Learfield Bolsters Sports Operations Team

On the heels of continued steady growth, collegiate marketer Learfield announced that it has restructured its sports operations group and promoted six team members as it prepares to provide audio production and distribution support to a record 122 sports networks for the upcoming 2016-17 athletic season.

Learfield Sports Operations’ key areas are digital distribution, affiliate relations, broadcast support, production/game day operations, and traffic. The six individuals being promoted are Matt Brown, from coordinating producer to director of flagship relations; Ben Connelly, from production manager to director of broadcast operations; Ryan Kormann, from commercial production coordinator to production manager; Alyssa Reynolds, from affiliate coordinator to broadcast support manager; Spencer Hoogveld, from studio engineer to affiliate representative and Hannah Silvey, from intern to broadcast support coordinator.

These promotions reflect departmental growth and a restructured Learfield Sports Operations team – comprising 27 full-time associates and two part-time traffic assistants, including the senior leadership of Chief Operating Officer Marc Jenkins; Senior Vice President Affiliate Relations/Operations Aaron Worsham; and Vice President of Broadcast Operations Tom Boman. With the exception of Jenkins, all of these team members are based in Jefferson City, Mo., home to Learfield’s original studio headquarters.

“All of us at Learfield consider it a privilege to do what we do and be immersed in the collegiate marketplace,” says Worsham. “This particular area is a critical component for our university partners as we work diligently to build relationships with new and existing radio affiliates throughout the country, identify top talent for our broadcast teams and strive to enhance our game day production and overall quality of our on-air radio product.”

Worsham adds, “I’m proud of our team and the incredible strides we’ve made over the years. We’re fortunate to promote from within, and we’re looking forward to having the biggest year yet for sports ops.”

“Just three years ago, we supported 50 radio networks. In 2016-17 we’ll elevate that number to nearly 125 networks and distribute our audio content to multiple digital platforms nationwide. We’ve experienced tremendous growth overall, and Aaron and Tom have done an outstanding job building this group and providing exceptional leadership and direction,” says Jenkins.