After a happy holiday season back on the home front, I returned to the office and found myself suddenly unemployed and lucky I didn’t pull the trigger on buying my first place. Despite contributing millions to the company’s bottom line, I was sent packing in preparation of a major recent legislative decision: the United States Department of Labor’s changes in the Fair Labor Act (FLSA) basically doubling the salary required for exemption from overtime pay requirement.
What the U.S. government initially intended to have benefit the employees of the country proved quickly capable of doing the opposite. The legislative decision will have profound effects for employers and employees in every sector. I gave up the chance to follow in my grandfather’s steps in playing collegiate football at his alma mater, instead choosing to go to the University of Michigan and get involved in the business side of the sports industry, which has largely operated on a pay / volunteer to play system – especially for those looking to get an initial foot in the door and possibly a salaried job. 13 years, three degrees, countless unpaid internships, and five sports later, I have seen all sides of the system that capitalize on a huge surplus supply of candidates hungry to sacrifice for the sake of experience in pursuing a life passion. Operating budgets outside of player-related expenses are shoestring.
Our shared economy had already been skewing towards the freelancer, intern, or (fill in the blank) way to avoid paying a minimum annual salary of $47,476 of which up to 10% of that can come from commissions. The game has now changed in a big way especially for those regularly putting in 40+ hours per week or tied to commissions and lofty revenue goals. In sports, this affects everyone in a big way by threatening profits. Yes, winning may be the goal, but it is still a business.
Gone are the days a salesperson would pick up a phone book to sell. The NBA’s consulting arm, Team Marketing and Business Operations (TMBO), launched in 2000 by the likes of Bernie Mullen, Bill Sutton, and others under the direction of commissioner David Stern. 16 years later, it is still setting the industry standard for best practices by compiling, analyzing, developing, and communicating winning ways to generate results to all teams. Despite convergence, when it comes to sharing and training, the standard and disparity between leagues are still vast along with revenue disparities largely due to differences in media rights,another dynamically evolving area of concern for organizations.
Collegiate athletic departments have even more of an issue because they are oftentimes public institutions that cannot legally pay commissions and operate under uniquely governed legislative circumstances. Where will those hundreds of thousands of extra dollars come for those hundreds of small schools? The answer is grim: more sports will be cut while scholarships and jobs are lost.
Sports and sales in general will have to pull best practices of training, onboarding, and technology from other industries to become more strategic. Proven practices include maximizing the number of two hour blocks without distractions or diversions. Prioritizing one’s day with the most important tasks early, check email twice per day at 10 and 4 and schedule 2 hour blocks to get in rhythm on calls. Schedule outside meetings on one day or early/late in the day in coordination with commute. Eliminate/trim meetings and being on the clock on game day unless necessary.
“Frankenstein” solutions involving a mishmash of workflow technology will no longer work because the returns for the employees and organizations will be inefficiently surmised. Knowing this, one company I have chosen to get involved with is Sponsorship Buddy, which pulls best practices of marketing automation, cloud services, and project management to rights holders and clients alike into one intuitive platform. Such a solution has proven to take staffs from reactive and day-to-day to strategic saving thousands of hours while providing process transparency and great calculated ROI / ROO.
On the surface, average salaries are sure to rise in correspondence, however, the ramifications will be widespread and force us all to become more calculated and strategic. How will you adapt?
Here are a few more takes on the matter:
USA Today: “A new expense looms for college athletic departments”
FanGraphs: “Major League Baseball and the New Overtime Rules
The Migala Report: “Did this cost your salespeople money?”
If you have caught on to any outside or developing trends, tools, or techniques to best capitalize on the circumstances, I encourage you to share them here.
TRUE NORTH TEAM CONSULTING 