Shane Kline’s path to NBC Sports Next started with WOUB

Growing up near Cleveland, Shane Kline had a traditional idea of the career he wanted to pursue in sports broadcasting. But his career ended up leading him down a path on the cutting edge of sports technology.

“I chose 51�� strictly for the broadcast journalism program. It knew it was highly regarded for the journalism program,” said Kline. “It was the only school I applied to, and I wanted to do radio or TV play by play for baseball.”

During the spring of his freshman year, Kline started working in the sports department at WOUB. He eventually got involved with WOUB TV’s high school football program, Gridiron Glory.

“I was a reporter for Gridiron for two years,” said Kline. “And when I look back on it, I think about how awesome it was. People don’t realize how much real-world experience students get when they are able to work on that show. I think the biggest value was it gave me a sense of what it actually looks like in a TV station professionally. You take all the classes, and it’s great and you learn this and that, but to actually see what the real-world looks like, when you are producing, anchoring or reporting, it’s all pretty similar to how it works in the real world.”

Even though Kline wanted to pursue a career in sports, when he graduated in 2008, his first job was in TV news.

“I was offered an assistant producer role in Knoxville, Tennessee,” said Kline. “My heart just wasn’t in it. It wasn’t for me. So, I started looking for a sports job pretty quickly.”

Kline was offered a job at the Ohio News Network (ONN) in Columbus as a TV sports producer. WBNS, the Columbus CBS affiliate, and ONN shared resources in the sports department, so Kline had the opportunity to work for both outlets.

After about three years there, Kline was offered an opportunity to branch outside of television. He accepted a position as senior manager at Game Center. Game Center was a digital outlet that provided live statistics and scores for high school sports. The two years of experience Kline got there set him up for his next opportunity.

In 2014, Kline accepted a position as the Ohio/Kentucky senior sales representative at SportsEngine, which eventually became NBC Sports Next.

“NBC Sports Next is a youth and amateur sports technology company based in Minneapolis. My specific role for the past year has been working with our new livestreaming platform. Through a partnership with an AI automated camera company, we provide a livestreaming platform and work with athletic facilities to have the high-end cameras installed on their fields and courts. Then, we can stream all their youth games live for anyone to watch.”

Kline now works in the enterprise sales department and has been with the company for 10 years.

“Sales is a high stress environment. Every month I have a quota I have to hit. When I was interviewing, they asked me how I would be able to handle that,” said Kline. “My response was that every night in the newsroom, I had a show at 8 p.m. and whether I was ready to go or not that show was going on the air. I never had an option to not be ready or be stressed.”

Kline says working at WOUB while at 51�� helped him develop many skills that he still uses today.

“It was good personal development,” said Kline. “It forced me to think on my feet and be creative. I learned communication skills and developed the ability to talk to people in a professional manner. I’m so glad I started my career in TV.”

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