Campus Insiders, Conference Partners Offer Media Training for Students

Campus Insiders has joined forces with its conference partners including the Patriot League and West Coast Conference to provide students with a unique learning experience. Campus Insiders is working directly with students of the Patriot League and West Coast Conference member schools to produce live sporting events. Students will gain hands on media experience by either assisting the Campus Insiders production team on site or by producing the game on their own with the use of Campus Insiders professional equipment and direction. These television quality productions will stream live across the Campus Insiders Network including the official Patriot League Network on CampusInsiders.com and the Patriot League and Campus Insiders mobile apps. Select games will also be made available on the Campus Insiders channels on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon Fire, and Go90.

Boston University, a member of the Patriot League, has led the effort by creating a formal partnership with its College of Communication’s BUTV10 to produce more than 100 live sporting events on the Patriot League Network each academic year. Students from Boston University work alongside members of their athletic department, as well as Campus Insiders’ producers, to execute the production of live games for their school.

“When the partnership with the Patriot League began, the goal was to produce professional quality productions for all Boston University’s home games,” says Leo Paré of Boston University’s Athletic Marketing and Communications. “They’ve supported our efforts and continue to help us grow.”

Students are immersed in all aspects of a game day production from directing, working cameras, assisting producers and operating all the equipment required to stream a game for online viewing. “We produce a lot of games, but the men’s and women’s basketball productions are a specific focus,” says College of Communication Professor and BUTV10 Faculty Advisor Chris Cavalieri.

“When Campus Insiders contacted us with an idea to create a hybrid crew of professionals and our students for some basketball games, we eagerly agreed. It was a unique opportunity for our students to measure and refine their production skills. They do a great job, but after working with the Campus Insiders team, they realized just how much more they could achieve. It’s a fantastic learning experience and it’s mutually beneficial. The experiment worked.”

Students have already helped film and produce live games for sports such as football, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, field hockey, and men’s water polo. Campus Insiders, along with the Patriot League and West Coast Conference, will continue to provide students with the opportunities to gain real experience, with professional equipment, throughout the school year.

“These programs, and others such as our Guest Reporter Search, are just an example of what Campus Insiders is doing to make our partners and schools a real part of our team.  Our goal is to engage current students and student-athletes in a meaningful way through our coverage of college sports,” according to Campus Insiders’ EVP Crowley Sullivan. “The ability we have, unlike traditional broadcast partners, to create and provide these real-life opportunities is what makes us unique in the way fans become engaged with our network.”

“Our schools are already producing a ton of high quality broadcasts on their own. These productions offer a great opportunity for Campus Insiders to help enhance the production level for that one broadcast, but maybe more importantly, create a learning environment that results in even better broadcasts in the future,” according to Adam Anshell, VP of Networks and Live Events for Campus Insiders.