During Monday night’s Pizza with the Pros, Neil Hartman, director of the Center for Sports Communication and Social Impact at Rowan University, announced that Rowan is partnering with the Delaware Blue Coats to offer unique opportunities within the sports media industry.

The Blue Coats, the G league affiliate of the NBA team the Philadelphia 76ers, will be launching the Blue Coats Broadcast Academy powered by Rowan Radio. In conjunction with the Broadcast Academy, students will also have the opportunity to be a part of a job shadowing program that covers other realms of the Blue Coats organization. 

This is a tremendous opportunity for Rowan students, and it will allow them to gain experience in their desired field, whether it be broadcasting, media relations, broadcast relations or anything else that might interest them. 

The Sports Communication and Media (Sports CAM) major is a fast-growing program at Rowan, and it is important to Hartman that the students get the opportunity to showcase their skills and have internships within careers that they are interested in. 

“Rowan Radio and the Delaware Blue Coats have formed a partnership,” Hartman said. “And this partnership is well beyond broadcasting opportunities.”

In addition to the broadcasting opportunities, the Blue Coats will host Rowan students through a seasonal job shadowing program. This will allow students to shadow roles in many different areas beyond broadcasting games. 

Students can also apply to shadow roles in areas including broadcasting production, fan services and guest relations, media relations, box office operations, concourse entertainment and team store merchandising.

“This partnership between Rowan Radio and the Blue Coats could impact perhaps as many as 20 students per semester,” Hartman said. “So this is a really special opportunity.” 

For those students interested in being radio broadcasters for the Blue Coats, which includes play-by-play and color analyst opportunities, auditions will be held virtually in front of a judging panel in January of 2021. 

Hartman is delighted to have his students explore their interests with the Blue Coats. 

“I know that there are a lot of students that I have talked to that have interest in basketball,” Hartman said. “And now you are going to get this opportunity to be able to, one, if you are interested in broadcast games, and two, work within a professional organization one step below the NBA.” 

This opportunity is so much more than getting to work with a professional franchise; it is all about the experience and knowledge that students will gain. They will work side by side with industry professionals in order to increase their skills and prepare for their future careers. 

Sports CAM major Brandon Amos shared his thoughts on this opportunity for him and his classmates.

“I think it’s just really tremendous that our program, being as young as it is, is already making connections like that,” Amos said. 

Amos understands that this partnership can open many doors for students like himself.

“For that relationship to be created at this time, and as hopefully the situation with the virus gets better and better, you’ll see our students actually be able to go in, and be well prepared creating a new career with the Blue Coats,” Amos said. “Or, having that stepping stone with the Blue Coats on our path to another career.” 

It is all about the hands-on application and use of real world skills. These students will be able to take the skills that they learned from the Broadcast Academy and apply them to their future endeavors in the sports communication and media world. 

The Blue Coats Broadcast Academy and the job shadowing program will allow students to create relationships with industry professionals, gain experience in their future careers and could be a vital part of their internship requirement here at Rowan University. 

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