ESPN Internships

While working in Bristol, Conn at the ESPN headquarters, I shadowed many departments, people, and various shows. My most important duty was probably to prepare shows to re-air. I had full creative control for the re-air of certain games and studio shows,” she said. “I would log and analyze them, and then basically decide what parts re-aired. I always tried to keep as much game-play in the re-air as possible.

The one thing that surprised me most about ESPN was the size of their national headquarters. It is a lot like a college campus which included a nurse, workout center, cafeteria, lake and a field designed to film for broadcasts.

The experience was awesome and their was so much sports news going on during the summer that the buzz was palpable. Great experience and at the end, they even set me up with an ESPN U reporting gig.

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Over 10,000 people applied for 88 summer positions, so find a way to stick out!

I got to shadow different departments the last couple of weeks of my internship, including the SportsCenter, ESPN News, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and content edit (all the replays, teases, bumps you see) crews. This was amazing.

The World Cup was a huge deal this summer. ESPN sent 300 employees actually to South Africa, and they left some of us in Bristol – I was part of the team in Bristol that supported the World Cup.

For those of us working back in Bristol, we worked on the Prime Time show which aired anytime between 8 (p.m.) and 2 a.m. So for that I was in charge of making sure that the melt from each game got transferred over from South Africa, and that we could use those to put into the show.

I would come in and I might have 40 e-mails from people in South Africa saying I need footage of this. Then I'd have to go find the footage, clip it off onto a tape, and then set up a feed to South Africa and then feed it in real time.

Overall, it was an amazing experience and I still keep in touch with them.

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They say you have to be an upperclassmen to apply for the internships, but go ahead and do it no matter what year.

My daily assignments included updating sports programming information for the next season, creating campaign recaps for clients, updating the ESPNadvertise.com website, and brainstorming creative concepts for this year’s presentation in Latin America.
- Insightful speaker series
- Supportive mentors/management and everyone is willing to talk with you.
- Exposure to all departments.

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Really interesting to see everything that goes into selling and packaging advertising on ESPN. Loved being in NYC over the summer as well.

- Having ESPN on the resume.
- On-site gym and cafeteria.
- High growth.
- Spotted several celebrities around the building.
- Incredibly friendly people that welcomed me on their team.

Bristol, CT is in the middle of nowhere.

My advice is to get as much real work as you can. Show your production experience, not just the classes you've taken. And, be super passionate about sports.

I learned a ton about production. ESPN is full of the best people in the live production business. It was incredible. I'm also a big sports fan, so this was perfect for me. I participated in the production of a horse race, X-Games, and NBA Playoffs. Again, I can't recommend this internship enough. Participating in live production is a valuable skill and exhilarating.

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Try to get as much experience as you can. Also, ESPN hires a decent amount of interns and they feed into entry level positions.

- Exposure to large global media accounts and agency media planners.
- Media sales can be a lucrative field.
- ESPN has a hot product and they are positioned well in the market.
- Everybody knows ESPN.
- Highly competitive internship.
- ESPN on the resume is legit.

Given a lot of freedom which was good and bad.

Try to get both publisher and agency experience in media sales/planning.

- Worked in the ESPN international group.
- Enormous media brand with incredible reach.
- Trusted to work with ESPN's Facebook team representatives on new international Facebook initiatives (side note: Facebook is smart).
- Worked with PTI team on Facebook strategy.
- Overall, ESPN is a really cool company.

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With ESPN, show passion for sports and for a particular type of program. Don't be afraid to be opinionated.

- Behind the scenes is incredible fun at ESPN radion.
- I got paid to research and read about sports all day, which is cray to think about.
- Learned a ton from the on-air personalities and both were great guys.
- Submitted my own stories for consideration.
- Participated in brainstorming sessions.

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Truly amazing experience at ESPN. I know this sounds cheesy, but don't give up on your career dreams!

- Just walking around the hallways at ESPN is cool. The people you get to see and meet are incredible.
- I worked on editing highlights for Baseball Tonight and Sportscenter.
- Learned a ton about what it takes to run a show. It's intense.
- People are amazing and treat interns very well.

Tough to get a fulltime job.

If you love sports, it doesn't get better than interning at ESPN.

- ESPN is supportive of young talent and willing to teach you the ropes.
- Gained experience with VO Unit, highlight producing, content screening, game logging, and script writing.
- Exposure to mobile.
- Operating the teleprompter is pretty cool.
- Learned to think content first and then how does that content translate across different platforms.
- Intern events during the summer.

At first, it's intimidating. Get over this.

Oddly enough, my advice is to get into mobile. The mobile space is huge right now and advertising/media companies are interested.

- Loved working with ESPN's writers and editors.
- In depth research on college football.
- Loved the internship.

Mostly research.

Write for your local college paper. Keep writing.