• Jobs are opening up in the sports industry as teams expand and money flows into the industry.
• Excel Search & Advisory broke down some of the most in-demand senior positions in sports right now.
• Senior marketing jobs are hot, as are positions in women’s sports.

More jobs are opening up in sports as new and emerging leagues find their footing and private equity flows into the sector.

Sports teams, in particular, are creating more jobs. They’re looking for executives and senior staffers in key areas like marketing and revenue, Chad Biagini, president of Excel Search & Advisory, told Business Insider.

Excel Search & Advisory is the executive search arm of sports agency Excel Sports Management. The firm, previously called Nolan Partners, has been around for about 20 years. It helps sports teams, Olympic federations, and media companies fill senior leadership roles on and off the field.

Biagini broke down the most in-demand senior positions he’s seeing in sports right now and the best ways to land them.

Chief marketing officers are “essential” across sports right now, he said. Historically, most teams focused on fans in the local market where they played. Now, their fans can be worldwide. Marketing leaders are critical to this development.

Companies are increasingly turning to marketing talent from major consumer brands outside the industry, such as Airbnb, Marriott, and Microsoft.

“Sports teams more and more are realizing that they are media companies and that they are in a war of trying to get customers and revenue against other big brands, both in and outside of sports,” Biagini.

Demand is also growing for commercial and revenue chiefs and similar senior roles in sports, Biagini said. That can include leaders focused on areas like ticketing, partnerships, and experiences. Sports companies are finding talent for these roles in adjacent sectors, like media, entertainment, gaming, or even hospitality or consulting.

The recent flood of private equity into sports teams and other businesses is largely driving this emphasis on marketing, commercial, and revenue roles.

“As private equity comes into more sports teams, most of them are looking and recognizing, if we invest a certain amount of capital, we can significantly grow the valuation by investing and fueling the current success,” Biagini said.

The rise of women’s sports is creating a slew of new jobs

As women’s sports become more mainstream, the category is also creating more jobs.

“Women’s sports is hot right now, too,” he said.

Biagini has helped place C-suite executives at women’s teams in European soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League, and the WNBA. He’s also seen more general manager roles open up recently across the WNBA and coaching jobs in the NWSL.

Some of the growth is coming from expansion teams in these leagues and in soccer clubs in Europe, as well as other areas of women’s sports.

“That’s also creating a whole new slew of jobs,” Biagini said.

He said the rise of women’s sports is attracting new talent, too.

“A few years ago, attracting talent to that space wasn’t the same as it is,” said Biagini. “Now you have people hungry and eager and enthusiastic about moving into women’s sports.”

Sports teams lead in job growth

Looking across the industry, Biagini said he’s seen sports teams grow the most in terms of head count and overall compensation.

Biagini said he’s seen some league offices, meanwhile, start to cut back in some roles in the last 12 months, such as in their internal consulting and talent acquisition divisions. Sports media, he said, has been the hardest hit from a jobs-growth standpoint, as some roles are being outsourced to independent contractors, and the industry is facing competition from streaming and digital.

In the competitive world of sports, networking strength is it’s one of the most important skills job candidates could have.

“Build relationships with people,” said Biagini. “Relationships don’t go well if you’re only asking them for favors and you’re not actually investing back. The best relationships are ones where people invest in each other.”