1. Gaby Susz
Internship Summer 2016
August 10th, 2016
1
My Experience with the Brooklyn Nets: Sports Are Entertainment
This summer, I had the privilege of interning for the Brooklyn Nets
Entertainment Department. I commuted to their Brooklyn offices every day from my
house in Scarsdale from May 31st to August 14th. My department allowed me to have
a flexible schedule, which was great. On a typical week I worked Monday through
Thursday from 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM. During my internship I successfully assisted
with the three auditions that they held this summer for their entertainment teams:
the Brooklynettes audition, Battle of the Breakers, and the Brooklyn Nets Kids
audition. My experience with the Brooklyn Nets was very informative, exciting, and
different from anything I have ever done and will play an important role in helping
me find the career path I want to take in the future. Working with the Entertainment
Department of a NBA team, gave me a new understanding about the relationship
between sports and entertainment and how sports in essence are a form of
entertainment.
The Entertainment Department welcomed me with open arms this summer
and I became very close with my fellow colleagues; especially my Supervisor
(Shenay Rivers) and the Director of Entertainment (Criscia Long). Creating these
relationships in the work place is very important because I may need to reconnect
with Shenay and Criscia, even after my internship, to answer any questions I have
about working with a professional sports team. In addition, networking with these

2. Gaby Susz
Internship Summer 2016
August 10th, 2016
2
established professionals can potentially help me make connections to aid in future
jobs and internships I will pursue.
I learned a lot from this internship: like how to effectively run an audition,
the roles of specific people, how different departments work, and how to improve
one’s social media skills. Auditions for the Brooklynettes—the Nets dance team—
was a little stressful. But once the day was finished and the auditions had run
smoothly, it was an amazing feeling knowing that I contributed to the success we
had. Before auditions actually started, we had to set up everything and I had to get
coffee for the judges. Then, we had to make sure all the dancers were checked in and
had the appropriate numbers. Once auditions started, it was really interesting as the
dancers had to learn the new choreography. I have never been a performer growing
up, so it was great seeing all of these amazing dancers. Team Hypes audition’s—the
break dancing and dunking team—was a little different. Instead of a formal audition,
we had a contest at the Barclay’s Center called “Battle of the Breakers.” This event
was a contest for all break dancers in the tri-state area. The top three winners had
the chance of being the next new member of Team Hype. For this, I helped with
checking in the dancers and made sure the event ran smoothly. In addition, I also
assisted with advertising this event. I personally brought Battle of the Breakers
flyers to all different dance studios across New York City. On top of that, I personally
found talent in places like Central Park, Union Square, and the subways. A few guys
that I personally gave flyers to actually came to the event, which made me feel like
my work actually mattered. For the Brooklyn Nets Kids audition, I also helped

3. Gaby Susz
Internship Summer 2016
August 10th, 2016
3
advertise the event and made sure that the event ran efficiently. In terms of
advertising, I had to personally put over 200 flyers into envelopes and mail them to
different children and families. This took awhile because I had to fold each flyer
appropriately to make sure the flyers would fit into the envelops, seal the envelopes,
and then put the address labels on all of the envelopes. Finally we mailed them out,
and got a great turn out at auditions! Again, seeing all of the children and families
that came to the Brooklyn Nets audition made me feel like all my hard work of
promoting this event paid off. During the actual audition, I assisted my supervisor
with checking in the 200 plus excited children as they arrived. The child and
supervisor had to sign a waiver before the child could participate in the audition, so
that process also took awhile since we had so many participants. After the check in
process was over, I just had to help in any way that I could—like getting coffee, food,
and water for the judges. Overall, I learned a lot about event planning and how to
ensure that an event will be successful.
The Brooklyn Nets Internship Program makes it mandatory for all the interns
to attend at least five meet and greets, which are meetings with many different
people in different departments to better understand how the company works as a
whole. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the Vice President of the Global Marketing
Department, the CEO of the Brooklyn Nets, and the General Manager of the Barclay’s
Center. Randy Lewis—the Vice President of the Global Marketing Department—was
very interesting and informative about marketing and branding in general. This
meeting with Mr. Lewis was especially beneficial for me because marketing is a field

4. Gaby Susz
Internship Summer 2016
August 10th, 2016
4
that I could definitely see pursuing. What I found really fascinating was how certain
brands specifically want to associate with the Nets or the Barclays Center for
specific reasons. What Mr. Lewis said, “we all have a brand, something we want to
be known for” really stuck with me. Another thing that I thought was interesting
was to learn how business and fan analytics provided essential research and input
for branding and marketing. For example, when the New York Islanders moved to
the Barclays Center Mr. Lewis arranged focus groups to understand what the
Islander fans want from the Barclay’s Center. Further enhancing this point, Mr.
Lewis talked about how organic slogans go a longer way with people and the fans—
as opposed to the marketing department formulating their own slogan. I thought
Mr. Lewis did a great job in explaining how important it is to do research on what
fans want. He also emphasized that in order for your brand orcompany to be
successful, you need to be different and reliable.
Meeting with the CEO of the Brooklyn Nets, Brett Yormark, was extremely
beneficial because we were able to actually hear how he became so successful. He
started his meeting talking about where he went to college and what he initially
wanted to do at the time. Mr. Yormark attended Indiana University, and originally
thought his career would be in finance. His junior year of college he had an amazing
opportunity to be an intern on Wall Street but realized that wasn’t his passion.
However, in his senior year of college he realized that sports were his passion. Mr.
Yormark applied for a job at every NBA, MLB, and NFL team; however, he got denied
by all of them. He then went back to working in investment banking for two years,

5. Gaby Susz
Internship Summer 2016
August 10th, 2016
5
but kept realizing that what he really wanted was a career in sports. His mother
worked in interior design for the NETS, so he begged his mother to get him an
interview and she did. The Brooklyn Nets offered him a job after the interview in
ticket sales and he took it. There was a huge wage gap between his job in investment
banking and his job in ticket sales; however, he knew he had to follow his heart. Mr.
Yormark did a little bit of everything through ticket sales, which really helped him in
the long run. He gravitated towards sponsorships most, so he then got a job in
Chicago to sell sponsorships for professional sports teams. He then got another job
at the Detroit Pistons and then a job at NASCAR. In 2005, the Brooklyn Nets gave
him a call to become the CEO and—although he loved his job at NASCAR—he took it.
Mr. Yormark got the team ready for the eventual move to Brooklyn—which took
about eight years. Finally, the Barclay’s Center opened in 2012! Mr. Yorkmark
stressed to the interns that passion and hard work helps more than anything else;
“you don’t have to be the smartest to be the most successful.” This quote of his
especially motivated me because he is a real example of how hard work can get you
anywhere in life. His experience with the NETS also helped him realize that he really
enjoys the entertainment side of the business. Since I was working for the
Entertainment Department this summer, it was really interesting to see what he had
to say about the entertainment side of the business. My. Yormark mentioned how
the Barclay’s Center had created a billboard lounge—which allows fans to watch
upcoming performers. The billboard lounge has really created some great
relationships with artists, as well as a strong sense of loyalty. The artists that

6. Gaby Susz
Internship Summer 2016
August 10th, 2016
6
perform at the Barclay’s Center are in fact very loyal and usually don’t play at other
arenas in the tri-state area. Finally, Mr. Yormark stated that everything needs to
come back to basketball: “if it makes basketball sense, then it makes business
sense.” Since he is the CEO for the Brooklyn Nets, he needs to ensure that any
business deal that he is considering on making will first and foremost benefit the
NBA team. In conclusion, he told all the interns to dream big and always try to learn
as much as possible. The first job in one’s career is important, but he made it clear
that the first job should be one that allows for a lot of experience and access. Mr.
Yormark said to not be worried about how much money you will be making at first;
money will come later in your career when you need it most. Mr. Yormark made it
clear that it’s all about passion and hard work; success will follow after that. Mr.
Yormark was very informative overall and inspired me to always work my hardest
in anything that I pursue.
Meeting with the General Manager of the Barclay’s Center, Stephen
Rosebrook, was extremely impressive and educational. Mr. Rosebrook has
successfully opened and operated six major centers: Barclay’s Center, Air Canada
Centre, The Liacouras Center, Corel Centre/Scotiabank Place/Canadian Tire Centre,
and SkyDome/Rogers Centre. He is basically a master at building arenas from
scratch—which is remarkable! Mr. Rosebrook also taught us some very important
life skills, like never burn any bridges with co-workers. In this day and age, jobs
develop through connections so it is vital to have positive relationships with all co-
workers. In addition, he said to always put your strongest foot forward in every

7. Gaby Susz
Internship Summer 2016
August 10th, 2016
7
situation because you never know who is watching. Just like Mr. Yormark, he made
it apparent that continuously working hard will lead to great opportunities. I am
now going to constantly remind myself to always have a positive attitude and try my
hardest in everything in life.
One of the projects that I enjoyed the most was researching how social media
can be used to advertise and promote our entertainment brands. The Director of
Entertainment, Criscia Long, wanted Team Hype to get more followers on social
media—so I did some research on how to do this. Team Hype had been struggling
with obtaining followers on their Instagram account, so my task for the day was to
research how to make their account more successful. Some of the facts that I found
were very surprising and interesting. For example, research shows that the best
times to Instagram are at 2:00 AM and 5:00 PM. In addition, research shows that the
best days of the week to Instagram are Sunday and Wednesday, and the most
effective filter to use is Mayfair. While there are a bunch of facts out there on how to
get more followers, I compiled the 15 most interesting and effective facts that I
discovered and shared those with my boss. Throughout my internship, I made daily
Instagram posts for Team Hype. I used captions and hashtags that would appeal to
the audience and get Team Hype more Instagram followers. I had a lot of fun
working with their social media accounts, and learned a lot on how social media can
help promote certain brands.
The Entertainment Department had weekly meetings on Thursdays to
discuss how we could improve our game presentation for the upcoming season.

8. Gaby Susz
Internship Summer 2016
August 10th, 2016
8
These meetings always appealed to me because I enjoyed brainstorming ideas on
how to make the Brooklyn Nets games more fun and engaging for the audience.
Some of the areas that we specifically focused on included arena upon arrival,
concourse, in-arena (player integration), player introductions, entertainment
groups, music/audio, fan interaction, and videoboard production. We ended up
spending more time discussing ideas on how to improve the arena upon arrival
portion of the game because this initial part of the game plays a pivotal role in the
overall game experience. Walking into the arena is when the fans really start to get
excited for the game. Some ideas we had were: high energy lighting on plaza,
countdown video on oculus, DJ music played on plaza to create more energy and live
performance options, social wall feature on oculus “Best Fans Only”, and nets
entertainment instruction video on oculus prior to doors. In terms of player
integration, we wanted to incorporate more get to know your player vignettes,
player welcome video to fans, and players welcoming fans at the main gate for every
game. For the player introductions, we wanted to initiate this new concept of
Brooklyn celebrities welcoming the players. In addition, we want the Brooklynettes
to be in the stands for the introductions and the new Nets Breakers on the court for
a high energy pre-show. For the Entertainment Groups, we thought Team Hype
should have female members, the Brooklynettes should enhance their costumes to
capture the Brooklyn feel, and have the Nets Kids become a bigger part of the
weekend games. In terms of music/audio, we liked the idea of having recording
artists perform the national anthem and possibly perform during halftime. For fan

9. Gaby Susz
Internship Summer 2016
August 10th, 2016
9
interaction, we talked about more social polling and fan inclusion to create an
engaging environment, and during time outs we wanted to use parachutes and t-
shirt canons. Lastly, for videoboard production we wanted to include more replays
and in-game packages, as well as more live shots during the game. We also talked
about what we could do to make people stay in their seats for the entire game,
including halftime. An idea that I had was to have waiters personally take the fans
food orders and then deliver the food to their seats. That way, the fans wouldn’t
have to worry about getting up and ordering food—which would result in the fans
staying in their seats more.
With every job or internship, there are going to be some aspects that you
maybe weren’t pleased with. For me, I never saw myself as someone who works
with NBA dance and entertainment teams. So I wasn’t very passionate about
managing these teams, however, I did think the event planning aspect of it was
interesting. In addition, as the only intern of my department I did a lot of the dirty
work: like doing their errands, organizing paperwork, etc. I wish I would have had
some more hands on projects; for example, working on social media or marketing
projects. I also wanted to go to more meetings and events. For instance, the NBA
Draft was at the Barclay’s Center this year and the whole Entertainment Department
worked it. I asked my supervisor if they needed any extra help, but they didn’t.
Working the NBA Draft would have been an amazing experience! Lastly, there were
some days that I had to constantly go up to my supervisor to ask if she needed any
help and some days she didn’t need any assistance all day. Those days where I didn’t

10. Gaby Susz
Internship Summer 2016
August 10th, 2016
10
do anything were not fun, and some days I didn’t have enough content to even write
a daily report—that’s why I combined two days into one daily report for a few.
While I definitely learned a lot on how to successfully plan an event, I wish I had
learned a little more on how to satisfy a client and some advice on how to think
more creatively.
I can confidently say that this internship helped me get a better idea of where
I want to take my career—and that is definitely in sports. Ideally I would like to get
into sports marketing for any professional team, or athletic company. In addition, I
could also potentially see myself pursuing sports broadcasting, journalism, or
becoming a sports agent. Game presentation for a professional sports team is also a
profession I am strongly considering as my career. My internship this summer
clearly showed all the work that goes into running a professional sports game, and
that idea of event planning is interesting to me. What this internship really helped
me realize is that sports are a form of entertainment and that I have a real passion in
pursuing both sports and marketing in the future. Most importantly, I learned that I
think sports marketing could be a perfect career path for me.