Graduate Assistant - Corporate Partnerships and Sports Marketing

Job Summary:

The Graduate Assistant (GA) opportunity provides hands-on, real world collegiate sports experience working directly alongside the Senior Associate Athletic Director of External Affairs within DePaul Athletics. The GA is primarily tasked with cultivating, developing and supporting the department’s Corporate Sponsorship program, which includes maintaining existing partnerships with nationally recognized brands like Staples, Pepsi, Nike, State Farm Insurance and NovaCare Rehabilitation, among others, in one of the nation’s most premier sports cities, all while completing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in a concentration of your choice(s) at a top-tier Graduate Program.

Throughout each year, the GA will work closely with our corporate partners’ Marketing Departments to ensure the proper activation of contracted sponsorship elements, such as signage, print, radio, hospitality and in-game contests for DePaul Athletics, with a primary emphasis on Men’s and Women’s Basketball. The GA will receive access to the behind-the-scenes experience on what constitutes the promoting, operating and managing of a collegiate sporting event.

With the increasing challenge of successfully entering the sports industry, the GA position is one of the best ways for someone to begin learning the details of corporate sponsorship development, fulfillment for a collegiate athletic property and networking and earn a degree of higher education. The skills developed through this position will translate into almost any sports or corporate organization, providing the experience needed for future career success.

The Graduate Assistant will work and network with many departments within DePaul Athletics, including Marketing, Ticketing, Athletics Communications, Athletics Development, Business Operations and Facilities, in addition to management representatives from the BIG EAST Conference.

Primary Job Responsibilities

1. Develop, cultivate and support the Corporate Sponsorship program by assisting the Senior Associate Athletic Director in the corporate sales process, including the identification and research of potential sponsors, assessment marketing needs and budget, development of sales proposals and negotiation with primary key decision makers.
2. Serve as the primary Account Manager of the program, implementing all clients’ contractual sponsorship elements throughout the entire year.
3. Complete radio logs, live reads, vignettes and collect commercial in collaboration with DePaul’s 50,000 watt radio partner, WSCR The Score Sports Radio.
4. Prepare and deliver Fulfillment Summary Recaps to each Corporate Partner at the end of each athletics year.
5. Design and oversee the DePaul Basketball Game Day Programs including covers, pagination and layout, placement of sponsor advertisements, player profiles, statistics, in-program feature articles, and more.
6. Assist the Senior Associate Athletic Director and Sports Marketing Department with game day operations and activations when required or requested.