Corporate Partnerships Intern

Hornets Sports & Entertainment (HSE) is a leading sports and entertainment organization dedicated to excellence both on and off the court. With new leadership and a strong strategic vision, HSE is focused on building a premier NBA franchise and delivering best-in-class experiences for fans, partners, and employees.

In addition to Charlotte Hornets basketball, Spectrum Center serves as a premier venue for concerts, family shows, and major sporting events. HSE is committed to positively impacting the Charlotte community by fostering connection, inclusion, and engagement through sports and live entertainment.

HSE is seeking a Partnerships Intern who will gain hands-on experience supporting corporate partner relationships, activations, and game-day executions while working closely with internal teams to deliver best-in-class experiences for fans and partners. This role offers direct exposure to the business side of professional sports and live entertainment, with opportunities to develop skills in relationship management, marketing activation, and cross-functional collaboration.

This is a paid, in-person internship. You will need to be in the office for a minimum of 20 hours, a maximum of 30 hours a week. The 2026-2027 season program runs from September 7, 2026 – April 23, 2027.

Core Values

HSE embodies the following core values:

• Integrity
• Teamwork
• Competitiveness
• Candor
• Accountability
• Resilience

HSE is an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. HSE does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Performing general administrative duties
• Researching promotional items and campaigns relevant to the industry
• Researching, developing and helping execute new creative products and promotional ideas
• Researching and developing sales proposals and partnerships recaps
• Assisting with special events and corporate hospitality
• Assisting with client management and general account activation
• Keep up with inventory of merchandise and premium items
• Assisting account managers with game-day activation
• Participate fully in the internship program, including workshops, speaker series, job shadow opportunities, and the intern project.

Required Skills, Experience and Abilities

To perform the job successfully, you should demonstrate the following:

• Organized, professional, self-starting and committed to the sports industry
• Strong time management skills and the ability to prioritize tasks when given clearly defined goals and objectives
• Experience working within an athletic department, sports team or with a sporting event is beneficial
• Presents self in professional manner and is able to interact with all levels of the organization and outside contacts
• Maintain confidentiality and use discretion when privy to sensitive information
• Flexible and reliable teammate within the department and HSE as a whole
• Strong communication skills
• Proven written, oral, and presentation skills
• Proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite
• Thrive in a dynamic, deadline-driven environment
• Ability to work extended hours, including nights, weekends, holidays
• Must be available to work in-person at HSE offices and are able to attend company events that may occur onsite or offsite
• Students studying Sport Management/ Administration, Marketing/ Sales, or Business Administration, or equivalent relevant experience, are preferred
• Male collegiate basketball players must have exhausted their NCAA eligibility before participating in the HSE internship program.