One year ago, Kyle Petersen (’24) was sitting in his Stratford apartment at Olivet Nazarene University, preparing applications for internships and jobs. On Sunday he will board a plane with the Kansas City Chiefs to go to New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX.
Kyle Petersen ignited a love for sports videography in high school. As a Senior at Lasalle/Peru Township High School in Illinois, he gave up marching band to shoot video of the football games, in addition to filming men’s and women’s basketball games and making intro videos. He decided he wanted to continue this in college.
“I got to Olivet in 2020 during COVID and had my eyes focused on doing something with video production, not really sure what that would be or what that would look like.” Petersen shares. “Skyler Blanton, who was a year ahead of me, was doing stuff with the football team already. He asked if I wanted to shoot some video and help out, and I was like, ‘Yeah This is perfect!’ And that was that weird COVID year where they played football in the Spring, so I think it was like February when I started doing that. Skyler and I got along great and I ended up shooting ONU football for all four years.”
“I just kind of fell in love with it. It was one of those things where, if I could do this as a full-time job, I feel like I wouldn’t be working a day in my life. I just love football and telling stories and doing video stuff. Combining those would be the dream job.”
In his final semester at Olivet, Petersen started filling out applications for internships and part-time jobs in the NFL, along with some full-time positions at the collegiate level.
“I got an email one day when I was sitting in class and it was from my current boss, Dane, with the Chiefs. We set up a phone call, and a couple of interviews later they hired me. I was surprised that they did. They said there were like 400 applicants for two Video Production Seasonal Assistants,” Petersen continues.
Petersen attributes his collegiate work, in part, to landing the internship. “In one of my interviews with Dane, I showed him the documentary that I did with the Starved Rock Ice Climbers that I made when I was at Olivet. He said that was one of the big reasons they selected me.”
Throughout this season, Petersen has participated in a variety of work with the Kansas City Chiefs video production team. His responsibilities have included shooting training camp footage and studio interview shoots to producing content for the Chiefs’ social media and YouTube channel.
His division—named 65 TPT, after a pivotal play in the Chiefs’ first Super Bowl win—consists of a dozen like-minded sports media professionals who love story-telling and thrive under pressure. “It’s a fun team,” Petersen states. “I just made a t-shirt for everyone with the 12 of us on there and gave it to them as a present.”
The game day experience is something Petersen loves the most. Most recently, he has been running a podium camera getting footage for Mic’d Up segments with Chiefs players. “These past two playoff games, I had Patrick [Mahomes] in my ear so I could pretty much hear him the entire game,” Petersen reveals. “It was cool to experience the game from that perspective.”
As Petersen’s internship nears its end, he reflects on his experiences and all he has learned. “As far as documentary-style filmmaking, this internship has been amazing. I feel like I’ve learned so much in the past 9 months. Olivet really built the foundation for that, and then there’s some stuff you just need to learn hands on. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with professionals and use top grade equipment and learn the processes.”
“I’m learning on the same camera systems they use in Hollywood,” Petersen continues. “I’m basically holding the value of a house on my shoulder. The lens is like $40,000 and the camera body is another $80,000, then you’ve got all this stuff strapped on top of it. And I’ve definitely learned under pressure how to compose myself, knowing that I have this expensive gear, and I need to document what’s happening.”
Petersen commends Olivet for the preparation for this internship—beyond technical skills. “ONU really helped prepare me in other ways too: working in teams and collaborating on class projects, meeting deadlines, the very fundamental stuff to get projects done,” Petersen says.
The week preceding Super Bowl LIX will be intense. He will fly out on the team charter and spend a week shooting video and editing, covering a variety of events leading up to the big game. Yet he feels ready, thanks to the franchise’s culture and mindset throughout the entire season. “All season, everyone was just talking like we were already going to the Super Bowl,” Petersen says. “It’s cool and surprising, but it’s also not surprising because that’s the amazing mentality around there.”
“When game day hits, I don’t know where they’re going to put me,” Petersen says. “But the fact that I’m there, I’m totally happy doing whatever!”
For more information on Olivet’s Communication department, visit olivet.edu/academics.
