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Like sports, internships on hold

The Tennessee Smokies’ decision to furlough its 2020 interns enabled the dozen or so recent college graduates to make more money sitting at home than working, thanks to recent changes in unemployment benefits brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

But putting the interns on furlough also meant that the Smokies, the Chicago Cubs’ Class AA minor league baseball affiliate, could call the interns back at a moment’s notice in case the pandemic-stalled Minor League Baseball season suddenly roars to life. 

MiLB has long been one of the sports industry’s primary nurturing grounds for future business talent. Jeff Lantz, MiLB’s senior director of communications, estimated that around 800 interns work for minor league clubs each year, but those opportunities are on hold this summer while MiLB tries to determine whether a 2020 season can be held.

Minor League Baseball internships include a wide range of work. Nick Badders was an Elizabethton (Tenn.) Twins broadcasting intern last summer for Boyd Sports. boyd sports

“You can do tickets but also pull tarp, do food and beverage on a game day when we’re getting slammed,” said Jeremy Boler, vice president for Boyd Sports, which owns four minor league clubs in Tennessee. “Minor league baseball, you can get a really well-rounded internship. You’ll probably become an expert, or at least well-rounded, in a lot of areas.”

And, Boler said, “It’s critical for us, because it’s more bodies.” 

The Smokies’ decision to furlough interns is one of the more positive stories in the sports industry internship landscape. For other companies, the story is not as happy.

Delaware North canceled its internship programs as the company deals with major revenue shortfalls and associated layoffs. Glen White, Delaware North director of corporate communications, said the company decided in March to scrap its 2020 internship program, which has previously included around 50 internships at its Buffalo headquarters.

“It’s disappointing because it’s a win-win for our interns, who gain valuable experience and a potential career entry point and path, while Delaware North has the opportunity to discover talented young professionals and potentially welcome them to permanent positions,” White wrote in an email.

The PGA Tour, which suspended its tournaments for over two months, also canceled its 26-year-old internship program just as it was interviewing 50 candidates for 15 positions. Eight hundred applied.

“In March, and with the uncertainty of the virus at that time, it just didn’t make sense to commit to the program when we were unsure if we could deliver a quality experience,” said Jim Clarke, PGA Tour vice president, talent and culture.

The sports industry’s financial uncertainty has trickled down to internship programs, according to Whitney Wagoner, director of the University of Oregon’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. “We definitely have seen internship offers rescinded,” she said. “Any organization has an ordering of priority in terms of head count and budget. Summer interns, for better or worse, are going to be at the end of that list.” 

Some positions have been pushed to 2021. The NBA will hold a virtual program from mid-June to mid-August that includes skill-building and leadership panels, and the 2020 NBA internship class has been invited back to complete the program next year. 

Learfield IMG College had planned on hosting 20 interns at its Plano, Texas, headquarters this summer. A spokesperson said none of the 20 were adversely affected by the decision to cancel as far as their ability to fulfill educational requirements.

Turnkey Sports and Entertainment will have two interns working remotely. 

Third-year Drexel University student Sam Banks interned with Turnkey in 2019 and was to spend this summer with Aramark. But when that company — hit hard by the pandemic’s impact on live sports events — called off its internship program, Banks was left without credits that he needed for his degree.

Evan Kashan, who oversees Turnkey’s intern program, said the company already had its one intern for 2020 but decided that bringing Banks back would be mutually beneficial, especially since he could contribute immediately thanks to his previous experience with the company.

Banks is focused on business analytics, so he spends much of his time buried in spreadsheets, easily done remotely. But he will miss out on the intangible benefits like lunches with experienced coworkers, or simply being in the office and absorbing the work going on all around.

“You only communicate when you need to communicate,” Kashan said about the remote internship experience. “There is no accidental overhearing.”

But Banks is happy he can keep moving forward toward his degree. “Most kids in my age bracket, this is the year where you go out and try to put your foot forward to kind of stake a claim for a full-time job,” Banks said. “I’m definitely one of the lucky ones where I have something I can fall back on.” 

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