Life as a Match Development and Events Specialist

By: Cass Ferguson

We walked down memory lane for Kadeem Bandali’s story, and chatted about how he got to where he is today and what it’s like to be a Specialist, Match Development & Events for Toronto FC & Toronto Argos.

In today’s world people have to know so much of what they want to do when going to college or university, and sometimes you just do not know at the time. Kadeem went to York University, here in Toronto where he majored in History. When he completed his studies he said, “Once I finished, finding a job in a field of interest was hard. The time after school was a lot of figuring out what I wanted, and at this point I didn’t know working in sports was an opportunity.”

Continuing on this journey, he worked a few part time jobs here and there and thought about going back to school. He did just that, completing a one-year Post Grad Certificate in Project Management at Centennial College. Now he thought, “I have more under my belt to showcase to a potential employer what I have to offer.”

Each step someone takes only helps one bring themselves closer to their DREAM JOB! Knowing he loved sports, most notably soccer, he stepped towards his journey of working within sports by taking the one-year Post Grad Certificate in Sports & Event Marketing program at George Brown College. He believes that if it wasn’t for the time off to think during a soccer injury, along with his parents support, he wouldn’t be where he is today. 

His growth within MLSE started as a Game Operations Intern, to employment extension during TFC playoff run, to coordinator, and now a specialist. Through this journey he has learned everything he knows on how to present a match and/ or event. He loves what he does, but he said, “Being in this role, you are forever learning. You are always thinking of the newest and best thing.” 

Knowing how he got here, we wanted to really dive into what it’s like to work in a role like his, what is takes to be a successful person in this role and any unknown facts people may not realize.

He broke it down into three sections:

1. Pre-Season
2. Week of Home Game
3. Game Day 

“The job really starts once the season schedule comes out. Knowing the schedule allows for the hardcore planning to start, like planning out themes we want to play out at games. For example:  Canada Day games, Mother’s Day games, CAF (Canadian Armed Forces) games, and many more. While planning, we are always thinking of how these themes can elevate the fans experience and even how we can just elevate any game in general. Planning, communicating and organizing never stops. We work with many departments pre and during the season to help sell experiences we offer during games, like ceremony groups, player escorts, national flag holders, stadium tours, etc.” He then went on to explain that while working in ‘Game Operations’ you deal with every other department a team has, like: ticketing, global partnerships, team operations and so many more. Each department has a role to play in the success of the event/ game, but Kadeem said, “It’s us game ops people who have the   responsibility to bring it all together.”

Although there is a lot of internal communication and transactions going on, Kadeem mentioned that it doesn’t stop there. “My communication heads outside the office by communicating with the league, MLS – Major League Soccer, on details for each home game, like how many visiting team fans will be in attendance and any information the league needs on personnel working the game.” 

As a fan at a sporting event you probably don’t realize how much time and effort goes into producing a game. At Toronto FC games Kadeem mentioned, “Timing is everything. Everything is down to the second. So the biggest part of my role is generating the game production scripts and the game crew scripts. Making this allows for everyone involved to know what’s happening when it’s happening.”

When you work so hard to make something happen, when you’re finally able to see it come to life or physically happen, it is so great to see. 

We asked Kadeem what is the most satisfying aspects of his job. 

Kadeem said, “After every game, win or lose, whatever the product is on the field, just knowing that we entertained and created an atmosphere for fans that they will never forget. Also knowing that I helped put on this event for 30,000 plus people. Seeing the smiles on the kids faces when they get a t-shirt puts a smile on my face.”

If you work in sports you know it is not a 9 to 5 job. You may work Monday-Friday 9-5, but then you have to work games and events on weekends and evenings. We asked Kadeem how does he balance work and life. 

He said, “Working TFC and the Argos doesn’t really give me a summer because if I’m not working a TFC game then I’m working an Argos game and visa versa, but I think the key thing is I LOVE sports and I love soccer, which keeps me going back. This love makes this job not feel like a job and normally I hate when people say that, but it’s so true for me.” As a kid, Kadeem would spend most weekends at his cottage with his Dad, and now with this job taking most of his weekends away, he believes that the little things in life go a long way and sometimes those things can bring some normalcy to his life. When he can, even if it’s on a weeknight, he will go up to his Dad’s just to have dinner. If you can bring some normalcy to your busy sports life, then it all works out in the end. 

In the end, if you love what you do, keep doing it because you never know where it’s going to take you, and through all of this make sure you NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK!!

Game presentation is a huge aspect of sports. If you interested in learning more, you can connect with Kadeem through his social media links below: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kadeembandali/
Instagram: @kadz9