Donovan McNabb and the State of Football
By: Adam White, @FOSAdam
Every week Front Office Sports will feature a current intern working in the sports industry to offer insight on what their internship entails, how its preparing them for future success and how much work they have to put in. This week we are featuring Eric Schriesheim a rising Junior at the University of Miami majoring in Sports Administration with minors in Business Administration and Motion Pictures. He is currently interning with the Madison Mallards of the Summer Collegiate Northwoods League. He was gracious enough to tell us about his day to day tasks and what it takes to compete and survive in an internship that calls for 50 to 70 hour work weeks.
What is your favorite part about your internship?
Gaining invaluable experience in a sports front office environment. The Madison Mallards are a professionally owned and managed baseball club whose home is Warner Park in Madison, Wisconsin with seating capacity of 6,750. The Mallards are a member of the Summer Collegiate Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league of 18 teams comprised of the top college players from North America who must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. Teams are run similar to a professional minor league team, providing players an opportunity to play under the same conditions in a 72 games schedule over a 76-day season running from late May to mid-August. The Northwoods League has more teams, draws more fans and plays more games than any other Summer Collegiate Baseball League.
As a ticket operations intern I assist the Ticket Operations Manager in day to day ticket sales duties. This entails making sales calls, and assisting customers at the point of sale.
In addition to my duties as a ticket operations intern, I have primary responsibility for running the Madison Mallards social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
What are the hardest parts about your internship?
I would say that the hardest part about my internship is the extremely competitive nature of the sports industry, which requires grit to make it through a work week in the business of baseball successfully by constantly pushing sales, coming up with new ideas, interacting with thousands of fans at each game, while remaining fresh.
What are some valuable things you have learned so far?
That by being an out of the box thinker as well as a hard worker, I have been able to make an impact on the Mallards that will last beyond this summer internship. It is only when you start working passionately that you’ll find fulfillment in your work, and be much more productive and happier. The interns in the office who try to find shortcuts and do things the easy way are constantly dragging a negative attitude along with a poor work ethic.
What is your greatest success so far?
I was selected to manage the Madison Mallards social media mediums (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). Every post I make on Facebook goes out to 20,000+ fans, essentially making me the voice of the team that directly reaches our fan base. It is a lot of responsibility, but offers a lot of fulfillment.
I also was tasked with shooting and directing several videos for the Mallards to be shown on the Jumbotron during games, as well as writing, filming, directing, and editing my own music video for the team, “What does the Mallard Say?”
What is the typical day like for you?
A typical day will include getting to the office at 9:00 AM.
My official internship position with the Mallards is as a ticket operations intern. I sell tickets over the phone to clients, by cold calling select customers, or from fans calling in to the ticket office to order tickets. I accomplish this by working with our ticketing software program Glitnir.
If we have a night game at 7:05, I will sell tickets up until the first pitch, and at that point will leave the office to observe the game, the crowd, and our promotions for the night to fulfill my social media duties. After the game is done, I typically will not leave the stadium until 10:30 PM. The Mallards usually have 4 home games per week. The ticket office is open from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM on non-game days.
Do you think your internship is setting you up for future success in the sports industry?
Indeed, I am getting a wealth of experience in various positions for the Mallards.
What’s it like being an intern in which you have to cover many areas for the team?
It’s challenging and does not leave me with a lot of spare time, but I like the challenges that wait with each new job. I find it stimulating and it stirs my creativity.
How many hours a week do you work?
Usually anywhere from 50–70 hours.
