The Super Bowl is the biggest night in professional sports and one UNC Greensboro alumna gets to see the action up close.
“The Super Bowl is like my baby,” says Dominique Madruga ’15, who is now an Emmy-award-winning senior talent producer for FOX Sports. “My job is to reach out to all the agents, reps, and third-party sponsors that we work with throughout the season and see what big stars, athletes, and celebrities are going to be on-site. Then, I pitch internally to all our FOX Sports opportunities, based on what might be the best fit for the talent and the show. It is very competitive and that’s why I love it.”
Being in the sports broadcasting world for nine years, Madruga has worked on several Super Bowl broadcasts, including those that air on FOX. Super Bowl LVIII will air on CBS.
“When it is a FOX Super Bowl, it’s a completely different production. For example, last year in Arizona, our set was right in front of the stadium. It was beautiful, state of the art and we brought players to our set and had them on our shows and digital. Next year in New Orleans we plan on doing the same.” she says.
Based in Los Angeles, Madruga works for the network’s lineup of FOX Sports studio shows including “The Carton Show,” “The Herd,” “Speak,” “First Things First,” and “Undisputed. She also is lead talent producer for FOX Deportes and FOX Sports digital which includes podcasts such as ‘Flippin Bats’ and a new podcast that just launched with Keyshawn Johnson, ‘All Facts No Brakes’.
“This year my job requirements change a little bit, but the north star always stays: we try to get the biggest and best names tailored to our show’s wants and needs.”
THE RIGHT CHOICE
Madruga earned her bachelor of arts in communication studies from UNCG in 2015, while also being a member of the softball team, earning All-Southern Conference recognition following her junior year. She was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the National Society of Leadership and Success.
“Being a student-athlete, I was able to not just focus on sports, but also excel in my academics and lean into the communication courses,” she says. “I honed in on my skills, whether by getting up in front of class and giving a speech or writing a paper. Those skills are branded in me and when I talk to reps or agents and give a pitch on our shows, that skill set from UNCG comes out every day.”
Being from San Diego, UNCG was a big step for Madruga, but after visiting campus, she knew it was the right choice.
“The second I stepped onto campus; I knew it was where I was supposed to be. It was an overwhelming feeling,” she says.
And even though she was across the country from her biological family, she formed a second family with the UNCG softball team.
“Even though we would have to wake up so early for practice or games, I was so happy to have my teammates and coaches,” Madruga says. “On the academic side, I was surrounded by a lot of people that cared about what they did and that reflected in my performance and what I did.”
TURNING DOWN A DREAM COME TRUE
An internship with the Carolina Panthers helped Madruga find her way.
“Ever since that internship I knew (the NFL) was where I wanted to be and that’s all I needed to know,” Madruga said in an interview with UNCG Athletics in 2021. “I went back to UNCG to finish my senior year and would drive down to Charlotte and shadow whoever would let me shadow them.
After graduation, she moved to Charlotte and was a production assistant with the Carolina Panthers for several years before landing a job with NFL Films as a talent producer. It was with the NFL that Madruga worked on “A Football Life” and the “NFL Films Presents” series.
Madruga later made the tough decision to turn down a full-time position with NFL films, an offer she called “a dream come true.”
“I had to be close to my family as my grandparents were getting older,” she said in 2021. “So, I took a chance and moved back to San Diego. I had a few months where I was searching and it was the hardest time of my life from being a student-athlete and used to a regimen, to working my way up at the Panthers and going to a Super Bowl, and then turning down an offer and coming home without a job.”
A couple months later, she landed a job at NFL Network. Here, Madruga, worked on the critically acclaimed “NFL 100 Greatest” and “All-Time Team” series, winning a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Trans-Media Sports Coverage.
PUTTING TOOLS (BUT NOT YOURSELF) IN THE BOX
But Madruga has truly landed on her feet at FOX Sports, taking full advantage of all the skills she’s learned over the years.
“I just kept adding tools to my toolbox and I think that’s really important for the younger generation,” she says. “At FOX Sports, I feel like I’m in a whole new world in a very exciting and challenging way because I’m still working with the NFL which I have done for the past 8 years, but now I’m also working with all sports such as the MLB, college football, soccer, UFL and I even get to do some stuff in the boxing world.”
Her patience and perseverance have helped her reach these career milestones, but for students still trying to find their way, she says it’s okay to not know your path immediately.
“Don’t put yourself in a box,” she says. “Even though I was blessed early on in my position with the Panthers, I still didn’t know which way I wanted to go in the industry. At the time, I wasn’t in the most star-studded role, but I acted like it was a star-studded role. One thing you can always do is ‘control your controllables’, and I believe with hard work and dedication, you’ll end where you’re supposed to be.”
Story by Avery Craine Powell, University Communications
Photography courtesy of Dominique Madruga
