Mining for Partnerships in the Sports Industry

The Work in Sports Podcast - Insider Advice for Sports Careers

When VP of Content and Engaged Learning Brian Clapp speaks with recruiters in the sports industry, they say without hesitation that partnership sales jobs are the hardest to fill. With TV contracts providing a dependable income stream and ticket sales having a built-in cap of seating capacity, corporate partnerships represent a spot to continue growing revenue within professional and college sports.

Previous WorkInSports Podcast guests making their name in this area include the Pittsburgh Penguins' Luke Mohamed, the Vegas Golden Knights' Alain Monroy, and today's guest, the San Francisco 49ers' Riley Danford.

Danford, the 49ers' Sr. Manager of Partnership Sales, followed the roadmap Brian preaches. He volunteered in his athletic department during college and gained diverse experience. During his undergraduate at Oregon, Danford served as a student intern in UO's athletic communications department for four years, spent three years as a television broadcast assistant, and was the athletic communications contact for the Ducks' men's and women's tennis programs as a senior.

While his experience was in communications and broadcasting as a student, Danford transferred those external skills into a job with the San Diego Padres right out of college as an Account Executive (Membership Development). He was part of a team that earned accolades from the Sports Business Journal as MLB's top-ranked season ticket sales staff.

After two years with the Padres, Danford spent a year with the 49ers in Business Development for the newly opened Levi's Stadium before shifting into partnerships with the San Jose Sharks. Three years later, he completed the professional sports career cycle (working for teams in MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA) when he returned to Oregon as the Portland Trail Blazers' Sales Manager for Corporate Partnerships. On today's podcast episode, Danford speaks with Clapp about:

• How his undergraduate experience led to getting hired by an MLB franchise right after graduating.
• What the differences and similarities are working in sales across four different sports.
• What hiring managers look for when looking for talent in partnership sales.
• How vital teamwork is to succeed in partnership sales jobs.