As the new production director for ESPN+, Michael Steinberg said every day at his new job is unique, meaning he is constantly learning.
He said his personal motto is, “If you don’t walk away learning something, you didn’t have a good day at work.”
Steinberg was a freelance producer for ESPN with SEC and ACC, and FOX Sports with the Big Ten Network before he was hired by FGCU earlier this fall. One of his most memorable experiences on the job was being on the lead production crew when the Big 10 Network launched in 2006.
“I was doing graphics associate producer at the time, the very first game that they ever aired live,” Steinberg said. “Their very first day on air was Appalachian State upsetting Michigan at The Big House. That was just memorable, it was crazy, no one saw it coming.”
Over time, he noticed that the major schools in the SEC and the ACC networks were moving to control rooms to cover Olympic sports, including baseball, softball and soccer.
“They’re being run out of those control rooms, which takes a lot of work away from people that were freelance, like myself,” he said.
After being a youth football coach for some time, he wanted to have more stability in his career.
“So, I got to a point where I was like, ‘I want to do it, you know, run a control room.’ So, I started looking, applied to a few different schools, and Florida Gulf Coast checked off a lot of boxes,” Steinberg said.
Steinberg was hired in September. His job includes running the ESPN+ broadcasts, which includes all Alico Arena events, such as men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball. He also covers half of the outdoor sports, like men’s and women’s soccer.
Every day on the job is different. His responsibilities include scheduling a crew, doing research for the student workers, preparing commercial breaks and communicating with the Sports Information departments.
He’s required to produce a minimum of 65 events a year.
“I was brought in to help produce the games, train the students, to get them ready if they want a broadcast career,” Steinberg said, “So that when they graduate, that they’re ready to enter that market and to grow the program to where, at some point, we can do more than 65 events a year.”
Steinberg has a crew of 14, which are mostly FGCU students.
This is junior Lucas Nicholson’s fourth season on the ESPN+ broadcast crew. His current title is athletics broadcast assistant producer. Nicholson works closely with Steinberg.
“With Mike’s experience, with what he did before as a freelance producer, he brings a lot of experience and a lot of connections to the table,” Nicholson said. “Mike’s biggest thing is not how our FGCU production looks, that’s number two. The number one thing is training students for success, and that’s what he drives home to us.”
In this way, Steinberg is able to fulfill his personal philosophy and help his students take home new experiences and knowledge after a long day’s work. That experience, in turn, will help the students when the unexpected arises.
“If you learn something, that’s a great day. You just have to stick with it, and you have to be able to deal with the pressure because it is live television,” Steinberg said. “But, you know, it’s the greatest job in the world. You get to make sports television every day. What person wouldn’t want to do that? What sports fan wouldn’t want to do that?”
