Sport Management Internships

On I-95 SportsBiz we focus on sports business topics, naturally. On this post I am going to take a little different twist. I am going to write from my own experiences and my opinion of sport management internships. To get a 'foot in the door' internships are necessary in the sport management field. There is one issue I have with the almost mandatory internships, they are NOT paid. So here is my argument....

This summer I am interning with the Philadelphia 76ers. I have just completed my first month and the experience is valuable as well as the networking I have been able to do. My internship is monday through friday from 10 am to 4 pm. Needless to say this takes up most of my time every week. The work I do with the Sixers requires some physical work but mostly computer work. It takes me between 1.5 and 2 hours round trip to go back and forth from the internship. The gas it cost me is quite significant, in fact I calculated the cost and it is about $20 every day. $20 a day times 5 days a week is $100 a week.... in gas. Again to repeat my income is $0. I am receiving 3 credits for school from the internship, but for those credits... I have to pay. This internship is costing me a lot of money. I am very fortunate to have parents that help me out financially, otherwise I would not be able to afford to intern with my favorite basketball team.

The problem that I have with sport management internships is the fact that it is not an equal opportunity for all students.

I wonder the same thing....

I am very fortunate to be able to have an internship because of the financial help of my parents. Student's opportunity to make money for the year comes in the summer. Students who do not have the financial support or need to generate income for the school year, CAN'T do internships for free. As I said earlier, internships are necessary for success in the industry. The students who can't afford to do an internship will not get the necessary experience to break into the industry. How is this fair? ..... ITS NOT.



I look around me and I have a lot of friends who have paid internships in their field of study. They make $15 to $20 an hour and are enjoying life while gaining valuable experience. I am not asking for that much money... I am simply saying that internships need to provide minimum wage like all other jobs in this country. I could write for days about my disappointment in the sport industry and how they take advantage of the supply of potential interns, but I will hold back.

Final Thought


The sport industry is VERY competitive. Teams and organizations can get their employees to work for close to nothing (or nothing at all). In the laws of economics the sport industry is doing the right thing. They have a large demand for their jobs and they have an almost unlimited supply of employees to choose from. Although the sport industry follows the laws of economics, they do not follow any code of morality. Morality may not be important to the sport organizations, but it should be. Then again.... the Philadelphia 76ers do not care what Drew Rosen thinks, but I hope you do.



 @dmrosen7