Written by: Cody Kriner
During the fall of 2022, I took Dr. Pierce’s “Selling in the Sport Industry” course. The course armed me with the tools and tactics necessary to confidently approach a sales pitch to any variety of potential sales clients. The course then gave us real world experience in the form of 200+ cold calls to real leads for the Indianapolis Indians where we would have the ability to sell all of the Indians sales packages full menu. Having prepped through well thought out lectures, mock pho
ne calls, and two lessons a week for a few months, I went in and sold seven different ticket packages for a grand total of $6,129.
Given the success I had during the sports sales course at IUPUI, Dr. Pierce approached me about possibly taking a school funded trip to
Atlanta for a sales competition in 2023. The funds for our trip would be at the fruits of our own labor with the money being generated from the sales class that us IUPUI sports management students all will take at some point in our academic career. Because of the sales course, I found myself with a great networking and job seeking opportunity in my hands.
Bowe Brooks and I were flown down to Atlanta on February 26th where we were immediately captivated with the room IUPUI SHHS had rented for us in the heart of the city. The National Collegiate Sports Sales Competition
kicked off the following morning, where we were judged by real industry professionals one on one. I had the opportunity to make a real sales pitch to two industry professionals from the Los Angeles Clippers while sitting in a beautiful suite in State Farm Arena. I went on to win my matchup in the first round, earning my bid into the second round where I met my eventual demise.
Although the sales competition was the main course of the event, it was so much more than that. I also got the opportunity to compete in a speed selling competition, where I essentially sold myself in an elevator pitch style to my fellow competitors and the industry professionals alike. On top of that, the entirety of my three days in Atlanta I got to meet sales managers from all around the United States – I met representatives from organizations like the Portland Trailblazers, NASCAR, the Chicago White Sox, and many others! Throughout the three days of the National Collegiate Sports Sales Competition, I received priceless feedback from true experts, networked with hundreds of people, made countless connections, and got my name out there for ent
ry level positions for life after graduation!
On top of all of these amazing experiences, we got to spend a ton of time in the beautiful State Farm Arena — which is by far the nicest NBA stadium I have now gotten a chance to step foot in. From the top tier chefs, at home feel and hospitality, unique and state of the art suites, and many other fantastic features, spending that much time being able to go wherever I wanted inside of State Farm Arena for a few days was a once in a lifetime experience! Not only that, but the Hawks treated us to a free game in their Top Golf Swing Suite in a conference battle against the Wizards too!
Without the kindness of IUPUI SHHS and Dr. Pierce, this opportunity would have never even crossed my mind as a possibility. I am forever grateful to them for all of the experience I gained during my time in Atlanta and all of the connections I got to make during my time there. I truly feel this experience is one of the best things you can do as a sports management student, as I have since been reached out to by professional teams asking to stay in touch and even trying to get me out to their sales workshops in their cities! If you have the opportunity to go to the
NCSSC in any upcoming year during your time at IUPUI, it would be in your best interest to take it.
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