A question often asked by students considering a career in the football and sports industry is: ‘What is Sports Business?’
The term sports business refers to any off-field role related to managing or facilitating sports. It incorporates a number of positions specific to the football and sports industry, including sponsorship, broadcasting and athlete management.
But working in sports business offers a broader scope than this, including working with and employing others in roles that companies from other industries have in order to maximise profit.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with UCFB, Giuilia Zecchini, who works in Commercial Business Intelligence at Formula 1, said: “You have a PR & communications teams, you’ll have design teams, salespeople, a social media team. People like me that are looking at data analytics from a commercial side.”
She added: “There’s just so many roles that sometimes you forget exist and you can’t even imagine them existing in the sporting world, but you have to think of any sporting entity as a normal business. Even the people who work in finance, the lawyers, the procurement team, every role needs to be filled out to be able to run a business, and so the opportunities are endless.”
While individuals and organisations within sports business operate like any other industry, there are numerous benefits that are unique to working in football and sport. For example, the industry offers an unrivalled sense of community through supporters and industry professionals alike, whilst the opportunity to work with high profile athletes, and the heightened attention from the Press and Media also provide an array of networking opportunities.
Whether it’s via media, marketing, finance or stadium & events management, there are many different pathways for students to forge a career within the multi-billion-pound sector.
In addition, UCFB’s Global Institute of Sport has developed a number of pioneering Master’s programmes for those already working in the industry to propel their career. Courses cover a range of subjects, including: football business, digital marketing and international sport management.
