For the past 4+ years, you have been planning your career in sports communication from the day you walked into your first collegiate class. You have known the field you wanted to enter and the job you have wanted since an early age. You know your path.

However, you come to realize that maybe there may be other options out there for you that you never come to think about. Something may spark your interest, or you want a career related to sports, but you do not want the headaches of dealing with long hours at the stadium after everyone has already left.

There are sports communication roles out there within the ecosystem of sports, without the direct involvement of working for a team or league. Sports communication and the part of sports PR can manifest in several different ways. Sports public relations roles do not have to be siloed into one category of working for a team.

Industries popping up beside the traditional sports industries and hiring at record paces. One industry in particular would-be sports gambling. The graphic below shows the growth and project because of sports gambling in just the state of Ohio. Within that fray includes sports communications roles that could provide an alternative to the traditional sports communication role.

While not all jobs listed in this infographic have information detailing sports communication roles, it sets up an advantageous market for those looking for a different side of the industry.

In addition to sports gambling, media is an excellent purveyor of public relations roles that at times revolve around sports. Whether it’s the traditional players of ESPN, NBC, CBS and FOX or tech companies like Apple and Amazon, these corporations are hiring public relations professionals dedicated to materials for their sports media properties. Roles like this serve a different purpose than a traditional sports communication job, however, it uses common skills that work with a different side of the sports’ public relations landscape.

When mentioning technology, many companies working on products being utilized by sports companies and brands could be a great way to enter the public relations scene. These jobs may require more dedication to various areas, but those jobs are out there and could provide a different alternative than what has been told to you in the past.

This does not cover all the areas, but jobs in growing industries related to sports can provide a new opportunity that you never envisioned as a college student but could be significant in the years ahead.

Do not be afraid to go outside of the traditional team side of sports communication. Your skill sets can be transferable in certain situations for other business entities that revolve around traditional sports.