Adam Chodzko recently wrapped up his 16th season working in Major League Baseball, his 15th with the Los Angeles Angels. As senior director of communications, a role he started in 2023, he oversees the team’s baseball information, media relations, social media, photography and broadcasting efforts.
On Oct. 14, during PRSSA’s ICON 2024, Chodzko was on a panel discussing news releases in sports PR. Before the session, he talked with PRsay about his work with the Angels and growing up in a family of Los Angeles Dodgers diehards.
You’re from Southern California. Have you always been an Angels fan?
I grew up in a Dodgers household, but I’m a full-fledged Angels fan now. In 2008, when I was asked to volunteer in the press box for the Angels, it was an odd moment for me to put on a red polo for the first time. It took my family a while to adjust to seeing me in a red polo, but I think I’ve converted them all to being Angels fans now.
Here, Chodzko discusses his daily roles and responsibilities during the season…
Do you travel with the team?
Three of us break up the travel in our department — me, our senior manager and our manager of communications. There’s always one of us with the team. If the media goes, then we go.
In recent years, we’ve seen major newspapers cut back their sports departments, and more blogs/fan sites appear. What impact does this trend have on your media relations efforts?
The blogs are becoming the go-to for a lot of fans. You have to keep communication open with your fan blogs. They’re a great place to see what’s going on with your fanbase at the grassroots level.
Here, he discusses maintaining strong relationships with the media…
What trends are shaping sports communications today?
You have to find a balance between keeping up with news as it breaks and getting the right message out. Press releases have become after-the-fact, because of the rise of social media. You have to be ready, but you also have to tell yourself to slow down. You’ve got to make sure that the news is correct and that you’re saying it the right way.
What’s your advice for students who are starting college and interested in sports marketing? How can they move forward in their careers?
Get involved with the sports information directors at your colleges. It will give you a leg up.
If you get involved with a college sports information department, then you’re most likely going to get involved with baseball, football or basketball. But it might be water polo or other sports that you didn’t know. [The experience of working with them will] fine-tune your skills and massively boost your résumé.
Baseball is a global game, so if you have any foreign-language skills, it is a huge leg up. If you can fine-tune those skills, whether it’s Spanish or Japanese, then it will help you in the long run.
[Photo via the halo way]
