From Class Time to Prime Time: Sport Management Student’s Journey to Emmy Stardom

“3, 2, 1, and we’re live” is what Emmy Award winner Tyler Pickle ‘18 hears before the start of his busy workday. Tyler, a former student from our sport management program, is a graphics producer for Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” – a job he calls, “the best job in the world.”

Andy Richardson, who worked for 12th Man Productions at the time, answered all of Tyler’s questions about the field of sports media. Following the interview, Tyler applied and received a job alongside Andy. His passion for sports media took off from there.

Tyler during his study abroad experience in Greece.

During college, Tyler had the opportunity to go on Dr. Paul Keiper’s study-abroad class to Athens, Greece, to learn more about the Olympics. As Tyler walked around the city, he noticed children playing basketball were wearing Giannis Antetokounmpo jerseys, despite the player only being a rookie in the NBA. In that moment he gained a deeper understanding of the positive effects sports can have around the world by bringing people together and giving them something to believe in. Tyler described this trip and the insights it provided as the most life-changing experience he’s ever had.

Tyler graduated with double minors in communications and journalism – a degree plan custom-built with his academic advisor to focus on sports media. Tyler shared, “My sport management degree gave me the opportunity to do anything I wanted to do with my career.”After finishing his bachelor’s degree, Tyler worked at ESPN for roughly four years as a graphics producer for “College Game Day.” His experience in this role eventually led him to his current position with “Thursday Night Football.”

Tyler at the ESPN SportsCenter news desk.

“I am in the production truck during the show,” explained Tyler, shedding light on his role at Amazon. “Every bit of information on the screen that’s got an actual camera feed is coming through my team.”

This year, Tyler and his team won a Sports Emmy in the “Outstanding Interactive Experience – Event Coverage” category for their hard work. “It was for the entire Thursday football package, from pregame to the actual game to our overall streams,” noted Tyler. He added this was Amazon’s debut run of this live production, so it was an honor to be recognized as the best in the country.

Tyler with his sports Emmy.

Tyler attributes much of his success to his education and the experiences he had in SEHD’s sport management program.

“Being able to have a sports-specific background has helped me tremendously in understanding sports marketing, the way that sports organizations work and sports law,” said Tyler. “Every single one of the sport management classes has helped me at some point in my career because it was tailored specifically to sports and to the arena that I work in.”

To learn more about our Sport Management program, visit tx.ag/SEHDSPMT.

For media inquiries, contact Ruben Hidalgo.