CAMDEN — On the ice, the Philadelphia Flyers skillfully handle the puck, dish out bone-jarring hits, and score goals, but a different game is played behind the scenes — one the fans don’t get to see — where the team is managed down to the smallest detail.
Zach Hunt, a junior finance major at Rutgers–Camden, got an up close look into the daily operations of a National Hockey League franchise during his internship with the Flyers during the fall 2013 semester.
“I got to see all of the different financial aspects of the team’s operation, from player salaries to league fees, game expenses, equipment, and advertising,” says Hunt, a resident of Raleigh, N.C. and 2011 graduate of Karns High School in Knoxville, Tenn. He says the experience provided him with valuable insight into how a professional sports team is financially managed.
“It’s kind of surprising to see how much goes into running a sports team from a financial perspective,” Hunt says.
Throughout his internship, Hunt organized team financial statements and filed receipts and daily expenses while working with the Flyers’ financial department, where he says he learned how each aspect of the team’s operation fits in to its overall budget. Hunt also served on the game presentation staff, which greets and engages fans before and during the game.
Working in sports seems to be a natural fit for Hunt, who says his uncle has been employed by baseball’s Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays, and hockey’s Carolina Hurricanes.
“It always seemed interesting to me, but I don’t want to close the door on other possibilities,” says Hunt, who is also considering pursuing a career in personal finance. “The Flyers’ financial team did give me some good advice on continuing my education and working in the field, and I was able to sit down with the vice president of finance for Comcast Spectacor [the Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment firm that owns the Flyers] and ask him questions about the business.”
“The internship really showed me how finance works in the real world and outside of a classroom setting,” Hunt says. “I was able to see a lot of what I learned in finance and accounting classes being applied to this job.”
During the fall 2013 semester, 27 undergraduate students representing 14 different majors were placed in internships through an internship course facilitated by the Rutgers–Camden Career Center. To learn more about internship opportunities at the Rutgers–Camden Career Center, visit cc.camden.rutgers.edu.