Sports and Entertainment Sales Training
Sales Training for Sports and Entertainment Organizations
Your sales team competes in one of the toughest revenue landscapes in the business. Premium inventory competes against every entertainment option in the market, corporate buyers scrutinize sponsorship spend harder every cycle, and season performance you cannot control shapes conversations your sellers cannot avoid.
Tyson Group partners with revenue leaders across sports and entertainment including:
- More than half of all NBA, NFL, and MLB teams
- Major theme parks
- Iconic venues including Madison Square Garden
- Leading live event organizations
- Collegiate athletic organizations
We partner directly with CROs, VPs of Sales, and the executive teams responsible for ticketing, premium seating, sponsorship, and partnership revenue to establish scalable, predictable growth.
The Sales Challenges Sports and Entertainment Organizations Face
Premium Inventory Sold Like Tickets
Suites, clubs, and premium memberships are B2B decisions with committees and budgets, and sellers who run consumer ticket motions against corporate buyers leave the largest deals underworked.
Sellers Who Wait for the Phone to Ring
Inbound demand rises and falls with the standings, and sales teams without a structured prospecting cadence watch pipeline disappear the moment the product on the field cools off.
Sponsorship Conversations That Lead With Assets
Sellers pitch inventory and signage while corporate partners are buying business outcomes, and deals stall wherever the seller cannot connect the partnership to the buyer’s revenue.
Renewal Books Built on Rapport, Not Value
When retention lives in one account manager’s personal rapport, every departure and every losing season puts revenue at risk that a value-based renewal process would protect.
Young Teams, High Turnover, and No Bench
Entry-level sellers carry huge activity loads with thin development, so the best ones leave for the next role before the organization ever sees the return on hiring them.
Managers Promoted for Selling, Not Coaching
Sports sales organizations promote their best sellers young and hand them teams without teaching them to coach, so accountability slips and development stalls where teams need it most.
Case Study: The Playbook for Sales Growth
When a major NBA franchise set out to double premium sales revenue in a single season, leadership recognized that game-day excitement and brand prestige would not close corporate suite deals. Business buyers evaluate premium inventory as a strategic investment. The sales team needed to sell it that way.
The results were measurable. The franchise delivered a 55% increase in premium suite sales, the highest growth rate in its history for that category. Download the full case study to learn more.
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Sales Training Programs for Sports and Entertainment Teams
Practical, behavior-based sales training teaches your sellers to run structured discovery with corporate buyers, sell outcomes rather than inventory, and build pipeline that survives a team’s losing streak. Programs for sports and entertainment sales teams include:
Adaptive Selling™
Build the skills to read each buyer and adapt your approach within a structured sales process.
Explore ProgramSales Negotiation
Protect value on premium and sponsorship deals when procurement enters the conversation.
Explore ProgramConsultative Selling
Account Management
Grow and protect the renewal book through relationships built on value.
Explore ProgramPersuasive Presentation Skills
Deliver premium and sponsorship presentations that move committees to a decision.
Explore ProgramHigh-Performance Sales Coaching
Equip your sales managers to coach every seller to a consistent standard, week after week.
Explore ProgramWhat Sports and Entertainment Leaders Say About Tyson Group
We’ve partnered with the Tyson Group and it’s been an amazing relationship for the past several years. What the Tyson Group does to truly tailor their sales training program to help us and benefit us to lay the groundwork in order for our teams to continue to grow, develop, and ultimately find something that was going to be a scalable model for us as we grow at an immense pace is truly remarkable.
April Sanders, Vice President of Sales, Topgolf
The Process that Lance Tyson shares in this book has been the driver of over $5 billion in acquisitions for new NFL stadium projects we have partnered on in Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. The content is not rhetoric and theories, but best practices that have been put to the test and lead to success at the highest level.
Mike Ondrejko, President of Global Sales, Legends
Tyson Group has been a trusted partner of mine for more than 15 years across multiple organizations. What separates them is their ability to truly understand the unique needs of a business and customize their approach to create meaningful, lasting impact. Their sales training, leadership development, assessments, and diagnostics have helped strengthen accountability, elevate performance, build stronger sales cultures and, most importantly, drive measurable business results. I’ve worked with many training and consulting organizations throughout my 27-year career in sports and entertainment, and Tyson Group is truly best-in-class.
Dan Lefton, Chief Revenue Officer, Detroit Pistons
Trusted by Elite Sports and Entertainment Brands
Tyson Group is the preferred sales training provider for more than half of all NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB sports teams.
Inside the Sales Strategy Behind Opening a New Stadium
When Florida State University Athletics transformed Doak Campbell Stadium, the renovation disrupted the seating of more than 5,400 donors and season ticket holders. Our newest case study takes revenue leaders inside the sales strategy behind the transition: how a disciplined, data-driven sales approach re-engaged a loyal base, sold out the first four premium areas on existing relationships alone, and drove more than $75 million in capital commitments.
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Sports and Entertainment Sales Teams We Train
Revenue in sports and entertainment comes from distinct sales functions, each with its own buyers, cycle, and skill demands. Tyson Group builds training for every team on the revenue side of the organization, including:
- Ticket Sales, both new business and renewal
- Group Ticket Sales
- Premium Seating and Premium Ticket Sales
- Luxury Suite Leasing and Sales
- Partnership and Sponsorship Sales
- Media Sales
- Activation and Service teams supporting both ticket sales and partnerships
Customized Sales Training for Your Sports and Entertainment Team
If your premium, ticketing, and sponsorship sellers are working hard while revenue stays tied to the standings, let’s talk. We’ll listen to what you’re seeing, share what’s working across the teams and venues we serve, and build a path to training targeted to your needs and goals.
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