By: Brandon Costa, Director of Digital | Sports Video Group
Ball State University has long been a proving ground for aspiring sports-media professionals. At the center of that ecosystem sits an operation that blends live event production with academic instruction.
Between university-supported ESPN+ broadcasts and the student-driven work of the Ball State Sports Link immersive-learning program, the Muncie, IN, campus supports a year-round production calendar touching nearly every sport, multiple venues, and a wide range of creative formats.
Helping lead that effort is Alex Kartman, director, sports production/senior lecturer of media, Ball State University, who has spent the past 12 years shaping the way students learn the craft of live sports television.
Working alongside fellow faculty members while collaborating closely with Ball State University Media Services, Kartman oversees a program where students don’t just study production; they execute it. Across an academic year, Ball State produces more than 85 live broadcasts for ESPN+, with Sports Link students directly responsible for 20-30 of them, filling every role from camera and replay to directing, audio, and graphics.
Operating from a centralized control room in the university’s Media Building with fiber connectivity to six venues, Kartman’s teams support everything from football at Scheumann Stadium to basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, baseball, softball, soccer, and field hockey.
At the same time, Sports Link students are creating documentary features, studio shows, social content, intro videos, and recap programming that have earned national recognition — including multiple SVG College Sports Media Awards.
In this edition of SVG Campus Shot Callers, Kartman discusses building a production “laboratory” where creativity is encouraged, failure is part of learning, and students are pushed to grow every show; how new tools like virtual production and cinematic cameras are expanding storytelling; and why staying active in the freelance world helps keep the classroom connected to the industry.
What are the key responsibilities of your current role?
I oversee Ball State Sports Link as an instructor, mentor, and leader. We currently have 54 students, freshman through seniors, who are earning their degree in sports production. Three faculty members — Chris Taylor, Al Szymanski, and I — share responsibilities in all areas of our productions. Day to day, we all oversee student-content production, from feature stories, recaps, all-access shows, and vodcasts to intro videos.
I also manage the logistics of all live events our students produce for ESPN platforms. Throughout an academic year, our students produce 20-30 live broadcasts on ESPN+ with students in every position. I handle communications with facilities and our campus engineers to make sure our students can execute their creative visions during broadcasts. During shows, I evaluate productions and offer guidance as necessary during a show. I use the days around productions to coach student leads about upcoming events and then recap the work they did.
What is one core philosophy you try to live by when managing your team/operation?
My core philosophy is to make our productions a laboratory where failure happens only if you are not trying new things and pushing creativity. Education is as much about pushing yourself to find new skills and boundaries. To me, Ball State is a space where students can try new things in a safe environment to fail spectacularly only to be elevated by their peers and mentors to succeed the next time.
What is one key technology investment that your department has made that you feel has greatly improved your productions, workflows, or how your team operates?
Rarely is it the technology that improves our workflows, if I’m honest. It’s always going to boil down to creativity of a group of students with every imaginable media skillset.
We have recently added a couple of tools that have enhanced creative visions. We have two [Inertia Unlimited] XMo cameras on our shows to enhance the replay storytelling, with the flexibility to choose between long-lens cameras or a handheld to be our slow motion for each show.
The second would be trying to incorporate a wireless cinematic gimbal [Megalodon] into our shows. The biggest benefit from the Megalodon has been our outdoor coverage of soccer and field hockey with freedom to move around the fields of play to better cover for throw-ins, corners, and bench reactions.
The newest tool in our arsenal is a Virtual Production studio with a 20- x 12-ft. LED wall where we do intro shoots to create cinematic bumpers and gladiator shots for use throughout broadcasts.
How did you get started in sports production? What made you want to pursue this career?
As with many in this industry, sports were always a part of my life; I grew up playing basketball and baseball. As I entered college, my other passion was filmmaking. So, when the opportunity came to marry the two passions with the development of the Ball State Sports Link program, I dove in. I was able to spend two years heavily involved in development of the program as a student, then earned my master’s degree while serving as a graduate assistant in Sports Link.
The skills I learned from being eager to try everything available at Ball State opened freelance paths to me as a grip or parab operator when productions were in the area. I also directed every type of production I could in college, from nightly newscasts to sports talk shows to studio productions outside of the Sports Link live broadcasts. Those experiences put me in the position to move into directing, producing, and technical-directing right out of college as a freelancer while I earned a master’s degree. When I earned my master’s, I was able to move into a full-time position teaching at Ball State and co-leading the Sports Link program with Chris Taylor.
I continue to pursue this career because I am excited about how storytelling is supported with changing technologies to deliver different experiences to sports fans. I get first-hand experience freelancing in the industry to bring new ideas to the classroom.
What is your favorite event(s) you’ve ever worked?
I’ve been fortunate to work on some of the largest productions in the country during weekends away from Ball State Sports Link. By far my favorite event to routinely work is dog sports. I work on many of the American Kennel Club events on ESPN, and sport brings creative challenges that pushes you to think outside of normal sports production. I love putting dogs on TV when the canines are so excited to run around and play their sports.
What’s one piece of advice that you regularly give your student workers?
Judge yourself not on the way you performed today but on how today compares to yesterday. As a student, you will make mistakes, but, if you make one less mistake than yesterday or push yourself to try something new creatively on this show, you have grown and succeeded. I want our students to be able to step back and recognize the progress they’ve made through a sports season, semester and year.