Director of Sports Business Development

Job Title:

Director of Sports Business Development

Organization:
Greater Springfield Sports Commission / Visit Springfield

Reports To:

Executive Director, Sports Commission / Vice President of Sports

Are you passionate about sports, sales, relationship building, and bringing new events to a growing destination? The Greater Springfield Area Sports Commission is seeking a driven and results-focused Director of Sports Business Development to identify, pursue, and secure sporting events that generate hotel room nights, visitor spending, and economic impact for the Springfield area.

In this role, you will build relationships with event organizers, rights holders, governing bodies, facilities, hotels, and community partners while representing Springfield at industry events, trade shows, sales missions, and client meetings. You will manage an active sales pipeline, develop competitive proposals and bids, and help position Springfield as a premier destination for tournaments, championships, and other sporting events.

At the Greater Springfield Area Sports Commission, we do more than host events. We create opportunities that strengthen our economy, showcase our community, and build long-term partnerships across the sports industry. We are looking for someone who is energized by prospecting, motivated by results, and excited to turn relationships into new business. This position offers the opportunity to shape Springfield’s sports tourism strategy, compete for high-impact events, and play a direct role in growing the city’s reputation as a leading sports destination.

• Prospect, qualify, and pursue sports organizations, rights holders, and events with the potential to generate new out-of-area visitation, hotel room nights, visitor spending, and measurable economic impact.
• Conduct market research and analyze industry trends, event calendars, facility capacity, and competitive destinations to identify priority markets and develop targeted sales strategies.
• Establish and cultivate relationships with event organizers, rights holders, venue managers, hotel partners, sports stakeholders, and local, regional, and national sports organizations.
• Manage a proactive sales pipeline, conduct timely follow-up, and achieve annual performance goals established with the Executive Director.
• Prepare and deliver compelling presentations, proposals, bids, and responses to requests for proposals (RFPs) for clients, rights holders, and community stakeholders.
• Collaborate with hotels, facilities, attractions, and community partners to develop competitive bid packages, confirm availability and pricing, and coordinate destination support.
• Support the negotiation, documentation, and execution of event agreements and incentive commitments within established organizational policies and approval authority.
• Represent and market the Greater Springfield Area as a sports tourism destination at local, regional, and national events, trade shows, conferences, and sales missions, as directed.
• Coordinate and actively participate in client site visits, venue tours, and sports familiarization tours designed to advance qualified opportunities and secure new business.
• Maintain accurate and timely data for clients, leads, opportunities, activities, and events in the organization's customer relationship management (CRM) system and related reporting tools.
• Prepare and present regular sales reports that track prospecting activity, qualified opportunities, pipeline status, definite and tentative business, hotel room nights, visitor spending, and projected economic impact.
• Coordinate a clear internal handoff of secured events for servicing and remain engaged with clients and partners through event completion and post-event evaluation.
• Build and sustain strong working relationships with local hotels, sports facilities, municipal and university partners, media outlets, and volunteers, as appropriate.
• Maintain current knowledge of Springfield-area sports facilities, hotels, attractions, transportation, sports organizations, events, and planned facility developments.
• Support organizational events and fundraising initiatives, including…