In 2021, we launched our inaugural Fellowship Program – a fully paid, one-year rotational program for individuals from underrepresented groups to join the Excel team and gain industry experience with exposure to various business areas across the agency.

This year, recent University of Oregon graduate Jacob Campos joined the team as the company Fellow, eager to learn about all aspects of business at Excel from talent representation, brands, and properties.

The past decade has been one to remember for diehard sports fans in San Francisco. With dynasty runs by the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors, alongside the consistent success of the San Francisco 49ers, it has been an extraordinary time for local fans. Jacob, a Bay Area native, had his passion for sports ignited by the dominance of these teams.

“Sports had been woven into me since I was a kid,” Jacob said. “Mainly off the buzz around town with the Giants, Warriors, and 49ers.”

This love for sports motivated Jacob to pursue a college education at an institute with a rich sports heritage, which led him to the University of Oregon. In 2023, he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a minor in Media Studies from the Lundquist College of Business.

Leveraging skills learned from his studies, Jacob gained hands-on talent management exposure in college by working with some of the school’s most high-profile athletes and organizing specialized camps for those players locally in Eugene, Oregon. Through these experiences at the University of Oregon, Jacob secured two internships:

• As a Sales and Marketing Intern at Smith and Associates, he generated nearly $1 million in sales, surpassing all other sales interns in gross profit and revenue.
• As a Strategy and Operations Intern with the 49ers, he enhanced fan engagement and gathered data to recommend improvements for the gameday experience, including concessions and fan satisfaction scores.

These opportunities and his passion for marketing and talent management led him to Excel and the Fellowship program.

“A rotational program was my goal – and on top of that, the Fellowship aligned with my values,” Jacob said. “Excel was great for me, as I had the opportunity to engage with various areas of the agency and learn from industry-leading professionals.”

In his first rotation, Jacob joined our Properties team and got a first-hand look at the entire process our group runs to deliver new major corporate partners for the global rightsholders Excel represents. He supported research and prospecting efforts for stadium naming rights and jersey sponsorships, prepared briefs in advance of calls the team conducted with Fortune 500 companies and made significant contributions to successful deals sourced by the team – including the front-of-shirt sponsorship for the Chicago Fire and cornerstone partners for MetLife Stadium.

During his second rotation, he collaborated with the agency’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) department. He gained insight into the player representation, legal, and marketing aspects of the NIL landscape.

Utilizing the sales experience he gained throughout his various departmental rotations, Jacob secured multiple NIL marketing endorsement deals and over five figures worth of products for Excel clients spanning across various sports.

His responsibilities in finalizing each deal included:

• Identifying essential areas for the brands’ business and core strategy, and ideating marketing activations.
• Building relationships with crucial decision-making executives from each brand and educating them on Excel’s business and the NIL landscape.
• Negotiating deal terms, maximizing ROI for our clients and the brands, and building out our client’s contractual deliverables.
• Discussing and finalizing the roll-out strategy and marketing approaches for products.
• Working closely with the Excel legal team to ensure compliance with colleges/universities and carving out deal terms focusing on critical selling cycles for each product.
• Coordinating key marketing material production planning with each athlete and brand.

Due to Jacob’s success and passion for the sales and talent representation side of the business, his rotation within the NIL department was extended.

“There is ample opportunity for each athlete to build their brand beyond their athletic talents,” Jacob said. “I was eager to continue empowering athletes to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness, which is why staying with Excel’s NIL team offered a fantastic opportunity to gain further experience in this field.”

While Jacob gained valuable experience relevant to his career goals, what stood out most to him was the company culture, the connections he made, and everyone’s openness in sharing their time and insights.

From former associates who are now full-time employees at Excel, to departmental vice presidents, Jacob picked the brains of all his co-workers during his time with the agency.

“One of the best parts was talking to people and bouncing ideas off them,” Jacob said. “I was able to get on calls with C-suite level executives from major brands and key decision-makers in sports marketing, which enabled me to have a voice and opinion thanks to my supportive colleagues.”

Jacob’s year with Excel has ended, and he embraced every minute of this experience with Excel from both a professional and personal standpoint. He made an instant impact when he began the Fellowship program, from securing client marketing deals to playing left field on the company softball team.

We are thrilled to have had Jacob join us for the last year and wish him nothing but luck in the bright future he has ahead of him.

Mark Tatum, the NBA’s Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, recently joined our #exceltogether Speaker Series for an engaging conversation moderated by Emilio Collins, Partner and Chief Business Officer at Excel, and a longtime colleague of Tatum. Discussion points ranged from current industry trends, growing basketball both domestically and internationally, the rising prominence of the WNBA, and the league’s unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Tatum began by bringing listeners back to the beginning of his journey – a young kid in Brooklyn with a passion for sports. Dedication has always been a major part of Tatum’s life, and he discussed how he would prepare for each baseball season to ensure he was positioning himself for his best effort and success. That dedication still stays true today, as Tatum leaned on those similar practices he used as a young baseball player to build himself into the visionary leader he is now.

Always looking to brainstorm ways to drive league growth, the NBA introduced its inaugural In-Season Tournament. Tatum discussed how this idea came to be, and how it will help the league grow and build on a new asset. Shortly after this speaker series call with Tatum, the NBA saw record viewership numbers during the In-Season final between the Los Angeles Lakers and Indianapolis Pacers.

When discussing expansion, Tatum noted that he and commissioner Adam Silver are always exploring potential options, and growth of the game is a top priority. When diving into the topic of growing basketball beyond its North American borders, he shared insights on the NBA’s efforts to continue investing resources, as well as playing games, in countries all over Europe.

While brainstorming methods to grow the NBA is what usually occupies Tatum and his team’s minds, he has been thrilled to see the momentum the WNBA has built recently in the last handful of years. Fresh off its 27^th season in which the league experienced record viewership and attendance records, Tatum discussed how important the WNBA growing in popularity has been in grabbing the attention of the entire country – from fans, media and corporate decision makers. One of the most exciting parts of the WNBA’s success for Tatum is hearing from family, friends and players that their daughters watch every night with hopes of one day lacing up their shoes in front of packed arenas.

Diversity and inclusion were other topics that Tatum shared insight on – discussing how the NBA has been active in donating hundreds of millions of dollars towards creating more economic opportunities among diverse communities, as well as the league’s emphasis on creating an inclusive environment for everyone to cheer on their favorite teams and players.

Throughout the conversation, Tatum exuded the NBA’s eagerness to continue implementing ways to engage audiences all over the world and create valuable investment assets.

The #exceltogether Speaker Series is a quarterly event featuring influential people who are making an impact in shifting the culture around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion across sports and entertainment.