Working Super Bowl 50 was quite the experience for twelve UT students known as the Big Orange Combine. For five days, the group visited Stanford University, Google, San Francisco Giants AT&T Stadium, and the ESPN compound. Their trip culminated with the group working at the NFL Experience, pro football’s interactive on-site theme park, which highlights the sport’s history including the Super Bowl.
This is the twelfth year for the Big Orange Combine and likely the most memorable since the students witnessed former Vol Peyton Manning win his second Super Bowl and possibly play his last game.
Senior sport management major Sam Gilliam called the Big Orange Combine the greatest experience of his life, professionally and personally. “This opportunity has really allowed me to take what I have learned in class and apply it to the real world, which was my biggest objective for this trip.”
James Dugan, a sport management graduate student, says he was able to meet lots of people within the industry where he hopes to pursue a career. “It really gave me a full scope of potential areas I could work in as a career.”
“The trip allowed us to not only see how companies market their teams and brands, but it also allowed us to network and make connections with people,” says Megan Hatcher, a senior marketing major and volleyball player
See more about the Big Orange Combine and the group’s time in California in the Storify feed below.