Sports Licensing Manager

About the role

The Licensing Manager leads the sports licensing approval and royalty process, overseeing a direct report and serving as the primary point of contact for licensors, internal teams, and account managers. This role owns the approvals workflow, partners with Finance on royalty reporting and audits, manages day-to-day licensor relationships, and ensures contract and manufacturer agreement compliance across all sports properties. This role carries financial/budgetary and strategic planning responsibility and requires the ability to absorb extremely detailed guidelines and corporate standards, identify issues, and recommend thoughtful business solutions. Limited travel may be required. This role requires a strong affinity for sports and a background in sports marketing or sports operations, along with a proven record of managing complex analytical and financial details. Prior experience in the ad specialty, advertising, or promotions industry is preferred but not required.

Responsibilities

• Approvals: Serve as primary interface for entering sports approval requests (Creative, Royalties, Campaigns, Key Initiatives), including but not limited to: QC Forms and Tracking — submission, tracking, and follow-up on forms and art submitted for all leagues; Management of the SharePoint portal; Communicate with all sports-related business and account managers throughout all phases of the approval process
• Reporting: Partner with Finance on monthly and quarterly compilation and reconciliation of all royalty-related projects, assist with auditing annually, and provide error reporting for coaching opportunities
• Brand Expertise: Serve as the subject matter expert on licensor guidelines to maintain reference materials and evaluate scenarios effectively, identify basic issues, fact-find, prioritize, and suggest thoughtful business solutions
• Relationship Management: Act as key contact for licensors' day-to-day needs, including ongoing weekly calls
• Contracts: Ensure contracts and manufacturer agreements are kept up to date on contract compliance, using appropriate partnering departments as needed
• Process Improvement: