Ball State University’s Sports Link, the nation’s first fully immersive digital sports production program, will again play a role in one of the largest sporting events in the country — the 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.
In a continuing educational partnership with the NCAA’s digital and social media department, as many as 20 digital sports production students under the direction of Chris Taylor, director of digital sports production, and Alex Kartman, assistant director of digital sports production, will assist in the operation of the Final Four Social Hub in Indianapolis.
“We are excited to partner with the Ball State Sports Link program on this initiative,” said Nate Flannery, director of NCAA digital and social media, championships and alliances. “Not only does it provide our Final Four social media platforms with valuable content, it also gives the next generation of content producers firsthand experience.”
Students will be creating content, filtering content, responding to content and operating an array of social media tools to provide fans the best experience.
In addition, Sports Link student teams will be field producers capturing stories, reaction and info from NCAA-related events throughout downtown Indianapolis.
The partnership builds on the creation of a digital externship this year between NCAA Digital and Social Media and Ball State Sports Link. Torey Fox, a Ball State senior from Riley, Indiana, been serving as an NCAA Digital extern since the start of college basketball season, working within the NCAA digital and social department. He will be serving as one of two Final Four Social Hub producers.
For more information and to see student-created content, follow @FinalFour and the hashtag #FinalFour. Additional information can be found by visiting ncaa.com/final-four.
