Job Title: General Manager, Gameday Production Services (GPS) — Strategic Business Development
Location: Chicago / South Bend (travel required)
Job Type: Contract (1099), converting to Full-Time upon reaching the deal thresholds below
Reports to: Gameday Your Way Leadership Team
Leads: No direct reports during the contract phase; assumes leadership of GPS producers, staffing/talent, and ops coordinators upon conversion to full-time GM
P&L Ownership: Not during the contract phase; full GPS P&L ownership upon conversion
Gameday Your Way delivers premium hospitality and fan experiences for major sporting events and large-scale gatherings. We operate across South Bend, Chicago, and other Midwest markets, providing turnkey experiences that combine operational excellence, high-touch service, and consistent brand execution. Gameday is known for disciplined planning, strong vendor relationships, and field teams that treat the event, guests, and budget as their own.
GPS is the production arm of Gameday Your Way. We provide end-to-end event production services to organizers, brands, agencies, and venues—ranging from staffing and show calling to turnkey site operations, sponsor activations, and VIP hospitality builds. GPS is built to be the “field-ready team” that plugs into a client's operation and executes cleanly, safely, and on time.
Role Summary:
This role will grow and the associated requirements will evolve with it. Today, the company is ready to deliver on expanded opportunities in the sports event industry. Therefore, early actions will be geared towards developing strategic partnerships, identifying new opportunities, and closing deals with new clients. Utilizing our operations team, you will manage the relationship through planning and execution for the first few deals. During this phase, the role will be a contracted position.
Once you've closed contracts totaling $1,000,000+ in signed value (roughly 2–3 deals at target size) within a rolling 12-month period, this role converts to the full-time General Manager. At this level, you will own the P&L for the GPS business unit, grow your team, and assume a seat on the leadership team.
Key Responsibilities:
1) Strategy and business development
- Identify and prioritize target brands with hospitality, sponsorship, or experiential marketing budgets that fit GPS's capabilities.
- Build relationships with brand marketing, sponsorship, and agency decision-makers — through your existing network and new outreach.
- Develop the strategic pitch, proposal, and pricing for large activation/hospitality partnerships, working with leadership on scope and margin.
- Own the deal from first conversation through signed contract.
- Build and maintain a rolling pipeline; report progress against defined targets — contacted, in motion, proposals out, closed.
2) Client relationship leadership
- Serve as the lead relationship-holder for closed accounts through their first activation cycle, ensuring a clean handoff to the delivery team.
- Represent GPS in market-facing meetings, pitches, and industry events.
3) Path to General Manager (post-conversion)
- Assume full ownership of the GPS business line: revenue, margin, delivery, and team.
- Take on the full GM responsibilities of the standard GPS General Manager role — production leadership, talent bench management, and financial/P&L management — detailed in the conversion role below.
Compensation Structure:
This role is structured as a paid contract engagement with a clear, dollar-denominated path to the full-time General Manager position. The goal is to keep fixed cost low while the pipeline is being built, and to make the full-time conversion concrete and fair once the segment is proven out.
Contract Phase
Monthly retainer of $2,500 while sourcing and developing the pipeline, paid regardless of whether a deal has closed — compensates the strategic and relationship-building work.
Commission
10–12% of signed first-year contract value on each activation/hospitality deal closed (rate set per deal based on complexity and margin). Paid on signed contract and/or receipt of deposit.
Conversion Trigger
$1,000,000+ in cumulative signed contract value within a rolling 12-month period (roughly 2–3 deals at target size) converts the role to full-time GPS General Manager.
Full-Time Base
$110,000–$140,000 base salary upon conversion, plus a continuing (likely reduced) commission structure on new business originated.
Target Deal Size
$250,000–$750,000 in annual contract value per activation partnership.
Success Metrics (how performance will be judged):
- Pipeline coverage and win rate on qualified proposals.
- Signed contract value against the $1,000,000 conversion threshold.
- Relationship depth and quality with target brands (meetings secured, proposals delivered).
- Client satisfaction and a clean handoff to the delivery team on closed accounts.
Required Experience and Qualifications:
- Proven track record closing large B2B partnership, sponsorship, or hospitality/experiential contracts with recognizable brands — not just event production experience.
- Existing relationships with brand marketing, sponsorship, or agency decision-makers, or a demonstrated ability to build them quickly.
- Comfort working independently against a pipeline with light oversight, and reporting progress in concrete terms.
- Ability to operate credibly as a de facto GM in front of a brand — confidence, polish, and command of both strategy and execution.
- Strong writing skills for proposals, scopes, and pitch materials.
- High integrity and reliability; represents the brand exceptionally.
Preferred Experience:
- Work with sports properties, festivals, municipalities, DMC's, and sponsor activations.
- Familiarity with Chicago/South Bend market relationships.
- Prior operating or GM experience in event production or hospitality — a strong plus toward the eventual conversion role.
- Comfort working inside an EOS-style operating cadence (Rocks, scorecards, weekly reporting).
Working Style and Values Fit:
- Builder mindset with high standards and low drama.
- Client-first and team-first; treats the event, guests, and budget as their own.
- Comfortable with ambiguity, fast change, and high-expectation environments.
- Clear communicator who keeps stakeholders aligned and informed.
Travel and Schedule Expectations:
- Travel to meet brand prospects and attend industry events as needed.
- On-site presence expected for closed accounts' first activation cycle.
Deal and Conversion Targets:
- Contract phase: 1–2 signed brand activation/hospitality contracts, $250K–$750K each.
- Conversion threshold: $1,000,000+ cumulative signed contract value within a rolling 12-month period.
- Post-conversion, standard GPS General Manager revenue targets apply: 2027: $1,900,000 · 2028: $2,500,000.
Pay: $125,000.00 - $200,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
