How to Become a Sports Broadcaster w/New England Patriots’ Tamara Brown

Becoming a sports reporter combines two of the most competitive career paths: the sports business and broadcast journalism. It mashes them together for an incredibly narrow job that takes dogged determination, skill, and luck to break into. The field requires a compelling on-camera presence, behind-the-scenes technical skills, an ability to form a connection with various public-facing figures, and a willingness to ask them difficult questions.

Today’s guest on the WorkInSports Podcast is a team reporter and producer for the New England Patriots, Tamara Brown. She joined one of the NFL’s premier franchises in the summer of 2021, and her career path is a roadmap for how to become a sports reporter today.

How to Become a Sports Reporter

For anyone aspiring to work at ESPN, forging a career in sports broadcasting requires an ability to find and create opportunities to hone your craft and show off your capabilities. We discuss the value of sports internships a lot, and Brown wasted no time finding them as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech:

•    WAVY-TV (2013)
•    Washington Commanders (2014)
•    WSLS Newschannel 10 (2015)

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After graduating in 2015, it still took time for Brown to catch her big break with the Patriots, so she put herself out there and took a variety of positions across the country, including:

•    Personality/Talent for Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish Media (2016 –18)
•    Production Assistant Intern for the New York Giants (2018)
•    On-Air Host for the Mountain West Conference (2019)
•    Social Media Correspondent for the University of Miami w/Learfield IMG College (2020 –21)
•    Live Social Contributor for the National Hockey League (Summer 2021)

Brown joins VP of Content and Engaged Learning Brian Clapp to discuss this impressive journey in greater detail, covering topics such as:

•    How to stand out from your peers in a competitive industry
•    The value of aggressively seeking out internships of all kinds
•    How to establish trust with athletes and coaches to tell a story

Listen to the full episode of the WorkInSports Podcast for Tamara Brown’s insight on how to be a sports reporter. Also, be sure to subscribe to the WorkInSports Podcast for more sports career advice.