Want to get into college sports business? Try to solve one of these problems

Good morning, and thanks for continued support of Extra Points.

One of the most rewarding things about my job is getting to talk to college students.

I speak to sports media, sports management and sports businesses classes on a regular basis. Beyond discussing the nitty-gritty of NIL, college sports reform, realignment, open records procedures, and of course, plenty of questions about college sports video games, students regularly ask what sort of advice I’d give to anybody looking to get into the industry.

I try to be candid and blunt with college students about this. Sports media is an absolutely brutal industry these days, and sports business and administration isn’t that much better. Not only is the job security nonexistent, the hours unpredictable and the pay lousy, but even entry level jobs are often highly, highly competitive.

While this is more true for media jobs than administrative gigs, I tell students that who you know sadly will often matter more than what they know. I speak to classes at regional public schools far more often than I do at elite private schools…and I tell those students that when they apply for highly competitive gigs, the truth is, they’re already going to be at a big disadvantage.

The best advice I can offer, I think, would be to try and solve a problem in the industry, rather than just toss your resume into the pile and hope that your internship with the Sports Information Department will set you apart. Find a pain point in your industry and work to get the experience or knowledge needed to address it.

In college sports, I think a lot of energy, talent and capital have been thrown at trying to solve problems related to NIL. That makes sense…it’s still a relatively new phenomenon, it impacts hundreds of institutions, it was buzzy enough to attract fundraising, and the barrier to entry for a consulting company/agency/software firm wasn’t impossible.

I’m pretty skeptical about the growth prospects and long-term health of a lot of the NIL Industrial Complex at this point. But after writing this newsletter for the last four years, I've become more bullish about other problems that could use the attention of smart operators and entrepreneurs.

This is not an exhaustive list, of course, and many of these problems are being addressed in some capacity. But if some enterprising 20-year-old is reading this, or anybody else interested in a career in sports business, maybe there’s an opportunity here that might inspire you.

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