Auburn University has one of the top intercollegiate athletic programs in the nation and good media relations play an important role in maintaining that successful program. With a football team that is currently ranked 15th in the country, there is a lot of work done each week to make sure that proper public relations and marketing procedures are fulfilled.

In an effort to give Auburn students sports marketing and media relations experience, the Athletic Department created the Auburn University Sports Marketing Internship Program. This beneficial opportunity for students began in 2004 and has been very successful ever since. The 18 students currently involved in the program get hands-on experience promoting Auburn athletics to fellow students and to the community. The Athletic Department also benefits from this internship program because they can also use the students to help promote athletic events to their peers.

“It was started to provide students a chance to gain valuable experience within the sports marketing industry,” said Eli Wilkerson, Marketing Assistant for the Auburn Athletic Department. “Also, it helps the Auburn Athletic Department tremendously as there is always so much to do with each sport.”

The interns are responsible for developing marketing and promotional strategies for Auburn athletic programs, executing promotions during athletic events, creating and executing ticket sales strategies and promotions, coordinating special events, and other similar assignments as the need arises.

“The interns help the athletic department in many different ways,” said Wilkerson. “First of all, they provide behind the scenes work that most people don’t realize goes into sporting events. This is taken care of during their time in office hours where they work on a variety of things such as advertising events, planning promotions, organizing items needed for each week, and updating the Kid’s Club and Auburn Ignited databases.”

In addition, students are assigned to plan and organize one game per sport, completely by themselves. They must come up with the theme, the contests, the giveaways, the advertising, and anything else that they can contribute to fan involvement at the athletic events.

Ryan Schaub, an Auburn University senior is starting his second year as a sports marketing intern. Schaub found out about the internship program from a flyer in Lowder Business Building and saw it as a great opportunity to get involved. “It gives me a real-life application of marketing inside and outside of my field of interest that I will be able to use in the road to my career. I have learned key communication skills working with my manager and acting as a manager,” Schaub said.

Wilkerson agrees. The Sports Marketing Internship Program is a great way for students to get involved in the marketing field. “Overall, it is a great program geared to provide experience in an exciting field and give students the chance to put some of their marketing skills learned in the classroom to practice,” he said.

Recruitment for new interns takes place at the end of each spring semester as well as the beginning of each fall semester. For more information, contact the Auburn Athletic Department.