After sitting here for five minutes contemplating a witty way to introduce myself, I’ve sadly decided to resort to a typical introduction. Now that the ice has been broken, hello, my name is Stuart Yacobian, and I’m a rising senior majoring in economics and spending my summer interning in the sports industry.
I’ll be here all summer chronicling my job and discussing different aspects of the industry and my position, and I look forward to sharing my experiences with everyone.
This summer, I’m extremely fortunate to be working at a sports agency called Octagon, one of the world’s biggest sports representation and management firms. With clients ranging from Michael Phelps to Justin Tuck to Steph Curry, there’s never a shortage of things to do.
Generally, spending a summer in an expensive city like D.C. and working an unpaid internship 40 hours a week would be taxing, but it’s a dream come true for someone like me who is determined to work in this industry.
Octagon is a unique company in that it’s a full-service sports agency. What that means is that clients have the option of using Octagon for not only representation, but also for their marketing, public relations, and financial services.
As a result, some clients end up having Octagon pay their monthly water and electricity bills, as well as managing commercial appearances and the media.
This leads to a large company composed of multiple departments and A LOT of specialty. The company is also involved with the client management of non-athletes as well, with such people like Arsenio Hall and Piers Morgan.
In fact, Octagon has offices in 18 countries and more than 1,000 employees.
Now that I’ve had my fair share of rambling, you may be asking yourself (or not): what makes Octagon unique? Well, for the most part, agencies are limited to merely the representation aspect of the business, and they tend not to get involved in marketing and PR of an athlete.
That’s not to say that other companies don’t do the same, (IMG comes to mind as one), but generally that is not the case. LeBron James, for example, is represented by CAA, but he employs Fenway Sports Management to manage his marketing.
I’m spending my 10 weeks at Octagon working in the Public Relations department. You might be thinking that with so many clients, public relations would be an extremely busy job. If so, then you are absolutely right.
Something I’ve quickly come to realize in this industry is that the word “routine” does not exist. Not only is every day completely different, but every hour is completely different.
I find myself doing typical PR activities, such as writing press releases when we sign a new client or booking flights for an NBA player going to make a marketing appearance.
The unpredictable and fast-paced nature of the industry has me loving every moment of my internship, and it has only further validated my desire to work in the field, whether with Octagon or another company.
Two weeks from now, I’ll be back for more blogging fun–this time discussing the difficulty of breaking into the industry and the importance of networking.
Stay classy!
It seems like you are living your dream, I know that it Octagon is a big deal in the sports industry and I think this is a huge opportunity. Routine means nothing for a PR, as everything changes so fast and you always have to be there to change with the situation and to benefit from it, it is really tiring job but also very inspiring at the end of the day.