Careers and internships in the sports Business for students of color will be showcased at the Get in the Game Sports Career Conference taking place Nov 8-10.
Get in the Game, created by SBRnet and First and Pen in 2023, connects sports companies with young men and women of color looking to build a career in the sports industry. The three-day event will feature panel discussions, presentations, workshops and experiential field trips all designed to educate students about the wide range of career options in the sports business.
“We created the event to educate students about the sports business industry, the career paths within it and the skill sets needed to navigate through it,” said Yussuf Khan, CEO and Founder of First and Pen. Khan started his sports media career at ESPN in 1999 and has held a number of executive roles at various companies in the industry. He also teaches sports management at several universities in the NY/NJ area.
“Students don’t fully understand the sports industry and are constantly inquiring how to get a job in it. That spurred us to create this event,” said Khan. “Students attending Get in the Game will come away with new perspectives on how and where they can work in sports.”
Get in the Game was created for HBCU students and college students of color. Last year, students from schools such as Howard, Hampton, North Carolina A&T, Morgan State, Coppin State, Winston-Salem State, Fisk University, Talladega, Lenoir Rhyne University, Towson, Richmond, NYU, Drexel, George Washington, New Haven and Long Island University attended the inaugural event in Baltimore.
In addition to the panels and presentations, Get in the Game features a career expo, where students can meet with sponsors to learn about specific jobs and internships available in the coming year. Over twenty student attendees in 2023 secured internships/jobs with companies and organizations that were part of Get in the Game.
That number is expected to increase as more event partners and student registrants attend this year’s event. “I have been around the sports business for 25+ years and am seeing a genuine desire by companies to attract and retain more young men and women of color,” said Neil Schwartz, President for SBRnet, which distributes data and content to more than 260 colleges and universities across the United States.
Get In The Game Sponsors include Dick’s Sporting Goods, the Milwaukee Brewers, On Running, Brooks, Under Armour, Clarks, the Ad Council, the Detroit Tigers, the Detroit Red Wings, MLB Players Association, the American Junior Golf Association, Program Productions and Acushnet and more coming.
Higher education is also a focus at the event, and leading Grad School programs such as Temple University, George Mason University, Columbia University and the University of New Haven have also partnered with Get In The Game to speak with students about masters programs in areas such as sports management, tourism, hospitality and events and more.
About First and Pen: First And Pen informs, inspires and connects through voices of color in sports and is the sports media vertical from The Khanate Group; a media, tech, and eCommerce company fully committed to supporting and investing in underserved and overlooked communities, individuals, and voices of color. Company CEO Yussuf Khan has over two decades of experience in sports and multicultural media. After beginning his career at ESPN, he has invested the last 20 years of his career in start-up ventures, building a successful track record at companies such as CSTV (now CBS Sports Network), Interactive One (now Urban One), Big Lead Sports and The Shadow League. The media veteran has a unique and diverse career path with a long history in the fields of multimedia sales and sponsorship, marketing, communications, journalism, events, and content creation.
About SBRnet: SBRnet is a comprehensive online data platform of nationwide sports marketing analytics, using syndicated and custom proprietary sports fan information for the professional and college sports, consumer research, industry reports, and licensed industry articles. SBRnet is owned by Neil Schwartz. Schwartz is a 25-year veteran of sports data with stints at Nielsen and SportscanInfo. He is also the host of the "My First Job in Sports" Web Series and podcast.
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Get in The Game 2023 Highlights