by Taylor Brethauer & RikkiLynn Shields, Senior Writers
The communication department within the School of Liberal Arts has begun preparation for their upcoming sports media production concentration with the installation of an ESPN trailer.
On March 6, the ESPN mobile truck arrived onto campus and is currently parked in the Draddy Gymnasium parking lot. This unit will be used as a secondary classroom for students in the Manhattan College communications department to produce live broadcasts for our NCAA Division I sporting events.
The concentration has been in the works throughout the past year. The arrival of the mobile truck will serve as a major perk for those wanting hands-on experience.
In the article released by the college, Thom Gencarelli, head of the communication department said, “This mobile production unit is a game changer for our students. It will serve as a lab to give them valuable real-world experience in sports production, while allowing them to advance their education in a wide variety of media.”
The sports media production concentration will be added to their current list of concentrations that includes journalism, media production, advertising and public relations.
Sports Media Production is currently a 300-level course offered at Manhattan College, and open to communications majors as an elective, but will become a key course as the concentration gains more traction within the major.
In this class, students will learn to operate high-definition cameras, learn multi-camera usage, and live production of the events being recorded.
Students who are enrolled in the Manhattan College Sports Media Production program have already had the chance to see what is to come with the new ESPN mobile unit now on campus. Sports Media Production students visited ESPN’s main campus located in Bristol, Connecticut to see the equipment and programs they will soon become familiar with– including a Ross Carbonite switcher, specific graphics, replays and the audio controls that will be used for a broadcast with 4K capability.
In a tweet sent out by @gojaspers, the athletics department said, “So excited about this milestone in the building of @ManhattanEdu’s #sportsproduction concentration! Can’t wait to
see where we go from here! (We swear we won’t drive it without permission).”
The goal for this concentration, and the course overall is to get together and train a group of students to serve as Manhattan College’s production crew for athletic events, but specifically mens and womens basketball games.
With communications being one of the most popular majors at Manhattan College, the ESPN mobile unit will be a great addition to an ever growing program, and an ever growing era of technology and mass media.
One alumnae, Jacqueline Patchen ’11, shared her interest in the mobile unit, commenting, “love seeing this! We should get some Film & TV alumni together to see a game & check out the set up!” Many alumni shared the same sentiments and praising the college on the new advancement for students.
With students already having had internships and now, full time jobs with companies such as CBS Sports, NBC Sports, Fox News, The New York Times and more, the sports media production major is only adding to the growth of the communication students knowledge and opportunity within the job industry.
The ESPN mobile unit will be used to produce live coverage of sporting events beginning in the 2019-2020 basketball season.