EHE News
For intern, transportation is a new way to become a sports insider
Sports management senior Kiel Rostorfer, left, takes advantage of his only opportunity to see a competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He watched men's aerials at Cypress Mountain with friends Cory Samara, center, and Gretchen Lasda, both of New Jersey, who also worked at the Games.
6-4-10
Kiel Rostorfer's life took a left turn, literally, when the sport management senior found himself in transportation services.
"I definitely learned the inner workings of a sporting event," he said of his internship with GameDay, a management group in Florida. "I didn't really realize how many people it took just to do the transportation."
The Columbus native had the responsibility to get athletes, their families, their bosses, their sponsors and assorted other VIPs as well as reporters, spectators and volunteers to and from big events. He worked Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, Fla., the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, as well as two college bowl games, the Pro Bowl, Daytona 500 and the 2010 Winter Paralympics.
He endured 15-hour days and rarely saw the actual competitions, but was fascinated by the challenges he faced as a manager of scheduling.
For the Super Bowl, he was in charge of the "bus board" array of information, from what time buses had to be ready, to lists of people the drivers had to pick up, to establishing how long the route should take. "I had to get the details out by 8 p.m., and then many times there were changes to plans. I sent out emails to about 30 people again at midnight."
His board had to be 100 percent accurate on game day.
"I got to work with the National Football League consumer marketing division. So I'm dealing with CEOs of very large sponsors like Visa, Reebok, Bank of America, making sure buses were at their hotels (on time), they had a seat, they were happy with the experience. And that we got them to the Super Bowl, of course."
For the Pro Bowl he was up close and personal with 15 players. "I greeted them at the airport," he said. Rostorfer made sure security personnel protected players, and that the athletes, their families and their luggage were loaded into vehicles and on their way to hotels.
He enjoyed running into an Ohio State acquaintance, Michael Jenkins, now of the Atlanta Falcons. Rostorfer had classes with Jenkins when he was a wide receiver for the Buckeyes.
The Daytona 500, however, "was a very different experience," especially after the race when he had 27,000 stock car fans all trying at one time to board shuttles to the parking lots.
His next assignment, in Vancouver, Canada, at the Winter Olympics "was great. I would love to do it again, but it was a lot of work," Rostorfer said. From February 16 to 28, he worked from 3:15 a.m. to 6 p.m.
In Vancouver he managed a staff of 30 at departure hubs, where they prepared sports enthusiasts for two-hour rides to reach mountainside venues.
His departure hub "was directly on a street corner," he said. "Now, being on a street corner, we had to deal with the general public [who were not getting on buses]. And where were we going to put our queues? You have 5,000 people lined up along three city blocks," divided into nine loading zones.
His favorite job was at the Paralympics, also in Vancouver. He was surprised at the difference in attitude. At his assigned location, the UBC Thunderbird Arena, there were 20 security personnel for the Paralympics, compared to 200 for the Olympics.
The athletes with disabilities were much friendlier, too, he said. "This was extremely enjoyable. I got to meet all the athletes and all the media personnel."
Looking back at his internship, Rostorfer said, "Transportation is not where I thought I was going in sports management." But he has discovered a career with some curves can be a lot more interesting.
© 2011 The Ohio State University - College of Education and Human Ecology. All Rights Reserved.
If you have trouble accessing this page and need to request an alternate format, contact the webmaster.