Aren Arduino has built his college experience around one central idea: Sports are about far more than what happens on the field. They are about people, community, and the stories that connect them. That belief has shaped everything from his work with UVA football to his future career in sports business.
The fourth-year Commerce student from Westchester County, NY, just north of New York City, grew up immersed in sports. His dad coached his Little League teams, and many of his closest friendships came from those early interactions on or around teams. But what stuck with him most was not just the competition. “I have always been interested in what sports can do for people off the field,” Aren says. That perspective has stayed with him as he has gotten older and thought seriously about a career.
At UVA, Aren turned that interest into hands-on experience. For four years, he has worked with the football program, starting in recruiting and personnel and eventually taking on responsibilities tied to player acquisition and retention. Along the way, he has gained a behind-the-scenes view of how a major program operates, from evaluating talent to navigating the constantly shifting landscape of college athletics.
That inside look changed how he sees sports.
“It is a big building with a lot of different people contributing in a lot of different ways,” he says. What fans experience as a few hours on a Saturday is, in reality, the product of an enormous and evolving operation. Being part of that environment helped him understand the scale and complexity of sports as a business, and it confirmed that he wanted to stay in that world.
His experience also made him, as classmates joke, the resident football expert, offering valuable perspective as his Promotions team developed a campaign for the NFL, this year’s sponsor of the American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition. For Aren, that project represents a perfect intersection of his interests: sports, branding, and strategic storytelling.
A summer internship with the Kansas City Chiefs further solidified his direction. Working in event operations during training camp, Aren found himself immersed in the energy and pace of the NFL environment. It was demanding work, but it left a lasting impression. “This is what is hitting home,” he says. “This is what is filling my bucket.” The experience reinforced his desire to build a career in sports and showed him how many different paths exist within the industry.
After graduation, he will take his next step with the New York Jets, working in season ticket sales and related work. A lifelong Jets fan, he happily shared the news with his father. “Growing up, he would say, ‘It’d be great if one of my sons made it to the NFL.’ I called him up and said, ‘Well, Dad, we finally did it, even if it looks a little bit different than you were probably hoping,’” he says, noting that the moment prompted a shared laugh.
While the role is different from his previous work in football operations, he sees it as an important opportunity to build connections and understand another side of the business. This is especially true, considering how difficult it is to secure a position with only 32 teams and a finite number of roles.
Looking ahead, Aren is drawn to brand management within sports, whether on the league side or in an agency setting. He is especially interested in how teams and athletes shape their identities and connect with audiences in an increasingly complex media landscape.
For him, sports business is not just about the game itself. It is about the ecosystem around it. “It is more about the people,” Aren says, “and the way it creates and fosters community.”
