Ava Irwin, a Class of 2024 sport management major, received seven job offers before graduation. Yes, seven!

She accepted a position as an account executive with the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association on March 8, more than two months before commencement.

Irwin’s responsibilities include generating new ticket sales, hosting prospective and established clients during Cavaliers home games at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, and cultivating new business through creative lead-generation initiatives.

She starts her career on June 3, choosing the Cavs over competitive offers from the Detroit Pistons (NBA), Sporting Kansas City (MLS), Colorado Rapids (MLS), Chicago Fire (MLS), and others.

The journey to a job in her chosen field of study, however, began years ago. An honors student from Downingtown, Irwin has a resume filled with volunteer and internship experience.

As a sophomore, she started selling 50/50 tickets for the Philadelphia Union and later landed an internship with the Union Foundation. She then began an affiliation with the Philadelphia Flyers and moved from handling marketing giveaways to being on the game-day staff to an internship with the corporate partnerships team.

She even worked at the 2023 Super Bowl with Living Sports. During the 10-day program, she met with members of the Arizona Diamondbacks sales team, the Phoenix Suns social media team, and the Savannah Bananas social media squad. She also worked at a VIP experience with the Super Bowl host committee and the game itself, managing one of the entrances and a main concourse area, focusing on client services and hospitality.

In February of 2024, Irwin competed in the National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship in Atlanta. Sponsored by Baylor University and the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, the contest matched students in a March Madness-like NCAA bracket format to test their sales skills by pitching either a ticket package or a sponsorship idea to a mock buyer.

She credits Dr. Julie Lanzillo, director of Neumann’s sport management and sport business programs, for helping her amass a resume filled with real-world experience. A marketing major at first, she switched to sport management in her sophomore year and “everything started clicking for me.”