National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship Reflection – Bowe Brooks

Written by: Bowe Brooks

At the beginning of March, I had the opportunity to compete in the National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship held in Atlanta, GA. This competition is presented by Baylor University and the Atlanta Hawks who are gracious enough to host the event in State Farm Arena. Here is a brief overview directly from the NCSSC: “Hundreds of students from schools around the country participate in the National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship to make the jump from college to the pros. The NCSSC is an opportunity to showcase sports sales skills in a competitive format. Recruiters (typically inside sales managers) serve as buyers in a role-play competition. Students pitch a product to the buyer. The applicable background information on the product is available in the Study Guide distributed to students in advance. A judge scores their performance based on a rubric in the Study Guide. Students advance in the bracket and turn the heads of more recruiters!

Since the purpose of the competition is for students to land jobs, there is time throughout the event to interview and interact with recruiters.” You may be asking how I was able to even compete in this championship, it is all thanks to Dr. Pierce. I was first introduced to sales while taking TESM-S 301 in the fall of 2021 where I sold ticket packages for the Indy Fuel. Fast forward to last semester, Dr. Pierce approached me with the opportunity to compete in the competition and I jumped on it. After registering and getting all set up, I first had to qualify to be in the bracket of 64. There was a virtual qualifier where students had to give a pitch to a sales professional, and they would deliberate who would make it to Atlanta. I was lucky enough to make it into the top 64 which gave me a spot in the championship. Leading up to the event we were able to sit in on training sessions over zoom with different professional sports organizations to help us prepare. These were fruitful in feeling more comfortable with the selling process and gave me an idea of what my pitches should look and feel like.

Outside of myself, there was one other IUPUI student who represented us in the championship, Cody Kriner. As we arrived in Atlanta Sunday night, it was a quick turnaround to the competition starting Monday morning at 9:00 AM. Once we were in the arena and sat in on the opening ceremony it was time to start pitching. Looking back, it felt like I blinked, and it was already 5:00 PM and I was in the Final Four. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to the championship and ended up placing 3rd. On the second day we were able to interview with all the teams who were there judging and recruiting for their respective sales development programs which included the Boston Celtics, Brooklynn Nets, Atlanta Hawks, Miami Dolphins, New York Mets, Philadelphia Flyers, San Diego Padres just to name a few. This was just another experience that benefited me in a multitude of ways and at the end of it, I was lucky enough to receive full-time job offers from the Hawks, Mets, and Nets. After getting details on the offers and seeing the cultures of the organizations, I was happy to accept and be a part of the New York Mets familywhich is where I will move to and start in July.

This competition was the most advantageous experience I have had in my life, and I will always be thankful for the opportunity to be a part of it. I would recommend every IUPUI student to put their hat in the ring to be the next representative due to the positive impact it has on making you a better professional and possibly getting you a new job. Everything about this experience was amazing, from getting to network with industry professionals and getting feedback to sharpen my skills to meeting other students from all around the country and building friendships, I will never forget it.