Pentagon of Sport Sales Training: A 21st Century Sport Sales Training Model

In 2004, Andy Dolich (president of business operations for the National Basketball Association’s [NBA] Memphis Grizzlies), decried the lack of sales training in sport management curricula. In response to that criticism, this paper provides a history and description of a metadiscrete sales-training program recently developed and implemented at two universities. This paper is designed to serve as a blueprint for faculty interested in enhancing their understanding of the theoretical underpinnings and practical logistics of implementing a similar sales-training program in their curriculum. It is the authors’ contention that such programs, based on sound pedagogical principles, can enhance the process of reconnecting sport management curriculum to the 21st-century sport-industry.