In the buildup to Front Office Sports’ Brand Marketing Huddle at the LA Stadium Premiere Center on July 11, we’re introducing you to the huddle leaders who will be lending their expertise to the conversation.
Today, meet Gina Scott: Vice President of Group Licensing and Partner Services at the NFL Players Association. She will be one of the leaders of the huddle “Standing Together: The Power of Group Player Rights.” Scott completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Florida where she studied exercise and sport science, advertising, and sports management.
It was at UF where Scott realized she could combine her loves of advertising and sports as a graduate assistant in the athletic department. That experience eventually led her to a number of positions within college sports, the NBA, and the NFL. She also spent more than three years as the Director of Corporate Consulting for Team Services, LLC, where she negotiated two different league sponsorships for a client.
READ MORE: Inside the Huddle: Using Sports to Drive Business Goals with Steven Ziff
Scott eventually joined the NFLPA in 2009 and was promoted to her current position in 2012. In her current role, Scott works with league partners in the areas of NFL player activation and integration. Scott also consults on licensing rights with NFL players. She notes after working with athletes across many different sports that group player right vary from one sport to the next.
“Every single sport and every single respective governing body or league or union representation is actually different,” Scott says. “There is no one uniform approach to group player rights across all of sports. It can be very confusing for brands that activate across multiple sports be it professional, Olympics, traditional, or non traditional. I think that’s a tough concept to wrap your head around for some people.”
In order to advance a career in sports, Scott’s biggest piece of advice to students and young professionals is to get as much on-the-job experience as possible. This will prepare them for the future in more ways than one.
READ MORE: Inside The Huddle: Group Player Rights with Steve Scebelo
“Graduate degrees do not necessarily open up new opportunities,” Scott states. “I think that experience is very, very important and that does not always have to come in the form of additional education experience. But working experience is very key. That’s the only way you’re going to figure out what it is you gravitate towards and maybe even what it is you don’t want to do. That’s also the only way you’re going to figure out that the vast amount of opportunities that are available in the sports industry.”
Meet Gina and hear more of her thoughts on the current brand marketing space at the Front Office Sports Brand Marketing Huddle at the LA Stadium Premiere Center in Los Angeles, CA on July 11. For tickets and additional info, click here.
