We sat down with the high profile team behind Sport Calling, the sport business school bought to you by Sport Collective, the successful boutique sports marketing agency, to hear about the school, it’s ambitions and what makes it stand out in an increasingly competitive scene of professional development in sports business.
Sport Collective and Sport Calling were founded by The English Football Association’s two most senior former commercial executives Peter Daire and Sean McAuliffe. With vast experience of sourcing, negotiating and managing global, high value, complex commercial agreements they are a team that truly understand the business of sport, from the grass roots up. The opportunity Peter and Sean saw was to leverage this practical leadership from Sport and provide a unique and modern education to support those looking to build a career in sport business. From brokering major stadium naming rights partnerships to developing participation programmes and digital engagement strategies, every aspect of sport business is covered.
We have developed Sport Calling to be the best and most relevant direct training for people who want to get into and excel in sport business. We aim to enable every current or potential sport business professional to find their passion and advance their career. We believe a career in sport should be accessible to all that work hard for it and our aim is to remove the mystique and open doors for those that engage with us.
We aim to enable every current or potential sport business professional to find their passion and advance their career.
We offer live workshop based training for businesses and online course training for individuals. Our business clients range from major confederations such as UEFA to sports agencies such as SMG Insight. All of our courses are run with a global perspective by experts who work in the sport industry today and all our training includes mentoring and support during and after every course.
Firstly, we are passionate about sport and sport business and we wanted to be able to pass on our knowledge and expertise. We hear constantly about people who want to break into sport but don’t know how or those that are inside but have limited knowledge about anything outside of their specific role. Also, we hear from those who have spent a lot of time and money on academic courses that haven’t delivered what they thought they would.
Our online course Break Into Sport can be undertaken in your own time, around a week or two to cover everything. It looks at each of the key disciplines such as broadcast, sponsorship and athlete management but also has sections on personal development, how to approach employers and construct a killer letter and CV. There are videos to follow and downloadable notes, information and some exercises to try out. The overall purpose is to be insightful, thought provoking and inspirational. It gives you first-hand, up-to-date knowledge to make you sound like a seasoned pro and key career advice that will give you the edge over your peers and help you to fulfill your potential.
The key difference is that we are not academics, we work in the business of sport today and we share our expertise and experience in the most effective and efficient way to achieve results. We know that most people are time poor and want to upskill quickly – we think our Break Into Sport course addresses this and the quality of the content is second to none.
This is live, workshop based, training at our central London venue or at our clients premises. Our clients are agencies, federations or any business with a sport function. Each day course is bespoke to meet requirements with the objective being to upskill employees and give them a more comprehensive knowledge of the industry or specific topics within it. Plus it’s a chance to get a team together, challenge, create debate and have some fun too.
We think people shouldn’t have to pay vast sums to learn about sport business anymore. For many, skills are transferable, so we support and encourage that mindset and build self-confidence. For those who want it, it can be a relatively quick process, once it is demystified. Also, despite what you may be told, digital transformation is still in its infancy in sport. Therefore, younger entrants into the industry, who are digital natives, bring their own experience and can add value immediately.
The biggest change is actually the biggest opportunity, which is obviously great news. Employers are no longer looking for talent from within the industry only. The net is now being cast far and wide so it’s all about taking your own talents and applying them in a way that is interesting and enticing to employers. Someone who has a sales focused or an analytical mind but doesn’t work in sport today is still very relevant to certain disciplines within sport. We can help make those skills become relevant and be used in a way that enables you to find the most suitable role. Employers are looking for skills, personality and drive not merely ‘where have you worked before?’
Younger entrants into the industry, who are digital natives, bring their own experience and can add value immediately.
Well #1 is obviously sign up for the Break Into Sport course and let us help you directly - learn from people who work in the industry today. Aside from that, the simplest thing anyone can do, which a surprising number still do not, is follow sport business news on a daily basis and form opinions on what you read. Being an opinion former in an interview helps you to stand out from the crowd, show some initiative. Take responsibility for your own learning and follow those who you respect, learn from them. Next to that is to show your passion for sport. This industry is passionate about people who love sport and who can clearly demonstrate it, in whatever form that may come.
Find more great articles to learn about the sports industry on our Learn: Knowledge Hub
Check out our unique sports industry video interviews and insights.
