UMSL sport management students (from left) Brittany Mixon, Nathan Schwer, Meredith Way and Carson Johnson competed in the National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship in Atlanta. Johnson finished ninth in the speed sell challenge. (Photo courtesy of Karen Boleska)
Carson Johnson kept one thing in mind as he sold himself as an entry-level hire with the Atlanta Hawks.
“I work in professional sports,” Johnson explained. “For me, I already knew executives are just people at the end of day, so being conversational with them is fairly easy.”
During four 60-second elevator pitches with representatives from the country’s top professional athletic organizations, Johnson highlighted his education in the sport management program at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. The sophomore also detailed an already impressive resume that includes a variety of roles with the St. Louis Blues, St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis CITY SC.
The exercise was part of the speed sell challenge at February’s 2026 National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship in Atlanta. Johnson’s calm demeanor, conversational tone and considerable real-world experience set him apart from the competition and ultimately earned ninth place nationally.
Though it was an individual contest, the result was a team effort. Johnson credited his UMSL teammates Brittany Mixon, Meredith Way and Nathan Schwer and Karen Boleska, director of the sport management program, with the top 10 finish.
“It felt good that our program leads us to success,” he said. “I think it just shows that the entire team was prepared because we were all running through things together, and obviously, it shows that Dr. B had us really prepared to go. So, I’m less proud of it because it’s my name on it, and more proud of it because it’s our program’s name and our university’s name that got represented at the national level.”
Boleska prioritizes professional development opportunities like the National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship, and she said the experience in Atlanta illustrates how resourceful and resilient her students are.
“The National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship is such a great experience for our students, and I’m incredibly proud that we once again finished in the top 10 in the nation in speed selling,” Boleska said. “That part of the competition is really about students learning how to sell themselves for future jobs, talking about their internships, the skills they’ve developed and the goals they have for their careers.
“What was most impressive to me this year was the growth we saw in just two days. Students went from sitting with their small groups at the start to confidently networking with students from across the country and walking up to recruiters for full days of in-person interviews. Watching that confidence build so quickly was really rewarding, and our students represented UMSL with a lot of pride and excitement.”
More than 250 students, faculty members and recruiters from across the country participated in the two-day event, which serves as an opportunity for college students to showcase their sales skills in a competitive format and connect directly with professionals in the sport industry.
The Atlanta Hawks and Baylor University’s Center for Sales Strategy in Sports and Entertainment hosted the event at the State Farm Arena. Numerous MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL and NHL organizations were on hand to serve as competition judges and to recruit for internships and entry-level positions.
During the speed sell competition, students delivered 60-second pitches selling themselves as potential Atlanta Hawks employees to industry professionals. The judges graded them on delivery and speech content, including knowledge of the organization and key characteristics of a new hire.
The event also included ticket sales and corporate partnership tournaments with 64-seed, March Madness-style brackets. Students attempted to sell ticket packages and partnership perks, such as community events, on-court advertising and digital content, to potential buyers. Those “buyers” were actually volunteer sales managers and recruiters for professional athletic organizations.
Johnson and Schwer both competed in the ticket sales tournament. Ahead of the qualifying round this fall, Schwer participated in an eight-week bootcamp with guest coaches, including Brittany Ochs, premium seating executive with St. Louis CITY SC; Chelsea Herman, senior manager of group sales with the Milwaukee Bucks; Chris Johnson, director of ticket sales and service with FC Naples; Joe Harig, director of ticket sales with Sporting Kansas City; Lexie Rogers, membership services executive with St. Louis CITY SC; Philip Fisher, manager of business development with the Las Vegas Athletics; Sam Bocken, manager of inside sales with the Chicago Fire; and Shannon Reese, supervisor of ticket development with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The professionals drilled him on the basics of sales and how to negotiate a deal. Johnson was a last-minute replacement, and on the car ride to Atlanta, Schwer worked to get him up to speed on what he had learned.
A key lesson from the bootcamp was how to handle an objection or hesitance from the buyer. Schwer was thankful he had practice dealing with those challenges, which inevitably came up in the tournament.
“There are a couple examples that I got during the competition, where I tried to turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes,’” Schwer said. “One was price-based. There was another where the person wasn’t able to sign off on it; she’d have to go to her bosses. I said, ‘Let me know if we can get into a one-on-one meeting with your boss to go over the details, the ROI metrics.’”
Schwer and Johnson successfully bargained with the buyers and made sales. However, they both exited the first round of the tournament, falling to competitors who earned higher scores. Neither was discouraged, though.
“I overcame those objections, and I thought I did well,” Schwer said. “It was unfortunate that I couldn’t go on, but I’m glad it was a learning experience.”
The UMSL team was also particularly eager to network – something that is embedded in the sport management curriculum. Boleska places an emphasis on practical skills, and students are expected to interact with weekly guest speakers and connect with professionals throughout the course of the program.
Way used the trip to practice presenting the multidisciplinary skills she’s sharpened as an intern with St. Louis Ambush and an assistant track and field coach at St. Joseph’s Academy.
“I have very diverse experiences,” she said. “I’m a coach, I do social media marketing, so I was trying to find the middle point between all those things. Obviously, I’m at a competition for sales, but I found a way to make it sound like these skills are transferable, which they are.”
Apart from the speed sell challenge, Schwer completed six interviews during the two-day stretch and made promising connections with the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the University of Houston. The senior has experience as a sales associate with the St. Louis Cardinals and aims to work in sales after graduation. Johnson interviewed with five organizations and added about 30 LinkedIn contacts. Eventually, he sees himself working in a community engagement role.
The group was thankful for the opportunity to compete and network on the national stage. Way said it was even better than the program’s annual trip to volunteer at the Super Bowl.
“Being in that atmosphere, where everybody’s in the same realm that you’re wanting to be in, is really cool,” Johnson said. “It’s just a fun experience. I would absolutely recommend it to all the students in our program. This trip doesn’t happen without Dr. B. She deserves all the credit, and all the success that we get is just because of all the time, effort and belief that she pours into us.”
