Millie Watson, ’19

The NBA season runs from October to late April, with playoffs stretching into June. Off the court, the business side of the NBA is year-round. For Kamille “Millie” Watson, MS Sport Business ’19, she serves as Manager of Corporate Partnerships Activation for the Philadelphia 76ers, helping build the brand for one of the most storied franchises in the NBA.

Watson’s role focuses on relationships with the 76ers’ corporate partners. She is a dedicated account manager for over seven partners, including City Fitness, Five Below, and The GIANT Company.

Recently, she helped organize one of her favorite 76ers offseason activations, the 76ers Summer Hoops Tour with Five Below. This series of events features 10 stops at local basketball courts and recreational centers across Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware. Throughout the tour, participants learn the fundamentals of basketball, interact with Jr. 76ers coaches, and receive some unique giveaways and treats.

“For events like these, we like to invite our partners to attend and participate in the excitement,” she says. “A large shoutout goes to everyone in our organization who lends a hand in hosting these activations because our partners enjoy being a part of them and making an impact in the community.”

During the season, Watson works 76ers games at the Wells Fargo Center and other events at the team’s training complex in Camden, New Jersey, entertaining partners, which have brought her into contact with some of the 76ers’ most legendary players, including NBA legends Julius Irving and Allen Iverson. Those connections to the franchise’s history and their partners have given her great on-the-job satisfaction.

“I get to work with organizations with large, loyal followings, and that gives me a true sense of accomplishment,” Watson says. “I’m part of the brand and part of the story [of the 76ers], and I have the sense that I’ll be able to look back and see the legacy I left behind.”

This deep affinity began to take root when Watson moved back to her hometown of Philadelphia after completing her undergraduate studies at North Carolina State University and beginning her career in event management in the Raleigh-Durham area. Not long after returning home to work as Assistant Director for Events and Conferences with Drexel Online, she connected with members of LeBow’s Department of Sport Business who taught in the online MS in Sport Business program.

“Before moving back to Philly, I used to work for the Duke University men’s basketball team and the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team and often told my Drexel program managers how much I really missed working in sports,” she says. “Later on, they convinced me to join the program.”

More fortuitous connections between her career and her master’s degree courses would soon emerge.

“I took a course in Sport Facility Management while I was working for Oak View Group Facilities in 2019s just before graduation,” Watson says. “The course was a perfect match for the day-to-day work I was doing, writing RFPs for major stadiums, fields, facilities, conference centers and arenas across the country.”

Other courses provided her with skills that she continues to use on the job to this day.

“I leverage my Sports Law class to navigate contracts and legal parameters for partners, and my experience in Sport Media and PR helps me strategize promotions for season-long initiatives with our current partners,” she says. “Most importantly, the knowledge I gained in Sports Marketing allows me to reference successful campaigns and adapt them to current market trends.”

Though the MS in Sport Business is a fully online program, Watson still sought out opportunities to interact with her classmates face-to-face and ended up forming friendships that have lasted.

“We had some camaraderie through group chats and online discussions, and since we were all already living and working in similar markets, we had the opportunity to meet up in person,” she says, noting friends who held roles at the time with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Greater New York City YMCA and athletic departments at several local colleges and universities. “We all walked across the stage together at graduation, and now we reunite when we can.”

With a network of classmates across the country in various sports-industry roles and her own career on the rise, Watson can chart how far she’s come since returning to Philadelphia: “Completing my master’s at Drexel was a game-changer.”

Learn more about the Drexel LeBow Online MS in Sport Business