Alex Wheat To Oversee Cal’s Broadcast And Network Operations

BERKELEY – Long-time television broadcast producer Alex Wheat has been named Assistant Athletics Director, Broadcast and Network Operations with Cal Athletics. Under Wheat's direction, Cal will produce telecasts of Golden Bear events, including live games for the ACC Network, and begin the buildout of an on-campus production studio.

"I'm incredibly excited to be joining Cal Athletics in this position," Wheat said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to build something from scratch both in terms of a facility and a team that will work together to produce a great experience for our fans, student-athletes, coaches and staff. These types of opportunities just don't come around that often."

Wheat has worked with ESPN for the last two decades in a variety of roles, including Managing and Live Event Producer, and over the last six years has been a key member of the ACC/SEC/Big 12 School Control Room project working with schools that have built or are building on-campus production studios to produce their own telecasts.

"The trend for about the last decade has been for schools to build on-campus facilities and produce their own telecasts, and I only see this trend growing in the future," Wheat said. "When you produce your own events, you can better dictate how your story is told and documented. Cal is a world-renowned institution with a rich history, and I'm looking forward to learning about and telling the stories of Cal's unique traditions athletically and academically."

Wheat's professional television career also includes five Olympic Games, a six-year run producing Green Bay Packers' preseason contests, and stints with ABC Sports and CBS Sports Network.

"We couldn't be more thrilled to welcome Alex to our Cal Family for this new and vital position," Cal Senior Associate Athletics Director, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Markeisha Everett said. "Alex has high-level experience at a multitude of national networks, and his extensive knowledge of television production will serve us well as we put the pieces in place to produce high-quality programming for our fans."

Wheat is a 2000 graduate of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he was a member of the 1995 Division III national champion football squad as a freshman.