MARTIN, Tenn. – For the 13th straight year, sport business management students at the University of Tennessee at Martin will gain work experience at the Super Bowl. One of the students is from Union City and another is from Dover.
The National Football League championship game will be played Sunday, Feb. 8, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the home field of the San Francisco 49ers. The game will feature the New England Patriots against the Seattle Seahawks.
Dr. Dexter Davis, professor of sport business, coordinates professional work experiences for these students that include the Super Bowl, NFL games in London, Major League Baseball spring training games and Little League World Series games.
Much of the work the students do involves customer service and handing out gifts to official staff for performing extraordinary service.
“Every year, we get invited back (to the Super Bowl),” Davis said. “Every year, there are groups that fight over our students.”
One of those groups this year is Moonshot, the NFL’s customer-service employee training program, with whom Davis and UT Martin students have worked before at the Super Bowl and in London. Another is SCS, Sports Concierge Services, which offers human resources consulting to organizations and private clients needing infrastructure and compliance support.
The 10 UTM students working at Super Bowl LX are:
- Tiara Brooks, a junior business administration major with a concentration in sport business management from Memphis. Brooks worked at NFL games in London last October.
- Anna Marie Brown, a sophomore business administration major with a concentration in sport business management from Fairview.
- Peyton Cook, a junior business administration major from Milford, Ohio.
- Shelby Davis, a senior business administration major with a concentration in sport business management from Greensboro, Georgia.
- Ian Eastridge, a senior business administration major with a concentration in sport business management from Dover.
- Paris Hodge, a senior business administration major with a concentration in sport business management from Jackson. Hodge took part in last year’s Super Bowl contingent.
- Macie Meyners, a senior business administration major with a concentration in sport business management from Hixson. Meyners worked at NFL games in London last October.
- Haley Olsen, a junior business administration major with a concentration in sport business management from Columbia. Olson worked at NFL games in London last October.
- Dakota Reddan, a senior business administration major with a concentration in sport business management from Munford. Reddan worked at NFL games in London last October.
- Lani Taylor, a junior business administration major from Union City.
Davis serves as the co-chair of the Super Bowl Student Network Event, an informal gathering of students from colleges and universities involved in the Super Bowl events. This event provides an opportunity for students to network with sport industry professionals and other students who work Super Bowl events. There is also a panel discussion and a short keynote address, each designed to provide students with insight into what it takes to succeed in the competitive sports industry.
While in California, UT Martin students will meet with students from York College in Pennsylvania, where Davis worked before coming to UT Martin, and Baldwin-Wallace University. The group of students and faculty representatives will meet in what Davis called a “mini-networking event,” then attend an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Philadelphia 76ers.
UTM students will have the opportunity to tour San Francisco on Feb. 5, with Super Bowl game-day training taking place on Feb. 6, when the students are given their assignments.
“We’ll try to give them a well-rounded experience – a little culture, a little sport, a lot of Super Bowl,” Davis said.
Working in their 13th straight Super Bowl, Skyhawk students being on hand is becoming as much a part of the Super Bowl tradition as the coin toss and the halftime show. The onsite experience goes a long way toward helping these students gain jobs upon graduation and find careers beyond that.
For more information about UT Martin and its in-person and online programs, visit www.utm.edu or call 1-800-829-UTM1 (-8861).
Photo –– Attending Super Bowl LX from UT Martin are, from left: Lani Taylor, Tiara Brooks, Ian Eastridge, Dakota Reddan, Macie Meyners, Paris Hodge, Peyton Cook, Shelby Davis, Anna Marie Brown and Haley Olsen.