Experiential Business Lead
Role Summary
As part of the NBA Events Department—specifically the Event Management team—the Experiential Business Lead is responsible for building fan demand, shaping compelling event narratives, and driving ticket revenue across the NBA’s marquee events and scalable experiences.
This role serves as a critical bridge between the Events group and the broader Marketing organization, partnering with Data Strategy & Analytics, Creative Services, Brand, Content, Fan Engagement, and Digital to ensure event-specific strategies align with enterprise-wide marketing priorities and creative direction.
Key Responsibilities
Develop comprehensive, insight-driven go-to-market plans for the NBA’s marquee events.
Define event positioning and messaging architecture to support ticket sales, fan engagement, and business growth.
Partner with Event GMs early in the planning process to embed audience, marketing, and revenue considerations from the outset.
Collaborate across the NBA Events Department and League Office—including Event Strategy, Ticketing Operations, Data Strategy & Analytics, Brand/Marketing, Fan Engagement, Creative Services, Social/Digital, Broadcasting, and Communications—to build event roadmaps and fan journeys.
Build fan interest across owned event properties through tactical marketing programs that drive engagement, ticket sales, and revenue.
Lead a full-funnel marketing approach across brand, media, and experiential touchpoints—from awareness through post-purchase advocacy.
Coordinate GTM execution, including messaging hierarchies, creative development, media alignment, and sequencing strategies that guide fans from Awareness → Consideration → Preference → Purchase → Retention & Advocacy.
Apply innovative, creative, and technology-forward approaches throughout the funnel to improve conversion, loyalty, and NPS.
Support the development and execution of event marketing creative across channels, partnering with internal teams and external agencies to deliver campaigns that align with NBA brand standards while meeting event-specific objectives.
Provide clear, thoughtful creative direction and feedback.
Oversee targeting, segmentation, and audience list-building strategies to fuel fan growth and ticket demand.
Manage agencies, third-party vendors, and internal NBA stakeholders to develop targeted, insight-driven programs.
Maintain a strong working knowledge of paid, owned, and earned media strategies designed to drive ticket sales.
Contribute thought leadership that helps evolve NBA and affiliate league brands across key experiential touchpoints.
Support the development of scalable event platforms and audience frameworks that can be replicated across markets and seasons.
Use research, data, and fan insights—in close partnership with Event Strategy—to optimize performance throughout the event lifecycle.
Define success metrics with internal stakeholders and ensure all strategies ladder to agreed-upon goals and KPIs.
Capture and apply learnings across the portfolio to strengthen audience growth, demand efficiency, and revenue outcomes over time.
Qualifications & Experience
10+ years of progressive experience in event marketing, experiential strategy, or live entertainment, with significant experience in large-scale, ticketed events.
Proven ability to connect brands and fans through experiences, with a demonstrated track record of driving audience growth and revenue impact.
Strong background using consumer, sports, entertainment, and fan insights to shape compelling, high-performing event narratives.
An analytical, data-driven mindset with experience measuring performance in for-profit, ticketed environments.
A deep understanding of full-funnel marketing and customer journey design.
Experience managing both B2C and B2B event portfolios.
Strong financial acumen, including experience managing significant budgets and driving ROI.
Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence senior leadership.
A highly organized, adaptable, and effective approach in complex, fast-paced environments, with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree a plus.
About The NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a global sports and media organization with the mission to inspire and connect people everywhere through the power of basketball. Built around five professional sports leagues: the NBA, WNBA, NBA G League, NBA 2K League and Basketball Africa League, the NBA has established a major international presence with games and programming available in 214 countries and territories in 60 languages, and merchandise for sale in more than 200 countries and territories on all seven continents. NBA rosters at the start of the 2024-25 season featured a record-tying 125 international players from a record-tying 43 countries. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, NBA.com, the NBA App and NBA League Pass. The NBA has created one of the largest social media communities in the world, with more than 2.3 billion likes and followers globally across all leagues, team and player platforms. NBA Cares, the NBA’s global social responsibility platform, partners with renowned community-based organizations around the world to address important social issues in the areas of education, inclusion, youth and family development, and health and wellness.