How To Get a National Stadium Job

National stadium jobs are dream jobs for many, so it’s good to know there has been significant growth in recent years. During the past two decades, sports venues around the United States have become massive revenue generators and employers. The initial price tag invested in these facilities is staggering, per one industry analysis:

• From 1980-1989, $1.5 billion was spent on major sports venues.
• Since 1990, more than $20.4 billion has been spent on major sports facilities, with $9.92 billion of that spent from 2000 forward.

Between 1990 and 2001, there was significant economic growth in the US, which fueled the building of new stadiums around the country. Collegiate and pro sports grew substantially over this period – as did competition between cities for teams. Premium seating arrangements were built into parks as team owners were looking for more revenue streams. Luxury season boxes and lifelong personal seat licenses gave owners the opportunity to bring in quite a bit of capital before the stadium or arena was even built.

Essentially, owners have been concerned with making sports facilities more sophisticated because that sophistication opens the path to greater revenue. The downside is that the sophistication has led to these facilities being much more expensive to build. The upside is that a more robust operations staff is necessary — so there are more national stadium jobs available.

National stadium jobs can be very competitive but also very rewarding. Many people love the prestige of going to a well-known stadium to work.

How Many Jobs Does a Stadium Create?

How many people are employed in the national stadium jobs of a typical NFL team? Here are the figures that Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis gave to the State of Nevada to get Allegiant Stadium political backing. Keep in mind that these are biased figures; nonetheless, they generally reveal the scope of these facilities as job producers:

• Annual economic impact on the state: $620 million
• Number of new temporary construction jobs: 18,700
• Number of new permanent jobs: 6000
• Average new job salary: $38,500

The Bay Area Council Economic Institute reported in 2017 that a privately funded new stadium for the Oakland A’s would generate $3.05 billion in economic gains for local businesses and residents. It is extremely difficult to find statistics on employee numbers for typical Major League Baseball teams. However, we can look directly at one of them as an indicator: the New York Yankees organization employs 1613 people currently, according to the business information site ZoomInfo. Suffice it to say that there are many thousands of national stadium jobs.

NFL & MLB Stadium Jobs

Whether you want to get into football or baseball, the types of stadium jobs that will be available are similar. Sports teams will hire other professionals, such as front-office salespeople and specialists in marketing and law. However, many national stadium jobs – whether they are in leadership or “in the trenches” – have to do with operations, so that will be our focus in this overview.

Here are common jobs that you can find in sports stadiums:

Engineering & building maintenance jobs – Individuals with these positions help make sure the stadium is safe for operation through maintenance and engineering. Plus, these professionals convert the stadium over for different types of use.

Concession jobs – These jobs are entry-level opportunities for sports fans to be a part of their local team. They also can offer an exciting atmosphere in which you can make friends in the industry. However, this work is seasonal and often part-time.

Guest relations event staff – Ticket takers/checkers, ushers, information representatives, club-level entrance monitors, and greeters are all part of guest relations. These positions are critical in ensuring that VIP event guests, suite owners, and other club-level patrons have their customer service needs met.

Facility security jobs – Security officers watch over the facility and restrict access. They guard against unauthorized entry, vandalism, theft, and fire, along with reporting any incidents that occur. Plus, they greet fans and give them directions.

Facility manager jobs – The facility manager works with team leadership, the marketing department, accountants, and external consultants to ensure the stadium is profitable through innovative strategies.

Facility night manager – These national stadium jobs handle scheduling, budgeting, organization, and planning of each event. They lead the custodians working late into the night following games. They manage the changeover.

Event coordinator or event manager – This role answers directly to the director of event operations. Your responsibility is to manage and organize all events at the facility that are not team-related.

Director of operations jobs – This leadership role ensures that all the pieces of operations are ideally integrated. The director hires and fires operations personnel.

VP of operations jobs – This position is tasked with delivering the best possible service to fans and teams. To this end, the role oversees all operations functions and stadium business.

Crowd management jobs – These national stadium jobs have a number of core responsibilities: verify that people are entering and exiting the stadium through the correct doors; ensure that all attendees are safe at all times; and be concerned that fans have a fun, comfortable time. Plus, it helps boost your value within the organization to consider how revenue could be expanded by better leveraging the crowds that attend games.

Sports media professionals – Beyond the stadium operations jobs offered by MLB or NFL franchises, you can get a job with a media outlet – as a sports writer, photojournalist, or producer, for example. Sports producers are centrally focused on keeping an audience entertained while operating at a technical level that exceeds broadcasting standards. A TV producer must meet those needs while organizing the various pieces of a telecast. They must organize graphics, select replays, build out athlete stories, and choose graphics in collaboration with the sports director.

How to Get A Job In A National Stadium

How do you get these coveted positions?

Get educated. Some stadium jobs do not require a college diploma. However, if you want positions with more authority, the basic track is to start with a sports management degree. While other degrees can be highly relevant to sports careers, such as ones in sports nutrition and marketing, sports management is the most obvious choice.

Work for a team or in the athletic department. Get as much experience as you can at your university.

Land an internship. Get an internship, and work at it like you would a full-time position.

Expand your skills. Become good in many different areas applicable to the national stadium jobs you want. Do not just be the master of a single specialty.

Connect. No matter what national stadium jobs interest you the most, you need to make connections. At JobsInSports.com, we offer the premier sports industry network. Join our network of 14,000+ professionals for FREE today.