The Sports Sales and Event Manager executes a sophisticated, storytelling-based business development strategy. This role rejects a transactional checklist format, instead weaving WEC’s high-performance infrastructure, premium hospitality assets, and estate prestige into a compelling, experiential narrative that speaks directly to elite athletic organizers. This role drives utilization and revenue for the expanding WEC Sports non-equestrian portfolio through the proactive outbound recruitment of regional, national, and international sports tournaments, corporate events, and multi-field facility rentals.
As a primary ambassador of the World Equestrian Center brand, the Sport Sales and Event Manager ensures all commercial activities reflect WEC’s uncompromising standards of excellence, luxury-tier guest experience, and operational precision.
Strategic Growth Runway The incoming manager will report directly to the General Manager of Sports. While initial operations focus on maximizing the current outdoor complex, this role is designed to scale directly with the division’s imminent infrastructure expansion. Operating within current 2026 market dynamics, the position will immediately drive the commercial positioning, market pre-sales, and booking pipeline for the facility's upcoming 2027 multi-sport indoor complexes and expansive multi-use entertainment footprint.
Key Responsibilities
- Premium Event Acquisition: Identify, prospect, and secure elite youth sports associations, competitive leagues, governing bodies, and event operators, maintaining end-to-end accountability from initial contract acquisition through to successful on-site event activation.
- Pipeline Management: Maintain and manage a structured, data-driven sales pipeline from initial lead generation to contract finalization, ensuring accurate forecasting and tracking of group business.
- Asset & Brand Protection: Qualify prospective event operators to ensure their programming aligns with WEC’s premium brand standards, preserving the immaculate condition of the physical infrastructure and resort aesthetics.
- Primary Sports Ownership & System Integration: Maintain absolute, end-to-end ownership of the sports client relationship. Generate primary facility interest and secure elite tournament bookings, while ensuring all downstream hospitality needs—such as athlete lodging, team room blocks, and event banqueting—are handled secondary to the sports asset by utilizing current, established internal workflows and hotel sales systems.
- Brand Partner Integration & Event Activation: Serve as the division's primary point of contact for onboarding contracted event partners and overseeing on-site activation. Take direct ownership of event execution, ensuring local program logistics, brand guidelines, and operational parameters are fully delivered to WEC’s luxury-tier standards during active tournament footprints.
Qualifications
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management, Business Administration, Marketing, or a related field preferred.
- Experience: 3+ years of demonstrated success in sports tourism, tournament procurement, premium venue booking, convention sales, or high-end athletic event recruitment.
- Industry Savvy (Preferred, Not Required): Proven experience navigating youth sports pipelines, contract negotiations, event execution, trade shows, and the structural relationship between sports events and hotel volume.
- Core Competencies: Proven track record in outbound sports sales, tournament procurement, sports tourism, or convention sales with exceptional negotiation, presentation, and relationship-management skills focused on immersive storytelling selling that positions the property's complete, premium ecosystem rather than commodity field-rental.
- Technical Proficiency: Highly proficient in modern CRM platforms for pipeline tracking, cloud file management, and enterprise project management tools. Foundational knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign and Illustrator) is a plus.
- Leadership Attributes: Self-motivated team player with a proactive, solution-oriented approach, exceptional negotiating skills, and an uncompromising attention to detail.
- Schedule Flexibility: Ability to work a highly flexible schedule, including nights and weekends, to support active tournament execution and client hosting opportunities.
Compensation & Benefits
- Base Salary plus Performance-Based Incentive Structure (calibrated for forward-looking 2027 market targets).
- Comprehensive corporate benefits package.
World Equestrian Center is managed by Columbus Hospitality Management; a company committed to providing quality service and memorable guest experiences in a positive and welcoming work environment. We are focused on supporting the needs of our team through our commitment to the family/work life balance and by providing development opportunities.
- Status: All applicants will be required to successfully submit to a comprehensive background check prior to employment.
- Drug-Free Workplace / Equal Opportunity Employer.
Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights (https://www.eeoc.gov/poster) notice from the Department of Labor.
