On his first day working guest services during FIFA soccer matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, discovered that he didn’t know the sprawling venue’s layout all that well.

With only a brief stadium tour during his internship training, the sport management major struggled to locate certain sections while helping fans find their seats. Determined to be better prepared, Smith arrived an hour early for his next shift to explore the stadium and familiarize himself with its layout.

That initiative became one of the most valuable lessons of his summer internship.

“In my experience, I was kind of expected to learn as I go, or even teach myself a lot of things,” Smith said. “It was a lot less structured. There wasn’t a professor, you know, telling me you have to turn this in at this time.”

Smith shared his story during the Sport Management Internship Forum on Oct. 12, joining fellow students and for a panel discussion about navigating the sport industry, overcoming workplace challenges, and building professional relationships. To view photos from the forum, .

Held in Turner Theatre and the Snow Family Grand Atrium, the annual forum brought together students and faculty to discuss internships and explore potential career paths. Moderated by , the student panel offered a firsthand look at working behind the scenes for prominent sport organizations.

Learning beyond the classroom

For Gill, a senior from Frederick, Maryland, an internship with NASCAR Productions allowed him to combine his interests in motorsports and media.

Gill secured the position while participating in The Sport Experience in Charlotte, drawing on his relationship with Associate Dean Tony Weaver and his involvement in campus media activities.

Once at NASCAR, he quickly recognized that the expectations of a professional production environment differed from those of the classroom.

While his coursework had introduced him to Adobe Premiere Pro, Gill needed to sharpen his editing skills to meet the demands of the position. He learned that asking questions and seeking guidance from colleagues were essential parts of professional growth.

“Don’t be afraid to ask questions when you’re at your job, at your internship, because there’s no shame in it,” Gill said.

The internship reinforced the importance of punctuality, preparation and accountability. Gill has since expanded his motorsports journalism work, including covering a NASCAR race in Richmond, Virginia, where he interviewed drivers alongside established industry reporters.

Moore, a sport management and psychology double major from Wellesley, Massachusetts, spent the summer working in community relations for the Boston Red Sox.

Her responsibilities ranged from hosting community groups before games at Fenway Park to participating in events around Boston. Some workdays stretched from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., a significant adjustment from the predictable schedule of college classes.

Still, Moore found that some of her most rewarding moments came when she volunteered for assignments outside her regular duties. She assisted with ticketing, marketing, concerts and the organization’s charitable foundation, gaining a broader understanding of the many career paths available to her.

“Those were honestly like the best moments I have for my entire summer because it not only introduced me to so many other people that I got to work with, but also like it really connected me to the other interns in my program who are still some of my best friends,” Moore said.

Finding direction through internships

The forum opened with a keynote address from Anthony Bamford ’25, coordinating producer for �鶹��Ƶ Sports Vision, who reflected on how internships helped shape his career interests.

Before returning to his alma mater, Bamford interned with the Atlantic Coast Conference and Durham Bulls, gaining exposure to different areas of the sport industry, from game operations and event management to live production.

During his time with the ACC, Bamford helped coordinate officiating logistics and game-day operations. One of his biggest responsibilities involved leading approximately 30 volunteers for activities at the ACC Football Championship. The assignment challenged him to become a more confident leader, particularly when directing volunteers who were older and more experienced.

Bamford encouraged students to look beyond the résumé-building benefits of internships, noting that they can also open doors to research, networking and career exploration.

“Just because your internship ends doesn’t mean what you’re doing as an intern has to end,” Bamford said. “It’s all stuff you can carry over and keep moving forward.”

Following the presentations in Turner Theatre, students gathered in the Snow Family Grand Atrium for an informal networking session featuring internship presentations.

Nearly 50 student interns were listed as participants, representing organizations across professional and collegiate sports, media, marketing, community recreation and event management. Their placements included the Cincinnati Reds, FOX Sports, Atlantic Coast Conference, D.C. United, PGA Tour Live and numerous other organizations.

Student Interns

Caleb Albert – American Junior Golf Association (AJGA)
Laila Anderson – Baller Sports Agency
Henry Anning – Cincinnati Reds
Grace Carabillo – Northside Youth Organization
Brodie Carroll – �鶹��Ƶ Athletics
Hannah Chandler – Danville Otterbots
Andrew Cox – Element 78 Experiences
Tyler Craig – Richmond Kickers
Seth Cushinsky – Gastonia Ghost Peppers
John Drape – Octagon, FIFA World Cup
Maddie Engelkraut – Fox Sports NYC
Jack Farmer – Bourne Braves
Luke Forrester – Nike Tennis Camp/Pepperdine University
Madi Galindo – Peak Sport Management, Wofford College
Jack Griffin – Hurricane Junior Golf Tour
Jonah Grossman – SunBelt Baseball League
Tone Hart – Alamance County YMCA
Jack Hayes – Queen City SC
Zoey Hayes – Atlantic Coast Conference
Eric Jones – Alamance Community College Youth Summer Camp
Owen Kelley – Salvation Army Burlington
Nhycer Kelly – Salvation Army Burlington
Wynne Kenna – Joe Favorito
Nate Kennedy – RBC Wealth Management
Martin Kozak – Hickory FC
Ari Lloyd-Farber – Brewster Whitecaps
Jackson Marcus – WAVY 10
Kaitlin Mariani – �鶹��Ƶ Athletics
Emma Mayo – Breezemont Summer Camp
Justin Miles – PGA Tour Live
Logan Miller – FIFA World Cup/NAPA Auto
Sydney Moore – Boston Red Sox
Ryan Nedwed – Burlington Sock Puppets
Alex Neuman – IMG Licensing
Anna Pfeiffer – High Point Rockers
Lincoln Proops – Prospect Select Baseball
Will Riggs – Zawyer Sports
Liv Roellke – Burlington United FC
Lily Rosenberg – Danbury Westerners
Ryan Shorten – Durham Bulls
Noah Stephenson – The Sports and Entertainment Group
Nate Sterling – All the Smoke Productions
Aiden Stuart – Foundation Management & Pro-productions Inc.
Jack Taggard – Danville Otterbots
Joe Taylor – Salem City FC
Abby Waeltz – Flex Works Sports
Holden Warsham – Lake Norman Harbor Hippos
Zimere Winston – �鶹��Ƶ Athletics
Mia Zebley – DC United
Jacob Zik – Body Focus Performance
Carena Ziolkowski – Danvers Indoor Sports

A new chapter in �鶹��Ƶ’s global sport education programming officially began Sept. 7 in Pistoia, Italy.

Five �鶹��Ƶ students arrived in the Tuscan city as the inaugural cohort participating in the university’s partnership with Lumos Pistoia Basket 2000, a professional basketball organization, and the Accademia Europea di Firenze (AEF). Their arrival was marked by a from the club as the students prepare to begin a semester combining study abroad with hands-on experience in the professional sport industry.

As part of their initial visit, the students explored Pistoia’s historic center before making their way to LumoSquare, the 3,835-seat home of Pistoia Basket and a growing community hub. Accompanied by Professor Marco Bracci and Elisabetta Santanni, academic director of AEF/�鶹��Ƶ in Florence, the group toured the facility, met members of the club staff, and received a personal welcome from Pistoia Basket President Joseph Mark David.

The visit offered the students their first look at the organization, where they will soon become part of the day-to-day operations. Beginning in mid-September, they will work alongside Pistoia Basket staff on projects involving sport management, marketing and social media.

“This experience is over a year in the making and couldn’t have come together without the amazing work of our partners at AEF, especially Elisabetta Santanni and Marco Bracci,” said David Bockino, professor of sport management. “As we launch the partnership this semester, we’re already discussing how to make it accessible to more students moving forward. The reception on campus has been great – we have students lining up to participate in the future.”

A global professional experience

Announced last fall, �鶹��Ƶ’s partnership with AEF and Pistoia Basket was developed in collaboration with the Department of Sport Management to expand experiential learning opportunities for students studying in Florence. It combines two hallmarks of an �鶹��Ƶ education – global engagement and professional experience – placing students inside a European professional sport organization while they study abroad.

“This experience was the logical next step as �鶹��Ƶ grows its sport-related experiences,” Bockino said. “As a university, we’re great at study abroad and at helping our students get internships. Why not put those two together? When these students eventually hit the job market, they’ll arrive with a true resume differentiator: an internship with a professional Italian basketball club that allows them to better understand sport from a global perspective.”

As part of a mentored, two-credit internship with Pistoia Basket, students will spend approximately 10 hours each week gaining practical experience in event operations, fan engagement, marketing, communications and social media. Their responsibilities will be tailored to their academic backgrounds and professional interests.

For example, students interested in media analytics may evaluate the club’s social media performance, while students studying sport management or strategic communications will work to increase Pistoia Basket’s visibility among college students studying abroad in Florence. Participants will also meet regularly with accompanying professors and complete applied and reflection-based assignments.

The cohort will also contribute to a video storytelling project designed to introduce Pistoia Basket to new audiences in the United States. Funded by the �鶹��Ƶ Innovation Council and coordinated through �鶹��Ƶ’s Sports Media Lab and �鶹��Ƶ Sports Vision, the project will use footage captured by the students to tell the story of Pistoia’s 2026-27 season. According to Bockino, the resulting videos are expected to appear on �鶹��Ƶ social media channels and during �鶹��Ƶ Athletics broadcasts.

This fall’s inaugural cohort includes Robbie Pataky ’28, a strategic communications major; Amelia Weaver ’28, a sport management and media analytics double major; Riley Greenwald ’28, a sport management major; Olivia Tichnor ’28, a marketing major; and Max Edelstein ’28, a sport management major.

A former �鶹��Ƶ Sports Vision (ESV) student crew member, Bamford was recently named the initiative’s coordinating producer, overseeing live broadcasts of �鶹��Ƶ Athletics events while working closely with students as they develop technical, creative and leadership skills.

“I was interested in the coordinating producer role because I saw firsthand what the role entailed while I was an undergrad and the seasonal diversity across the men’s and women’s sports,” Bamford said. “ESV provided me with a wonderful opportunity to learn all aspects of sports broadcasting. I experienced everything from camera operation, to replay, to producing and directing a live broadcast – and I hope to offer the same for current and future students.”

Following his graduation in May, Bamford gained professional experience as the director of multimedia for the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), responsible for the coordination and improved production of the league’s streaming efforts. The position placed him in charge of remote broadcasts, collaborating with schools and announcers nationwide.

“My role at the CWPA taught me how to work in extremely fast-paced environments while managing multiple projects,” he said.

Bamford’s professional background – and the mentorship mindset he brings to the role – stood out to Bryan Baker, the School of Communications’ director of technology, operations and multimedia projects.

“Anthony was a terrific student at �鶹��Ƶ who consistently took full advantage of the opportunities offered by the School of Communications,” Baker said. “His background in sport management, media analytics, journalism, and as an ESV student producer uniquely positions him to be an outstanding mentor to students in his new role.”

A native of Royersford, Pa., Bamford brings experience from professional and collegiate sports operations. During his semester in The Sport Experience in Charlotte, he served as an Atlantic Coast Conference Football and Game Day Operations Center intern, including managing a 30-member volunteer staff at the 2023 ACC Football Championship Game. He has also worked as a game operations intern for the Durham Bulls of the International League and as a producer/broadcaster for Pottstown Community Television.

In addition to his production experience, Bamford completed undergraduate research through the university’s Sports Media Lab, conducting a qualitative analysis of sports gambling, pirating and social media consumption. The results of that research were published in the Sports Business Journal.

Looking ahead, Bamford plans to build on ESV’s tradition of high-quality broadcasts while emphasizing student development. And Bamford and ESV are starting from a good position – the organization captured its first-ever College Sports Media Award last spring.

“I would love to continue and expand ESV’s legacy of producing professional-level broadcasts for college athletics,” he said. “As a student, I was a member of a crew that won an award at SVG. As the coordinating producer, I want to make that the expectation for our future broadcasts.”

�鶹��Ƶ �鶹��Ƶ Sports Vision

�鶹��Ƶ Sports Vision provides students with hands-on experience in broadcasting, content creation, sports marketing and in-venue productions for �鶹��Ƶ’s NCAA Division I athletic department. Launched in 2017, ESV works closely with �鶹��Ƶ Athletics to deliver live coverage of university sporting events with professional production standards. As coordinating producer, Bamford oversees a team of nearly 60 student employees and manages the execution of broadcasts across camera work, audio, graphics, live commentary and sideline reporting.

In its third year, �鶹��Ƶ’s Sports Media Lab is building on early momentum, deepening relationships with sport industry partners and opening new pathways for student-led research and scholarship.

Founded by Associate Professor of Sport Management David Bockino, the lab was created in 2023 to give students and faculty a place to explore the intersection of sports, media and research, both academically and in applied industry settings.

“I’d been immersed in sports media research for years, and I saw the lab as an opportunity to create a place where students could join those conversations and contribute to work that’s both academically rigorous and valuable to the industry,” Bockino said.

He added that �鶹��Ƶ’s structure naturally positions the university as a leader in this field, noting, “We’re one of the few schools in the country that houses a sport management department within a school of communications. To me, that means we should be the leader in sports media.”

In the past year, the Sports Media Lab has expanded its collaborations with the Atlantic Coast Conference, Charlotte FC and the Charlotte Checkers. These relationships have created opportunities for students and faculty to present original research, including a briefing with ACC executives in August 2024 and a research presentation for Charlotte FC in April. Assistant Professor of Sport Management Alex Traugutt also visited the Charlotte Checkers three times to present sponsorship and fan-engagement findings developed in collaboration with students Lena Gunn ’25 and Lindsay Feretti ’26.

Bockino said the mutually beneficial nature of these partnerships is central to the lab’s mission. “I want to show our partners the value of our work,” he said. “If they’re gaining something meaningful and our students are gaining something meaningful, that’s the ideal relationship.”

Students also benefited from new research tools through a recent partnership with Relo Metrics, an AI-powered sponsorship analytics platform. The collaboration opens doors for students across sport management and media analytics to integrate real-world brand exposure and sponsorship valuation research into class projects and independent studies. “It’s something we’ve never had before, and the opportunities are nearly limitless,” Bockino said.

The Sports Media Lab’s recent activity has included several high-profile student research accomplishments. Anthony Bamford ’25 presented to the ACC in 2024, and in spring 2025 he traveled with Bockino to Chicago to present their work at the International Association for Communication and Sport. Bamford and Carlos Levy ’25 also presented research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Pittsburgh.

The lab celebrated two publications in the Sports Business Journal, including , and . Reflecting on the surge in student scholarship, Bockino said, “I’m trying to create a structure that’s sustainable and repeatable semester after semester.”

Looking ahead, Bockino envisions the Sports Media Lab growing into an even more central academic resource. As the sport industry increasingly relies on digital storytelling, analytics and content creation, he sees opportunities for students to explore careers that merge these areas. “Everyone, all sport organizations, are creating content. Athletes are creating their own content, right?” he said. “It would really help those students find their own home, and I think it would attract new students.”

The lab’s momentum accompanies Bockino’s latest scholarly work. His upcoming book, “Over/Under: An Unexpected History of Sports Betting,” , will be published in June 2026. The book traces nearly two centuries of sports gambling in the United States and examines how wagering has shaped the rise of American sports. As with Bockino’s earlier book, “Game On,” the new title highlights �鶹��Ƶ’s continued leadership in sports media education and research.

The Sports Media Lab is supported by the �鶹��Ƶ Innovation Council – with funding already extended into the 2026 calendar year.

Lilly Molina ’27 contributed to this release.

turned a curiosity about fan engagement in professional women’s sports into a nationally published research project – the result of work the recent �鶹��Ƶ graduate began as an undergraduate.

The strategic communications and media analytics double major recently co-authored a peer-reviewed paper with Assistant Professor of Sport Management Alex Traugutt. Titled “” the study was published in the Journal of Applied Sport Management. It analyzed attendance trends during the 2023 season and found that themed events significantly increased match attendance, while traditional promotions had limited impact.

Drawing on data from all 167 regular-season matches, the study also identified key external drivers of attendance, including post-World Cup timing, visiting star players, and local market demographics. These findings offer actionable insights for NWSL teams seeking to grow their fanbases and refine marketing strategies amid the league’s rapid expansion.

According to Traugutt, the paper was the result of multiple semesters of work and was first presented at the Applied Sport Management Association (ASMA) conference, where Gunn earned first place in the Undergraduate Research Competition. Gunn served as the paper’s lead author.

As that study made its publication debut, another �鶹��Ƶ undergraduate-led project – also mentored by Traugutt – was accepted for publication. , a sport management major and member of �鶹��Ƶ’s women’s volleyball team, led a companion study focused on NCAA Division I women’s volleyball. The forthcoming paper, to be published in the Journal of Amateur Sport, found that promotional events, match scheduling, and opponent quality all significantly influence fan attendance.

“These publications exemplify the power of student-faculty collaboration at �鶹��Ƶ,” Traugutt said. “Lena and Lily developed as researchers by tackling real-world sport industry challenges. From forming research questions to presenting and publishing their work, they gained skills that will serve them long beyond the classroom.”

Following their graduations in May, Gunn now works as a sports partnership coordinator with Novant Health, and Barker is pursuing her MBA in sport management at San Diego State University.

has already conducted research projects for both the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Major League Soccer club Charlotte FC.

He has experience with a variety of platforms including Excel, R, Tableau, Brandwatch, SEM Rush and Google Analytics.

While working as an intern for the Atlantic Coast Conference Football department during the 2023 season, Bamford witnessed first-hand the variability of college football game length.

While the ACC had some guesses as to what factors most influenced duration, they wanted to test those hunches with actual data. The task went to Bamford, someone who had been trusted with significant responsibilities and who Donald Moore, the ACC’s director of football, called “integral to our football department.”

Using a proprietary dataset (2019-2023) consisting of both in-conference and out-of-conference games, Bamford organized and cleaned the data before creating a regression model to understand the effects of total plays, scoring plays, penalties, replay stoppages, stoppage time and commercial format.

In August 2024, Bamford presented his results in person to the ACC. The findings both confirmed some of the ideas the conference had about game duration and gave them a few new concepts to think about, specifically in terms of replay stoppages.

In early 2024, Bamford and the rest of the Sports Media Lab team set up a partnership with Charlotte FC in order to help the soccer club better understand the social media habits and preferences of college students. The result was a multi-faceted project designed to assist the club with its social media strategy during global soccer tournaments such as the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America.

Bamford’s portion of the research involves the social media tool Brandwatch. Using data collected during three big events–the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the 2024 Euro Championship and the 2024 Copa America–Bamford will assess and compare the paid, earned and owned social media mentions for Charlotte FC and its competitors. The metrics being assessed include information on demographics, reach, trends, sentiment and sources.

Bamford will combine his research with results from the rest of the Sports Media Lab team and will present the findings to Charlotte FC in early 2025.

The Sports Media Lab Student Spotlight profiles the lab’s graduating seniors and their work.

This spotlight is on HEATH FOSTER ’24, a media analytics major with a marketing minor. Heath has experience with a variety of platforms (including Excel, R, SQL, Tableau, SEM Rush, Hootsuite, and Google Analytics), and is pursuing a career in sport analytics.

Heath excels at communicating insights. He’s a natural storyteller and a gifted presenter, somebody that can both analyze the data and tell somebody why it matters. Here’s his and .

THE WORK

TITLE: Perception vs. Reality: How Fantasy Experts, Scouts, and College Students Value NFL Players.

ORIGIN: Both football fans and broadcasters often focus on the “exciting play.” A 70-yard touchdown bomb. A 45-yard screen pass. It’s perfect content for SportsCenter, ideal for Instagram or TikTok. And it feeds right into our obsession with fantasy football where touchdowns are prioritized.

But there’s so much more to football than these plays. Did the receiver run the correct route? Did the running back make the appropriate block? Yet these moments rarely make the highlight shows. And there are few social media accounts dedicated to good routes or blocks (although there are indeed a few).

Which leads to the genesis of this project: how does our collective emphasis on the exciting play affect fans’ perceptions of what makes a football player a good football player?

THE METHOD AND THE DATA: To answer this question, rankings of NFL wide receivers and running backs were created with three groups of data.

To determine the top NFL players from a scout or front office perspective, thousands of data points were collected, cleaned, assigned a weight, and analyzed using dozens of metrics favoring efficiency such as “true catch rate,” “target separation,” and “run block rating.” Each of these data points came from an athlete who played in 10 or more games and ran at least 10 routes or had 5 carries in each.

Similarly, to determine the top NFL players from a fantasy football perspective, metrics favoring opportunity and production such as “targets/game” and “rushing touchdowns/game” were used to assess individual performance regardless of team outcome or efficiency.

And to determine the top NFL players from a fan perspective, the top 20 wide receivers and running backs from each group were randomized together in a list and send out to 70+ football fans asking them to rank “the best players” at each position.

RESULTS: While the rankings for fantasy football and fans were similar, the scout/ front office rankings told a different story.

From a fan or fantasy football perspective, the usual suspects appeared at the top of the list: Tyreek Hill, Justin Jefferson,  CeeDee Lamb. But from a scout perspective, D.J. Moore, Nico Collins and (as we’ll see below) an under-appreciated 49er all made the Top 10.

THREE  TAKEAWAYS FROM THE PROJECT:

1) We really care about our fantasy teams: Public perception is heavily tied to fantasy performance and big play appeal rather than the mundane data points used by scouts and GMs. Maybe we should start paying more attention to “Top Coverage Draw Rate” or “EPA per Target/Carry” to see how a player is impacting the game outside of the final stat sheet. Exciting plays are awesome, and should be emphasized, but there’s a lot more that goes into this game that we often don’t recognize.

2) Somebody send this research to Brandon Aiyuk: According to scouting

metrics, Brandon Aiyuk is one of the best wide receivers in the league. He runs sharp routes, gets separation, and isn’t afraid to throw a downfield block.

But according to fans, he’s the 27th best wide receiver in the league, right behind Michael Pittman, Zay Flowers, and Jakobi Meyers.

Is it possible that this perception will affect the size of his contract or his sponsorship opportunities?

3) The role of NFL broadcasters: A constant emphasis on the big play is skewing our perception of what constitutes a good player. Moving forward, how can broadcasters showcase true on-field talent to give a more complete story of the game of football? In other words, how do we properly glamorize the more subtle (yet important) parts of the game?

SHARING THE FINDINGS: Heath presented this research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in Long Beach, California and at �鶹��Ƶ’s Spring Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF).

JUGGLING PROJECTS: A week after NCUR, Heath presented research that explored how Formula 1 qualifying times and point systems influence global viewership at the annual conference of the Broadcast Education Association in Las Vegas, Nevada.

CONTACT INFO: Again, here’s Heath’s and .

Sports are a results-based industry measured in wins, losses and statistics.

So, it only makes sense to evaluate the first year of the Sports Media Lab at �鶹��Ƶ in a similar fashion – and the metrics look good.

Since the lab’s launch in September, the inaugural student cohort – led by Associate Professor of Sport Management David Bockino – has embraced opportunities and avenues to pursue sports media-related research questions. The five �鶹��Ƶ students and their faculty mentor have examined topics such as sports gambling, fantasy sports, player/team content creation, broadcast innovations and the perceived value of streaming services.

Supported by an �鶹��Ƶ Innovation Council grant, the lab has provided a structure for students, faculty and sport industry partners to workshop new ideas about relevant research and find ways to make them a reality. The lab’s objective is simple: to make �鶹��Ƶ an industry leader in sports media research.

“It has been an exciting first year for our Sports Media Lab, providing our students with a cohort-based undergraduate research experience that supports their curiosity in sports media,” Bockino said. “And we feel fortunate to find partners who have been eager to collaborate with us and expand our research.”

The lab has had an active first year examining the sports media habits of college students, including multiple focus group sessions in November and March. The first set of focus groups covered sports gambling and player/team content creation, while the second group explored the perception and value of sports streaming services and content piracy.

Based on focus groups discussions, as well as interviews and surveys, the lab published in February a Sports Business Journal op-ed, titled “” The lab also garnered media attention in the days following North Carolina’s March launch of statewide sports wagering. Bockino was featured in several media interviews, including an in Greensboro.

In addition to their cohort experience, all five student participants in the Sports Media Lab tackled individual research topics. Subjects varied from how European soccer clubs market their team to American audiences to the cohesive aspect of sports viewership on college campuses among international students to the way different groups perceive the value of NFL players.

Elliot Rezek ’24, a media analytics and computer science double major, spent this year using eye-tracking software to study viewers’ affinity for new camera angles in NFL broadcasts. He has worked closely with Professor of Strategic Communications Qian Xu to delve into the subject, trying to identify if viewer camera angle preferences are based on how familiar viewers are with the sport.

“I was initially drawn to the lab because it was a combination of my two main interests: academic research and sports,” he said. “As someone who isn’t a sport management major, it was a great way to study sports in ways I don’t often get to in my other classes.”

Rezek credits Xu and Bockino for helping him tighten his project’s parameters, while pushing him to expand his skillset and look for experiences for personal growth. This includes his upcoming oral presentation in April at the (NCUR) in Long Beach, California.

“Well, I won’t lie. I’m pretty scared to present at NCUR,” Rezek quipped. “I’ve never done anything like this before. I am excited however because I’ve worked hard to get my research to where it is now. I want to present what I have learned through my results and process. Dr. Bockino has encouraged me to present at NCUR because he knew it would push me outside of my comfort zone, and that’s what makes him a good mentor.”

Anthony Bamford ’25, a media analytics major, echoed Rezek’s sentiments, noting the benefits of working in collaboration with Bockino. Together, the student and mentor have partnered with the Atlantic Coast Conference to explore the variables behind college football game lengths. Bamford was recently accepted into �鶹��Ƶ’s SURE program to continue with this research and to eventually present his findings to the ACC.

“Dr. Bockino is very good at asking questions that challenge me to think critically about not just the topic at hand, but how outside factors may influence my research,” said Bamford, who completed an internship with the ACC last fall. “His mentorship has been important over the past year in helping me narrow my project scope.”

The Sports Media Lab’s latest news drop is the April 1 publication of Bockino’s new book, “Game On: How Sports Media Grew Up, Sold Out, and Got Personal with Billions of Fans.”

, the book is the first comprehensive look at the evolution of the sports media industry and suggests that the increased personalization of content (i.e. social media, fantasy sports, gambling) is in stark contrast to the industry’s initial focus on the collective experience. The text delves into what the introduction of widespread legalized gambling – a key component to this evolution – could mean for fans, for sports teams and leagues, and for society overall.

According to Bockino, the idea for his new publication traces back to his Through the Lens of ESPN course, a Winter Term offering that explores the intersection of sports, media and culture. His past courses have traveled to Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Uruguay.

“It was during this class that I found myself wishing I had a comprehensive overview of the history of sports media. So, I wrote one.”

– David Bockino

Bockino’s text provides necessary historical context, pointing out that thanks to radio and broadcast television coverage sports was largely a shared experience enjoyed with others – at the same time. But since the 1979 launch of ESPN, which Bockino called the “turning point” of sports media consumption, there has been greater and greater fragmentation among sports fans.

“From talk radio to fantasy sports, video games, and now widespread sports gambling, fans have more and more control of what they watch, who they watch, and who they root for,” Bockino said. “The book addresses this idea of the personalization of the sport fan experience, and whether or not it’s good for society as we fall further into a self-centered media experience overall.”

While the academic year nears its conclusion, Bockino and the Sports Media Lab have already turned their attention to the upcoming year. The lab has already secured a partnership with Charlotte FC where students will pursue research projects developed in collaboration with the Major League Soccer team. It is a collaboration is Bockino is excited for – and something he envisioned when he initially launched the lab.

“An integral component to the Sports Media Lab is its mutually beneficial relationship with sport industry partners,” Bockino said. “We really look forward to kicking off our partnership with Charlotte FC this coming fall – a relationship we expect to be beneficial both to them and to us. And we continue to seek out additional partners who are interested in studying emerging trends within the sports media environment.”