Sports Sales Manager

Sports Sales Manager Department: Sports Sales Reports To: Sports Sales Director, Chief Business Officer Location: Greensboro, NC Type: In Office About the Role: The Sports Sales Manager drives direct sales and business development for Visit Greensboro, securing amateur, collegiate, youth, and professional spectator sporting events. This role independently manages a sports sales pipeline, builds strong client relationships, and closes business that fuels direct hotel occupancy and supports Greensboro's reputation as an elite athletic host city. How You'll Support Our Clients and Team: Support clients: Understand national governing bodies and tournament organizers' needs, providing comprehensive bid packages, hotel room block coordination, and customized site inspections to build confidence in choosing Greensboro. Inform strategic decisions: Maintain an accurate sales pipeline, regular event forecasts, and pipeline visibility to support local venues, hoteliers, and the Director of Sports Sales in optimizing scheduling, staffing, and revenue. Coordinate client experiences: Work with the Visit Greensboro marketing team to communicate event specifications and attendee demographics, delivering tailored community welcome activations and smooth event handoffs. Key Responsibilities: Direct Sales & Business Development: Identifies and actively pursues new tournament rights holders, sports sanctioning bodies, and event organizers across regional and national markets. Conducts data-driven bid proposals, persuasive sales presentations, and negotiates facility availability to secure sporting events for Greensboro. Manages a personal sales pipeline from initial lead qualification through contract execution, ensuring a high level of client satisfaction. Client Relationship Management: Cultivates and maintains strong collaborative alliances with Guilford County athletic venues, hotel partners, and sports sanctioning bodies. Curates and leads immersive destination site inspections, serving as the primary contact to secure multi-year commitments and recurring tournament rotations. Participation & Collaboration: Collaborates cross-functionally to rapidly identify and eliminate pipeline bottlenecks, pivot competitive bid strategies, and produce targeted sports collateral. Performance Monitoring & Reporting: Manages and tracks all sales activities, communications, and booking milestones accurately within the CRM system. Provides regular reports to leadership on projected room nights, direct visitor spending, attendance estimates, and economic impact assessments. Team Environment & Additional Duties: As a close-knit team, we embrace a collaborative culture where everyone pitches in. Like all roles in our organization, this position requires flexibility and willingness to assist with other duties as needed to support our shared goals. Qualifications: Education: Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management, Hospitality/Tourism Management, Business Administration, Marketing, or equivalent practical experience. Experience: Minimum of 1 year of proven sales success in sports event recruitment, destination marketing (DMO/CVB), athletic facility management, or hospitality sales. Demonstrated expertise in managing a sales pipeline, negotiating high-value tournament contracts, and building long-term client relationships. Familiarity with sports sanctioning bodies and governing bodies Skills: Exceptional negotiation and closing skills. Analytical ability to calculate room night demand, economic impact models, and event return on investment. Outstanding communication and high-caliber presentation skills, with a passionate commitment to promoting Greensboro's sports assets. Genuine passion for the sports industry & Greensboro as a whole Proficient in CRM platforms and a Google Workspace  Travel & Work Hours: This position frequently requires working evenings and weekends as necessary to support client events, site visits, and industry functions. Regular travel is required, both regionally within North Carolina and nationally for sales missions, trade shows, and client meetings. As an aggressive sales role, the ideal candidate must demonstrate a high degree of drive and dedication to secure new business and ensure full client satisfaction from booking through event execution.