Vice President of Account Services with Major League Baseball (MLB) Media Courtney Coppotelli spoke with members of the Sports Industry Club for their weekly guest speaker series. The reoccurring program aims to allow students with an interest in sports-related careers to engage with tri-state professionals and alumni.
During her speech, Coppotelli detailed the evolution of her career while offering advice for those looking to break into the world of sports.
“I’ve been in the baseball industry for almost 17 years now,” Coppotelli said. “I did not go to Monmouth, but I’m a New Jersey native so I always like to help and support.”
Graduating from Fairfield University with a B.S. in Marketing, Coppotelli entered the sports industry through an assistant position with Penn State Athletics.
“I worked [with Penn State] for 9 months,” Coppotelli said. “Football was awesome, but after the season was over, I quickly realized I didn’t want to work in college athletics.”
Staying in touch with her contacts, Coppotelli began job searching in the New York area. After a few interviews, she was able to secure a spot with MLB Advanced Media, the “digital arm” of baseball at the time.
“They were looking for a coordinator, and with my little bit of experience I got from my internships in college, as well as my Penn State experience, I was able to get that job,” Coppotelli said. “I was extremely ecstatic. It was amazing and it’s crazy that I’ve been there ever since.”
Coppotelli’s involvement with baseball came during a time of accelerated digital growth, as new marketing methods of socialized internet, media and mobile became useful yet confusing tools.
“There was a new thing every time you turned around,” Coppotelli said. ”It allowed me to learn something new all the time, but it was a big challenge to stay on top of it all. I wasn’t a sales person, per say, but I was really doing a lot of the account management, which is what I’m doing now for some of our bigger partners. [The partners] were constantly asking, ‘what’s the deal with [these new digital trends], how can we be involved?’ The evolution of my position was figuring out these new things and how to bring them to life for our partners on the MLB platforms.”
After moving around positions underneath an MLB sponsorship group, Coppotelli was asked to go back to the Account Services Partnership Activation team and manage the team.
“I wasn’t sure how I was going to do, but I actually wound up really loving it,” Coppotelli said. “Our team is 30 people, with my boss being a Group VP. Then there’s me, and I manage the team on a day to day basis.”
Coppotelli offered advice on breaking into the sports industry, as well as her thought process when hiring an individual.
“Career wise, getting involved with internships are so good,” Coppotelli said. “I know you have this [sports industry] club but you don’t have the program, and I don’t think it matters. I never hired someone because they went through a sports marketing degree. I think it’s great to understand the landscape, but when you’re at the entry level you don’t need it at all.”
Coppotelli explained how she has hired employees with a wide range of degrees and it is truly your experience, personality and willingness to work that will be considered as the most important qualities during the hiring process.
William Silva, junior business management major and President of the Sports Industry Club, explained the thought process behind Coppotelli’s inclusion with the club.
“We focus on [finding speakers from] the sports industry, but mainly focus on people who are local from around the area so it’s easier to connect,” Silva said. “We know that baseball, around this area of [the tri-state] is really big. The Yankees, the Mets, and the Phillies are all local and important teams to people around here. The MLB office is in New York, so everything is very local. I thought [Coppotelli] was great. She answered every question really well. I also thought she gave really great advice about jobs, internships, and a really detailed explanation of what she does on a day-to-day basis.”
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth University