Bio
Brian Petrotta, an experienced professional in sports public relations and broadcasting, was recently named an inaugural ESPN Fellow to study responsible betting messaging during sports broadcasts. He also is working with UNL Campus Recreation on a National Center for Responsible Gaming grant to study responsible gaming messages targeting college students. Petrotta's 2023 article, “From Prohibition to Promotion: Framing and Sourcing the Legalization of Sports Betting in the U.S,” reviewed newspaper reports between 1991 and 2018 covering significant sports betting news. Published in the journal Communication & Sport, the article’s findings included that elected officials and professional sports representatives used newspaper reporting to shift the narrative and promote sports betting. Petrotta has studied related topics such as legalized sports betting and the media; public relations in sport; esports on college campuses; and other emerging issues in sports media. Petrotta’s research has appeared in Communication & Sport, International Gambling Studies, Journal of Sports Media (a University of Nebraska Press publication), and Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. He currently serves as research chair of the Sports Communication Interest Group for Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC). (Updated November 2024.)