Breaking Into Sports: What It Actually Takes (From Someone Who's Sat on Both Sides of the Table)

By Matt Coy, VP of Experiences — CUENTO Marketing

I've been in this industry for 30+ years. I started as the kid trying to get his foot in the door, and I've spent the last couple decades as the guy on the other side of the desk, hiring, managing, building teams, and watching people rise and watching people stall out. I've seen every gambit there is, from both chairs. So let's talk about what it really takes.

The Job Boards Are Just the Starting Line

Yes, you need to be checking TeamWork Online. Yes, the NCAA job market is a real resource. But right now, LinkedIn is the best tool you have for finding open positions in sports. Follow the teams, follow the leagues, follow the people who work there. Turn on job alerts. That's step one, and it's the easy part.

Here's the part people skip: applying online is necessary, but it is not enough.

Every organization needs a digital record of your application, HR requires it, full stop, do it every time. But if that's the only thing you do, you're one name in a pile that can hit 300, 500, even 2,000 or 3,000 applications for a single job in sports. And here's the truth most applicants don't know: the hiring manager almost never sees that pile. HR runs it through a screening process, and maybe the top 5, 10, or if you're lucky, top 20 candidates actually land on the hiring manager's desk. That's it.

So the question isn't "did I apply?" It's "how do I make sure a human being with hiring power actually knows my name?"

Find the Hiring Manager. Make the Connection.

Do the extra work. Find out who's actually hiring for that role. Reach out. Tell them directly why you're the right fit. A LinkedIn message, a thoughtful email, a follow-up after you've applied, that's what separates you from the stack. Nobody gets a job in this industry just by hitting submit.

And don't be afraid to get creative about it. Send a handwritten note. Post something and tag the team's social account so they see it. Better yet, make a quick hype video on your phone, the kind of energy you see on the videoboard at the venue, and send it directly to the team or the hiring manager with a message that says: this is how much I want this. In today's world, effort like that gets noticed. A polished résumé won't always win. Passion that's impossible to ignore usually does.

Networking Isn't a Buzzword, It truly is the Whole Game

If you're in college, in an internship, in your first job, or hunting for your second or third, you should be networking constantly. Not just for landing the job, but for moving up once you're in it.

Are you working your school's sports teams right now? If not, why not? Go to the games. Find the camera operator, the PA announcer, the stage manager. Walk up to the press box and introduce yourself to the full-time staff. Tell them you want to work in sports. Tell them why you love it. People remember the person who showed up and asked genuine questions, they don't remember the résumé that sat in an inbox.

Volunteer at the local 5K. Work your towns art festival. Get on any live event you can find. Here's the uncomfortable truth about entry-level jobs in this business: a lot of those first coordinator roles, part-time gigs, and seasonal positions go to people who already have some live event experience, because this job is unique, it's demanding, and it rewards people who already know what game day chaos feels like.

And don't sleep on the online communities either. There are LinkedIn groups and Facebook groups built specifically for people in production, live events, and sports business. Instagram and TikTok have become real networking tools too, creators and industry pros connecting, sharing openings, building relationships. Use every channel available to you.

The "Guest Mentality"

Here's advice I give constantly: say yes.

Say yes to the job you're not totally sure about, it gets your foot in the door. Say yes to the job you actually want and are ready to pour everything into. And say yes to the opportunity you don't fully know how to do yet, because you're willing to put in the work to learn before day one. That mindset, showing up ready to earn it, is what separates people who get a second opportunity from people who don't.

What Hiring Managers Are Actually Wrestling With

From my side of the table: the online application process now asks candidates direct questions up front, salary expectations, long hours, weekends and holidays, and willingness to relocate sometimes without compensation for the move. Real considerations, and they matter. But here's what I've learned after doing this for decades: the job description might list five requirements, and the "perfect on paper" candidate might check three of them. Meanwhile, someone who checks two might have something the spreadsheet can't measure, passion, drive, and grit.

And in this business, that's what actually matters. Because working in sports means working every weekend, every holiday, missing weddings, missing birthdays, missing moments with the people you love. The hours are long and the schedule doesn't care about your personal life. But when you create a moment that a fan will remember forever, when you hear that crowd roar, when you watch someone experience something because of what you built, there's nothing like it in the world besides playing the game. That's the trade. And if you love this business the way it demands to be loved, it's more than worth it.

Don't Give Up

Breaking into sports is hard. It is not fair, it is not fast, and you will hit walls, including the wall of not even getting an interview after doing everything right. That's real, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

But every bit of drive you show, every follow-up, every event you volunteer for, every relationship you build, every ounce of effort you put into standing out, is being noticed by somebody, somewhere. Eventually it lands in front of the right hiring manager at the right time, and that effort is exactly what proves you have what it takes.

Keep applying. Keep networking. Keep showing up. This industry needs people who won't quit on it, because it just might be one of the best jobs in the world.

Matt Coy is VP of Experiences at CUENTO Marketing. He consults with sports teams, leagues, federations, and major events on fan experience strategy, assessment, and implementation. He also serves as a fractional VP of Game Presentation for select clients.