🏆 From Notre Dame to Las Vegas, Building the Future of Sports

Together with

Jay Vickers is the Chief Operating Officer of the Sports Innovation Institute at UNLV, where he leads strategy, partnerships, and programs connecting students, faculty, and industry across Las Vegas’ booming sports ecosystem. Before stepping into this role, he built a career that blended corporate leadership with college athletics and sports business: starting in corporate business, then pivoting into fundraising and external affairs at Fresno State, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Northern Illinois. He later joined Learfield, helping lead UNLV Sports Properties to property of the year honors, before returning to campus to launch and scale the Sports Innovation Institute.

From Notre Dame to the Business of Sports

Jay’s journey began far from the sidelines. Born in Thomasville, Georgia, and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, he became the first in his family to attend college, earning a scholarship to Notre Dame. “As a first-generation college grad, I didn’t know what would be my career choice or career path,” he recalls. “Notre Dame helped give me those opportunities.”

After graduating, Jay spent nearly a decade in corporate America with Gallo Wines, Hershey, and Pfizer, leading top markets across the country. The work sharpened his skills in relationship management, skills that would later prove invaluable in sports. “They wanted our product, but how do you get them to buy more? It was really based on how you built the relationship with key decision makers,” he says.

But Jay kept looking back to sports. “I was always curious: how did I get to Notre Dame on a scholarship? Who made that possible?” he says. Alumni conversations, including one with Ohio State AD Gene Smith, pointed him toward fundraising and revenue generation. “That’s when I realized I could use those same skills to impact student-athletes the way others once impacted me.”

Building in College Athletics

From there, Jay pivoted into athletics, working under Danny White at Fresno State, then at Arizona, and later at Wisconsin as Chief Revenue Officer. At each stop, he pushed innovation and fundraising forward, often breaking records.

His career eventually led him to UNLV, first running the Rebel Athletic Fund, then into a role with Learfield. But as Las Vegas transformed into a sports capital with the Golden Knights, Raiders, Aces, and Formula 1, Jay saw a bigger opportunity.

“Our city was changing fast,” he says. “As a public institution, it was important we prepare our students and faculty for what was happening, not just here, but in the global sports and entertainment ecosystem.”

Shaping the Future at UNLV

That vision led to the creation of UNLV’s Sports Innovation Institute in 2019. Backed by the governor’s office and rooted in cross-campus collaboration, the institute has already awarded $1.5 million in research grants and built pillars of excellence spanning sports performance, health, media, golf management, psychology, business, and sports betting.

Perhaps the most visible project was Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, where UNLV partnered with the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee, the NFL Foundation and United Way of Southern Nevada to launch the first fully paid internship program in Super Bowl history. “We knew most of our students couldn’t afford to work 20-plus hours a week unpaid,” Jay explains. “So we raised $350,000+ to make sure this opportunity was equitable. Forty students earned $25 an hour, plus tuition credits. For our students, it was life-changing.”

The institute in partnership with Circle Marketing and Syracuse Falk College of Sport has also launched the Sports Entertainment Innovation Conference (SEICon), now ranked among the top 10 sports business conferences globally, and initiatives like the SPEED Lab, a mobile sports science unit that brings performance and education directly into the community. “We always say we were flying the plane while we were building it,” Jay laughs. “At first, it was rocky. But now, we’ve got something really special.”

Leadership Lessons: HEART

When asked what traits define the successful people he has worked with, Jay points to an acronym he lives by: HEART. It stands for hard work, excellence with integrity, accountability, respect for people, and teamwork. “Nothing I’ve been able to accomplish has happened without great teams,” Jay reflects. “That’s the common thread.”

Advice for the Next Generation

For students who want to break into sports, Jay’s message is simple: seek mentorship, but more importantly, seek sponsorship. “It’s one thing to have mentors who give advice. But you need sponsors, people who will advocate for you, pick up the phone, and pull you up to where you want to be.”

His other advice is to stay curious. “Don’t be afraid to ask the questions you don’t know,” he says. “That’s something I wish I did more of when I was younger.”

Why He Does It

For Jay, the work is bigger than sports. “My why is multi-faceted. I love my community, but it’s also for my family,” he says. “I was the first in my family to graduate college, and since then my younger brother, older sister, and even my mom have all graduated. I don’t want to let my family down. I want to show them we can be great, outstanding people in our community.”

Your career will thank you.

Over 4 million professionals start their day with Morning Brew—because business news doesn’t have to be boring.

Each daily email breaks down the biggest stories in business, tech, and finance with clarity, wit, and relevance—so you're not just informed, you're actually interested.

Whether you’re leading meetings or just trying to keep up, Morning Brew helps you talk the talk without digging through social media or jargon-packed articles. And odds are, it’s already sitting in your coworker’s inbox—so you’ll have plenty to chat about.

It’s 100% free and takes less than 15 seconds to sign up, so try it today and see how Morning Brew is transforming business media for the better.

Check it out