Behind the lights, cameras, and hockey players on the ice, the Tampa Bay Lightning is home to three employees who work behind the scenes to ensure each and every game is better than the last. Thompson Brandes, Sr. Digital Marketing & Brand Editor and Tampa native, works directly to explore lifestyle pieces on relevant players, showcasing their lives off the ice. Cassy Opela, Social Video Producer, is one of the minds behind the Lightning’s social media presence. Lastly, Stephen Buck, Communications Coordinator, works directly with sponsors and the press to set up social events and information for the NHL team. 

Together, these three are some of the key members of this team that hold together the business and online presence of the team. Their careers thus far have documented the importance of the ever-changing role of journalism within the sports industry, specifically that of the professional leagues. 

Brandes explained the value of the lifestyle pieces he covers of players, as they reflect the social values the Lightning brand stands for. 

“So I did an interview with Nick Paul this year, and that had nothing to do with his play on the ice or how he was doing this season or past seasons. It was about his Hispanic heritage and how he was connecting with Tampa as his new home, as a place that is a very large Hispanic community,” said Brandes. 

Nick Paul has been a player on the Tampa Bay Lightning roster since the 2022-2023 season, with 67 goals across 250 games.  

“It was a really, really interesting conversation for me. I think it was an interesting conversation for others that got to read it,” stated Brandes. “I think those kinds of pieces and voices are important to sort of sit side by side with the things that happened last night in this game as well.”

Like Brandes, Opela’s presence online is crucial to framing the Lightning’s brand. Her role as video producer allots her creative control over the team’s social media presence, as well as a part of the pre-game shows the monitors showcase before each home game. 

Opela believes that this social media presence has been crucial to the uptake in fan presence and ticket sales. 

“We’ve definitely seen a jump in that just posting more, but also not just posting the post, but making sure that the post is worth it,” said Opela. 

For Ryan McDonagh’s 1000th career game on March 27th, this tactic was crucial.  “We have [to have] a ton of content going around,” said Opela. “There’s a ceremony, there’s, you know, different things that go into it, there’s shirts, there’s everything, making sure we’re capturing all of that content to put it into one full package, and that whole package itself, even though there’s individual parts, helps drive that overall engagement and interaction on social.”

To top it off, Buck works directly with the media in order to ensure that both fans and critics alike have access to the necessary information via the Lightning’s press releases and public announcements. 

“Me and my team, the PR team, will discuss, okay, we’re going to help [the studio] out with the press release. We want to make sure we include these things. And then we’ll decide when we think it’s the most appropriate to send it out to the media,” said Buck. “[We have to work] so the media has the most time to plan, to get photographers, videographers, whatever works with their schedule, so they can figure that out. So it’s a lot of timing with [the] press release.”

However, these three roles don’t come without their challenges. Buck specifically emphasized how even though press releases are a massive part of his job, they are arguably the most challenging. 

“Sometimes we’re working with five other departments in the company to get this press release done and make sure everything is included that each department wants the media to hear about, so that can sometimes be difficult,” said Buck. “We take care of a lot of player asks. So anytime we need a player to do something, we have to go in there, ask them, set it up. That can be difficult sometimes just trying to work around timing of practice and the team’s schedule, because we can’t have them do anything when they have off gates and when they’re here at the rank, they’re trying to practice and play hockey, but we also have to get them to do videos for social or talk to the media.”

These press releases are crucial for the Tampa Bay Lightning as both a business and for the individual players. They draw attention to relevant games, events, and more, all in an attempt to continue to empower the brand. 

This works hand-in-hand Opela’s position as video producer. She argues that identifying what types of content is most important or relevant for sharing is one the most difficult parts of her job. 

On a weekly basis, I’m pumping out, sometimes 10-15, different videos and all different sizes, whether it’s going on social, whether it’s going up on our video board, whether it’s for HR to show new hires, or different things, just making sure that I can find that creativity, so that it’s not copy paste, copy paste, copy paste,” said Opela. “That’s the hardest part.”

Creativity within a brand when promoting individual and team events is crucial, especially for an NHL team like the Lightning. Opela works directly to convey the necessary message via their social media presences, as well as working directly with publishing and other corporations when necessary. 

These corporations play a large role within both the print and online representation of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Brandes’ communications and editing with other corporations and sponsors is what he sights as his biggest challenge. 

“We work with a lot of partners, sponsorships, where we have to sort of collaborate with a lot of people who I’ve never met before. They don’t know what I do really, but they read what I’ve done for them, and they have a lot of edits. Probably my initial thought is, ‘how are you telling me how to do this right now?’” explained Brandes. “But I think that for any writer, I think just keeping an open mind, whether you’re getting edits from a partner or even just your editor, just to, like, take a break and think about other ways you could have written something or come back with some some officers and tweaks and things.”

Collectively, Brandes, Opela, and Buck work with the entire Lightning staff to empower the NHL team towards success. Their depictions and dedications to the players is essential to the brand’s success, and will continue to draw fans to the rink for years to come. 

Special thanks to Sarah Coco and the rest of the Lightning staff that made this trip possible for The Seahawk’s Eye staff.