Name: Melissa Pick Burnazian

Degree: BS in Sport Management, 1999

Current Occupation: Account Executive, The Walt Disney Company

What drove your decision to apply to the School of Kinesiology and major in Sport Management?

Ironically, I came about Sport Management via a Movement Science major. Growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, and coming from a family of diehard University of Michigan alumni, including my father, sister, brother, cousins, and uncle, I always had maize and blue in my veins.

As a field hockey, soccer, and lacrosse athlete in high school, I suffered my fair share of minor injuries and spent time in physical therapy. I became enamored with how the body moved, worked, and healed during rehab. It fueled my passion for wellness and sports medicine, so it felt perfect to marry my love for Michigan with my desire to heal by pursuing Movement Science at U-M.

I was taking all the necessary prerequisites for my Movement Science major during my first two years, but I sprinkled in some Sport Management classes. I felt my interests and passion shift more towards Sport Management the more coursework I completed.   

After my sophomore year, I interned with an orthopedic surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital who worked with professional athletes and provided a firsthand look at the healing process. I would scrub into the operating room and shadow the surgeon; additionally, I followed the patients through the rehabilitation work with physical therapists. While it was miraculous to see the patients thrive, I struggled to see myself doing this professionally. I kept thinking about the athletes themselves and their careers, leagues, teams, etc., and felt energized by what transpired in the office or off the field rather than the body mechanics as it relates to on the field. I switched from Movement Science to Sport Management at the beginning of my junior year. 

How was the transition from Movement Science to Sport Management?

I was fortunate to have completed most of my Sport Management prerequisites during my first two years. I dove into the Sport Management classes with excitement. It felt organic for me to learn about the leagues, teams, and the associated business involved with sports.

I was determined to intern with a professional sports team before my senior year. I secured a marketing internship with the Baltimore Ravens, and it was exhilarating to intern for them because it reinforced my Sport Management decision. I was part of a team of marketing interns that worked closely with corporate sponsors on building and maintaining client partnerships during the summer before the opening of the new Ravens Stadium. What I did during that internship felt natural; I loved the pace, the collaboration, and the teamwork. 

This internship fueled my love for sports, and I returned to U-M invigorated. I was a media relations intern in the U-M Athletic Department during football season and worked alongside the media in the press box on game days. From there on out, I was hooked.

What have you done since graduating from the School of Kinesiology?

Upon graduation, I knew two things: I wanted to be in New York City, and I wanted a career in sports. I was fascinated with all aspects of the sports business and just wanted to get more experience and exposure. I was open to virtually any sports-related job.

After a short search, I was elated to secure a job at ESPN as an ad sales assistant. It was a dream job to be able to work for a television network exclusively focused on sports. I learned an incredible amount in that role about media negotiations, strategic partnerships, business development, sports programming, etc.  

One of the largest accounts I worked on was Anheuser-Busch. I built a close relationship with the media team at Anheuser-Busch; after a year at ESPN, Anheuser-Busch recruited me to join their in-house media agency, Busch Media Group, as a sports media buyer. I went from a bustling office with hundreds of people at ESPN to a small office of roughly ten seasoned marketers. Fortunately, being in such a small office gave me access to several high-profile, detail-oriented partnership meetings where I was an integral part of the negotiating process. The experience I gained at Anheuser-Busch was unparalleled. I learned about negotiating, the nuances of the media business, sports rights, the intricacies between official sponsorships and the league, etc.

I grew in my role, got promoted, and eventually moved to the entertainment side running Anheuser-Busch’s national TV media buying.

After 15 years with Anheuser-Busch, I returned to ad sales with FOX Entertainment selling for FOX, FX, and National Geographic. After Disney acquired the FOX Entertainment cable assets in 2019, I returned to my roots with Disney, which owned ESPN.