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A career in sports business management is great for individuals who are interested in athletics and entrepreneurship. The industry is expected to grow by 22% within the next decade, making it extremely viable in terms of job opportunities and growth.While having a career within the field will often entail a substantial background in business management, there are practical and soft skills that you will also need to become successful. Experience is one of the best ways of honing these capabilities and esports can give you the training. This side of sports might not be what comes to everyone’s minds in terms of learning the ins and outs of sports management, but it can teach necessary skills needed in the industry.Here are just some of the things aspiring sports management professionals can learn from esports:
Good communication skills
Communication is vitally important in sports management. In this field, you'll be working with a team and be in charge of contacting different athletes and corporations. You'll need to have the right set of communication skills to gain successful partnerships and be clear on what the goals of these collaborations might be.
Our past article on ‘Esports and Career Readiness’ explains how being on an esports team means having to work with multiple communication platforms, sometimes at the same time, to win games and campaigns. As a sports business manager, effectively conveying your team’s brand and reaching your audience is an important aspect of gaining support. This can help translate into crafting successful partnerships as a sports management professional.
Interpersonal relationship building
As mentioned above, there is a certain aspect of relationship building that is essential in the industry. With esports, you will have to learn to properly work with members of the team to become successful. This means being able to build good relationships with them to get the best synergy possible. You will also need to maintain a rapport with other esports players, your team managers, and followers of your organization. Within sports management, this is important since you will need to create good connections with the people you are handling, your target audience, and possible sponsors. Being able to hone this skill early on will ensure that you will be a capable worker even if you are new to the industry.
Analytical thinking
Analysis plays a huge part in both esports and sports management. A study published in PLOS One found that developing analytical skills to create tactics and plays was very important when it came to an esports player’s performance. In order to develop these tactics data has to be acquired and analyzed, a trend that is happening across all sports.
This is why data analytics is one of the foundational concentrations in Maryville University’s sports business management program. Data analytics in sports helps inform every aspect of the industry, from team performance to fan experience. This will help you give clients the right advice to further their business, create better decisions, and make better innovations within the industry. Through esports, your analytical thinking skills will give you the tools to understand what to do with the information given and plan successful strategies in a timely way.
Creativity
When playing tactical games, there is a certain amount of creativity needed to be able to adapt and defeat opponents. Research printed in Open World Learning found that games have been successful in helping players develop their capabilities of thinking outside the box and finding unique solutions to problems.
This is a skill that can be applied in a sports management career since you will be able to create innovative strategies that have great payoffs. This can also aid in the advertising side of the industry since you will be able to make a campaign that has the potential to stand out from the competition through creativity. Being part of an esports team hones this skill since you will face challenges that require imagination to overcome.If you are an esports player looking to go into sports management, you should look to improve the above skills. Sports management is a highly rewarding industry that will benefit from your skill set.Learn more about esports and how you can get involved on the ,Vanta homepage.
Riva Jayce is a freelance writer by day and an esports enthusiast at heart. She loves to keep up with many pro and amateur teams– especially in the FPS scene. When she isn't working, she likes to unwind by playing Valorant or Apex with friends.