BATON ROUGE – Wednesday’s opening conversations at LSU’s Sports Summit 2016 in focused on growing opportunities for women to flourish in sports media and in front offices.
Former Baton Rouge-affiliated panelists spoke of opportunities they encountered while they were aspiring career seekers, including the rarely pleasant reaction women encounter in the sports world.
The problem is that women are so out-numbered, Fox broadcaster Tim Brando noted. 
“I am incredibly optimistic about women in sports broadcasting,” said Cheri Kempf, the commissioner of National Professional Fastpitch. “You’ve seen some people really break down some barriers. You talking about people who have never said no.”
 
Kathleen Francis, head of Women in Sports and Events (WISE), said the industry is “ripe and ready” for women to be involved in sports media.
“You belong just as much as everybody else does,” said Erin Cofiell, sports director at WFFF in Burlington, Vermont. “I remember when I brought an intern in the [New Orleans] Saints’ locker room once, and I told her, ‘It’s OK, you belong here … You’re here to do your job.’”
 
The opening panel on problems faced by front-office sports executive, Tiger Athletic Foundation CEO Perry said sports are embedded in society with fellow panelists noting one must be willing to chase their personal goals.
“The work ethic has a lot to do with it,” Brando said. “I know it sounds cliché, but you’ll get out of it what you put into it.”
Jerry Ceppos, dean of the Manship School of Mass Communications, used his welcoming remarks in the summit to reflect on the many accomplished and successful people in the sports community who developed their skills in the Baton Rouge area, pointing to the panelists.
The front-office panel navigated the tortuous path from poorly-made player decisions to payer agents to maintaining a relationship with players.
Craig Kelley of the Indianapolis Colts, one of the NFL’s longest-tenured publicity executives, recalled a situation involving Colts punter Pat McAfee and his “festive” night out that resulted in a suspension the following game.
Kelley said a unified apology between the Colts and McAfee helped repair the damage and bring about a return to normalcy.
“An insincere apology won’t help the fans,” said Erik Burkhardt, a player agent who represents, among others, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton, Johnny Manziel, Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury and former NFL defensive back Charles “Peanut” Tillman, and underscored that it could make things worse.