Breaking In

When it comes to finding a career in the world of sports, the general rule of thumb seems to be quite simple: if you’re lucky enough to get your foot in the door, check your ego before you enter.

The professional sports industry is one of the most competitive in the nation and offers an array of highly coveted positions to recent college graduates. The trend toward youth in front offices has been spurred by a bevy of new ownership that has teams functioning more like corporations than ever before. Perhaps even more glaring is the prevalence of Ivy League degrees on the walls of general managers, executive vice presidents, and owners alike.

“Certainly going to an Ivy League school is a status symbol, and maybe it gives you a little bit of credibility,” said Phillip Wallace, former special projects analyst for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and CC ’04.

The credibility discerned from a designer diploma has certainly helped Theo Epstein, former Yalie and current general manager and senior vice president of the Boston Red Sox. Epstein’s personnel management has been highly lauded after his team won the World Series in 2004 for the first time in 86 years. New England houses another team whose success has been led by an Ivy grad, as the Patriots’ three recent Super Bowl rings have come under the ownership of business mogul Robert Kraft. Kraft graduated from Columbia College in 1963 before receiving an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1965.

There are many, however, who assert that graduating from an Ivy League institution offers little to no advantages when applying for positions in front offices. Take Thomas Gorman, CC ’04. Gorman worked for Baseball Prospectus immediately out of college and currently serves as a paralegal for Foley & Lardner, a law firm which offers legal counsel to Major League Baseball regarding the Mitchell investigation on steroids. Gorman believes that while some employers look favorably upon Ivy League graduates, others view them under a rather negative light.

“Some people are impressed with a good education and a good degree,” Gorman said. “They value that. They want a smart, intelligent, young person who can help them do their job better. I find, however, that often there is a prejudice against the Ivy League, against kids with strong academic reputations.”

Wallace agrees with this notion. “I think the Ivy League label is overrated,” he said. “We have fantastic employees who went to schools all around the country. Once you walk through the door, no one cares where you went to college. They care what you’ve done for me lately and what you’re going to do next.”

Wallace also explained how sometimes the Ivies can be a deterrent, as the priority is often given to education over career. “Sometimes it’s difficult for me when I hear Columbia students are interested in an internship,” he said. “They can’t leave school because they’re invested in their academics through May. It seems like you’re squeezed in a bit of a window.”

According to Gorman, Ivy League students are preceded by their reputations, as many employers think they are either overqualified or overconfident for such positions.

“I’ve certainly met people that felt that with my education I was ill-suited for entry-level jobs, that I wouldn’t be willing to work hard at the internship level, that I would feel entitled to certain things,” Gorman said. “They wanted go-getters who were willing to work from the ground up, and they thought that an Ivy Leaguer would never be able to do that.”

It is certainly true that an Ivy diploma is not required to gain entry to the sports world, or even to rise to the upper echelons of the industry. Of the four commissioners of the major American sports, only one matriculated at an Ivy: Gary Bettman, Cornell graduate and commissioner of the NHL. And of the other three, only one other went to an Ivy League graduate school. That was David Stern, who received his law degree from Columbia after graduating from Rutgers.

But while major sports leagues do employ people with diverse educational backgrounds, in Stern’s words, “The Ivy League is very well represented.” This could be because while the brand name education gives no particular edge, it does offer certain opportunities.

According to Gorman, the most important aspects of an Ivy education are the contacts and networking opportunities available. “So much of business—not just in sports, but in any career—is knowing people and networking, getting your name out there, meeting the right people, passing your resumé from one person to another until it gets in front of the right person,” he said.

And of all the Ivies, Columbia offers a particular advantage, being situated in New York. The city not only houses the headquarters of the NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL, it is also home to the most teams and the largest media outlet in the country. “Just strictly on location,” Wallace said, “there are more opportunities to work in sports in New York than there are in any other city. It is a huge advantage.”

In recent years Columbia has also led the Ivy League in innovative programs that offer a master’s degree in sports management. The part-time program trains students for a variety of positions in the industry, with classes in everything from sports marketing to sports statistics. The value of such programs, however, has yet to be fully assessed.

“It’s an interesting perspective,” Stern said. “We don’t limit ourselves to people who graduate from such courses, but I think that they’re more helpful than not.”
Gorman is careful not to overestimate the importance of such degrees, stating that while they provide a good starting point, they don’t provide a fast track to the top of the field. “I think some people go into a sports management program thinking that it will do a lot of other things for them,” he said. “In terms of being a part of a front office, those sports management programs often have a good mainline, either through alumni or through recruiting programs. But I don’t think that those types of programs are good for making the next Theo Epstein.”

Like Epstein, however, any potential employee must have prior work experience, no matter how menial the job. Before he was enjoying the view of Fenway Park from his executive skybox, Epstein was standing behind home plate at PETCO Park counting pitches for the San Diego Padres.

“There are so many applicants for so few jobs that anybody with any sort of background obviously has a leg up,” said Gorman. “You differentiate yourself from the pack by having experience, by knowing people in the game that can vouch for you, and by offering something unconventional that other people can’t do.”
Currently, the most sought-after skill in professional sports is proficiency in a foreign language. With ever-expanding markets in Asia and Latin America, having Spanish or Japanese on a resumé is a big plus.

And it’s just a matter of time until the sports world taps into the powerful labor force in China. In fact, this past January, the New York Yankees agreed to send coaches, scouts, and trainers to the Far East to help build Chinese interest in baseball. In addition, the Bronx Bombers broke new ground in July by signing two Chinese players—the first players in history signed by a major league team with the approval of the Chinese Baseball Association. Thus, as Stern said, “Any foreign language is a good skill to have, but Mandarin is the hottest these days.”

And with the sports field as competitive as it is, college graduates must do whatever they can to distinguish themselves from the rest of the applicant pool. I suppose that begs the question—how do you say “Go Lions” in Chinese?