Before Ross Eisenberg was a managing broadcast partner for the National Basketball Association, overseeing courtside personnel for conference final games, or directing the league\u2019s transitions into streaming partners like Amazon or NBC, he was just a Penn State student trying to figure out a way to work in sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Similar to many other Penn State students, Eisenberg\u2019s path to Happy Valley wasn\u2019t linear.<\/p>\n
While Eisenberg didn\u2019t initially begin his college career at Penn State, once he transferred, he found exactly what he was looking for at Happy Valley.<\/p>\n
\u201cI initially spent my freshman year at Roger Williams University because the idea of a massive school was intimidating, but after seeing my friends\u2019 experience, I realized I wanted the big-time college sports environment and came to Penn State,\u201d said Eisenberg.<\/p>\n
At Penn State, Eisenberg gravitated towards writing classes and even enrolled in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism. Classes with professors like Mike Poorman helped him establish a clear career path.\u00a0<\/p>\n
First, there was an introduction to sports writing. Followed by a photography class that provided the credentials for shooting Penn State basketball games. However, it was the 2009 men\u2019s basketball NIT title that gave Eisenberg an experience nothing short of incredible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time I walked into the BJC with a credential, it was so cool,\u201d said Eisenberg. \u201cI\u2019ve never forgotten that feeling, even all these years later.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the most pivotal moments in Eisenberg\u2019s Penn State career was a last-minute email that was posted via the Curley Center. While pulling an all-nighter studying, Eisenberg saw a call for student runners for ESPN\u2019s College Gameday. He responded immediately and got the role.<\/p>\n
While working behind the scenes with ESPN personnel, driving Kirk Herbstreit to the airport, and executing production logistics, \u201cworking in sports\u201d became the ideal career for Eisenberg.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After graduating in 2010, Eisenberg reached out to a connection he made during GameDay weekend to land a project role at ESPN as a stats associate. It wasn\u2019t the most glamorous job, as it required mainly data entry, but it was a job at ESPN, which made every day feel surreal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was basically Sporcle for adults,\u201d Eisenberg joked about the sports knowledge test required for the job.<\/p>\n
With the specific goal of breaking into sports media, Eisenberg began looking elsewhere for jobs. Project jobs meant temporary contracts, with limited stability. At one point, Eisenberg even turned down an early offer from the NBA to pursue a full-time position at ESPN. However, this unfortunately didn\u2019t materialize, as ESPN entered into a hiring freeze.<\/p>\n
Four months later, Eisenberg reached out to the NBA again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Remember me? I\u2019m the idiot who turned you down. Any chance you\u2019re still hiring?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They were hiring, and Eisenberg accepted a 10-month production project position. Twelve years later, Eisenberg is still there. Only now, he\u2019s running it all.<\/p>\n
Eisenberg\u2019s career with the NBA has evolved alongside the league itself. Starting as a broadcast assistant at the launch of the Relay Center meant Eisenberg could take on additional responsibilities in broadcast operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today, Eisenberg manages broadcast systems for the NBA, staffs national television games, oversees regional freelance crews, and serves as a courtside timeout coordinator for major broadcast networks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This role has allowed him to sit at the scorer\u2019s table during conference final games, serving as the NBA\u2019s liaison with national broadcast partners, approving on-air audio, and maintaining game flow for live television viewers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eisenberg\u2019s favorite game memory was working the 2018 Western Conference Finals matchup of the Houston Rockets vs. the Golden State Warriors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI always try to take 15 seconds,\u201d said Eisenberg. \u201cJust to realize where I am. If I could tell the younger version of me, he wouldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eisenberg also spent time inside the NBA\u2019s COVID-19 bubble, a never-before-done operation that created a college campus into a fully contained professional sports infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re sitting in what feels like a high school gym, but on TV it looks like Game 7 of the Finals. That\u2019s a huge achievement, \u201d said Eisenberg.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As media watching habits evolve, so does Eisenberg\u2019s job.<\/p>\n
The NBA\u2019s broadcast strategy has changed to include partnerships with Amazon and NBC, expanding games across Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, and other streaming platforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When asked about the strategy for expanding NBA broadcast coverage and gaining more viewership, Eisenberg responded, \u201cThrow things at the wall and see what sticks.\u201d<\/p>\n
From cell-phone shot games of the Summer League to sky-cam-only broadcasts that resemble NBA 2K, change is constant. Eisenberg sits at the intersection of operations, relationships, and just straight experimentation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a relationship-building job,\u201d said Eisenberg. \u201cWhen things go wrong, you need to know exactly who to call and what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back, Eisenberg credits Penn State\u2019s high scale and professional-level athletic environment as \u201cthe perfect training ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stakes are as high as they are anywhere,\u201d said Eisenberg. \u201c But at Penn State, you\u2019re basically working in a pro sports environment as a college student.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than a decade into his NBA career, Eisenberg still returns to Happy Valley for an annual football weekend with his wife, also a former Penn Stater, and their two-year-old daughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He has also hosted many Penn State football players at the NBA offices during career exploration trips, which expands connections among Penn State alumni working in sports.<\/p>\n
Eisenberg\u2019s advice for aspiring sports journalists is to get good at your craft, since anyone can learn the sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Eisenberg, this meant writing. But for anyone, it could be analytics, operations, or even communications. Ultimately, a passion for sports can open the door, but it\u2019s your skills that keep you in the room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Ross Eisenberg was a managing broadcast partner for the National Basketball Association, overseeing courtside personnel for conference…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[82068,82069,82070,82071,7,7641,130,27313,82072,82073,6,76687,82074,67,8547,8548,8552,15382,82075,41912,10046],"class_list":{"0":"post-623687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-2009-nit-title","9":"tag-all-big-ten-basketball","10":"tag-alumni-working-in-sports","11":"tag-b1g-basketball","12":"tag-basketball","13":"tag-big-ten","14":"tag-espn","15":"tag-happy-valley","16":"tag-john-curley-center-for-sports-journalism","17":"tag-mike-poorman","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-nba-all-star-weekend-penn-state","20":"tag-nba-covid-19-bubble","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-onward-state","23":"tag-penn-state","24":"tag-psu","25":"tag-psu-basketball","26":"tag-ross-eisenberg","27":"tag-state-college","28":"tag-students"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116130640665055196","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}