Advice to those who want to work in sports

I’m a 3rd year M&A associate at a V10 firm in a major market. My goal has always been to work in sports, but I decided that I wanted to chase the BL money / experience first and then pivot. Ultimately, that was a mistake and I’ll likely never break into the field as a result. I’ve learned since entering practice that your law school experience, who you network with, and especially where you intern is determinant of 75% of sports law job placements.

If I could go back to law school, I’d network aggressively with pro sports attorneys and would’ve hunted like crazy for a 1L and 2L opportunity with a league or franchise’s legal team. Literally bookmark and check all of their websites weekly during 1L and 2L. There are legal internships with the vast majority of teams and leagues and no aggregator job board site is going to effectively capture them all for you to apply broadly.

Once you’re in practice, you’ll see that sports jobs don’t really become available in the first place and often don’t run real hiring processes when they do. You’ll likely be better positioned to land an entry role as a current intern than associates with 3-5 years of corporate generalist work at a law firm. Even if you have to start your career at a law firm, sports law jobs prioritize candidates who have previously worked / interned in sports. You’ll break in the door much easier being able to point to that experience when you interview down the line.

Also, life will eventually get in the way of your ability to relocate anywhere at any time to pursue these types of positions. Much better to set yourself up with internships / connections with teams / leagues in your preferred market early on than betting on your future significant other’s willingness to relocate to Oklahoma City.

TLDR - Put in the work during law school if you’d like to work in sports on day. It has a massive impact on your ability to break in later.