Alumni Focus: Allison Cantor – ESPN Legal Department

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Alumni Focus: Allison Cantor – ESPN Legal Department

 

As a part of a new series, we turn the spotlight on members of the UConn Sport Management Program (SMP) Alumni Community, focusing on the diversity of experience and breadth of knowledge they have gained within the industry. Designed to help current and future SMP students learn to navigate and understand the real-world intricacies of sport management, we thank SMP alumni for their valuable contributions and insight. Today, the focus is on UConn alumna Allison Cantor (B.A. in Political Science, 2004, J.D. in Law, 2010), who works in the legal department of ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, CT.

Allison Cantor

“I love the fact that here’s no such thing as a ‘typical day’ when working within the legal department at ESPN,” said UConn alumna Allison Cantor during a recent visit to UConn’s campus to speak to Dr. Joseph Cooper’s Sport Marketing class. “One day it’s cable and satellite affiliate contracts, and the next it’s a consumer product licensing deal,” she continued, “I learn something new every day and get to work with all sorts of different people through a broad array of projects.”

February was a very good month for sport management students interested in an insider’s view of legal work at one of the world’s leading sport and entertainment broadcasters around the world. Allison has made several trips back to Storrs throughout the month to share her insights and experiences from her career at ESPN, most recently at the “Career Night in Sports”, hosted at the UConn Alumni center on February 26.

What key skill does she highlight to current students looking to break into the industry? Networking. It is a skill that can take time to develop and requires practice – so she encourages students should be sure to take advantage of the opportunity to network when they can. To Allison, networking was a skill that was as important during her role as the UConn women’s basketball team manager as it was when she was completing her law degree… and it continues to be extremely valuable today in her job at ESPN.