Please don’t call it Frisco. The locals hate that. They prefer almost any other nickname—City by the Bay, Fog City, SF, and San Fran to name a few. While bad San Francisco monikers irk the natives, their sports teams have quite the opposite effect. The 49ers and Giants reign supreme in the minds of fans across this city of over 800,000. They bleed red and gold all fall and winter. And black, orange, and cream in the spring and summer months. The city is only seven-by-seven miles square and flanked by water—the majestic Pacific Ocean to the west and San Francisco Bay to the east. So how does a hilly city with a small footprint known as the nation’s technology hub become a major sports epicenter?
By winning, of course. The 49ers have won 5 Super Bowls since 1981 and made it to either the NFC Championship or Super Bowl in each of Jim Harbaugh’s first three seasons as head coach. While that’s impressive, the baseball Giants have won the World Series twice since 2010. That’s no easy feat in a league filled with parity. It’s that winning ability that rallies fans around their teams. And it’s the energy surrounding the organizations and the city that brings the best sports professionals—Colin Kaepernick, Patrick Willis, Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum—to the Bay Area. Call it Paris of the West, Golden City, or even Frisco. Regardless of your chosen moniker, know that a world-class city with top-tier sports teams like this one is hard to pass up.
It’s no secret that San Francisco, and the cities around it, are known for their technology presence. The media world has evolved tremendously—it had to—in recent decades, and this bay area city is clearly a convergence of sports and technology. Several companies grounded in San Francisco hire professionals of all talents. CBS Interactive—a division of the CBS Corporation—is an online content network focused on news, sports, entertainment, technology, and business. MLB Advanced Media is the internet and interactive branch of Major League Baseball. Beyond running websites for the league and its 30 clubs, the business operates MLB Radio and MLB.tv, keeping it on the cutting edge of sports media and broadcasting. StubHub, a major ticket exchange owned by eBay, calls San Francisco home, as does the Pac-12 Network and the well-known sports website Bleacher Report. These companies—and many more like them—make up San Francisco’s booming business industry. What kind of people are needed to fill these positions? Great question!
Not surprisingly, many jobs in San Francisco are tech-focused. Mobile application developers are in demand right now. As tablet and smartphone popularity grows, having designers and coders that create sleek, simple apps for smaller screens will go far. Experienced IT Project Managers are also needed to add structure to software implementations and keep projects on track and under budget, two major challenges in software development. And a variety of engineers will be hired to create software and websites that fully bring sports organizations into the digital age. Tech is important, but sales are everything in sports, from ticket and merchandising sales to advertising and licensing deals. The San Francisco job market is filled with a variety of sales positions. A popular radio station is hunting for a sports sales manager. A data analytics company is searching for a sales leader to develop business relationships with clients and close accounts with area business execs. And a major sports broadcasting network needs an Account Services Executive to create media and marketing campaigns for the company’s clients. Don’t forget about the data! One of the largest ticket broker agencies in the country needs a leader to develop and lead business analytics, reporting, and predictive modeling capabilities for the company. Slicing, dicing, and explaining data will take you far in the realm of sports. Information technology, sales, and analytics are just a small part of the job demand in the city.
The San Francisco area is the technology mecca of America, and it’s forward-thinking and has winning sports teams. The people that do the work in San Francisco get to live in one of the most amazing cities in the world.
