Experience Spotlight - Melissa Kelly, Major League Baseball

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Melissa Kelly '15.  Melissa is a senior in Cornell's Industrial and Labor Relations School. She has been a dedicated member of the club since her first year at Cornell, serving as Social Impact chairperson in 2013.

Melissa worked this summer at Major League Baseball's Office of the Commissioner, serving as an Economics Intern in the Labor Relations Department. She originally interned in the same position during an ILR Credit Internship in Fall 2013.  Melissa was kind enough to answer some questions about her experiences.

What were some of your day-to-day responsibilities of the position?

Over the duration of my internship I was asked to complete a myriad of tasks in all different formats and for a number of different people. Although I was technically on the economics side of the Labor Relations department, I was also asked to do work for the legal side. The legal side included research projects to find information regarding past Collective Bargaining Agreements and the legal statutes that were used in them. The economics side of Labor Relations is where I spent most of my time, and where I really learned a lot about the field. 

As a fall intern, I was fortunate enough to experience the Salary Arbitration process and how players are statistically valued. Through the utilization of MLB’s databases and Excel formulas, we are able to come up with a value that a player is worth based on their Platform Season performance as well as their career.

During the summer, the tasks were a little bit different. Two of the main projects I worked on were to create an Offensive Splits tool and to research information on the Tommy John epidemic. The offensive splits tool was something I created in excel that would generate all of the platform season and career splits statistics for any position players in the last 15 years. This tool will help the Labor Relations Department during the offseason to be able to look at up to three comparable players splits side by side.  

Any baseball fan knows the biggest current issue with Major League pitchers is the amount of UCL tears that are occurring. As the player loses between 12 and 18 months rehabbing this injury, it is great concern to the teams and the league. I assisted my bosses in researching information about Tommy John surgery including the theories on what makes a player more vulnerable to the tear, the best ways to rehabilitate an injured elbow, the top doctors in the field and what they have to say about the problem, and how past players have rebounded from this injury. I hope that my contributions to this effort and help the league develop programs to reduce the amount of UCL tears for the future.

How were you able to get the internship?

Originally, in Fall 2013, I received the internship through the ILR Credit Internship Program. I was fortunate enough to be asked back for the summer.

What advice would you give another student interested in a similar experience?

The baseball industry is very tough to get involved in. The ILR’s credit internship program is a great way to get your foot in the door for an amazing opportunity at the Commissioner’s office. Any students that are interested in this internship are more than welcome to contact me with any questions about the application process or the internship itself! 

What was your favorite aspect of the experience?

What was fulfilling about this experience was the degree of freedom that my supervisors gave me not only in the tasks they assigned me, but also in how the assignments were completed. I was fortunate enough to be given the responsibility to meet high profile clients, which helped me mature as a worker and learn how to handle myself in those types of situations. The experience that I have gained from this internship is invaluable, and the skills I can take away will help me in my future. I am so grateful that I was fortunate enough to be able to be a part of the Credit Internship program and is the best decision I have made at Cornell.

When I returned for the summer, I had a great time taking place in MLB’s Summer Internship Program. They do a great job hosting events for the interns to go to every few weeks and hear from leaders in the industry. The room that I spent my summer in was filled with Labor Relations Interns (both legal and economic) as well as interns from the HR department. My experience working with the other interns and collaborating on certain projects made the work even more enjoyable.

Thank you to Melissa and Major League Baseball for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!

Experience Spotlight - Matthew Provenzano, SBNation

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Matthew Provenzano '16.  Matt is a junior in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences where he majors in Information Sciences and minors in Law & Society. Matt has been an active member of the club since his freshman year, helping to win the SABR Analyitic Conference's Diamond Dollar Classic case competition this past March.  He also has played a critical role in the success of the Big Red Sports Network as well. He can be reached at mjp294@cornell.edu.

Matt has been working since last November for SBNation at Pinstripe Alley, where he covers the Yankees. He was kind enough to answer some questions about his experience.
What were some Day-to-Day responsibilities of the position?

At PinstripeAlley.com my responsibilities are three-fold. Firstly, I'm a writer; I'm responsible for writing analysis, editorial, or game recap posts once or twice each week for the site. Secondly, I'm the social media manager where I am responsible for posting articles, lineups, game recaps/scores, and news to the Facebook page for general consumption. And lastly, I am part of the podcast team. Every week I and two others record the Pinstripe Alley Podcast where we discuss the state of the Yankees, answer questions, and humorously talk about baseball in general.

How were you able to get the position?

One of the editors found my baseball writing through a baseball blog started on campus, Batting Leadoff.

How has this experience shaped your career plans?

This experience has certainly opened my eyes to the possibility of sports journalism as a possible career. At the very least, it's given me the ability to communicate my ideas clearly.

What advice would you give another student interested in a similar experience?

Write. Write some more. And then when you're done writing, write even more than that. Aristotle said that to be a virtuous person one must do virtuous things, and so it is the same with writing. To be a good writer you have to write well, as ridiculous as that sounds. And the only way that happens is if you write and constantly ask yourself new questions about the topic at hand.

What was your favorite aspect of the experience?

Recording a podcast is my favorite part, for sure. Talking with like-minded people about baseball and the Yankees is always a fun thing, especially when it's not all that serious and we can joke around about it.

Thank you to Matthew and SBNation for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!

Experience Spotlight - Sarah Gilman, Major League Baseball

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Sarah Gilman '16.  Sarah is a junior in Cornell's Industrial and Labor Relations School. She has been a dedicated member of the club since her freshman year at Cornell, serving as Director of Alumni Relations this past spring.

Sarah worked this summer at Major League Baseball's Office of the Commissioner. She served as a Human Resources Intern and was kind enough to answer some questions about her experience.

What were some of your day-to-day responsibilities of the position?

Get in and check email-respond to emails if necessary. 

Go into the anti-harassment training software and check to see if anyone has completed the training and if so print their certificates and file away, I had a master spreadsheet that contained all of the employees so I kept a tally on all of them-All employees including full time, part time, interns and contractors all need to take the anti-harassment training. 

Projects- examples include tallying survey answers in an excel spreadsheet, quantifying how much money MLB has given out to those who have continued their education or just finishing their education, completing a list of those who had gone to law school and where with what year. 

Filing. 

Shredding. 

Check in with boss at least three times a day to see if anything specific needs to get done. 

Preparation for the human resources conference with all the clubs which included getting over 50 binders ready with the specific content order.

How were you able to get the internship?

I got the internship through a connection. Networking is extremely important in this industry. It’s not about just sending that first email but maintaining the friendship with the person and asking questions so that person knows you are thinking about them and how there experience can help you.

How has this experience shaped your career plans?

This experience has only reaffirmed my love for human resources and that I definitely want to be in the sports industry whether it is for a club, a league, or something related to sports.

What advice would you give another student interested in a similar experience?

If I could say one thing to anyone who is interested in getting into the industry it is that you need to work for it. For some it might come easy with connections, but for others you are really going to need to work hard and network your butt off because this industry is tough to crack into, but once you will see the fruit of your hard work.

What was your favorite aspect of the experience?

My favorite part of the experience was the professional growth I had this summer in both learning about human resources in real time versus in a classroom and networking. If you attended the “An Inside Look at Sports and Law” event this summer, that took a lot of networking and finding people who would mesh well together. I am so glad the event went well and hopefully those who went got a lot out of it (including a few contacts).

Thank you to Sarah and Major League Baseball for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!

Experience Spotlight - Andrew Distler, CBS Sports

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Andrew Distler '15.  Andrew is a senior in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences where he majors in Sociology and minors in Policy Analysis and Management, Demography, and Music. Andrew has been an active member of the club since his freshman year, attending several conferences and many other events. He also has played a critical role in the success of the Big Red Sports Network as well.  He can be reached at abd76@cornell.edu.

Andrew worked this summer with CBS Sports Network, serving as an Intern in the Programming Division. He was kind enough to answer some questions about his experience.

What were some Day-to-Day responsibilities of the position?

My day-to-day responsibilities included maintaining, and helping create, the 2014-15 college basketball and football schedules, fact checking documents and presentations, and compiling research for CBS Sports Network’s programming, which included providing team previews for several college basketball, football and hockey teams and conferences.

How were you able to get the Internship?

I had originally applied for this internship after my sophomore year. After finding out I needed more experience in order to be considered for a position, I was fortunate enough to assist in the launching of Cornell’s Big Red Sports Network last year, in which I gained lots of experience in sports marketing, research, and journalism. At my interview, my boss seemed impressed how much of the sports world I was able to comprehend, and working with BRSN is a major part of that.

How has this experience shaped your career plans?

This internship definitely made me realize that going into sports television is something I would enjoy. Before this summer, I had only really focused on careers in either league or team offices, but I discovered how much fun working for a sports network can be!

What advice would you give another student interested in a similar experience?

If I had any advice to give students interested in a similar path, it is to get involved with sports in any way possible (i.e., write for your school’s newspaper, join a sports business club, work for one of your school’s teams). Every week, the interns met with an executive from a different department, and each one said that in this industry, experience counts more than anything, so look to get involved any way you can (which is why having BRSN was so helpful for me!). Another important note: Most people in this industry, regardless of position, WANT to help you. I cannot say enough about how my bosses eagerly gave me career advice every chance they got, and how willing they were to put me in touch with other people they knew in sports. Never be afraid to reach out to anyone you know in this, or any other, industry, for advice (also helps with networking, which was also mentioned quite a bit!).

What was your favorite aspect of the experience?

My favorite part was definitely our college basketball “draft”, in which we “drafted” college basketball games from certain conferences, with other networks such as ESPN on the phone, waiting to make their picks. It felt like being the War Room for an NFL team, and they really took my suggestions of which games to air to heart. What’s cool is I can see my imprint on this season’s college basketball schedule now! I also loved being in CBS’s main office (Black Rock), as I was able to see first hand how a lot of the network is run.

Thank you to Andrew and CBS Sports for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!

Experience Spotlight - Sammy Gitlin, Major League Baseball

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Samantha Gitlin '16.  Sammy is a junior in Cornell's College of Human Ecology, where she majors in Nutrition and plans to complete the Dietetics Program.

Sammy worked this summer at Major League Baseball's Office of the Commissioner. She interned in the Labor Relations Department under the Senior Director of Drug Policy, and was kind enough to answer some questions about her experience.

What were some of your day-to-day responsibilities of the position?

I had a few large projects over this summer. First, I worked on creating a comprehensive list of foods to be provided to teams when they’re on the road. Second, a large issue in baseball is players taking normal supplements (like protein, vitamins, sleep aids etc.) and then taking drug tests that come back positive. A company has been developed that does extensive drug testing on these sorts of supplements to find out whether or not they are safe for players to take. I helped to research these supplements and I created a list of categories to sort these supplements. I also helped out with a few of the labor economics projects, such as researching sports gambling (particularly in New Jersey) and looking at the newly installed replay system.

How were you able to get the internship?

Family friend connection.

How has this experience shaped your career plans?

I’m planning on pursuing sports nutrition so this was exactly what I needed to get my foot in the door. I’ve learned so much about the industry and I was able to make connections that I wouldn’t have been able to make anywhere else. I’ve learned about how each team’s dietitian prepares meals/meal plans and caters to the team’s intense nutritional needs.

What advice would you give another student interested in a similar experience?

Definitely use any connections that you have to find a cool internship! Think outside the box about places to intern at, you never know who will be hiring.

What was your favorite aspect of the experience?

Getting an inside look into a part of baseball that most people don’t think about. How the players fuel their bodies definitely correlates with their performance, and the dietitians are responsible for that.

Thank you to Sammy and Major League Baseball for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!

Experience Spotlight - Hudson Belinsky, Tampa Bay Rays

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Hudson Belinsky '15.  Hudson is a senior in Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, majoring in Communications. He has twice represented Cornell and SBS (in addition to one trip as a student at Siena College) at the SABR Analytic Conference's Diamond Dollar Classic case competition. Hudson has also broadcast hockey and baseball as a member of the Big Red Sports Network.   He can be reached at hjb83@cornell.edu.

Hudson has worked for the Tampa Bay Rays since August, 2013, and will continue there through graduation.  Hudson serves as Amateur Scouting Assistant, and was kind enough to answer some questions about his experiences.


What were some of your day-to-day responsibilities of the position?

Scouting players in showcases and collegiate summer leagues, updating video and scouting report databases as necessary, tracking down players in the northeast who are rumored to be professional prospects.

How were you able to get the internship?

I networked with scouts in the northeast during my internship in the summer of 2013 and eventually met someone who needed assistance.

How has this experience shaped your career plans?

It’s reaffirmed my desire to work in Major League Baseball and given me a very firm grasp on how things operate inside the industry. 

What advice would you give another student interested in a similar experience?

Be willing to work nights and weekends. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if you think they might be stupid questions. Write down any scouting observation you have, and look back at your early notes often to reflect upon where you went wrong. 

What was your favorite aspect of the experience?

I really enjoyed traveling around the northeast and getting to know different pockets of the country. There’s a lot of really cool culture in New England and the mid-Atlantic states that I hadn’t really had a chance to experience before. 

Thank you to Hudson and the Tampa Bay Rays for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!

Experience Spotlight - Eric Schwartz, GroupM

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Eric Schwartz '15.  Eric is a senior in Cornell's School of Hotel Administration, where he majors in Hospitality Management and minors in Real Estate. Eric has been an active member of the club since his freshman year, attending several conferences and many other events.  He can be reached at ems388@cornell.edu.

Eric worked this summer with GroupM ESP (Entertainment & Sports Partnerships), serving as a Marketing Intern. He was kind enough to answer some questions about his experience.


What were some Day-to-Day responsibilities of the position?

My daily responsibilities included researching information that related to our clients, its competitors, and its target markets, as well as building a media plan that was presented in front of a panel of judges at the end of the internship.

How were you able to get the Internship?

I interned for GroupM ESP last summer, so I was able to use the connections that I made during my time there last summer to help me get an internship this summer.

How has this experience shaped your career plans?

This experience has helped me realize that I want to pursue a career in partnership management in the sports and entertainment industry, whether it be at an agency, a sports property, or a brand.

What advice would you give another student interested in a similar experience?

For anyone interested in learning more about the business behind sports marketing, working at an agency such as GroupM ESP is a great way to learn about the preparation and tasks related to implementing a successful marketing effort in the sports industry.

What was your favorite aspect of the experience?

My favorite part of the experience was being able to work on several different accounts at the same time so that I could really understand how different brands get involved in different sports.

Thank you to Eric and GroupM for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!

Experience Spotlight - Ashley Estrada, Anschutz Entertainment Group

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Ashley Estrada '16.  Ashley is a senior in Cornell's Industrial and Labor Relations School, majoring in Industrial and Labor Relations. She is double-minoring in Business and Law & Society.

This summer, Ashley interned for AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group), a sports and music entertainment company. The AEG Sports division owns several sports teams including her hometown teams; the Los Angeles Kings and the Los Angeles Galaxy, and owns shares of the Los Angeles Lakers. Ashley worked at the STAPLES Center, the home of the Lakers, Clippers, Sparks, and Kings. She served as a Marketing Intern and was kind enough to answer some questions about her experiences.
What are some Day-to-Day responsibilities of the position?

I performed various marketing activities througout the internship. My main responsibility was assisting with the development of the annual 3-day Nike Basketball 3on3 Tournament.

How were you able to get the Internship?

I got the internship through the help of a family friend who knows someone in the company.

How has this experience shaped your career plans?

My experience at the STAPLES Center validated my desire to work in a sports and/or entertainment company and reminded me to keep branching out and meeting people who could potentially help me land a position in these difficult-to-enter industries.

What was your favorite aspect of the experience?

Some of my favorite memories of the internship are attending the LA Kings' fan fest and pep rally after winning their second Stanley Cup championship, working the Nike Basketball 3on3 Tournament, and attending the LA Clippers fan fest held to celebrate the team's new owner, Steve Ballmer. If anyone has questions or wants to know more about my experience and/or the company, feel free to send me a message at ae282@cornell.edu.

Thank you to Ashley and AEG for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!

Experience Spotlight - Jesse Sherman, The Legacy Agency

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Jesse Sherman '15.  Jesse is a senior in Cornell's Industrial and Labor Relations School. He has been a dedicated member of the club since his freshman year at Cornell, serving on the E-Board since Spring 2013.  Jesse has also cofounded Cornell at Bat, and eventually, the Big Red Sports Network.  He can be reached at jws328@cornell.edu.

Jesse worked with The Legacy Agency as an intern for Summer, 2014.  Jesse served as a Baseball Representation Intern at TLA, and was kind enough to answer some questions about his experience.


What were some of your day-to-day responsibilities of the position?

The Legacy Agency as a whole is a dynamic representation and marketing agency that looks after the interests of the broadcasters, coaches, and professional athletes that it represents. Legacy handles anything from on the field contracts to off the field marketing opportunities, and also serves as a sports consulting firm for external organizations. 

I was the baseball representation intern for a list of clientele that includes MLB stars such as Johan Santana, Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Martin Prado, Starling Marte, and Bobby Abreu, as well as over 100 minor league players. 

My responsibilities included researching clients' statistics on a daily basis, keeping track of their career progression (that is, seeing if they are currently with an organization, which level they are playing at, whether they were released and have free agent standing, so on and so forth). I was also asked to perform analyses on big league teams and their rosters to see if any Legacy clients that were free agents at the time could potentially fill a void on a big league roster. 

I was also responsible for logging and checking client endorsement contracts to ensure that the athletes had been appropriately compensated by the sponsors in accordance with the terms of their signed contracts. 

Additionally, a major project I worked on was creating a career projection analysis on a current client who will be eligible for salary arbitration following the 2015 season. My bosses asked me to do a preliminary determination of what he will be worth during his arbitration years, based on my evaluation of his current performance and potential performance in the future. Salary figures are then determined using comparable players and the statistics they compiled while being on a major league roster for a similar amount of days/years as the player in question.

How were you able to get the internship?

I got the job through a combination of family connections and experience with baseball statistical research with my peers at Cornell.

How has this experience shaped your career plans?

The internship was amazingly insightful as to what it takes to be a successful and respected sports agent, as well as everything that goes on from an athlete marketing perspective. I also learned to understand the interests of the player and team sides, which I believe will serve me well if I decide to either pursue agency-side or team-side work.

What advice would you give another student interested in a similar experience?

I would say that if you want to get your foot in the door, show potential employers that you can bring something out of the ordinary to the table. For instance, I believe my work with the Cornell SABR analytics team gave me an edge in showing that I could evaluate baseball player performance at perhaps an even deeper level than is done by some agents or teams. It also helps to read up on the CBA. Finally, being up to date on up and coming players, international free agency and the draft, in addition to knowing the players in the big leagues and the terms of some long term contracts is incredibly helpful in thriving as a baseball representation intern. Now go out, make the connections, and do the best work you can possibly do.

What was your favorite aspect of the experience?

My favorite aspect of the experience was being able to learn more about baseball, a sport that I thought I couldn't learn much more about. The agency side of the sport is so important, and working with some of the best and brightest minds in the industry today gave me a much better understanding of what agents do each and every day as well as what it takes to be ahead of the curve from a player development and client management perspective. I also loved not knowing what to expect from one day to the next. I could be doing a project one moment and then get up to talk to my boss and a major leaguer will be sitting in his office.

Thank you to Jesse and The Legacy Agency for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!

Experience Spotlight - Rick Saxe, National Hockey League

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Rick Saxe '16.  Rick is a junior in Cornell's Industrial and Labor Relations School. He has been a dedicated member of the club since his first year at Cornell, attending numerous conferences and events, as well as contributing to the blog.

This summer, Rick worked for the National Hockey League, serving as a Studio Intern for the NHL Network.  He was kind enough to answer some questions about his experience.
What were some of your day-to-day responsibilities of the position?

I rotated through all facets of production of live programming on NHL Network--in the studio and in the control room--including roles in stage management, audio management, video management, and graphics coordination.

I came up with an idea for a TV Show for the Network, and it was picked by a group executive producers. I was given a team to work on producing the show, and we are essentially done with its production. As long as the final touches are approved, we hope for it to air in the Spring of 2015 before the next NHL Entry Draft.

How were you able to get the internship?

I got word of this internship through a friend, emailed HR, and went through the application process.

How has this experience shaped your career plans?

While I don't expect to go into television production for a career, I learned a lot (especially from my TV show project) about how to both lead a team and to develop an idea. It was tough for me to alter my original idea because I was really attached to what I was pitching to producers. Opening up to new ideas in order to improve the program was difficult at first, but now that I see how much better it made the show, I learned that listening to teammates is invaluable. No matter what field I land in, I want to be a leader in it, as well as revolutionize it through new ideas, so this experienced definitely helped me take a step closer to reaching that goal.

What advice would you give another student interested in a similar experience?

For someone looking for a similar position, I can't really offer anything past the "make as many connections as you can" advice that everyone pitches to you. I only knew about this opportunity through a friend with similar career goals as I have, so just keep one ear open at all times and know that connections that can change your life can come from anywhere and anyone.

Thank you to Rick and the National Hockey League for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!

Experience Spotlight - Alex Gimenez, Cleveland Indians

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Alex Gimenez '15.  Alex is a senior in Cornell's Industrial and Labor Relations School. He has been a dedicated member of the club since his freshman year at Cornell, serving as the Ivy Sports Representative in 2013.  Alex has also founded Cornell at Bat, and eventually, the Big Red Sports Network.  He can be reached at ajg322@cornell.edu.

Alex worked with the Cleveland Indians from January through August 2014 as part of the ILR credit internship program.  Alex served as a Strategy Intern with the Indians, and was kind enough to answer some questions about his experience.


What were some of your day-to-day responsibilities of the position?

The day-to-day responsibilities surrounding my job really vary depending on the projects I’m working on. I’ll typically have two major projects and one smaller project. It is basically up to me to manage my time in a way that allows me to complete the projects effectively and efficiently. I’ve worked on everything from realigning our pricing locations down the foul lines and creating a "point pricing system" for our season ticket holder loyalty program, to redeveloping our program for customer service initiatives and helping in the creation of our dynamic ticket pricing models. 

How were you able to get the internship?

It’s actually a fairly long story. I was paired with an ILRSBS alum, Gabe Gershenfeld through an ILR alumni mentorship program my freshman year, and Gabe helped to facilitate a meeting with one of the Indians' Senior Vice Presidents during the MIT Conference. We really hit it off and remained in touch over the next year. Last May, he invited me out to Cleveland to meet others in the organization and I presented the possibility of using the ILR Credit Internship program as an opportunity to do an internship. Five months later, after many interviews,  a new internship position  was created through the Indians HR Department, and approved by the ILR  credit internship office, I accepted the offer in late November.

How has this experience shaped your career plans?

My experience has helped me to really understand myself, my interests, and my skill set and how they best fit in the sports industry. I’ve had interest in working in professional baseball for a long time and this experience helped me to focus in on more specific areas. Being able to gain this experience as a junior where I still have a full year of college left was crucial. I feel like I am in a much better place to make an informed decision on my next steps that will allow me to be happy and successful while providing high value to my future employer. Ultimately, the experience helped show me that the broadcasting, media and PR side of the industry may be the best fit for me, and realizing that this early on was really beneficial.

What advice would you give another student interested in a similar experience?

1. You are going to be challenged in ways that you might not have ever imagined. I’ve been lucky that the Indians have really trusted me with some challenging and important projects, but that definitely brings with its fair share of pressure. There are a lot of days where my 9-5 job becomes a 9-8 job so you have to be prepared to work hard and do what is necessary to get the job done and get it done the right way. 

2. Despite spending most of my life following sports and much of the last four years trying to better understand the business side of the industry, there is so much about the operation of a professional sports franchise that I never knew before stepping into the front office. Understand that, and try to gain as much knowledge as you can before you step in the door. It will really help you in getting a job if you can demonstrate that you understand the business. When you do get your foot in the door, be open to learning about every aspect of the operation, because you never know when you’ll be able to use that knowledge. 

3. Gain a mastery of Excel, Powerpoint, and Word and try to gain some coding experience in programs like SQL, R, or even C++. I know it sounds strange, but you will use Excel a ton and being able to manipulate data in the program will make your learning curve once on the job so much easier. Understanding code will give you an edge over a lot of people when applying for jobs in baseball (player) operations or business operations because coding is used to pull data from databases within these organizations. 

4. Network with people and find ways to get them interested in you by showing how you can provide value to them. I would not have been able to get this opportunity, but for my connections who were willing to make a sacrifice and take a risk on me in a professional setting. The only way to find jobs in the sports industry is to be proactive. 

5. In regards to networking, remember that the highest level people, the team presidents, the GMs, etc are in most cases not the people who are making hiring decisions for entry level positions. While networking with them can still lead to something great, don’t forget to network with middle level managers who make hiring decisions. They will be the people who end up giving you your first job, and in many cases, will end up moving up the ranks to become a high level executive down the road. 

6. In any entry level experience in sports or otherwise, make sure you are not just blindly accepting a position because the name of the company means something to you. Look for opportunities where you will be able to learn and grow your skill set while gaining valuable experience on meaningful projects. At the end of the day, people who are making hiring decisions care more about what you did at an organization , not the name of that organization.

What was your favorite aspect of the experience? 

It is difficult to pick just one. As far as one single event, it was having the opportunity to sit in the draft room for day 2 of the draft. I’m not in baseball operations, but I definitely have an interest in that side of the industry so getting to see what went on from within was a great opportunity. It was much less chaotic than I expected it to be. 

Aside from the draft, I’ve really just enjoyed being able to interact with a Major League Baseball team. Learning from meeting a lot of different people has been great, and I’ve been lucky to have some experiences outside of business and analytics such as watching the draft from the draft room or calling games in a spare radio booth for practice.

Thank you to Alex and the Cleveland Indians for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!

Experience Spotlight - Mike Parnell, Texas Rangers

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Mike Parnell '14.  Mike was a senior in Cornell's Industrial and Labor Relations School, previously serving at the school's Institute for Compensation Studies. Mike had represented the club at the SABR Analytics Conference Diamond Dollar Classic in 2013, as well as several other events and conferences.  Baseball was always important to Mike, as he completed academic research on the sport for his thesis, as well worked in a collegiate summer baseball league.

During his senior spring semester, Mike worked as a Baseball Operations intern with the Texas Rangers. Cooridinated through the ILR Credit Internship Program, he will complete the internship in November. Mike was kind enough to answer some questions about his experience.


What are some Day-to-Day responsibilities of the position?

Airport runs, doctor runs, scouting Rangers' home games, daily organizational report, college stats updates, database tracking, independent projects. Everything baseball operations.

How were you able to get the Internship?

I interviewed for the position at Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings in December of last year. I then set up the internship through the ILR School's credit internship program.

How has this experience shaped your career plans?

It has reaffirmed my desire to pursue a career in Major League Baseball, working for a MLB team.

What advice would you give another student interested in a similar experience?

You’ll work longer and harder than you ever have whether that be as a student, or in another internship or job that you’ve done. But if you truly are passionate about pursuing a career in baseball or sports more generally it won’t feel like work and you will truly enjoy every minute of it. 

Be open to taking on any opportunity or experience regardless of how overqualified you may be for it. You won’t instantly be in charge, so you have to put in your time to earn the respect of those around you. 

These types of experiences aren’t usually posted in any place that you would normally find internship postings; you have to put yourself out there by reaching out to teams. I would recommend reaching out to several people in an organization a month or two prior to the Winter Meetings asking if they could meet for a few minutes. Provide a quick background on any relevant work that you’ve done. Keep the email succinct, they get a lot of these and are very busy so the more efficiently you write the email the better chance you have of getting a response. 

You have to do some relevant work on your own. Write for a website or blog so that you have some work to show. Go watch amateur or minor league games and write up reports on the players. You don’t have to be right or have a perfect report but it shows that you are truly interested in working in baseball. You’ll probably meet some people that may help you out down the road. I had someone vouch for me at the Rangers that I met on the road last summer while scouting a minor league game.

What was your favorite aspect of the experience?

So far the best experience has been by far being in the draft room for the amateur draft. Definitely a more fluid process than I imagined and very cool to see everything that goes into it.

Thank you to Mike and the Texas Rangers for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!

Summer Blog Updates

As fall classes begin across the Cornell campus, we hope our readers had a great summer.  While the blog certainly slowed down over break, we still would still like to update you on some of the things we've been working on.

First off we are pleased to announce that Stephen Rosen will be taking over as the new Editor-in-Chief of the blog. He's been a dedicated contributor, and he's even served as Assistant Editor this past year, so the site will be good hands. You can read all of Stephen's previous work here. If you are interested in writing for the blog, send Stephen an email at sfr53@cornell.edu.

Additionally there will be lot's of great content this semester, with series showcasing both club members' experiences and women in sports, in addition to past features such as Event Recaps and Blogger Roundtables.  Check out our staff of bloggers on our Contributor's page.

You may have noticed a new page on the blog as well. Incoming Assistant Editor and VP of Radio Matt Hakimian has assembled our new Events page. The page houses our past events with alumni and other sports industry leaders, conferences, charity events, and more!

Some of our contributors also did a little writing this summer.  Hannah Sawyer provided a first-hand report on the dismal state of Dominican Soccer.  And before LeBron made his latest "Decision", Josh Martin looked at whether NBA teams could win it all with a "Max Contract" player on the roster.

Incoming freshman and Chinese sports journalism legend Magic Peng wrote two awesome articles on international soccer. First, he explored the situation regarding broadcasting revenues in the English Premier League. Then in the latest edition of the "Magic Touch", Mr. Peng examined the curious case of a Chinese soccer club going public.

So while we weren't publishing a whole lot of content, we have been busy getting ready for the upcoming semester. We hope you will continue to visit the ILR Sports Business Society Blog, and for anyone on campus, please check out the club in person. Thank you for your support!