Michael Sullivan

My degree appealed to me because

I’m passionate about sport and certain aspects of the business behind it - sponsorship, marketing, management and the media. Originally, before starting my course, I wanted to graduate and become an athlete manager. Soon after starting at UTS, my focus shifted to wanting to be more involved in the sponsorship and marketing side of athletes rather than negotiating their playing contracts with organisations.     

I chose UTS because

UTS was the perfect fit. It had a good reputation in the industry, it offered the course I was interested in and it was close to home.

My advice to anyone considering the degree is

Anyone signing up for this course should be aware of what it entails. Most subjects revolve around sport but subjects didn't overly appeal to me, but Event Marketing, Sport Law and Globalisation of Sport very much did. Have a look at all the subjects that are offered during the three years and if three per semester appeal to you, I'd say rip in and give it a go! If you love sport, you're halfway there to enjoying every subject. 

My degree prepared me for the workplace

Although the degree I undertook didn't focus too heavily the relationship between media and sport, UTS offer students the chance to take on an internship in the third year of study. I did my internship at the Wide World of Sports in 2008 and was employed there fulltime from 2009.

In April 2009, I was offered a full-time position as an Associate Producer of The NRL Footy Show, which I accepted immediately.  I was extremely proud that The NRL Footy Show won the TV Week Logie on 2 May, 2010 for being the Most Popular Sports Program on Australian television. I had an absolute blast working at Channel 9 until 2014 when I moved to London to produce TV in Europe.

Had UTS not given me the opportunity to undertake an internship, I wouldn’t be working in the position - nor having the experiences - that I am. Despite being out of UTS for years, I can still call on my lecturers for guidance and contacts - requests they are always too happy to accommodate.   

The thing I enjoy most about working in health services is

Sport media always appealed to me but I didn't have much interest in being a journalist or somebody who writes newspaper reports on a particular event or match. Once I got a chance to work in Sports TV production, I realised that live sport production was what I wanted to do. I got to work with like-minded people, create entertaining television around sport, go to great sport events, meet fantastic people and have a good laugh along the way. Sometimes it doesn't even feel like a job!    

My professional goals for the future are

I would love to be working as a Producer with the Host Broadcaster of major, international events (Olympic Games, World Cups, Formula 1, Champion's League, etc.). I've been fortunate enough to have a decent taste of working at such events and the buzz you get when making television in these environments is something I'll never tire of and I always pinch myself that I'm fortunate enough to be involved in a business I love.