How to Build a Career in Sports Communication

By Shady Gonzales, Career Peer Advisor

A career in sports communication is a dream for many but the path to this goal is often perplexing and complex. To help ease the confusion surrounding how to build a career in sports communication, we have gathered a short series of tips to guide you through setting the foundations for your career.

Most people envision working with major professional leagues and major college programs when thinking about careers in sports. While this is an attainable goal if substantial work is put into building the career, it is sometimes necessary to begin with small college programs or low-level minor league teams as competition is significant in the major leagues. It is important to note that those who are most likely to advance in this competitive field begin setting the foundations for their careers during the undergraduate schooling, this means you! We encourage you to begin finding ways and opportunities to gain experience while in college.

One impressive way to gain experience while preparing for a career in sports communication is to work with your school’s newspaper, radio station, or other media platforms to broadcast stories and content about the university’s teams and athletes. There are a number of student publication platforms offered through UC Santa Barbara organizations, including: The Daily Nexus, The Bottomline, and La Cumbre Yearbook. The Current is also the official news site for UC Santa Barbara that is updated daily.

In addition, KCSB-FM is a radio station that is funded and primarily run by UCSB students. In addition to the many campus-wide organizations that provide platforms to students to learn the fundamentals of reporting, communication, and broadcasting; we recommend exploring local media to develop content on local teams as an alternative to the university’s organizations. If you decide on exploring local broadcasting businesses, this would be a great opportunity to network and create an opening for an internship with the local businesses.

Another great opportunity to gain experience is to work directly with the university’s athletics department. There are a series of UCSB athletics internships offered on campus. These internships include positions titled Gauchos Sports Marketing, Communications, Video Production, Development, Women’s Soccer Marketing, Men’s Soccer Office, Men’s Water Polo, Athletic Training, and Game Management Staff. As if it couldn’t get better, all of the applications for these internship positions are taken year-round except for the Men’s Soccer Office internship position- they recruit for summer and fall interns only.

If none of these positions interest you, we encourage you to reach out to the department, a specific athletic team, or a local sports organization and ask if you can support their efforts to track, monitor, and report on sporting events or the accomplishments of the athletes and teams. If you are interested in mathematics, we encourage you to reach out and inquire about how you can help with their statistics. If you are technically or artistically inclined, we encourage you to inquire about helping with their website or advertisements.

Many students often overlook the importance of some of the basics steps in gaining experience in their potential careers. The first of these basic steps is to take courses relevant to the field you are interested in. With no direct sports communication program at UCSB, it is easy to get caught up in simply fulfilling your majors requirements while choosing new courses. We recommend that if you have the capacity, you consider taking courses offered in the Department of Exercise & Sports Studies, marketing, and writing. These can help you build a portfolio if you are interested in reporting or content development and acquire relevant coursework to add to your resume.

The second primary step that is often overlooked by students is networking. Building a rapport in the industry and gaining their trust in a professional manner is one of the best ways to advance in a career in sports. We recommend that you network through the experience positions you hold or by researching nearby professionals in sports communications and connecting with them through LinkedIn or by email.

A career in sports communications is an intimidating dream for most people but we encourage you to begin building your experience now in order to explore your specific interests in the field and open possibilities for yourself after graduation. There are many opportunities at your disposal at UCSB, Santa Barbara, and even in small towns throughout the nation. This means that you can begin your professional experience now, wherever you are!