by Olivia Rinaldi

Breaking into the sports industry is no longer as straightforward as it once seemed.

With internship opportunities shrinking and competition growing, students are increasingly being pushed to rethink how they build careers in sports--leaning on networking, transferable skills and nontraditional experiences to stand out. During a TeamWork Online session, hosted by the Sports and Society Initiative, founder Buffy Filippell taught Ohio State students how to better position themselves for opportunities in the industry.

“We're going to give you all these little tricks that are on Teamwork so that you can just be out there better than anybody else,” Filippell said. “Moving up on the jobs and making sure that you're getting the right ones.”

Filippell emphasized that standing out in the industry is not only about gaining experience, but also about how students present that experience to employers. For former high school athletes, she said, highlighting the skills developed through sports participation can be especially valuable.

“Employers value someone who has been around sport. You learn competitiveness, coachability, teamwork, discipline, time management --all of those skills around sport,” Filippell said. “You have a familiarity with it, and you know that there are going to be times where it is going to be tough to do.”

Using the TeamWork Online platform, Filippell demonstrated how artificial intelligence can help students identify and translate previous experiences into relevant skills for sports industry jobs.

“When you see a job posted on Teamwork, it has three major skills. It's because AI has read it and said, ‘these are the major skills,’” Filippell said. “Most times it's saying, ‘How many years of experience is the differentiation? How do you match yourself to those skills?’ Use the AI button right here and press this to be able to have AI read what you have written and assign you the sports skills.”

As competition within the industry increases, traditional entry points are becoming more limited. Filippell said internship opportunities in sports have been cut in half compared to previous years, while part-time positions have increased significantly.

Rather than focusing exclusively on securing a sports-specific role immediately, Filippell encouraged students to gain experience in a variety of settings.

“So don’t worry that I don’t have a sports background right now. You can get them a little bit later,” Filippell said.

Filippell also stressed the importance of networking, describing it as one of the most effective ways for students to break into the sports industry.

“Networking, so meeting people, sharing who you are, what you have to offer, basically just extend your hand and say, ‘I'll do it. I'll do it right. I'll do that,’” Filippell said.

Beyond networking, Filippell highlighted the wide range of opportunities available across the sports industry, encouraging students to look beyond traditional team-focused roles.

“There are close to 9,000 positions. You are at an amazing time in the sports business to be able to have so many different opportunities,” Filippell said.

As the sports industry continues to evolve, students entering the field may need to rethink what it means to be qualified — focusing less on landing a single internship and more on building transferable skills, making connections and finding new ways to stand out.