- May 2, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Even as this is written, Daniel Mogg is on the road.
This week, the West Orange High School alumnus is on the way to Dallas, having departed from Charlotte on Monday morning.
Next week, he’ll travel across the country from Texas to Boston.
Just within the past month, Mogg has been to Seattle, Denver and San Francisco over on the West Coast.
These are all business trips, of course, and — for readers who are avid football fans — the pattern may have already become evident that Mogg’s travels directly mirror the locations of the NFL’s weekly Sunday Night Football game on NBC.
The Winter Garden native is embracing the opportunity of a lifetime this fall, having taken on the role of production manager for the Sunday Night Football Bus.
The bus travels everywhere the weekly game goes, and Mogg’s duties include managing social-media accounts, putting together video packages, giving tours of the bus and helping to stage community events along the way — and then there’s the occasional mingling with celebrities such as legendary quarterbacks John Elway and Donovan McNabb, NFL analyst and former Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy and professional golfer Rickie Fowler — along with the Vince Lombardi Trophy, itself.
It’s an opportunity on a national platform for a local kid whose interest in television started way back on Beulah Road in Tim Blaszczyk’s television/video production courses at West Orange High.
“I think the main thing for me is that the West Orange morning announcements is how I got started in all this … I attribute that to everything,” Mogg said. “It’s kind of twofold for me because this is something that I’ve always dreamed of, but then the fact that I’m starting this journey — that part is surreal.”
BIGGER THAN FOOTBALL
After graduating from West Orange in 2007, Mogg attended the University of Tampa, where he took his interest in television production from high school and made it his field of study.
The former Warrior interned at places such as The Golf Channel before getting involved with Family First, a national non-profit. It was there that Mogg became acquainted with Dungy, a spokesman for the organization and analyst for NBC.
Dungy became a mentor of sorts and, through that mentorship, the opportunity with the Sunday Night Football broadcast arose.
“It’s definitely a huge privilege having someone of that stature and to be able to ask him about the business aspect (of the television industry) as well as the faith aspect of things,” Mogg said.
Part of Mogg’s duties include hosting events at various locations in the market where a given week’s Sunday Night Football game will be. Through these events, he has had the opportunity to meet high-profile personalities and, just as importantly, interact with fans across the country.
“We went to a Pop Warner (youth football) game and opened up shop there,” Mogg recalled. “We’ve got kids coming on the bus, and they’re just so excited. … It’s good to do something that’s bigger than football.”
Mogg produces video segments, some of which have been aired during the national broadcast every Sunday and others that are web-specific, but he also manages the broadcast’s social media, including the @SNFonNBC Twitter handle.
“It’s crazy,” Mogg said of managing a social-media account followed by more than 254,000 people. “You definitely have to be super careful and cautious about what can be posted. … The rewarding part is doing something that makes people feel good.”
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL
Included in his job duties, also, is the traveling.
Mogg, who will be in the bus for the entire NFL regular season, will travel more than 40,000 miles. As opposed to flying across the country, riding in the bus has afforded him the opportunity to truly see the country — including parts many people wouldn’t even think to visit.
“It was definitely cool seeing the scenery in places like Wyoming and Idaho and Nevada,” Mogg said.
Having spent some time out on the West Coast already, the native Floridian has enjoyed taking in the way other regions of the country appreciate football, noting that — while there are certainly differences between the locales — passion for the game seems to be a universal theme in places like the Pacific Northwest, just as it is here in the South.
Less than one-fifth of the way through the season, Mogg said he is having the time of his life and that, when it comes to the future, his primary goal is to make sure he makes the most of this opportunity with the hope that the position will last for more than just this season.
“Honestly, for me, it’s a situation where I don’t want to have any doubts about not getting asked back (for next season),” Mogg said. “So, I’m working as hard as I can.
“I don’t know what the future holds,” he said. “But that’s kind of my mentality.”
Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].
Listed below are the locations of the remaining Sunday Night Football games, where Daniel Mogg will be traveling in the official bus for the broadcasts.
Sept. 28 — Dallas
Oct. 5 — New England
Oct. 12 — Philadelphia
Oct. 19 — Denver
Oct. 26 — New Orleans
Nov. 2 — Pittsburgh
Nov. 9 — Green Bay
Nov. 16 — Indianapolis
Nov. 23 — New York
Thursday, Nov. 27 — San Francisco
Nov. 30 — Kansas City
Dec. 7 — San Diego
Dec. 14 — Philadelphia
Dec. 21 — Glendale
Editor’s note: Games from Week Five (Oct. 5) onward are considered “flex games” and are subject to change.
