Sports journalism students at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication have an opportunity that many professional sports reporters would envy.
Cronkite News Phoenix Sports Bureau subscribers provide daily coverage of the Valley's five major professional sports teams throughout the year. But since February, they've burst onto the national stage to report on some of the nation's biggest sporting events taking place right in their backyard. Students have covered Super Bowl Week in Las Vegas, the PGA Tour's WM Phoenix Open, and Major League Baseball's Cactus League Spring Training. They are also preparing to cover the NCAA Men's Final Four in Glendale next month.
Cronkite News Phoenix Sports Bureau is one of the school's signature immersive capstone experiences, serving as a multi-platform newsroom where students can cover major sporting events in Phoenix and other parts of the country. Students' work has been published in major metropolitan media organizations and national news outlets, including MLB.com, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bay Area News Group, and Sports Illustrated. Cronkite students have covered the last two Super Bowls in Glendale and Los Angeles, last fall's World Series, and have reported on Cactus League spring training since 2011.
Cronkite student Lauren Avenatti covered the Super Bowl opener last month, which included the first opportunity for media to interview players and coaches.
“The fact that I was able to play in the Super Bowl at 21 years old is absolutely amazing,” Avenatti said. “If you had told me four years ago that I would have gone and met some of the greatest players of our generation, I wouldn't have believed you. And it's all because of Cronkite. Thanks to you.”
Avenatti designed a broadcast package about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, a Queen Creek native who played high school football for Gilbert.
“I was able to talk to his coaches, his former high school coaches, his personal quarterback coach and really talk about the kind of person he was,” she said. “They said he changed their lives, changed the culture of the school and was a great human being.”
That same week, Avenatti traveled to Las Vegas while Ethan Tuttle and other Cronkite students stayed in the Valley to report on the WM Phoenix Open, one of the most popular golf tournaments in the world.
Tuttle credited Cronkite News Phoenix Sports Bureau Professor of Practice Gail Rose and other faculty members for providing valuable feedback that improved his skills.
“She basically reports to me and helps me with script writing and gives me video critiques. So being able to get direct feedback whenever I want is really special. It helped me develop my skills,” he said.
Student Aaron Schmidt is in charge of spring training for the second year in a row.
“Talking to players, talking to managers… it was a really good experience for me because I learned how to do interviews properly and how to approach players, and I improved my writing skills all around. “Because I was able to do that,” he said.
Schmidt, who wants to cover baseball as a beat writer, values classes at Cronkite School so he can experience things like spring training.
The station's students are currently preparing for the Final Four by following teams that might advance to the tournament and exploring story ideas.
Cronkite News Phoenix Sports Bureau Director Paola Boivin said it is “highly unusual” for college students to cover these major sporting events so early in their careers. But that's what separates Cronkite from other journalism schools.
“I often run into veteran sportswriters who tell me that our reporters are covering things that haven't been covered yet,” Boivin said. “I think that's what makes our journalism school so unique. We're right in the middle of all the major professional sports leagues and two Power Five universities.”
