Job opportunities in the field of sports

The sports events project manager is the initiator of all the events and activities that his or her clients wish to organise. Colloquiums, conferences, conventions, inaugurations, sports events, he is in charge of designing the event, managing the logistics, obtaining authorizations and coordinating the implementation of these events on behalf of his clients.

He leads meetings with his clients, establishes the specifications, proposes means and tools to implement the event, coordinates the implementation of the project, proposes a communication plan.

On the day of the event, he is present throughout the event to ensure that nothing is left to chance and that he is reactive to unforeseen events.

The event project manager must be creative in his event offers. He or she must be organized, know how to anticipate risks and be reactive to unforeseen events.
He must master event techniques, know the regulations and be rigorous.
He is a good listener, capable of managing teams and various service providers.

The sponsorship manager’s mission is to consolidate and accompany existing sponsorships and to accompany sponsors while seeking new ones according to the objectives of his structure.
He has to convince companies to invest in order to allow a sporting event to take place, a club or a federation to grow and to finance projects. It is an essential position for the development of organizations.
Through sports sponsorship, the advertiser seeks to benefit from the image effects of its brand thanks to the values associated with the sport, particularly the team or the athlete. The sports sponsorship action can also be relayed internally for the purpose of cohesion and motivation of employees.

The sponsorship manager must have excellent interpersonal skills to manage direct contacts with clients.
He has negotiating skills and works with rigour and reliability.
It is important to have good interpersonal skills and knowledge of the sports world.

The sports marketing product manager monitors the economy, technology and regulations to keep abreast of new developments and market trends.
He designs market research and product tests, determines procedures and analyses the information gathered in order to identify the characteristics of a market in terms of opportunities/threats, strengths/weaknesses and more specifically via sports consumers.
He/she develops sales forecasts, defines and adjusts the positioning of products on the market, defines the communication strategy that accompanies the product and coordinates the creation of packaging elements.
Finally, he/she is in charge of the product launch, coordinates all the departments and service providers involved in its development, implements the marketing action plan and monitors sales.

The marketing product manager has a solid knowledge of the elements of the marketing mix: price, product, promotion, distribution as well as statistical tools and budget management.
He masters the environment and regulations of the sports sector.
He has a good understanding of the major market trends.
He/she is a team player, a resourceful and creative person.

The manager thus assumes the functions of strategic or operational manager. He is able to analyse the legal, financial, human and cultural context of the company. It advises on strategic directions, evaluates objectives and participates in their achievement.
He coordinates relations with the different actors of the sports sector: sponsors, private partners, representatives of public and private institutions.
Finally, his knowledge of the sports sector and his monitoring of innovation and sports news enable him to constantly adapt his strategies.

He/she is a good listener, must be able to make proposals and identify opportunities.
He is capable of managing teams as well as briefing service providers and leading meetings.
He has a good understanding of the major market trends.
It is important to have good interpersonal skills and knowledge of the sports world.
Mastery of the legal and institutional environment of sport in France and abroad

The merchandising manager designs the merchandising strategy and policy, analyses customer consumption patterns and sales volumes, monitors the competition, defines the main principles of visual identity and draws up an overall development plan.
He/she will develop and refine the development plan into merchandising actions for each product range in collaboration with the category managers, validate the POS and POP displays, manage the test phases and ensure that deadlines and budgets are respected.
He manages the merchandising team and monitors merchandising activity indicators.

He has a very good knowledge of the company’s products and strategic objectives. He/she is capable of managing and monitoring studies carried out by service providers (designers, marketing consultants) and has a good understanding of the merchandising strategies of competitors.
He acts with rigour and method in the conduct of a project. He demonstrates creativity and an ability to innovate, in order to design product displays that will encourage purchases.
He/she has a good sense of argumentation and an ability to present and defend a project in front of the general management.

He must know perfectly the products he sells, but also those on the market and those of the competition in order to inform his customers in the best conditions. He must monitor new trends and consumer needs in order to offer customers the most up-to-date sports products. He/she must manage a sales team, whose recruitment he/she supervises, which can be substantial depending on the size of the store in which he/she works. In particular, he manages the workshop technicians and department managers, with whom he works on a daily basis. He/she may have to cooperate with the purchasing manager of his/her company and with representatives of different sports brands.

This position involves considerable responsibility in management, business and finance.
He/she must be able to implement action plans and ensure that objectives are met in order to improve the company’s turnover.
Ability to manage working meetings.
Controlling merchandising and store inventory.

The stadium manager’s main task is to manage the stadium enclosure for which he is responsible. His goal is to make a profit and make this place profitable. He is the person in charge of the stadium, he will coordinate the renovations or works and the organization of events in the stadium. He is also involved in management, communication, sports equipment and sponsorship of the stadium as well as security, shops, restaurants and ticketing.
It implements projects to make it more attractive and to impact attendance and performance.
Before and during events (concerts, matches or conferences), he must ensure the safety of the public and high-level athletes in the venue.

This professional must be endowed with several indispensable qualities in the exercise of his profession such as: versatility and adaptability. He/she must have a good sense of organization and a strong ability to manage stress.
Finally, he must have an excellent knowledge of the world of sports and events.

The directors are responsible for defining priorities, budgets, sports objectives, and social and cultural objectives.
He will therefore mainly have to help elected officials to set up public policies in the field of sport.
In his activity, this professional works in close collaboration with sports associations, the leaders of the different leagues as well as with the managers of private sports facilities.
One of the most important issues for the Director of Sport is to make sport attractive and thus succeed in inviting potential private investors to invest in the development of projects.

The sports director is a highly responsible official. He or she must be able to deal with people, make concessions and therefore be a good negotiator. He must be able to lead a team and work in an ecosystem.
Be able to organize events and demonstrations.

The sports manager’s mission is above all to steer the economic development and promote the reputation of his sports structure, under the constraint of a specific budget and sporting results. He is also in charge of the administrative follow-up of his association: logistics, maintenance and cleanliness of the club, general state of the premises and its equipment.
The manager of a sports club is in charge of the contact with the professionals around him: partners, sponsors, representatives of institutions, teams.
He also participates in the recruitment strategy of the sports, technical, administrative and medical staffs, then supervises them to ensure their good coordination, by participating in the elaboration of their planning.

The manager in a sports club must be versatile.
He must have excellent theoretical, practical and cultural knowledge of sport.
Strong administrative, legal, economic and commercial management skills.

The sports marketing manager therefore represents a product or an event, which he or she must promote to perfection, thanks to an action plan drawn up after studying the market.
In addition, he or she is responsible for proposing the broad outlines of his or her company’s sales and marketing strategy. He establishes the study plan to collect information on the market, the needs and expectations of his customers and on the competition. He sets up operations to promote his product, such as advertising and manages communication in the media.
He also supervises the work of the various marketing teams, and designs a sales guide for the salespeople responsible for convincing customers. It is the pillar of a company’s marketing strategy.

To be a sports marketing manager, you obviously need to have an excellent knowledge of the sports world, to know the market and to be able to analyse it.
You need to master the techniques and tools of marketing, know how to manage and coordinate teams and be convincing.
The professional must be able to take initiatives, as well as be efficient and operational.