Alumni Spotlight

Fran Rotella

Cook College '92

Fran Rotella, CC’92, is currently the Associate Vice President of Live Game Production for the NBA, a position she took after this interview was conducted.. Before that she was a coordinating producer for MTV News, ESPN, the NFL Network, and NBC. As a producer, she has been nominated for 10 Emmys, winning her first in 2022. The following text has been edited for clarity and space; for the full interview see the video above.

Jordan Cohen: Thank you everybody for joining us for our Alumni Spotlight with Fran Rotella. Fran, thank you so much for joining us.

Fran Rotella: Thank you so much for having me. It’s a great honor.

You graduated from Rutgers University, what school?

The school formerly known as Cook College back in 1992.

Did you live on Cook?

I did. I lived on Cook for all four years. I know it’s unusual being a communications major at Cook. I was one of the few but I never considered myself someone who’s into science, biology. It really opened my eyes back then to so many things. I thought it was a great balance for my education at Rutgers. I loved my time there, It’s amazing.

How’d you end up at Cook?

I was doing a campus tour of Rutgers with my dad who said, “Well, let’s look around on our own.” We went around to the different campuses and I really liked Cook College. I just loved that campus feel. I just knew in my gut. I always tell people my advice to everyone is always trust your gut. I was walking around Cook Campus and I said, “This is where I’m meant to be”

What’s your first experience at Rutgers? What are some memorable times?

Well, it was interesting because I wasn’t sure if as a communications major, I should have been at Rutgers. I thought the path had to go a certain way. Being at Rutgers, I worked at the Dean’s office at Cook College. Just exploring internships, because New Brunswick is an easy commute into the city I was able to do numerous internships in New York throughout the fall and spring semester, where there wasn’t as much competition.

In the summer, people come back from all over the country and want to do internships over the summer. I was able to do it in the fall. My first internship, it was funny because the internship coordinator was like, “Well, we’re not sure about this one’ was at MTV in the news department. I just loved it and I actually wound up working for them off and on during spring breaks and summers. Lo and behold, when I go to interview for a job there, one of the guys I interned with was in the office next door to the hiring manager. That’s how I got the job and how it all started, but if it wasn’t for those internships, it might not have happened.

Were there any experiences at Rutgers clubs, organizations that you think helped prepare you for what would come?

I was in Alpha Chi Omega at Rutgers. I was not sure if I wanted to rush a sorority and my friends were like, “Oh, just come.” We went to the parties and I found myself doing a lot in the sorority, in the Greek community at Rutgers. I wound up being the president of Alpha Phi Omega. That whole experience helped me with organization, time management, conflict resolution, charitable work. It really just laid the foundation for pretty much everything I’ve done since.

You were at MTV for more than five years, then you moved to sports. Tell us about that.

To me, the live event experience at MTV was my favorite. We had done presidential Town Halls, concerts, Video Music Awards, Grammy Awards, Movie Awards. I just love that excitement of live events, and at that time, MTV was doing less of them, and I’ve always been a sports fan. I was like, “If I could do live TV all the time. My favorite part of my job would be 100% of my job going forward.” I had some contacts with ESPN, and they were like, “Do you want to do it?” I was like, “Yes.” The only thing I had to decide was if I wanted to move to Central Connecticut. I said, “I’ll do it for two years.” I wound up doing it for eight.

“I feel like when Rutgers alumni get together and talk, it’s as if you’ve known each other forever.”

Did you get to work on any Rutgers events while you’re working on Sports Center at ESPN?

It was mostly covering whatever the event was. However, Coach Schiano did some work on NFL live while I was there, working on the NFL studio side. His first day on the ESPN campus, my boss said, “Take Schiano out to lunch.” It was great. I was able to thank him, because I think he’s really been a big reason why the change at Rutgers in the athletic side has happened. I think it’s just pretty amazing what he’s been able to do with Rutgers football, so it was great. He’s such a great guy, and it was so wonderful to be able to talk to him about that. We also had that same day, the McCourty twins were doing so it was a whole, it was Rutgers love fest that day. It was a good day.

Anything you remember, specifically from the conversation?

I would say, I feel like when Rutgers alumni get together and talk, it’s as if you’ve known each other forever, right? It’s funny because I had also had– I just like that shared experience, because I’ve also had that with Kathryn Tappen, another Rutgers alumni on NBC Sports, talent, and we were doing this panel, I was moderating and interviewing her. Someone afterwards said, “I didn’t know that you and Kathryn were such good friends.” I said, “No, I met her 10 minutes ago. That’s people from Rutgers, that is Rutgers alumni. It’s just this automatic, just easygoing, kinship that you have.”

That’s exactly what we like to hear. I believe the founder of ESPN was a Rutgers alumnus as well.

Yes. It’s great. It’s really wonderful to see that Rutgers pride in the alumni community.

You worked at ESPN, you worked at NFL Network, and then you switch from football specifically to the Olympics. Is that right?

That was one of the things you get as an NBC Sports employee. Basically, you get a little reprieve from your day job when you work on the Olympics. They say, “Do you want to work on the Olympics?” I said yes. I did not go to Tokyo, I went to Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. I was at CNBC’s headquarters. It was a great experience. Normally we would’ve all been in Stanford but because of COVID they separated some of the studios. We had folks in Miami, we had folks at 30 Rock in New York, folks in Stanford, and we were at CNBC.

I produced the broadcast coverage for CNBC’s part of the Olympics. It was great. We had the whole building to ourselves because the markets closed at a certain time. Due to the time change in Tokyo, it would be overnight. It was an amazing experience. The stories, and just technically what NBC was able to do with the Olympics under the circumstances was pretty incredible. There are so many talented people, and so much that happens behind the scenes. It was really great to be a part of it. I was nominated for an Emmy for the Olympics. I thought that one was going to be the win, but it wasn’t!

Let’s lean into that though. You were nominated for Emmy for that. A lot of people understand what goes into being an Emmy Award Winner for being an actress, or being an Emmy Award Winner for set design. What does being an Emmy Award Winner for what you do look like? What are the things that people look for? What are the things that people are specifically recognizing you for?

I’ve also been nominated 10 times, so I thought it was never happening.

Wow, that’s fantastic.

I’ve been nominated as a producer, been nominated as part of a production team. The win was for outstanding technical studio for the Super Bowl pregame show. As I was leading into the Olympics, I was asked to start some Super Bowl planning. NBC was the broadcaster, and there was just so much you think about every city has an NBC local affiliate. We also had regional sports networks in eight major markets. It’s bringing all of these people together, not to mention all the other people that descend upon a Super Bowl city nationally, and internationally, right?

It’s a huge event. It was being part of the team that oversaw all of these things going on in multiple locations. Who’s at SoFi, who’s at– there’s a whole radio setup, it’s called Radio Row in Downtown, Los Angeles. All practices, team availability. It’s just a lot of moving parts. You need someone to not only be able to make decisions quickly, but communicate quickly, and make sure everyone knows everything because things are changing so fast.

It really takes, not to sound cliche, but it really takes a village to get all of that going. I think at least for the NBC team coming off the Olympics, and all that technical knowledge, every shoot, every interview, you’ve learned something, right? That you could take that to any job. Every day, you could take something into your next experience. I think the Olympics helped inform what happened for the Super Bowl, and we wound up winning an Emmy for that.

That’s very cool. Was it a team Emmy?

It was a team Emmy. I don’t know the number offhand on how many people, but it was a lot because it was the Football Night in America crew. It was a lot of different parts all coming together.

I believe that was in LA, correct? That was the Rams, versus the Bengals.

Yes. LA in February is beautiful. For anyone on the West Coast, you forget how wonderful it is until you’re there like, wow.

That wasn’t a professional football town until the last five years, or so. How did that change the process? Was that more of a challenge, or did that really come up?

No, I think that the challenge is always when you’re in a city like Los Angeles, and I had this when I was in Miami for the Super Bowl a couple of years prior. When it’s so spread out, when you’re in a large city, it could be challenging to get around. A lot of that was– you have to give yourself a lot of extra time to get from point A to point B, and especially as it gets closer to the event and the amount of people that are around continues to increase. LA maybe isn’t a football town because there’s so many other things going on but the fans show up it was pretty amazing even driving to SoFi Stadium. There are people on the streets wearing Rams gear and block parties and tailgates and you see all of it. The fans come out and if it wasn’t a football town then it definitely is now. It’s great.

That wasn’t a professional football town until the last five years, or so. How did that change the process? Was that more of a challenge, or did that really come up?

Now we talk a lot to our alumni about the successes they’ve had what are some challenges that you’ve faced in maybe some ways that you’ve overcome them over a career that spanned so many different areas?

I think it’s really the one thing for me and the one thing I talk to a lot of students who are graduating and looking to get into media, regardless of whether it’s in front of the camera or behind. Especially when you’re dealing with live sports, the challenge is you need to want it so bad that you give up some things, whether it’s working Christmas, Thanksgiving 4th of July nights, weekends, holidays, especially being in Connecticut I would have to drive into work with big snow storms and you don’t get snow days. You need to really be dedicated to that. That sometimes some of those other things have to be secondary and that’s something that commitment needs to happen.

I was lucky in that my family has been extremely supportive and they understand that I’m not going to be there for Thanksgiving dinner or maybe I’m going to celebrate a week earlier we’ll celebrate a week later. I might miss a birthday party, that sort of thing. You need to really be prepared for that. Then there are times where you’re in between jobs and sometimes that takes longer to find that next opportunity and you got to just stick with it. That can be challenging because there’s been times where you’re like, “Why am I doing this? What? Should I give up? Is it time to do something else?” It’s that passion, that love for telling stories, and that excitement of it that keeps you going.

“That’s people from Rutgers, that is Rutgers alumni. It’s just this automatic, just easygoing, kinship that you have.”

Were there any crises or things that went wrong during that Super Bowl preparation that we wouldn’t know because your team did such a good job covering it up?

No. I would say it’s interesting and in this group everyone’s done it for so long. It’s funny I think sometimes you might not get tripped up by this, but believe me, there’s been times we’ve been tripped up for Sportscenter broadcasts or you’re 10 seconds before air and your anchor’s not sitting in the chair because they’re they were late getting to the studio or your guest doesn’t show up or someone switches the wrong cable. Those things happen. It did not happen on the Super Bowl but those things happen a lot in day to day. It sounds chaotic sometimes in the control room. Sometimes people are like, “Wait where’s this? Where’s this?” It never appears on air. That’s one thing I always tell people, as chaotic as it feels behind the scenes, as long as it doesn’t feel chaotic in front of the camera to the viewer then we’ve done our job.

All right. Tell me about the Emmy.

It comes in this massive box that almost– The best way I could describe it is, it looks like something a ventriloquist would put a puppet in. It’s this black box, and you open it up and it’s lined, and then the Emmy is in there, and it also has a cloth to clean it, and its heavy as anything. It was heavier than I thought, it’s really pointy, it’s engraved, and there’s instructions on the bottom. It’s really wild, there’s a whole thing about preserving it, and rules for use and copyrights up, but anyway it’s really neat how it comes in this massive box, it’s very bizarre. Now I’m like, “Well, I know the Emmy will be displayed but I’m not really sure what I’m doing with the box.”

Is it as satisfying to hold as you think it will be?

Yes, I’ve always been like, “Wow, I wonder—” You see people on the award show holding, it’s pretty awesome. I put on my LinkedIn post. I’ve touched the Stanley Cup a few times because I know I’m never going to win it, so I’ve touched it but. I’ve been around a lot of people who have Emmys and I’ve never touched it. I’ve never touched it until it was in my apartment. It was very rewarding.

That’s awesome. Now, I want to go find an Emmy to hold, and I want to see what that feels like.

It’s pretty great.

You talked earlier about that immediate connection with other Rutgers alumni and just members of the Rutgers community. How do you keep in contact and keep those connections strong with the folks that you graduated with and the friends that you made?

It’s just continuing to– whether it’s text or emails or Facebook messages or following everybody on Instagram, we actually just did a get-together, a group of my sorority sisters. We did a getaway weekend. I’m lucky enough to be able to spend the last couple of summers at the Jersey Shore, which is great. A bunch of my friends and fellow Rutgers alumni are down in the area, “Oh, let’s get together. Let’s go here. Let’s meet up for dinner. Let’s have a beach day.”

It’s really keeping those connections and just making the effort to meet up. Last year a bunch of us got together for homecoming and a lot of my friends now have children that are currently students at Rutgers. We look at the calendar, “Okay, let’s plan which game or which game are we going to. When are we going to get together?” It’s making sure you get that face-to-face time or even getting together on Zoom calls. We did a lot of that during the pandemic.

When you go to the homecoming or other Rutgers sporting events, does it ever feel weird to not be in charge of broadcasting?

[laughs] No. I try to put that aside, especially the jumper, I’m like, “Oh wait.”

Sometimes it is really nice to just sit there as a fan and enjoy and as I said earlier, just to see the evolution of Rutgers. Whether it’s driving around campus and seeing how things have changed at the university in general and seeing how the athletics program has grown into what it is. It’s really nice to see and it’s been like I said, great to even see—I have a cousin who’s currently going to school there and my friend’s kids and just seeing them see the Rutgers experience through their eyes now, it’s been really great and really rewarding for me.

If there are Rutgers alumni watching this or reading this and they want to see your work in the coming months, what should they be keeping an eye out for?

Right now I’m trying to figure that out. I’m looking for that next big project and not everything has to be on the same level as the Super Bowl or the Olympics. You just need to have something that you are really passionate about. I think that for me, I think whether it’s the conference or league level. I feel like I’m starting to head in more of that direction and I think that I could use the media experience to help there, especially there’s a lot of changes coming to the Big Ten starting in the summer. I think I might be leaning away from the producing a little bit and more into using that experience on the other side.

You heard it here first folks, Fran Rotella, head of the Big Ten Network.

[laughs] Call me.

We’re coming into our last couple of minutes What advice do you have for folks who are interested in following in your shoe steps?

It’s really all about networking. Like I said, almost every job I’ve had has come through a connection, and to not be shy about it and to not be shy about if you want to be at ESPN, who do I know there? Who do my parents know there? Who do my parents’ friends know there? Maybe it’s a friend of a friend of a friend. Just not being shy about reaching out and asking for what you want and being really honest about that.

I think you need to not be shy about reaching out. Especially now, LinkedIn is a great resource and just using that to connect with as many people as possible. Same thing with alumni. Use the alumni association and who do I know at Rutgers? What Rutgers alumni do I know that I could connect with? It’s just making those connections with those decision-makers that’ll get you in the door.

Awesome. Fran, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it. Congratulations again.

Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me. Thank you.

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Fran Rotella

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