When people ask about the Sports Management trip to the Super Bowl, I just don’t know where to start.
(From left to right,) Professor Michaela Kourmoulis, Leilani Brown ‘25, Noah Sweatman ‘24, and Caleb Miller ‘24 in Las Vegas, Nevada for Super Bowl LVII. Photo courtesy of Leilani Brown ‘25.
Beginning chronologically, we started with a UFC Headquarters tour. While we were there, we met with the Director of Operations at UFC and the Chief Marketing Officer at Professional Bull Riders. Along with Shenandoah University, we got a private tour of the state-of-the-art facility, a classroom-type session, and were even able to step into a training ring.
The NFL Fan Experience was my favorite place to work. Our job was to hype up the crowds and kick start their experience. It was so much fun! We interacted with people who had come from all over the country to watch the game in a few days or just wanted to enjoy the fan experience. Every little piece of an event is important—seeing the smiles on people’s faces as you give them fist bumps, or cheering for them as they walk into the experience—and this was encouraging and uplifting to say the least.
Then, we attended a networking opportunity and panel at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. A unique experience about being students at these events is that we are all in the same boat. We’re the next generation of panelists, but we all started somewhere different, and, yet, ended up here.
We worked at different sports events like the LIV Golf tournament, and most excitingly, the Super Bowl LVIII game day! Game days are always fun. For the Super Bowl, we were a part of the 49ers pregame and postgame party. Our day started at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday and ended at 4:30 a.m. on Monday; this was as realistic of an experience as we were going to get. We trained the day before, and we were ready to host the friends and family of the 49ers.
Regardless of where we begin in Sports Management, the ability to learn first hand, meet current and future professionals, and explore a new environment is incredible. Thank you, Professor Kourmoulis, for organizing this opportunity; the professors who worked with us; the administrators who aided us; and all of the others who gave their support!