Job Description Blog

LA Kings Communications Associate Job Description 

Out of everything I have done in life, working for the LA Kings has definitely been my claim to fame. Can you imagine having the opportunity to chat with LA Kings forward Anze Kopitar every game? Or going into the away team’s locker room and seeing the Pittsburgh Penguins team captain Sidney Crosby? Well that’s what I do on a consistent basis and the best part is that I get paid to do it.   

Communications associates at the LA Kings are typically undergrad or recently graduated students. The associates are part time and the LA Kings have between 3 to 4 associates each season. We only work home games, which is great for our schedules because it gives us free time to either take on another job or go to school. Every home game we arrive three and a half hours before and leave about an hour after the game ends. During the roughly seven hours we are working in Staples Center, we do a lot of running around the arena but we ultimately facilitate a smooth relationship between the press and players.

We have three main duties as Communications Associate and they are as follows:

·      Interview the players

·      Manage the press box

·      Media Credentialing

I’ll go into depth on these with some fun examples of what I do during the games.

Interview the Players

Every home game one of the communications associates goes into the home locker room and another goes into the away locker room at the end of the game. While in the sweaty and smelly locker rooms, we record quotes from players. After we get the quotes we type them out on our laptops and use them for our press releases. The players are usually very articulate in what they have to say regarding the team’s performance; however, they are sometimes a little illiterate, which makes it difficult for us to transcribe what they said in the recordings. For example, they sometimes use double negatives in their sentences. They will say, “I didn’t not pass the puck” or something along those lines. Otherwise, we have a great time going into the locker rooms and hearing how the players felt about the game. Plus most of the players are great guys and very nice to all of us. It’s exciting to work directly with them.

Manage the Press Box

Managing the press box consists of these two things:

·      Distributing game materials

·      Assisting the press

Despite the fact that NHL.com has every game stat updated live online during the games, the press insist on having printed copies of game stats in their hand. Because of that, we not only use a ton of paper but also every period we have to print out updated stats and distribute them to the press. The stats contain the amount of ice time and points each player has among other things.

Now in regards to assisting the press, we are essentially at their disposal of anything they may need help with. For example, sometimes the TVs won’t be working in the press box so then one of us has to find the remote and turn it on. Or other times someone can’t find their seat and then we step in and direct them to where they should be going.

Media Credentialing

In order for the press to enter Staples Center, they have to have a media credential. A media credential is essentially just a laminated pass that gets them into the arena, the locker rooms, the press box, and the pressroom. Each game one of the associates takes turns working media credentialing. We will sit at the media entrance to Staples Center and check in each person. Most of the time we will have their pass already ready and all we have to do is check their ID and hand over their pass. However, sometimes the press won’t request their passes ahead of time. When that happens we have to get them approved through our boss and make them a new pass right there. Ultimately, it is a very straightforward task.

Media credentialing is definitely the less glamorous part of our job but it is still vital to what communications associates do. As boring as it is, if no one works the media credentialing table then no press will be let in to the game and we will have no coverage on the team!