Like many young sports fans, Jason Krutzsch grew up dreaming of being a professional athlete.
Now, as vice president of marketing, content and communications for the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission, Krutzsch works behind the scenes as part of the event host committee to promote some of the most high-profile sporting events in Los Angeles, from Super Bowl LVI to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“I knew that I wanted to work in sports,” Krutzsch said. “When I realized I wasn’t going to be a professional athlete, I was like, ‘How do I stay involved in sports?’”
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University’s College of Business in 2008, Krutzsch spent 12 years developing social media and content strategy for ESPN on the X Games brand. In 2020, he joined the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission, a nonprofit dedicated to attracting, securing and supporting high-profile events in the Los Angeles region.
Reflecting on his career so far, Krutzsch says that success comes from identifying what you’re passionate about and then relentlessly pursuing that passion.
“Sports has always been a passion. It’s always something I wanted to be a part of, and when I was thinking about my career, following my passion seemed like the only option,” Krutzsch said.
A career highlight: Super Bowl LVI
About 18 months to 2 years before a major event, Krutzsch’s work begins. As part of the host committee, he crafts a marketing and communications strategy for the host location, develops storytelling efforts and works to get the community and local businesses involved.
For Super Bowl LVI, that meant telling the story of the first Super Bowl to come to Los Angeles in 29 years and the first Super Bowl held at SoFi Stadium, the home stadium of the Los Angeles Rams, who were coincidentally playing in that year’s championship game. His goal was to ensure the event left a lasting legacy on the Los Angeles community.
“Once the game happens and the Rams lift the Lombardi Trophy, it’s a great celebration, but it’s really a multi-year process to make sure that that moment in time can happen,” Krutzsch said. “I work on the long-tail storytelling and making sure the NFL was connected to the right people in the marketplace to be successful.”
At Super Bowl LVI, Krutzsch got to celebrate the Rams’ win both as a marketing professional who worked on the event and a Southern California native and lifelong Los Angeles sports fan.
“That was a special moment — there was a lot of work leading up to it, so it was a really nice moment to actually be there and feel that sense of accomplishment,” he said.
From volunteer to a leadership role
The summer before his senior year at the College of Business, Krutzsch sat at his parents’ kitchen table in Southern California and saw an ad in the local newspaper seeking volunteers for an X Games event.
“It was a calling at that moment,” Krutzsch said.
He signed up, hoping it would be an opportunity to network and see behind the scenes of an X Games event — and it paid off.
“That sent me on the next 12 years of my career,” he said. “Through that, I was able to get involved in a freelance capacity while I was still at CSU, and then shortly after graduating, I joined ESPN as a paid marketing intern.”
Krutzsch ultimately became director of content strategy for the X Games, overseeing its television projects, website and social media. Then in 2020, he had “a full-circle moment.”
When Krutzsch was an X Games intern, part of his job was to give tours of the event venue. One day, he gave a tour to Kathryn Schloessman, president and CEO of the Sports & Entertainment Commission.
“The reason I’m where I’m at today is because of the power of networking,” he said. “I was able to strike up a professional relationship with the LASEC team, and almost 13 years after that meeting, I joined the team. Now we’re working on the roadmap of major events coming to LA. It’s wild how that happens.”
Now, in his role at the Sports & Entertainment Commission, Krutzsch is working as part of the host committee on a long list of upcoming events, including WrestleMania 39, the 123rd U.S. Open Championship and the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Being ‘unapologetic’ about pursuing his passion
Krutzsch’s career in sports marketing started with a volunteer job and a lot of networking. In a recent talk he gave to College of Business students through the Career Management Center, he emphasized the importance of being willing to start at the bottom and say yes to whatever comes your way.
“I didn’t quite know at the time how important that was to getting my start,” he said.
Krutzsch says his years at the College of Business set him up for success as he worked to build his career and break into the sports industry.
“I’m extremely grateful for my time in Fort Collins and the knowledge I was able to consume being a part of the business school,” he said. “It gave me a foundation for success to follow those passions, and there were a couple professors that really helped me figure out how to think — how to see things a little bit differently.”
Chasing your passion comes with risks or uncertainty, but it’s often worth it, he says. His senior year of college, he turned down a full-time job to take a part-time internship with the X Games.
“I knew I had to be unapologetic about the path I wanted to take, and thankfully, I was able to piece it together,” he said.
Krutzsch said he was fortunate to have that flexibility. Although everyone’s circumstances are different, there are plenty of small steps students can take to chase their passions, from networking on LinkedIn to building a side hustle, he says.
“I think my crucial step was not necessarily listening to the advice I got on the safe route and taking the risk that I knew was right in my gut,” he said. “I didn’t know where that was going to lead me. I didn’t know that was going to lead me to the next 12 years of my career, but I knew deep down inside that I wouldn’t be satisfied if I didn’t make that leap.”
About CSU’s College of Business
The College of Business at Colorado State University is focused on using business to create a better world.
As an AACSB-accredited business school, the College is among the top five percent of business colleges worldwide, providing programs and career support services to more than 2,500 undergraduate and 1,300 graduate students. Faculty help students across our top-ranked on-campus and online programs develop the knowledge, skills and values to navigate a rapidly evolving business world and address global challenges with sustainable business solutions. Our students are known for their creativity, work ethic and resilience—resulting in an undergraduate job offer and placement rate of over 90% within 90 days of graduation.
The College’s highly ranked programs include its Online MBA, which has been ranked the No. 1 program in Colorado by U.S. News and World Report for six years running and achieved No. 16 for employability worldwide from QS Quacquarelli Symonds. The College’s Impact MBA is also ranked by Corporate Knights as a Top 20 “Better World MBA” worldwide.
