How to Fix the Top 3 Pain Points in Sports Front Offices
Working in the front office of a professional sports teams has many ups and downs. I have worked in front offices for sports teams and had numerous colleagues, friends, and acquaintances who have worked in the highest leagues including NBA, WNBA, MLS, NFL, NHL, and more. However, I have seen a pattern in the pain points at each of these levels.
There are similarities in problems professional and semi-professional teams and leagues deal with on a daily basis.
Meeting Overload. There are so many meetings scheduled that a front office sometimes doesn’t have time to deal with their actual workload until well into the afternoon or evening. Why are there so many meetings scheduled?
Even before the pandemic, meetings were scheduled not only for a person’s specific department, but inter-departmental meetings as well. From discussing how to market a game to team travel to ticket sales and corporate sponsorships, meetings were constant. This was only ramped up during the pandemic when meetings were scheduled on Zoom back-to-back-to-back.
On top of constant meetings, which seem to be the norm in most industries these days, front offices also have games and appearances they must attend. How is someone expected to attend all these events and meetings, and actually do a great job at their actual work?
Before I worked in a front office for a professional sports team, I worked in a multinational company where I managed a team in India while I was HQ’d in the United States. It was my first time managing a team and I wanted to make sure I did it right. I studied up on managing people and managing time. When I started to speak with my team I realized they were concerned about the same things - 1. They didn’t feel empowered to make decisions on their own because they were never trained & 2. They didn’t have enough time to complete their work during their regularly scheduled work time.
This was stressful for me and for them. I analyzed and strategized with them and ended up reworking some job duties, trained them on their duties thoroughly, and empowered them to make decisions on their own, or at the very least come to me with questions and answers. We ended up saving 108 hours annually that would have otherwise be spent in meetings that didn’t actually achieve anything tangible. My team felt empowered and capable of completing tasks without additional meetings and they had enough time to get everything done because of the training they received and the reworking of their job duties. I was left to work on the high-level tasks that needed my attention and we functioned as a well-oiled and efficient machine.Inter-departmental Communication. Too often I hear front offices not knowing what other departments are doing. This can cause miscommunication and bottlenecks that are time consuming and can negatively affect budgets and revenues. Not to mention, this type of miscommunication can cause friction in the front office and create a tense work environment.
Creating clear lines of communications along with policies and procedures that clearly lay out workflows is essential to a smooth communication system in the front office and beyond. I created policies and procedures for everything from how to create press releases and get them to the media to contract review and drafting procedures. When processes are clearly laid out, taught throughly, and followed precisely, communication becomes clear, and that is great for the bottom line. Working in sports is supposed to be fun too, right?Time Management. Many people have never been trained on how to effectively, productively, and efficiently work from home. Most companies sent their employees to work from home and expected it to be a seamless transition. Because, hey, aren’t you just taking your work from one place to another? Shouldn’t be hard, right? Absolutely wrong. If the pandemic has shown us anything, it is that many people love the idea of working from home, but they don’t know how to do it well. Being able to work from home actually requires a unique set of skills that many people don’t inherently have.
Studies have shown that not understanding how to manage your time leads to overwhelm, burnout, anxiety, and depression. However, a few trainings on the top tips on how to effectively and efficiently work from home can not only produce happier employees, but more productive employees. A few tweaks and a bit of education on the things that work and don’t work can exponentially increase morale, productivity, and efficiency.
The good news is that you do not have to reinvent the wheel for any of these things. My strategic sports consulting business already has the tools and trainings in place to address each of these issues in an effective and efficient manner for you. If you or your company are interested in learning more about the services I offer and booking a call with me, please email yourpotentialforeverything@gmail.com.
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About the Author:
Alex holds a BBA in Marketing and a JD from Texas A&M University and Texas A&M University School of Law, respectively. She has been an in-house counsel for a famous sports family, a multinational company, various startups, and most recently, a professional sports team. She has also led marketing, public relations, sponsorship generation, negotiation of media deals, and negotiation of various contracts including employment contracts for professional athletes, NDAs, and sponsorship deals.
She also has a creative bug and has worked remotely for USA TODAY Sports Media Group's NFL Wire sites since 2016 as a journalist, content producer, voice over & on-camera personality. She provides her unique perspective on all things NFL including national anthem policies, sports betting, DE&I, and was the first female to be hired by the NFL Wire sites. Alex was also selected to sit on an esports Board of Directors and chairs the Legal & Governance Committee and is the first woman to hold either position.