Interesting article last week in the New York Times about the recession hitting those who dream of a career in sports management. An area which traditionally has taken advantage of people willing to work for peanuts in exchange for the privilege of working near the glow of famous athletes is tightening the belt even tighter, as the supply of experienced GM-wannabes dwarfs dwindling open positions as money spent on sports shrinks.
As I had written in a previous post, I had once dreamed about a career in sports management myself, until reality set in. The truth is that there are so precious few slots available to be the next Pat Gillick, Theo Epstein, Rod Thorn or Lou Lamoriello. If you want to be a GM, you need to have a combination of expertise in scouting, contract law, and finance to navigate through the collective bargaining and salary cap labyrinths. Winning your fantasy football league (as I have done) doesn't mean that you qualify for that position. And the vast majority of positions are far less glorious, and usually involve grunt work and menial analyst-like paper-pushing. Think of it as an entry level job at a bank, except at 75% less pay - I only know this because many years ago, a friend of mine bought me a gag gift of a one-month subscription at at sports job recruiting website.
But I do admire those who hold steadfast to their dreams of a job in sports. If you're willing to accept the downside risk, why not go for it?
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