School of Communications students participated in a pre-game panel discussion and TV production truck tour leading up to the NHL team’s Oct. 15 home game with the New Jersey Devils.
It’s 56 miles door-to-door from Elon University’s campus to Raleigh’s Lenovo Center, home of the Carolina Hurricanes. But the distance seems even shorter following an up-close visit to watch the team’s Oct. 15 home game against the New Jersey Devils.
More than 100 students – representing Assistant Professor Mark Cryan’s Sport Sales & Promotion class, the Sport Management Society and Elon Sports Vision – attended the NHL game, arriving hours before the first face-off to learn more about the sport industry, marketing and hosting high-level sporting events, and how such contests are broadcasted. The students participated in a pre-game panel discussion, hearing from Elon alumni Connors Sheehan ’24 and Megan Hussey ’20, who serve as an inside sales representative and corporate sales executive, respectively, for the franchise. PJ Morin, manager of inside sales, and Molly Capalbo, account executive for group events and suite sales, also spoke with the Elon contingent. During the informal conversation, the speakers highlighted their own career paths and offered advice and encouragement to the gathered students.
Following the panel discussion, a group of Elon Sports Vision students and Assistant Professor Max Negin, ESV’s faculty adviser, met with Christine Williams ’14, director of event presentation for the Hurricanes. In her role, Williams supports CanesVision, the in-house production and video team for the NHL franchise, responsible for creating and managing all of the team’s multimedia content. Williams talked about her journey from Elon to Raleigh and the Hurricanes.
“It is great for our first-year students to see a recent alum like Christine, who went from the same classrooms they are in, to leading the video board of an NHL team,” Negin said. “It shows them that their professional goals are well within reach.”
The group then heading out to the loading dock to see Bally Sports South’s TV production truck to learn about delivering a seamless hockey broadcast. The students met with David White, coordinating producer for Bally Sports South, and watched the live production of the pre-game show. For Negin, this experience shows how close the students’ experience at Elon connects to professionals in sports broadcasting.
“Just last week, these same students were in Williams Studio producing their own content, running all the studio and control room equipment,” Negin said. “The chance to go inside a live remote production truck, and see working professionals doing very similar jobs, producing, directing, working a switcher, gives a wonderful full circle moment for them to realize they are practicing and learning skills that are very relevant to their career goals.”
In the weeks leading up to the game, the Hurricanes also helped educate Elon students by collaborating with Cryan’s Sport Sales & Promotion class to conduct a project that sold nearly 70 tickets for the Oct. 15 game.
“The Hurricanes have been a great partner over the years, including PJ and Megan visiting our classroom to kick off the project,” Cryan said. “Now, with Connors Sheehan and Jordan Gower ’23 also working there, there’s a nice extra connection.”
The visit to Lenovo Center was organized by Cryan, Negin, Associate Professor Young Do Kim, and Manager of Graduate and Global Programs Maggie Mullikin. Will Ferris ’25, president of the Sport Management Society, oversaw the group’s travel arrangements and served as the point person for organizing the pre-game panel discussion.
The large group of Elon students were among the crowd of 18,700 who watched the Hurricanes knock off the Devils, 4-2. “This was my first hockey game ever, and it was really action-packed!” said Evan Wu ’25.