Manager, Sports Partnerships

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Manager, Sports Partnerships
UEG is currently looking for a Manager to support our UEG Sports rights and partnerships business segment. This individual will play an integral role in growing the business by delivering a high level of client service, strategic thinking, relationship management, and executional excellence across sports partnerships and activations.
The Manager will own key workstreams and day-to-day client and partner interactions, helping translate client business objectives into compelling sports marketing strategies and programs. This person will work closely with senior account leadership, clients, rights holders, agencies, and internal teams to bring partnerships to life while proactively identifying opportunities to strengthen our clients' businesses and grow their presence within sports and culture.
Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
Manage projects and key workstreams from strategic development through execution and launch, ensuring programs are delivered on time, on budget, and at a high level of quality.
Develop a strong understanding of clients' businesses, marketing objectives, audiences, and partnership portfolios to help identify strategic and creative opportunities within the sports landscape.
Serve as a day-to-day client contact across assigned accounts and workstreams, building trusted relationships and providing proactive, solutions-oriented counsel.
Manage relationships and ongoing communication with rights holders, leagues, teams, properties, talent representatives, agencies, vendors, and other external partners.
In collaboration with internal teams and agency partners, develop activation and content ideas that effectively integrate brands into sports and authentically communicate key brand messages to target audiences.
Translate client objectives and project briefings into clear work plans, timelines, deliverables, roles and responsibilities, and budget parameters, maintaining alignment across internal and external stakeholders.
Lead day-to-day execution of partnership activations and programs, anticipating challenges, identifying solutions, and ensuring seamless completion of deliverables.
Develop and manage client-facing materials including presentations, recommendations, status reports, activation plans, partnership evaluations, dashboards, recaps, and other strategic documents.
Support the development of account plans, partnership strategies, activation recommendations, and client proposals, bringing forward proactive ideas that create additional value for clients.
Monitor client budgets and project financials, understanding scopes, pricing structures, budget parameters, and potential over-service while partnering with account leadership to maintain financial discipline.
Maintain a strong understanding of clients' competitors, relevant categories, consumer trends, and developments across sports, media, entertainment, and culture, proactively translating insights into implications and opportunities for clients.
Conduct research and analysis across teams, leagues, athletes, talent, properties, platforms, and emerging areas of sports to inform partnership strategy and recommendations.
Evaluate potential partnership and activation opportunities, including strategic fit, audience alignment, competitive considerations, marketplace dynamics, and potential risks or conflicts.
Collaborate across UEG business practices and disciplines to identify opportunities to bring additional capabilities, thinking, and solutions to existing and prospective clients.
Contribute to organic account growth and new business efforts through research, ideation, proposal development, presentation preparation, and participation in pitches as appropriate.
Participate actively in brainstorms and strategic working sessions across the organization, contributing informed and creative perspectives rooted in sports, culture, and client business objectives.
Provide direction and mentorship to Coordinators and other junior team members, helping prioritize work, reviewing deliverables, and supporting their professional development.
Remain hands-on and willing to support the broader team as needed, particularly around major activations, events, and high-priority client initiatives.
Qualifications:
Approximately 3–5 years of relevant experience within a sports marketing or partnership agency, team, league, rights holder, network, media company, brand, or related organization, with direct experience in sports partnerships, sponsorships, or activation.
Strong knowledge of and passion for the sports industry, including an understanding of the teams, leagues, athletes, media platforms, rights holders, and emerging trends shaping the sports marketing landscape.
Demonstrated experience managing projects and workstreams with multiple internal and external stakeholders, from strategic development through execution.
Experience working directly with clients and/or external partners, with the ability to build strong relationships and establish credibility across different levels of an organization.
Strong strategic and creative thinking skills, with the ability to connect client business and marketing objectives to relevant opportunities within sports and culture.
Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate ideas and recommendations clearly, confidently, and succinctly.
Strong organizational and project management skills, with demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, timelines, and deliverables in a fast-moving environment.
Ability to independently drive work forward, anticipate needs and challenges, and take ownership of projects while knowing when to engage senior leadership.
Strong research and analytical skills, with the ability to synthesize information and translate industry developments and data into meaningful insights and recommendations.
Working knowledge of project budgets, scopes, pricing structures, and account financial management, including an understanding of over-service and its implications.
Existing relationships and experience working with brands, teams, leagues, rights holders, media partners, talent, and/or agencies are preferred.
Experience providing direction, feedback, or mentorship to junior team members is preferred.
Collaborative, curious, resourceful, and comfortable operating in an entrepreneurial and fast-moving environment.
A creative marketer and problem solver who enjoys tackling strategic business challenges and developing solutions in partnership with clients and colleagues.
A self-starter who is equally comfortable thinking strategically and rolling up their sleeves to execute.
Ability to work nights and weekends as required by client programs, events, and activations.
This position will require occasional travel.