Networking: Your Ticket to the Show w/MLB's Alana Meraz

Sports internships are among the best ways to gain experience, connections, and skills as you build your career. In addition to providing an excellent training ground for you to apply your abilities, they also offer organic opportunities to build a network that can help you get a job. Getting varied experiences through multiple sports internships is one thing; taking advantage of the opportunities they present is another.

Today’s guest on the WorkInSports Podcast is Alana Meraz, MLB International Partnership Activation Coordinator. Meraz graduated from Arizona State University in 2019 with a Business Sports and Media degree. Meraz’s proactive embrace of sports internships and building her network played a big role in getting her a job in MLB within three years of earning her degree.

How to Get a Job in Professional Sports

With only four prominent leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL) comprising around 30 teams each, jobs in professional sports are highly competitive and, therefore, notoriously difficult to obtain. From 2017-20, Meraz took five internships to establish herself and form a community of professional advocates. Those experiences included:

• Phoenix Rising (Community Relations/Sponsorship Activation Intern)
• Arizona State Athletics (Game Day Intern)
• Arizona Public Services (Events Intern)
• Sports as a Job (Social Media Marketing Intern)
• ISL (Sponsorship and Tours Coordinator)

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Additionally, Meraz spent a year as a part-time game operations assistant with the Arizona Diamondbacks. While the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 provided an obstacle to getting her career started in earnest due to canceled events, she founded Latinx in Sports to build a community of professionals looking to break into the industry, which she still runs today. Her efforts landed her a Fan Experience Coordinator position with the US Soccer Federation in 2021, and she has been with MLB since 2022. On today’s episode, Meraz and VP of Content and Engaged Learning Brian Clapp discuss:

• How Meraz’s sports internships set her up to get where she is now
• What her day-to-day role as International Partnership Activation Coordinator consists of
• Why Meraz founded Latinx in Sport
• How important networking was for Meraz’s career growth
• What sports career advice she has for aspiring professionals looking to enter the industry

Enjoy the full episode to learn how to network for a job in professional sports. Also, subscribe to the WorkInSports Podcast for more sports career advice, and catch additional content on our YouTube Channel!