The FIFA World Cup™ Team You Don’t See

Hey, FC Academy, I'm Tiffany Stone.

I work at Coca‑Cola on the FIFA World Cup™ project team.

My role on the project team is focused on customer strategy and marketing.

I'm so excited to talk with you today about all the careers inside the world of sports.

There are so many different ways to get involved in this industry,

and my own career has allowed me to experience a bunch of them.

 

I played basketball in college, and after that,

I was able to combine my passion for sports with my business degree to break into sports marketing.

It took a while to land my first job.

I was applying for anything and everything I could find and I got so many rejection letters.

But eventually, I landed a role at a Major League Baseball team,

running promotions like you might see between innings at a game.

I found my way to working for a major brand that sponsored sports.

 

My career progressed into different sides of the sports marketing space,

and ultimately, I was able to unlock my current role with Coca‑Cola

on the FIFA World Cup™ project team.

We work with many different teams at Coca‑Cola,

focused on key areas like customer marketing, hospitality, venue operations, and finance.

 

I know, that's a lot of buzz words.

It's okay if you don't recognize all of them now.

 

But for me, working on FIFA World Cup™ is a once in a lifetime opportunity,

 

and there's so much to do in such a short amount of time.

Our office even has a countdown clock,

so we're hyper aware of how many days until the first match.

That's one of the cool things about being on a global event project team.

It's a time bound exercise and everyone has to come together to accomplish the goal.

 

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Earlier, my friend Curt, touched on some of the roles that are essential in the earliest stages of planning for a FIFA World Cup™.

But once the FIFA World Cup™ has been awarded, the fun really starts.

Sponsors get involved alongside their agencies,

brands begin to plan their campaigns like Coca‑Cola, Powerade, Dasani, and Core Power.

And the broadcast partners start to think about how they'll cover the tournament for fans watching at home.

The FIFA World Cup™ is huge.

So simply getting a lay of the land for how it comes to life will give you a good sense of a lot of the roles that exist in this industry.

And in this module, we'll also look at a wider array of roles.

I'll touch on a few in detail now.

 

First, governing bodies and leagues.

Governing bodies sounds fancy and serious, right?

But these are really just the entities responsible for organizing sports on a national and global scale,

like FIFA or NCAA, which you're probably familiar with.

They set the rules, organize competitions, and ensure fair play.

 

Leagues like Major League Baseball are responsible for the day-to-day operations

and the marketing for all of the professional baseball teams, not just one.

 

Next, teams.

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This is where I got my start.

You may not have thought about it, but your favorite sports team could also be a great place to work.

There are so many different kinds of roles.

From the in-game entertainment staff, the food vendors or security team,

people working at the team store, and more.

All of these are great opportunities to get started in sports.

 

Sponsors.

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We'll cover this one in a lot more detail in a later course,

but basically, sponsors and sports marketers are a big part of the industry.

They invest in teams or leagues for the opportunity to market directly to those teams' fans.

 

Media and broadcast partners.

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The streamers and networks who help the games reach you, the viewer, have their own specialized roles.

From the newsroom to the sideline reporters, and everything in between.

 

Agencies

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Marketing agencies work as support to many of the other organization types.

Planning campaigns for brands or athletes, creating content,

or even coming up with the fun events and experiences that you might see yourself at a stadium on match day.

 

Talent management and representation.

This is a really unique aspect to sports and entertainment.

So talent refers to the players themselves,

and management helps guide players' careers both on the field and in marketing.

As you can see, it takes many different kinds of teams  to pull off a major event like FIFA World Cup™.

 

If you're thinking about a career in the sports industry,

remember that it's very collaboration based,

you have to work really well with your partners to make things happen.

Hey, what are sports without a team, right?

When I worked as the Director of Sports Marketing, responsible for Coca‑Cola's

previous MLB sponsorship,

my role was to leverage our MLB partnership rights to drive growth in our sparkling brands, like Coke.

My day-to-day consisted of not only talking to my MLB partners across digital and social, legal, licensing, PR,

but then also making sure I was connected with some of our cross-functional partners at Coke.

 

The sports industry is all about relationships.

It requires creative problem solving, being responsive, collaborative, and being a good listener too.

The better relationship I had with Major League Baseball, the more value I could bring to Coke.

 

Okay, let's recap.

The sports industry is made up of tons of different leagues, teams, sponsors, agencies, talent management teams, and more.

Each organization offers a potential career path for you in many different roles at all levels.

Global events require outstanding communication and collaboration.

Everybody has to work together to be successful.

Now, you don't have to be a soccer fan to appreciate the power of FIFA World Cup™.

We'll talk about the event's cultural and social impact next.

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