It is no secret that the country is in recession. It is also no secret that the country is going through an economic crisis. In fact, it is so well known that both presidential candidates have admitted it, and voters will decide who they think can best fix the problem. This is not an ideal situation for the country. The situation has had an adverse effect on the current job market. What is unknown is whether the current economic situation will affect jobs in the world of sports, especially in the National Basketball Association.
A good way to understand job opportunities in the NBA is to look at the actual number of jobs for NBA teams. In a Newsok.com article in August 2008, a breakdown of the jobs available in the NBA was described. As Mike Baldwin’s article reports:
-Basketball operations (jobs of 20 to 25 employees)
-Sales (jobs 12-20)
-Marketing (jobs 10-12)
-Transmissions (jobs 6-10)
– Guest relations, suite of services (jobs 4-8)
-Retention of season tickets (jobs 3-5)
-Input operations (jobs 3-4)
-Merchandising (jobs 4-7)
-Events and entertainment (Jobs 6-10)
-Relations with the community (jobs 4-6)
-Public relations (Jobs 3-5)
-Business development (jobs 6-10)
-Commercial operations (jobs 2-5)
-Information technology (works 2-4)
-Human resources (jobs 2-3)
-Financial work (3-5)
As the Baldwin articles show, there are approximately 90-140 head office jobs for each team. This is a very, very good number and it should be great news for job seekers. The large number of positions in each main office allows for a large number of openings for entry-level job seekers.
While the sheer number of jobs for each main office is a good thing, another recent article points to some bad news about jobs in the NBA. League Commissioner David Stern reports that nearly a total of 80 or 9 percent of jobs will be cut. As he puts it, “We made the decision a few months ago that the economy was going to be a little shaky, so we started to tighten our belts.” He added: “I guess by the time we get the notice in a week or so, we will have a modest drop in season tickets … We think we will increase revenue, but I can’t say for sure. Whether we will increase or decrease attendance because it very easy, because sports tickets are very disposable income. So we are not going to see a big impact, but I dare say we will see some impact. “
It’s clear that Stern accepts that the economic situation is affecting league jobs, but he’s generally not worried about it affecting the league in the long run. My advice to job seekers is the same. The current job market is affected, but given the large number of jobs (90-140) for each team (x 30 teams), there are still a large number (2700-4200) of openings available throughout the league. The only curveball I could see in the mix would be a lack of improvement in the economic situation during the next four years of the presidency. That, in turn, could have a long-term negative impact on the league.