With media assets more valuable than ever for football, the 18-year old NFL Broadcasting and Media Workshop — many may remember it with the “Boot Camp” moniker — is one of the league’s most important programs. The latest three-day iteration, done in conjunction with the NFLPA, wrapped up last week in Southern California, with 24 participants making their way through a series of workshops, presentations and training sessions.
“It feeds the pipeline for our partners, but at the same time, these guys are advocates for the game,” said Tracy Perlman, the NFL’s SVP/Player Operations who steers the event. “We want to make sure not only are they prepared and have the tools, but we want to give them the network so that they now have the direct contact with [NBC producers] Fred Gaudelli and Rob Hyland and [CBS producer] Drew Kaliski. You don’t get this elsewhere.”
The representation from the media side included partners like Amazon, Fox, NFL Network, CBS, iHeartMedia, Westwood One, SiriusXM, ESPN and NBC, as well as teams like the Bears, Browns, Chargers and Raiders. Talent that came out to work the program this year included Noah Eagle, Andrew Siciliano, Brian Baldinger, Jason McCourty, Maurice Jones-Drew, Chris Myers, Kristina Pink, Roman Harper and Ross Tucker.
Fierce competition
The program gets posted in November, and it’s a big lift just getting the right mix of participants, with players — and many agents of players — jockeying for a spot. Even network partners will submit some names.
“It’s so competitive that we need to make sure that they actually complete the application — and it is not a short application — and that they submit reels,” Perlman said.
“The reels have become really important, because when you’re getting 90 players applying and you’re trying to pick 24, we don’t want to just say, ‘OK, people think this is about big names.’ It’s not. It’s about the guys who are serious about it, the guys who took the time to fill out the application, the guys who sent in reels doing podcasts and the desk. … We have put together a blue-ribbon panel of people to view everything, read every application, and then we literally sit in a room for two and a half hours and force rank to get to the 24.”
Free agent TE Zach Ertz, who is recovering from a torn ACL and wants to play another year, was one of the participants last week, and he raved about his first time at the event.
“I know Jason Kelce came here in the past, a lot of people have come here in the past, and they spoke very highly of it,” said Ertz, who was signed up last year but needed to attend his wife’s induction into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame. “Justin Pugh came last year, spoke very highly of it. So, I just gave it a shot, just to give me an option or give me a look into what that option would actually look like.”
Ertz felt the podcasting and radio work came most naturally, and he gave extra praise for the session he did alongside Bears play-by-play announcer Jeff Joniak.
“I enjoyed it more than I probably thought I would,” Ertz said. “It’s awesome that the NFL is doing this for guys. The people that are here — the producers, the on-air talent — are the best of the best.”
