While viewers tune into basketball games on ESPN+, business owner Todd Schwartz leads the team that produces the broadcast to viewers around the country.
Schwartz is the owner and president of Black Fox Crew, an independent contractor working with Wichita State Athletics to produce game broadcasts for ESPN+. He began working with Wichita State University in the 2003-04 basketball season, before starting his own business.
“I’ve been scheduling crews since Koch Arena became Koch Arena,” Schwartz said.
Dispersed between the stand and production room of Charles Koch Arena, the Black Fox Crew combines the talent of professional videographers, students operating cameras and producers collaborating in a high-stakes environment to create broadcasts.
Students take on roles operating cameras, audio equipment, shading and color, and other aspects to get hands-on experience with live video production and paid work in the field.
Before starting his business, Schwartz began his professional career at KWCH, Channel 12, where he worked for 13 years.
“I started part-time, 20 hours a week,” Schwartz said. “You know, the bottom of the ladder, and I worked my way up there.”
After Channel 12, Schwartz worked at another production company for five years to get experience, later forming a company with two other people in 2004. With business buyouts and transitions, Schwartz separated from some of his business partners and created his own production company, the Black Fox Crew, in 2018.
“Coming up with a name is one of the most difficult tasks when starting a new business,” Schwartz said in an email. “In German, Schwartz translates to black. Google the name Todd (in German) and it means fox. And then, of course, I hire the crew to work the games.”
At first, the crew worked exclusively for Wichita State; now, Schwartz has partnerships with Intrust Bank Arena and Emporia State University.
“I supply the crews for all those, probably about 222-230 games a year that I staffed. I maybe work 100 of those,” Schwartz said. “I … try to work all the broadcasts for Wichita State, just to make sure everything goes the way it should for the broadcast.”
One of his former coworkers from KWCH, Kevin Hager, now works as an associate communications professor at WSU. Hager has connected students to work with ESPN since the university started working with the company.
“ESPN wanted student involvement,” Hager said. “At first, I just would try to connect students without any real connection to anything … And then after a while, I thought, ‘You know, maybe I should just create a class and so they can take this and get credit for it and get the experience.’”
The class, Live Sports Production, connects students directly with Black Fox Crew. Students can sign up for games throughout the semester and work with professionals in the field to network and gain experience.
Lilian Fisher is a senior majoring in communications and electronic media who started working with Black Fox in August as a part of Hager’s class. Fisher said she enjoyed the class structure, meeting once a week with a requirement to sign up to cover games.
“A lot of it is just more focused on that hands-on work that we’re doing with Black Fox group,” Fisher said. “Experience is really important in this industry, and it helps us get a foot in the door, not only just having that experience, but also saying that we’ve worked a job doing that. I think that’s important.”
Schwartz acknowledged that his path to business was untraditional.
“I’m a college dropout. I decided school wasn’t for me, and when I meet with Kevin Hager’s class … they usually ask (about school),” Schwartz said. “I try to encourage (the students) that if they really want to finish school then that’s the way to go. School is not for everybody, obviously. It worked out for me.”
Schwartz said he enjoys watching the growth of the students he works with.
“It’s kind of interesting to watch them progress,” Schwartz said. “You know, from not knowing anything to now. I trust them to go out and do, set up cameras, and they know what needs to be done. So that’s kind of a satisfying thing.”
Aside from hands-on experience, Hager identified the connections with media professionals as one of the most important aspects of his job for students.
“They’re working next to professionals who work in media, who work in public relations, who do it for fun,” Hager said. “So they’re surrounded by local professionals and making those connections and stick it around and keep working.”
Though Fisher has only worked with Black Fox Crew for a few months, she recognized the importance of that community.
“I know a lot of students, because of the sports production class, have just started,” Fisher said. “But there’s also a lot of students who have worked there for years because they just continue to do it.
“It’s just a big crew, and everyone on the crew is so nice.”
