The former business major from Massachusetts has found his home in graphics and bug operation while contributing to live ESPN productions

In the live–sports-video industry, the future is bright. Our series SVG Students To Watch highlights the next generation of live–sports-production professionals. Across campuses nationwide, students are playing a pivotal role in bringing their schools’ games to fans — from running cameras and graphics to sitting in the producer’s or director’s chair and everything in between. This series shines a light on the young talent making an impact today and preparing to shape the future of sports-video production.

Jason Weitz

College: University of South Florida
Academic Year: Senior (graduating December 2026)
Hometown: Norwell, MA
Roles: Graphics Operator, Camera Operator

What drew you to live sports production, and how did you get started?
I originally came to school as a marketing major. I thought it was going to be more creative and based on media, but I was stuck in a lot of business-based classes. One of my friends was a mass communications major with a concentration in broadcast journalism. I noticed I was more interested in the classes he was doing work for. So, in my third semester I changed to a mass communications major with a concentration in broadcast-TV production.

Jason Weitz (center) has had many reps on ESPN+ productions as both a graphics and a camera operator. Here, he’s with friend, production colleague, and fellow gemstone intern Adam Black (left) and ESPN host Matt Barrie, who was in town for a live SportsCenter hosted on the University of South Florida campus. During that broadcast, Weitz helped as a utility, carrying wires through the crowd for an ESPN camera operator.

That same time I was switching, I heard about the Gemstone Internship on our campus covering USF and ESPN sports broadcasts. I applied and got the internship. Since then, I kind of just fell in love with the work, and it doesn’t even feel like work. I always wanted to work in professional/collegiate sports. I just thought that it was an impossible place to get your foot in the door, but the internship made it possible. I have always been a massive sports fan, I played soccer, basketball, and lacrosse growing up. Now I am a huge fan of mainly watching tennis, soccer, NCAAB, NCAAF, and NFL.

Are there any “aha moments” when you realized you really loved a particular role?
When I started as a Bug Op, I just got thrown into it; I didn’t like it that much. I just thought it was changing the score, but, working in college basketball this past year, I realized there was a lot more to it with the different bug pops. I like the timing aspect of it and also working with the producer/AP to add to the broadcast. I like the idea that I can continue doing Bug, getting experience with XPression and then transitioning to a graphics operator. One thing I have a love/hate relationship with is that, with Bug, you’re always up on the screen during play, so it is easy to fat-finger a key and screw up, putting something up at the wrong time, but also, at the same time, you have free rein at almost any time to pop something significant to the story of the game.

Weitz’s real passion is working as a scorebug operator. Here, he works on the Ross Xpression graphics engine during a Baltimore Orioles Spring Training game in Sarasota, FL.

What has been your favorite project or game that you’ve worked on, and why?
Some of my favorite parts of broadcasting are in the editing side. My favorite game I have ever worked was South Florida vs. Memphis men’s basketball on ESPN2 this past year. I worked the under-the-hoop cam right next to the Memphis sideline and right in front of the USF student section. The atmosphere was really good. It was on national TV, and USF destroyed Memphis, and I got a lot of clips of Penny Hardaway looking very emotional. I saw some of my shots get put on social media after. Also, at the end of the game, the student section went to the opposite side of the corner of the stadium and started waving their shirts around. Overall, it was just an awesome night.

The other best event I worked was this past weekend. I worked as a Bug Op for the ASUN men’s and women’s basketball championships. It was so cool to travel, stay in a hotel, go out to dinner with the crew, and skip class. Also, I got to shoot hoops on the court for, like, five minutes hours before the broadcast, which was awesome. The broadcast was hectic because the switcher broke five minutes before going live. I had no preview in DashBoard, so I had no clue if what I was popping was wrong, and both games went into overtime. But, after all of that, there was only one bad slip-up on my side (because I had no preview, popped up someone’s stats that were completely wrong), and the broadcast looked really good even though all the wipes were coming from replay/graphics.

Weitz has found creative ways to get involved in as many productions as he can. During a UAB vs. Florida Atlantic football game, he worked as a utility and the spotter for the 1st and Ten line. Here, he is with friend and production colleague Mithil Vyas during setup at Flagler Credit Union Stadium in Boca Raton, FL.

What’s the most challenging aspect of working in live sports production as a student?
The most challenging part for me being a student is having to go to mostly meaningless classes where attendance is required while having big projects due the same night when I am going to be in a big role (for a student) in a broadcast. Most of the stuff I am learning in these classes just doesn’t align with my career goals, so I feel like it gets in the way of my career. Even with all this, I still have gotten all A’s since switching majors and working.

What are your career aspirations after graduation?
Short-term after graduation, I plan on staying in Florida and, hopefully, getting consistent enough work with different broadcasts to live on my own and stay stable. I feel like it will be so much easier to handle my time not having to worry about schoolwork, and I hope I can stay busy. I enjoy traveling so I hope I can travel to new cities and places I have never been to before.

As for the long term, I hope to transition into becoming more of a graphics operator and gaining more experience with XPression and then maybe transitioning into a producer after a lot more experience. I do not really want to be in front of a camera being a commentator. I am also interested in working any live show, doesn’t need to be sports.

What advice would you give to your freshman self?
The career advice I would give to my freshman year self is changing my major sooner and then applying for the internship sooner. I wish I hadn’t wasted a year and a half in the Business School. I did learn good accounting information, but, besides that, I wish I had gotten into the industry sooner because everything else I learned was kind of useless. I probably would still be a business major with no future goals if my roommate never showed me some of his schoolwork. I am very grateful I changed; I just wish I had come to college knowing about the industry and with the goal of pursuing broadcast.

If you run video production at a college athletic department and would like to recommend a standout student from your crew to be featured in SVG Students To Watch, please email SVG Director of Digital Brandon Costaat [email protected].