Meet two Binghamton grads working behind the scenes at the Super Bowl

When the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs face off on Super Bowl Sunday, Michael Zagreda ’14 and Michael Katzenoff ’07 will have a vantage point few get to see.

You won’t spot them on the field or in a skybox. Their work is tucked inside helmet radios and woven through instant replays. Inside the NFL’s football technology department, these Binghamton University graduates are part of a complex team coordinating every aspect of the game-day experience.

Zagreda supports and develops software that provides thousands of personnel with critical information, including stadium operation incidents, sideline concussion surveys and injury videos delivered to athletic trainers.

Katzenoff handles the league’s frequency coordination program, ensuring each game in all 30 stadiums can successfully operate wireless technologies ranging from coach belt packs to player radios and other broadcasting equipment.

“There’s a lot more happening than guys playing football; we have so many complex systems in place for each game, and if something goes wrong, you feel that responsibility for learning from it to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” said Katzenoff, who earned his business administration degree with a marketing concentration from the School of Management. “We have to adapt and evolve with the technology, but what makes this such a privilege is that you really feel like you’re helping put on the show.”

Zagreda, who earned a computer science degree from the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science, added, “The reason for our department is that, with 30 stadiums in the league, no matter who goes where, they need to have the exact same experience at one stadium as any other across the country. By using our unique set of skills, we’re able to impact the game in our own way and make sure this is an event everyone will enjoy experiencing.”

At the start of each season, Zagreda and Katzenoff attend each preseason home game with their colleagues to troubleshoot all the technological elements needed on the field and for broadcasting. During subsequent games throughout the season, they collaborate with local technicians at the individual stadiums to ensure those systems continue functioning properly.

But, for major events like the Super Bowl, it’s all hands on deck.

Typical challenges they confront are issues average fans might not even think about, such as the increased demand for radio frequencies — sorting out those used by media members for interviews so they don’t interfere with frequencies relied upon for referees or the coach-to-player radio system during the game.

“The league-governed technology — the coach-to-coach communication system, coach-to-player communication system or sideline viewing system — all have to be uniform for all the teams for competitive reasons,” Zagreda said. “The data we also collect and pass on can be incredibly important for teams to make strategic decisions.”

How did they make it from Binghamton to careers in the NFL? They followed their passions and recognized the value of leveraging transferable skills.

Katzenoff was primarily interested in marketing as a student, but he couldn’t envision himself in a suit and tie working in a New York City office. After graduating from Binghamton, he returned home to Long Island and took a furniture sales job. Next, he joined an audio-visual company that contracted with New York state’s Department of Education to sell equipment, including projectors and monitors.

After joining a slow-pitch softball league, he realized he could blend his marketing and business interests with athletics. Katzenoff became the league’s point person for securing permits, organizing events and setting up game scorekeepers. Later, he took a chance after spotting an open technical statistics position within the NFL, and held that position for five years before taking on his current role in football technology and event operations.

Zagreda enjoyed his internship with Citi Bank during his junior year at Binghamton, so after graduation, he joined full-time as an application developer. After two years, he began scouting other opportunities before noticing a software engineer position within the NFL.

Over the years, as data has become increasingly essential to the NFL’s operation, Zagreda’s work there has evolved. It began with basic maintenance of the NFL’s game management systems and has since grown to include running an array of data reports on concussion evaluations and tracking broadcast information to help make the game easier for home audiences to watch.

If Zagreda and Katzenoff have learned anything from their unique roles in the NFL, it’s that there’s room for anyone from virtually any walk of life to find a way to be part of the action. Their chief lesson to others: follow your passion, wherever it leads.

“We understand there are probably millions of fans out there who would love to be doing these types of jobs, and we’ve never taken this opportunity for granted,” Katzenoff said. “We’re such fans of the game ourselves that we see this as so much more than just a job.”