry is the expectations of department placement. The majority of people at these events seem to be surprised when I say that I don’t want to work in sports marketing. I have seen that, especially in the sports world, this profession is female-dominated. Whether it is the need for creativity or flexibility of these jobs, I am not sure why this is the case. But when thinking about the “expertise” needed for other parts of sports business, the common belief is that knowledge of the sport itself is necessary.
When I express interest in analytics or operations, I usually get “Oh wow, that’s even harder! Do you know the sport well?”. This infuriates me. I have plenty of knowledge about a variety of sports but there are plenty of men who work in the industry that don’t know about their respective sport until they start working. Professionals generally seem surprised when I try to have conversation about various topics in sports. I do look for female allies at these events, but they are few and far between, especially those who do work in my preferred field.
The sports industry is still a Boy’s Club, but this girl is ready to jump right in and join those who are already paving the way.