Sports & Entertainment Media: A Local Legacy with Andy Jeffers
Andy Jeffers is the owner of Sports & Entertainment Media here in Knoxville. On this episode of ConnectTheKnox, we discuss how he got his start running such a large media company from the heart of the Scruffy City.
Andy Jeffers is the owner of Sports & Entertainment Media here in Knoxville. On this episode of ConnectTheKnox, we discuss how he got his start running such a large media company from the heart of the Scruffy City, and we also discuss the surprising amount of businesses that are based right here in Knoxville. Andy reveals what it’s like to work with NASCAR and how much travel is really required to film live sporting events. Andy also explains why he loves coming home to Knoxville and why other cities all have their charms, but can’t compare to home for him.
Highlights
00:00 Intro
01:49 Andy explains how his father started Sports & Entertainment Media and what Andy does as the current owner
07:38 Why baseball is Andy’s favorite sport
10:37 Ad - Dr. Joe Chiro
11:07 The most profitable sport that Andy’s business covers
12:59 Andy describes how much he travels for his business and what it’s like coming home to Knoxville after so much time away
16:22 Andy and Julia discuss the various cities of Tennessee and how they all have their own culture
19:05 Andy describes some of the little-known aspects of Knoxville, including the arts that you can find here and the truth behind the Cocaine Bear movie
20:45 Ad - Just Homes Group
25:25 Where you can find more information about Sports & Entertainment Media
29:21 How COVID impacted Andy’s business and how Nascar was on the forefront or creating protocols to return to live sports events
32:52 Julia and Andy describe how Knoxville has a kinder, chiller vibe than larger cities
Links Mentioned in This Episode
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Sports & Entertainment Media website: https://www.entsportmedia.com/
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/Entsportmedia
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entsportmedia/
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/entsportmedia/
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Andy’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndyVJeffers
- Dr. Joe Chiro: https://www.goseedrjoe.com
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Just Homes Realty Group: www.justhomesgroup.com
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Find my Home Buyers & Home Sellers Guide here: https://linktr.ee/thejuliahurley
Transcript
Julia: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Connect the Knox, connecting Knoxville to the nation. I’m Julia Hurley, your host of this podcast, and thank you to our sponsors. Today’s guest is Andy Jeffers, owner of Entertainment Sports… with, with an S [laugh]—
Andy: It’s—yeah—
Julia: Entertainment Sports Media—
Andy: Sports and Entertainment. Yes.
Julia: —which I got wrong and said ‘sport’ earlier, as in just, like, one sport. But no, we got all kinds of sports though. Owner of Entertainment Sports Media, Andy Jeffers, right here in Knoxville, Tennessee. Andy, thank you so much for being on our podcast today.
Andy: Ma—thank you. I appreciate it so much and it’s always nice to catch up with you. And yeah, so it’s been fun. So, this is kind of my off-season a little bit, so I’m kind of—this is my download and clean up and organize part of the year.
Julia: Well, is this your logo up here?
Andy: Yeah. Yeah, yeah this is, uh—this is the Sports & Entertainment Media logo. And so, I do a lot of swag and stuff, obviously, for clients, but a lot of the guys and stuff out on the field and cameras, when we do a lot of production stuff, it helps to identify and have that kind of brand out there so people kind of know what part you’re with. If you’re with the video guys, audio guys, a band, or a race team, or sport or—so it kind of helps single you out a little bit so we can find each other.
Julia: That’s good. That’s good news. Nice to be found in a crowd of 150,000 people [laugh].
Andy: Sometimes yes. Sometimes.
Julia: All right, so nobody has a clue what you do, but everybody knows what you do. And I find that fascinating. So, help us know what Entertainment Sports Media is.
Andy: Okay, so Sports & Entertainment Media, so was founded by my dad, and I added the media to the business. So, his—it was Sports and Entertainment Marketing. Dad was a, he was a field writer, a sports writer, political writer for a newspaper in Johnson City, and he also owned his own advertising firm in Boone, North Carolina, and in Johnson City, Tennessee. So, with that, he had years of experience in racing and, obviously, sports and worked with, you know, several different basketball and college-level-type conferences. He also ran into some campaigns and stuff like that.
So, when he graduated from ETSU back in the day, he knew this is kind of the route he wanted to go. So, in the late-’70s, he opened up what was Lynn Jeffers and Associates, and when they moved to Johnson City, then that’s when he started the sports entertainment marketing. So, when I took over the business, I added media because of my background working with a broadcast degree from the University of Tennessee and also working with Barry Rice and Link Hudson at VFL films, in the athletic department, where I ended up working later. But those guys really taught me a great deal about writing and editing and videography. And then all the projects they worked on, there were several other little projects I got to work on that went beyond sports.
And so, that has really helped me kind of build a bigger spectrum of about how to edit on the production side of stuff, and you know, there’s different long-form editing. And so, from that, I learned a great deal from those guys. And then I went on to work for Beyond Media, which is in a Knoxville business that taught me long-form editing on shows for DIY, Discovery Channel, History Channel, stuff like that. And all the time, I still was doing some freelance and working at the University of Tennessee. So unfortunately, like, in 2004, my dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor and so at that point, I needed to kind of come over and help him.
And then, like I said, my whole life, I’ve been around NASCAR and racing. And Dad, everything he did working with ESPN in late-’70s, he did a lot of PR stuff for teams. ’80s, ZSPN came along, dad worked for CBS and all those guys, so, doing all the in-car cameras. And so, unfortunately, when he was diagnosed, I had to come in and step up. And I kind of helped run the business.
And then he passed away 2006, in December, and so I’ve kind of taken that. When I changed the name from marketing, I added the media to it. And so, from there, I’ve continued to do the in-car camera stuff, did a little bit of work, probably for another ten years with the University of Tennessee. It was always great to go back and work with your buddies. And so, always am indebted, and I love Barry Rice and Link Hudson. Those guys are masters at what they do in imaging and branding and everything like that.
So, I continue to do the NASCAR stuff. So, working with NBC currently and Fox as they cover the season. And the biggest thing and probably the joy I get out of is doing I love streaming—live streaming—music and concerts. So, we do several different kinds of things like that. Also dabble in, do some rental with some of the equipment.
A lot of people, streaming has gotten really big, from a high school sports standpoint and in smaller sports and some stuff like that. So, I’ve done some swimming, soccer, some basketball. And overall, that’s kind of what my company does. We can do, you know, post-production-type commercials. The other thing I’m doing is also right now in the process of getting the whole drone license.
Julia: Oh fun.
Andy: So, I love doing aerials and I love taking the drone and flying it places. And I’m the only person that would travel to Hawaii and I take a bunch of camera equipment, so [laugh]. But I came away with some great images. And so, I kind of have this nature, I love going out and taking sunsets and hiking, and that’s probably maybe that’s the piece that I get some of the photography part of stuff. But overall, that’s kind of what my business does.
And so, year in, year out, travel a lot. But try to keep the connections and stuff and trying to, you know, continue to grow like everybody does. You know, you push yourself. But I really, really want to push to try get back in a little bit more and do more music than I have in the last couple of years.
Julia: Have you partnered over a GEODIS Park in Nashville at all?
Andy: No. I haven’t.
Julia: I'll connect you. I’ve got season tickets there for the soccer stadium, GEODIS Park, and they have a booty-ton of concerts coming in. And we get to get—we get seven days ahead of time to get tickets to every concert. I mean they’ve got major—they’ve got Shania Twain, Pink—
Andy: Oh cool.
Julia: Is coming.
Andy: Wow.
Julia: The GEODIS Park. I was like, tha—I’ve got tickets to all these random concerts that I don’t—I mean, I was like, “Okay, let’s get this.” Who knew? Who knew?
Andy: No. Oh, I didn’t at all. Wow. I’ll have to look into that. So cool.
Julia: Yeah. Very cool. I’ll connect you over there with my guy. Or I think it’s a girl at this point. I’m been—my rep’s been replaced twice. So, they just keep promoting them.
Andy: Yeah, well, it’s a sign of good work, right, so when you get promoted.
Julia: Isn’t it, though? Isn’t it?
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah. They’re killing it over there with the live music. So, that would be a great connection for you. So, tell us what’s your favorite sport? Because you have managed so many sports. You do advertising for so many sports, you’ve filmed so many sports. What’s your personal favorite sport?
Andy: Baseball. I played baseball in college, and so—and obviously high school, but baseball was always my love. And so, I’m a die-hard Cubs fan. And with that, I tried walking on at the University of Tennessee. And so, I played my first two years in JUCO. And with that, there was this, like, my career kind of ended in that. I had a good try-out, I will say that, but I looked down and coach wasn’t even looking, so I was like, “Well, this is all for naught.”
But I gave it my effort and I tried, and so when the career ended there, that’s kind of when I went over and I found Barry Rice and Link Hudson. And that’s when I was like, okay, well, I love that competition part of things. So, I truly do find fire and I was like, I need that fuel. And the best thing that I could find was being part of the team in, you know, documenting what they do. So practices, coaches shows, highlight videos, stuff like that.
And that’s where I really, like, kind of generated a lot of, like, okay, it’s not the full, like, you know, flex of, like, getting the competition fulfillment, but it does give you that, “Hey, I got a team.” And you felt like part of the team wherever you were at, whether it was basketball, baseball, or with the football team, and I enjoyed doing that a lot. So, it kind of—but that was my first love of baseball. But yeah, it’s something that, you know, I still enjoy watching the games. And I did go to all seven World Series games for the Cubs—
Julia: Nice.
Andy: —so that was—has been a feather in my hat, I guess. One of my top life moments, I guess.
Julia: No doubt. That’s—when the Cubs won the World Series, I was like, well, there were about 100-year prediction. So, it did happen in my lifetime.
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: [laugh].
Andy: They did.
Julia: I was like, “There’s that.” That’s so funny. So, baseball is my second favorite sport. We go to all the baseball games. We have season tickets to UT games. We’re very excited. We have wonderful seats. And we’re right behind the first base, three seats up.
Andy: Oh. Oh cool.
Julia: Right behind first base. We’re right—we can smell it. I mean, it’s like we can smell the dirt when they run by and [unintelligible 00:09:51].
Andy: Oh, man.
Julia: And everybody in my family hates baseball [laugh].
Andy: Really?
Julia: I’m the only baseball fan. So, I’m like, “It’s Easter Sunday. We’re going to a baseball game”—
Andy: We’re going to the baseball game.
Julia: —and everybody’s like, “It’s Easter.” I’m like, “I’m going to a baseball game.” [laugh].
Andy: And the good thing is it was a good team to go watch this year, so—
Julia: Yeah, they were fantastic.
Andy: No, it was—they were phenomenal. Very talented team.
Julia: Very talented team. Very talented coach. So—
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: —so UT has been very lucky this year.
Andy: Yeah, no I—
Julia: [crosstalk 00:10:19] very lucky. In all aspects.
Andy: Been nice to be in the win column a lot of the sports over there, so pretty cool.
Julia: Yeah. Well again, had to happen in my lifetime. I was, like, willing this to happen. Like, Cubs. This is going to—everybody’s going to get it. Everybody’s going to eventually turn around here. So, tell us about—okay so your favorite sport is baseball. What’s your most profitable sport in your business?
Andy: Oh, NASCAR, hands down. You know, doing the in-car cameras and doing the sales and obligations on that end of things is probably the most profitable thing, hands down. So, even more than music or any of the other stuff. I mean, it’s just something that I love. That in itself is, you know—I enjoy that because you get to work with—on the national level—Fox sales and NBC sales group. You also get to do a lot of production.
So, I stage manage, too, during the weekend, so I’m up in the booth with the announcers. So, it’s not your normal stage manager-type position at the racetrack because I, kind of like, work on the sales end of things, too, a little bit with our guys in the booth. But I love the history of the sport. So, there’s a passion I have for it, so I really do try to add as much as I can to help.
We have tremendous stat guys. They’re phenomenal. So really, when it comes to the history or stats like that, they have it covered. But there’s little things that you can kind of throw in to help the broadcast, so I love that part. Again, you’re part of a team, you’re part of doing something and putting on a great show.
But yes, from th—there’s only two separate things in racing: there’s the stage-managing part, and there’s the in-car cameras, and that is what takes most of my time during the week, traveling and then at the track. It takes a lot of time making sure that the decals are placed for sponsors who purchased the in-car cameras. So, you got to make sure that you got everything covered from the side of the seats, to the inside, to the graphic that’s on screen. And you’re trying to bring as much value to that partner or client that’s on the telecast. So, I enjoy doing that and that’s probably that’s where the biggest amount of my income comes from.
Julia: So, how often are you gone? Like, let’s say—you’re in Knoxville, Tennessee, but you’re really here how often?
Andy: I’m probably gone more than I’m here. And I say that because, like, last year… I’m trying to think. So, we started the season—it was really cool—we started at the Clash, which was normally—it’s always run in Daytona. But last year, NASCAR really went outside the box and we raced in the Coliseum in LA. So, where the USC Trojans play football, we had a race inside that. It was phenomenal.
And so, the construction of that is mind-blowing in itself. That’s a whole podcast on its own. But so that was early—or excuse me, that was late January last year and I was very fortunate last year because the Superbowl was in LA. So, I actually stayed—and NBC had that, so they had asked me to work the Superbowl. So, I was in LA for the Clash—so that was for Fox—and then when NBC had the Superbowl, I just stayed out for another two weeks.
So, that was a two-week process. And then flew straight to Daytona and the season started. So, end of January to the first weekend of November, we had one off weekend. And so, I’m on the road from Thursday to about Monday every week. So, that’s how much time I’m here. So, mainly Monday, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, I’m home to do laundry [laugh] and, you know, and then office work. You get tons of calls and conference calls and stuff like that to prepare for the next week.
But that’s kind of the typical schedule. But yeah, gone majority of stuff. So, when you come home, it’s always nice when you get back in the area and you’re, like, “Okay, that’s new. That’s new.”
Julia: Yeah.
Andy: “Okay, wow.”
Julia: Especially now [laugh].
Andy: Yeah. Oh, there’s so much building going on around in you know, downtown or the airport. So, if it’s anything comes from South Knoxville to the airport I know about it because that’s my track every week, twice a week. But you know, just getting out, being home, that kind of downloading, I just, I love being here. It’s hands down, Knoxville is one of the, like, greatest places to live.
I travel a bunch. And so, from the West to North to Midwest, I love cities, I love traveling, but when you come home and you make that approach coming over the mountains, in the fall especially when it’s just beautiful, there’s nothing like, you know, living here and stuff like that. The people who are genuine, you know, and all the neighborhood and surrounding areas of Knoxville and stuff like that. So, I really do like it. The one thing I’ve noticed a lot though, like, coming back, and even in this fall, is how much tourism Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg is doing and what they’re bringing into the area.
Julia: It’s a lot.
Andy: Holy cow.
Julia: It’s a lot.
Andy: And just visually, seeing the amount of people renting cars because when you do rent a car—like, there’s a couple of races I’ll drive to and not fly to, but I’ll get a rental car, and they’re like, “Yeah, we don’t have anything,” or you know, “Hey, if you don’t like this, tough, because [laugh]”—
Julia: Because it’s all you’re going to get.
Andy: —“This is all we have.” Yeah. And so, there’s a tremendous amount of tourism coming. And I guess the mountains and people love doing that, which it is, I mean, it’s gorgeous, but it’s also it’s like our little secret, so it’s kind of like hey, you know. But there are also so many beautiful areas around this area to love. I think, you know, Nashville is blowing up so fast and so much.
Julia: I never thought Nashville would be there.
Andy: No, and it’s—
Julia: I miss old Nashville.
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Andy: I miss the old Nashville. And that’s what I was about to say is, I am—I’ve seen Austin do the same thing and it’s to the point where they’re a little bit losing their identity. And so, like, what Nashville to me was always Music City. And it still is and I mean, I love it, but there’s a lot of I want to say disrespecting—
Julia: Oh yeah.
Andy: —the guard that had built a lot of what Nashville was. And so, now so many corporations and so many people are moving in their daily. So like, you know, people will have a misconception because Tennessee is such a long state, and they’ll all be like, “Oh, so you’re from the Johnson City area.” And they’ll kind of lump in everything. “Well, yeah, that’s where I grew up at, but I live in Knoxville.” And they’re like, “Oh, that’s Nashville area.”
I’m like, “No.” [laugh].
Julia: No, that’s another seven hours [laugh].
Andy: Yep. I said, “Knoxville—Tennessee is a huge state. It’s like, it’s a long state.”
Julia: Yeah.
Andy: And so, you know, some people, especially on the West Coast or something, they, like, “Well, I’ve been to Memphis before,” or, “I’ve been to Nashville.” And so, it’s kind of funny, I’m like, “Well, you if you ever get a chance, you need to visit Knoxville.” It’s its own identity, it’s its own place. Music-wise, we have some of the most talented musicians living in this area. Hands down.
Julia: People have no idea what Knoxville has to offer.
Andy: Oh, yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Andy: I mean, it’s a tremendous place. And like I said, like, there’s favorite places. I love Sonoma. I love going to Napa Valley. I love Phoenix. I’m a sucker for the West Coast in the fact that the sunsets, I love the mountains, the flying the drone, and doing photography out there is beautiful.
Julia: I was this close to buying a condo in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This close. I wanted to be there forever. We went for a week. I did not want to leave. I did not want—
Andy: Beautiful.
Julia: I had to get back for the dog, but I did not want to leave.
Andy: Yeah. And it is, it’s like, I always tell people if you can, go out West and just see the difference in the mountains. But then there’s something about our mountains, like, you know, they’re not as picky and high right, but it still—
Julia: But they’re home.
Andy: It’s home and there’s something, it’s like a big hug when you come back.
Julia: That is exactly, verbatim, how I described Knoxville to one of our podcasters, Almeida, who owns A New Hue and she does plaster—she’s from Argentina, and she has a business in Knoxville, a huge business in Knoxville. Had her on the podcast, and she said, “I just can’t describe how Knoxville makes me feel.” And I said, “It feels like a big hug. Every time you’re home you feel hugged.” It is exactly how I described it.
Andy: Yeah. No, it’s just—it’s genuine. And I don’t think we’ve lost our identity yet. I think there’s so much creativity in the arts especially, you know, like I said, for music but not only from a visual or something like that, but there’s just so much going on. Business-wise, there’s so many in this area.
I think, one of the things people are surprised about, probably more than anything is how many businesses are based here in the Knoxville—you know, Pigeon Forge Gatlinburg area, but you know, Maryville and all that. And I’m like, “Yeah, guys, it’s huge.” You know, but then of course everybody wants to say, “Well, is that Cocaine Bears movie, is it a true thing?” And I’m like—
Julia: Oh, God. I’m so embarrassed by that.
Andy: I said, “That’s what you want to know about Knoxville?” I was like, [unintelligible 00:19:44].
Julia: I honestly thought it was a story about the Butcher Brothers. I really did. I was like Cocaine Bears. I was like, “Is this a story about those bankers that used to snort cocaine off big piles of money in Knoxville?” I thought it was the banking industry. But it was an actual bear [laugh].
Andy: It’s an—and to read that story, it’s phenomenal. Like, so the guy accidentally, you know, did land down in South Knoxville. He fell out of a plane, but… well he jumped out of the plane with money and cocaine, but he dumped a bunch of it in North Georgia and that’s where the bear ate it. But that bear can be found in Kentucky right now. And Waylon Jennings owned the taxidermy bear.
So, it’s a fascinating story, and so when people ask me like, “Hey, Knoxville. Is that a true story?” I’m like, “Ahh, yeah, kind of. Obviously, it’s going to be made into a movie, but yes, the factual parts of the story are yes, this was a drug runner.”
Julia: We have so many amazing things in Knoxville. Off-the-wall things that people don’t—that is exactly why I started this podcast because connecting—I get asked, as a real estate agent, why is everybody flocking to your area? I need [unintelligible 00:20:52] I get hundreds of phone calls a week of, “I need to be there. So-and-so told me I need to be there. It’s affordable. Find me something. Why do people want to be there?”
And I’m like, “Well, there’s everything is here.” And they have no idea richness and the business entities and the opportunity that Knoxville brings because we really don’t talk about it. And we don’t talk—
Andy: No.
Julia: —with the people that have these companies like you do, even though you’re never here but you’re always here. And nobody knew what you did, but they all know what you did. And they know you’re Knoxville. And I think that’s one of the biggest things is Knoxville has the opportunity for you to learn from people who have national and international bases right here in Knoxville.
Andy: Oh, yeah. No, and you know, technology has helped so much, too, you know, being able to be based out of somewhere, but like, from manufacturing or a corporation, it’s amazing how many places are here. And people are always stunned when I say, “Yeah, that”—like, we’ll be on the West Coast, I’m like, “Yeah, that company is Knoxville-based.” “Huh?” “Yep. They’re out of Knoxville.” “What?” I’m like, yeah, as I said, Knoxville is a great little place.
We always have—and this is kind of funny—and I think everybody probably has a friend or a story like this, but I had—it was—and my dad even experienced this. So, the Bristol race, everybody would come in from—at that time—Bristol, Connecticut. A lot of ESPN people, New York. Fox now or NBC, you get a lot of LA and contingent, and everybody kind of comes together. But the eastern part of Tennessee, Knoxville all the way up and down, people come here, and then what happens, normally, because flights out of tri-city are difficult, they’ll fly out of Knoxville because it’s so easy, so you get to Dallas, you get to LA, or whatever.
And people, when they fly in, they are like, “Dude, you live in one of the most beautiful-est places. Like, oh my gosh.” Like, and several times, we’ve had people who have used—bought a second home, Sevierville or up in the mountains or, you know, north of here, Kentucky on the lake.
Julia: It happens all the time.
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: People will be here to visit and they’ll say, “Oh, my gosh, I would love to have an investment property.” And of course, I’m like [wha-tch]. But they all want to be here at some point, and it’s just part of it. This is an attractive place to be. But it’s not just for retirement; it’s to enjoy. Younger people are moving here and changing the trajectory of the opportunities and the growth.
Andy: Yeah, you’d be surprised how many people in NASCAR over in the Charlotte area have property in Dandridge on the lake, or out west or up north and just around the area, Tellico or whatever. It’s amazing. And they love it because they’re just like, “Dude, it’s a way, it’s out, we love Tennessee. We love what’s going on there.” So, it’s always nice when you have people that are, like, “Man we love—like, me and the wife went on a trip and we came through there and we stopped and, man, what a beautiful place.”
And one of our guys, he’s got a—he brought his car. In South Knoxville, I guess there’s a guy who does a lot of rebuilding. I’ve never heard of it. And again, here’s a guy who’s, like, notoriously, like, well-known nationally, who rebuilds these old ’50s and ’60s cars. And he said, “Yeah, I’m coming to Knoxville.” And I was like, “For what?” And he’s like, “I’m bringing the car down.” He said, “This guy, we found him and he does amazing work.” And I was like, “He lives five min—or his company’s five minutes from my house. I have never seen this.”
So, there’s always things to find. Out and I am blown away all the time. But just the history, I love it. It’s just an enjoyable place to be. And like I said, people are nice. Trust me, I travel all over this country and there are some places that I’m like, “I know I do not want to live here.”
Julia: [laugh]. I know, “Please just get me in and out.”
Andy: Yes, yes. This is a work trip. I got two nights in a hotel. Let’s get out of here. You know?
Julia: That’s hilarious. So, where can people find information about your company?
Andy: Yeah, so you know, a couple things you can do is obviously, website. So, www dot and then it’s entsport—E-N-T sport—no S [laugh] media dot com. So, entsportmedia.com. Or on Twitter or Instagram, Facebook, you can find Sports & Entertainment Media, but it’s entsport—entsportmedia.
And so, those are places you can find me. Of course, I’m on Twitter. I try to do social media and try to be as positive as possible. I don’t, kind of, dwell in the negative. But I try to promote races and I try to promote, you know, when our guys are doing good things. I get a little angry when our football team gets knocked down and we don’t get invited to the Heisman trophy, but other than that.
Julia: Yeah, that was pretty rude. Although I found that a blessing a little bit.
Andy: [laugh].
Julia: I did. I was like [unintelligible 00:25:40]—
Andy: It could be.
Julia: It was such a blessing if you think about how many of our quarterbacks deserved one and didn’t get one, and then became pro, pro, like, amazing multibillion-dollar owners of corporations, like, very successful building blocks. And I was like, “You know what? That’s a blessing.” He’ll just be amazing. It’ll be fine.
Andy: Yeah. He just—I just think [unintelligible 00:26:00] is, he’s an amazing athlete, but he’s an amazing guy.
Julia: Yeah. Have you read a book?
Andy: I have not.
Julia: Oh, it’s so cute. He wrote a little book for his brother.
Andy: Oh, wow. Okay.
Julia: He’s a good kid. I mean, he’s an author already.
Andy: Yeah. Yeah, he’s… I mean, just everything I have read and stories and things, and then people I know at the athletic department are like, he is an outstanding guy. So, those are the kinds of things that you do hope that, once the NFL—he rehabs and NFL comes knocking, he gets that opportunity. He’s going to work hard and—
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Andy: I just look at how he’s developed and stuff. So, you know, just, I don’t know, I’m always getting bitter about the Heisman trophy, and always feel we get left out of everything sometimes. But—
Julia: I feel like Tennessee is left out of a lot. Our baseball team gets slapped on the wrist constantly. Our football team gets left out of a lot of things. And I feel like we’re like, “You know what? That’s cool. We’re just a bunch of dumb silly rednecks down here. Just go ahead and ignore us. Ignore us. Keep going and we’ll be just fine.” [laugh].
Andy: [laugh]. Yeah, we’ll do our thing. So. But yeah, it’s… that’s the only part that, like, really drives me crazy sometimes. But it was fun because everybody knows I’m a huge Tennessee fan, so all the Fox, NBC guys who live in New York or LA or outside the skirts, they’re like—man, when we beat Alabama, I got more texts. I’m like—and I was in Vegas because, like, I didn’t get to go into a home game because my schedule didn’t work out.
Julia: Oh, man. Oh, you missed—oh that just breaks my heart for you. Now—
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: —now it hurts for you.
Andy: Yeah, because I cannot stand Alabama. Like, I’m old school. Like, my grandfather, that was the game. It wasn’t Florida. It wasn’t any of the other, you know, oh this—
Julia: Our truest rival is Alabama.
Andy: It’s Alabama. And so, my grandfather, my dad, and so, like, I can’t stand… I can’t stand them. And so, like, when we beat them, I mean, I was in Vegas and I was like, “Oh, this is the best.” So, I found a cigar bar real quick in Vegas and I proceeded to celebrate because I got tired of getting—every Alabama fan will always send me a text of them smoking cigars. So, I fired them off. And I was like, “Here we go.” [laugh].
Julia: Well, they took our thing, took our song, and it’s like, now we’ve taken it all back. So, [laugh] it’s [crosstalk 00:28:11]—
Andy: Yeah, we got it back, but then they get ranked higher than us. So, how does that happen? I don’t know. But anyway—
Julia: It is what it is.
Andy: —I digress. Yeah.
Julia: I appreciate always being the underdog. I feel like it gives us a leg up to keep fighting more and I feel like that’s what Volunteers do, so that’s what we’re just going to keep doing.
Andy: That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. So, we’re a tough breed, that’s for sure.
Julia: That’s for sure. Well, I’m so glad to have caught up with you because I never see you—
Andy: Yes.
Julia: —anymore. You do travel constantly, and I feel like we haven’t seen each other [laugh] since Covid at least.
Andy: Oh, yeah. No. And that’s probably one of the things that, like, it has been so, like—so during Covid, and—so NASCAR was, you know, was the first sport back. Like, NASCAR—
Julia: Yeah. We appreciate that, by the way.
Andy: NASCAR did—
Julia: It was the thing to do.
Andy: Oh, it—well and but that… and that’s what people kind of laugh about sometimes, but it’s, it’s—Fox and NASCAR really did a, I mean, amazing job of putting together protocols to how to get back to sports and how to cover it. Now, yes, there was no, you know, body-to-body contact and so you had a car, but you still have teams. And that’s the thing people always—“Well, it’s drivers. That’s easy to do.” I’m like, “Yeah, but the teams all have to—they work together and they’re close-knit.”
So, it was fascinating how NASCAR came up—and Fox—they wrote the protocols to bring us back. Now, with that, I had to be so careful because of what I was doing. I couldn’t miss work. And so, like, literally, it was just batten the hatches, stay in my little box, and I didn’t get out or do anything. So, I miss going downtown.
And then even after that, several people, even the year after, it was still, I had to be careful because then I was back in the booth with the announcers. And so, like, you have to be, you know, you can’t be selfish and you have to be a team player. And it’s just like, so I had to focus on. So, there’s a lot of relationships and a lot of people and friendships and people were out doing things, and I was like, “Oh, can’t wait for concerts to come back and I [unintelligible 00:30:11]. And I can’t wait to get back and see people.”
So, now that everything’s kind of calmed down, that part has been [unintelligible 00:30:18] because I’m just—there—like, I have friends downtown, and I love going downtown, and there’s so many, like, great restaurants and places that you kind of missed out on. And I was tired of takeout and I was tired of my four walls, but traveling during Covid was like the weirdest thing in the world. It was like ghost town in an airport. Now, the travel was a lot easier and better because there was no people [unintelligible 00:30:39] and of all that. But now it’s back to the chaos and craziness. But it’s—
Julia: It definitely is, and I think that people forgot how to travel.
Andy: Oh, completely.
Julia: I think they forgot how to travel. I mean, I felt like we had to travel a lot during Covid, unfortunately, and there was five people on an airplane and us. And I was like, “Well, this is the job. This is the job that we signed up to do, so we’re going.” And then now, it’s 8000 people packed in an airplane, and I’m like, “Y’all forgot how to travel. Put your shoes on.” I guess. [laugh].
Andy: Okay, so shoes, and then the other thing that drives me bonkers is, so there’s a way you fall off an airplane: seat goes, seat goes, let the young lady, let the whoever go, the family, if they got kids, let them go first, right?
Julia: Right.
Andy: And then you file out. When people jump in the back and they don’t have a connection and they come busting through, that drives me bonkers. That just—I’m sitting there, I’m like, “Where you got to be?” Because then they go outside and they wait for their luggage and they’re standing. I’m like, so you literally ran through this poor little old lady and then you wrote to this old guy and then now you’re standing there. I’m like, “What are you doing?” And I just—that and people that don’t wash their hands in public. After all we’ve been through.
Julia: I still stock up on the wipes. So, I wipe the seat in front of me and the seat beside me and my seat and the chair backs and the people next to me and I’m like, “Here’s your seatbelt [rubber 00:32:01].” And then I rub me, and I’m like, “Do you want this?” And they’re like—[laugh].
Andy: No. No, it’s just, it has changed and stuff like that, but the mentality. You know, and that’s the thing because you bring up a good point because you talk about, like, overall, like, mental health and happiness, and where do you find that? Well, home is that. And I think there’s something to be said because, like, you do see the edge and anger in the bigger cities and you do see people who just—the short tempers.
Julia: Yeah.
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: And, you know, when I’m in Knoxville, I’m like, “Eh, okay.” You know, somebody cuts me off, I’m like, “Yeah, they probably got somewhere to be. It’s fine.”
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: You know?
Andy: But not even, like—
Julia: But somewhere else, that could be—
Andy: Yeah. I mean, we still get people who are rude, but overall it’s like, it’s still nice to come and see a place where people hold doors open for people coming in and out, hands full, and stuff—
Julia: And they’re [crosstalk 00:32:53] by it.
Andy: And I—yeah. Oh, and a, “Hello,” or a, “Hey, how are you doing today?” You know? That part has been nice. And so, there is something to be said and I think it’s what’s so special about, you know, our city.
Julia: [crosstalk 00:33:06]—
Andy: So, that’s pretty cool. But thanks for having me.
Julia: Well, of course. And I think that’s very special way to end that is that people like you carry that Knoxville spirit everywhere you go, across the country and that is a—
Andy: All the time.
Julia: —[good 00:33:14] representative of Knoxville, Tennessee. And you have such a major play with major corporations and sponsors across the world who now relate that kindness and that attitude and that competency with Knoxville, Tennessee. So, thank you for bringing that home.
Andy: Oh, good. Well, that’s what’s fun and, you know, I take pride in the area and I take pride in what we have here. So, it’s a special place.
Julia: Well everybody, Andy Jeffers, Entertainment Sports Media.
Andy: Sports. Sports & Entertainment—
Julia: [crosstalk 00:33:41]—
Andy: Sports & Entertainment Media. Trust me everybody gets it—I was like, “I should make this simpler.” But yes. Sports & Entertainment Media.
Julia: [crosstalk 00:33:49] house of sport. I’m like, [crosstalk 00:33:51]—
Andy: Yes.
Julia: —sports go? Is there only the one sport? I’m so confused right now.
Andy: Sport is everything, right? So.
Julia: Sports is encompassing of everything. And you encompass Knoxville and everything that it has to offer so well. Andy, I hope you and your family have a fantastic Christmas. Please hug your mom for me.
Andy: I will.
Julia: I hope you have a wonderful day.
Andy: I will do. You have a Merry Christmas and enjoy everything.
Julia: Thank you for being on here. Thank you sponsors for making this podcast a possibility. Thank you for joining Connect the Knox.
Julia: Thank you for tuning in to the show. Make sure to like and subscribe, leave a five-star review on your podcast player of choice, and if you would like information on moving to Knoxville, send me a private message. As always, this is Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation.
Julia: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Connect the Knox, connecting Knoxville to the nation. I’m Julia Hurley, your host of this podcast, and thank you to our sponsors. Today’s guest is Andy Jeffers, owner of Entertainment Sports… with, with an S [laugh]—
Andy: It’s—yeah—
Julia: Entertainment Sports Media—
Andy: Sports and Entertainment. Yes.
Julia: —which I got wrong and said ‘sport’ earlier, as in just, like, one sport. But no, we got all kinds of sports though. Owner of Entertainment Sports Media, Andy Jeffers, right here in Knoxville, Tennessee. Andy, thank you so much for being on our podcast today.
Andy: Ma—thank you. I appreciate it so much and it’s always nice to catch up with you. And yeah, so it’s been fun. So, this is kind of my off-season a little bit, so I’m kind of—this is my download and clean up and organize part of the year.
Julia: Well, is this your logo up here?
Andy: Yeah. Yeah, yeah this is, uh—this is the Sports & Entertainment Media logo. And so, I do a lot of swag and stuff, obviously, for clients, but a lot of the guys and stuff out on the field and cameras, when we do a lot of production stuff, it helps to identify and have that kind of brand out there so people kind of know what part you’re with. If you’re with the video guys, audio guys, a band, or a race team, or sport or—so it kind of helps single you out a little bit so we can find each other.
Julia: That’s good. That’s good news. Nice to be found in a crowd of 150,000 people [laugh].
Andy: Sometimes yes. Sometimes.
Julia: All right, so nobody has a clue what you do, but everybody knows what you do. And I find that fascinating. So, help us know what Entertainment Sports Media is.
Andy: Okay, so Sports & Entertainment Media, so was founded by my dad, and I added the media to the business. So, his—it was Sports and Entertainment Marketing. Dad was a, he was a field writer, a sports writer, political writer for a newspaper in Johnson City, and he also owned his own advertising firm in Boone, North Carolina, and in Johnson City, Tennessee. So, with that, he had years of experience in racing and, obviously, sports and worked with, you know, several different basketball and college-level-type conferences. He also ran into some campaigns and stuff like that.
So, when he graduated from ETSU back in the day, he knew this is kind of the route he wanted to go. So, in the late-’70s, he opened up what was [Lynn 00:02:39] Jeffers and Associates, and when they moved to Johnson City, then that’s when he started the sports entertainment marketing. So, when I took over the business, I added media because of my background working with a broadcast degree from the University of Tennessee and also working with Barry Rice and Link Hudson at VFL films, in the athletic department, where I ended up working later. But those guys really taught me a great deal about writing and editing and videography. And then all the projects they worked on, there were several other little projects I got to work on that went beyond sports.
And so, that has really helped me kind of build a bigger spectrum of about how to edit on the production side of stuff, and you know, there’s different long-form editing. And so, from that, I learned a great deal from those guys. And then I went on to work for Beyond Media, which is in a Knoxville business that taught me long-form editing on shows for DIY, Discovery Channel, History Channel, stuff like that. And all the time, I still was doing some freelance and working at the University of Tennessee. So unfortunately, like, in 2004, my dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor and so at that point, I needed to kind of come over and help him.
And then, like I said, my whole life, I’ve been around NASCAR and racing. And Dad, everything he did working with ESPN in late-’70s, he did a lot of PR stuff for teams. ’80s, [ZSPN 00:04:23] came along, dad worked for CBS and all those guys, so, doing all the in-car cameras. And so, unfortunately, when he was diagnosed, I had to come in and step up. And I kind of helped run the business.
And then he passed away 2006, in December, and so I’ve kind of taken that. When I changed the name from marketing, I added the media to it. And so, from there, I’ve continued to do the in-car camera stuff, did a little bit of work, probably for another ten years with the University of Tennessee. It was always great to go back and work with your buddies. And so, always am indebted, and I love Barry Rice and Link Hudson. Those guys are masters at what they do in imaging and branding and everything like that.
So, I continue to do the NASCAR stuff. So, working with NBC currently and Fox as they cover the season. And the biggest thing and probably the joy I get out of is doing I love streaming—live streaming—music and concerts. So, we do several different kinds of things like that. Also dabble in, do some [rental 00:05:30] with some of the equipment.
A lot of people, streaming has gotten really big, from a high school sports standpoint and in smaller sports and some stuff like that. So, I’ve done some swimming, soccer, some basketball. And overall, that’s kind of what my company does. We can do, you know, post-production-type commercials. The other thing I’m doing is also right now in the process of getting the whole drone license.
Julia: Oh fun.
Andy: So, I love doing aerials and I love taking the drone and flying it places. And I’m the only person that would travel to Hawaii and I take a bunch of camera equipment, so [laugh]. But I came away with some great images. And so, I kind of have this nature, I love going out and taking sunsets and hiking, and that’s probably maybe that’s the piece that I get some of the photography part of stuff. But overall, that’s kind of what my business does.
And so, year in, year out, travel a lot. But try to keep the connections and stuff and trying to, you know, continue to grow like everybody does. You know, you push yourself. But I really, really want to push to try get back in a little bit more and do more music than I have in the last couple of years.
Julia: Have you partnered over a GEODIS Park in Nashville at all?
Andy: No. I haven’t.
Julia: I'll connect you. I’ve got season tickets there for the soccer stadium, GEODIS Park, and they have a booty-ton of concerts coming in. And we get to get—we get seven days ahead of time to get tickets to every concert. I mean they’ve got major—they’ve got Shanaya Twain, Pink—
Andy: Oh cool.
Julia: Is coming.
Andy: Wow.
Julia: The GEODIS Park. I was like, tha—I’ve got tickets to all these random concerts that I don’t—I mean, I was like, “Okay, let’s get this.” Who knew? Who knew?
Andy: No. Oh, I didn’t at all. Wow. I’ll have to look into that. So cool.
Julia: Yeah. Very cool. I’ll connect you over there with my guy. Or I think it’s a girl at this point. I’m been—my rep’s been replaced twice. So, they just keep promoting them.
Andy: Yeah, well, it’s a sign of good work, right, so when you get promoted.
Julia: Isn’t it, though? Isn’t it?
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah. They’re killing it over there with the live music. So, that would be a great connection for you. So, tell us what’s your favorite sport? Because you have managed so many sports. You do advertising for so many sports, you’ve filmed so many sports. What’s your personal favorite sport?
Andy: Baseball. I played baseball in college, and so—and obviously high school, but baseball was always my love. And so, I’m a die-hard Cubs fan. And with that, I tried walking on at the University of Tennessee. And so, I played my first two years in JUCO. And with that, there was this, like, my career kind of ended in that. I had a good try-out, I will say that, but I looked down and coach wasn’t even looking, so I was like, “Well, this is all for naught.”
But I gave it my effort and I tried, and so when the career ended there, that’s kind of when I went over and I found Barry Rice and Link Hudson. And that’s when I was like, okay, well, I love that competition part of things. So, I truly do find fire and I was like, I need that fuel. And the best thing that I could find was being part of the team in, you know, documenting what they do. So practices, coaches shows, highlight videos, stuff like that.
And that’s where I really, like, kind of generated a lot of, like, okay, it’s not the full, like, you know, flex of, like, getting the competition fulfillment, but it does give you that, “Hey, I got a team.” And you felt like part of the team wherever you were at, whether it was basketball, baseball, or with the football team, and I enjoyed doing that a lot. So, it kind of—but that was my first love of baseball. But yeah, it’s something that, you know, I still enjoy watching the games. And I did go to all seven World Series games for the Cubs—
Julia: Nice.
Andy: —so that was—has been a feather in my hat, I guess. One of my top life moments, I guess.
Julia: No doubt. That’s—when the Cubs won the World Series, I was like, well, there were about 100-year prediction. So, it did happen in my lifetime.
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: [laugh].
Andy: They did.
Julia: I was like, “There’s that.” That’s so funny. So, baseball is my second favorite sport. We go to all the baseball games. We have season tickets to UT games. We’re very excited. We have wonderful seats. And we’re right behind the first base, three seats up.
Andy: Oh. Oh cool.
Julia: Right behind first base. We’re right—we can smell it. I mean, it’s like we can smell the dirt when they run by and [unintelligible 00:09:51].
Andy: Oh, man.
Julia: And everybody in my family hates baseball [laugh].
Andy: Really?
Julia: I’m the only baseball fan. So, I’m like, “It’s Easter Sunday. We’re going to a baseball game”—
Andy: We’re going to the baseball game.
Julia: —and everybody’s like, “It’s Easter.” I’m like, “I’m going to a baseball game.” [laugh].
Andy: And the good thing is it was a good team to go watch this year, so—
Julia: Yeah, they were fantastic.
Andy: No, it was—they were phenomenal. Very talented team.
Julia: Very talented team. Very talented coach. So—
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: —so UT has been very lucky this year.
Andy: Yeah, no I—
Julia: [crosstalk 00:10:19] very lucky. In all aspects.
Andy: Been nice to be in the win column a lot of the sports over there, so pretty cool.
Julia: Yeah. Well again, had to happen in my lifetime. I was, like, willing this to happen. Like, Cubs. This is going to—everybody’s going to get it. Everybody’s going to eventually turn around here. So, tell us about—okay so your favorite sport is baseball. What’s your most profitable sport in your business?
Andy: Oh, NASCAR, hands down. You know, doing the in-car cameras and doing the sales and obligations on that end of things is probably the most profitable thing, hands down. So, even more than music or any of the other stuff. I mean, it’s just something that I love. That in itself is, you know—I enjoy that because you get to work with—on the national level—Fox sales and NBC sales group. You also get to do a lot of production.
So, I stage manage, too, during the weekend, so I’m up in the booth with the announcers. So, it’s not your normal stage manager-type position at the racetrack because I, kind of like, work on the sales end of things, too, a little bit with our guys in the booth. But I love the history of the sport. So, there’s a passion I have for it, so I really do try to add as much as I can to help.
We have tremendous stat guys. They’re phenomenal. So really, when it comes to the history or stats like that, they have it covered. But there’s little things that you can kind of throw in to help the broadcast, so I love that part. Again, you’re part of a team, you’re part of doing something and putting on a great show.
But yes, from th—there’s only two separate things in racing: there’s the stage-managing part, and there’s the in-car cameras, and that is what takes most of my time during the week, traveling and then at the track. It takes a lot of time making sure that the decals are placed for sponsors who purchased the in-car cameras. So, you got to make sure that you got everything covered from the side of the seats, to the inside, to the graphic that’s on screen. And you’re trying to bring as much value to that partner or client that’s on the telecast. So, I enjoy doing that and that’s probably that’s where the biggest amount of my income comes from.
Julia: So, how often are you gone? Like, let’s say—you’re in Knoxville, Tennessee, but you’re really here how often?
Andy: I’m probably gone more than I’m here. And I say that because, like, last year… I’m trying to think. So, we started the season—it was really cool—we started at the Clash, which was normally—it’s always run in Daytona. But last year, NASCAR really went outside the box and we raced in the Coliseum in LA. So, where the USC Trojans play football, we had a race inside that. It was phenomenal.
And so, the construction of that is mind-blowing in itself. That’s a whole podcast on its own. But so that was early—or excuse me, that was late January last year and I was very fortunate last year because the Superbowl was in LA. So, I actually stayed—and NBC had that, so they had asked me to work the Superbowl. So, I was in LA for the Clash—so that was for Fox—and then when NBC had the Superbowl, I just stayed out for another two weeks.
So, that was a two-week process. And then flew straight to Daytona and the season started. So, end of January to the first weekend of November, we had one off weekend. And so, I’m on the road from Thursday to about Monday every week. So, that’s how much time I’m here. So, mainly Monday, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, I’m home to do laundry [laugh] and, you know, and then office work. You get tons of calls and conference calls and stuff like that to prepare for the next week.
But that’s kind of the typical schedule. But yeah, gone majority of stuff. So, when you come home, it’s always nice when you get back in the area and you’re, like, “Okay, that’s new. That’s new.”
Julia: Yeah.
Andy: “Okay, wow.”
Julia: Especially now [laugh].
Andy: Yeah. Oh, there’s so much building going on around in you know, downtown or the airport. So, if it’s anything comes from South Knoxville to the airport I know about it because that’s my track every week, twice a week. But you know, just getting out, being home, that kind of downloading, I just, I love being here. It’s hands down, Knoxville is one of the, like, greatest places to live.
I travel a bunch. And so, from the West to North to Midwest, I love cities, I love traveling, but when you come home and you make that approach coming over the mountains, in the fall especially when it’s just beautiful, there’s nothing like, you know, living here and stuff like that. The people who are genuine, you know, and all the neighborhood and surrounding areas of Knoxville and stuff like that. So, I really do like it. The one thing I’ve noticed a lot though, like, coming back, and even in this fall, is how much tourism Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg is doing and what they’re bringing into the area.
Julia: It’s a lot.
Andy: Holy cow.
Julia: It’s a lot.
Andy: And just visually, seeing the amount of people renting cars because when you do rent a car—like, there’s a couple of races I’ll drive to and not fly to, but I’ll get a rental car, and they’re like, “Yeah, we don’t have anything,” or you know, “Hey, if you don’t like this, tough, because [laugh]”—
Julia: Because it’s all you’re going to get.
Andy: —“This is all we have.” Yeah. And so, there’s a tremendous amount of tourism coming. And I guess the mountains and people love doing that, which it is, I mean, it’s gorgeous, but it’s also it’s like our little secret, so it’s kind of like hey, you know. But there are also so many beautiful areas around this area to love. I think, you know, Nashville is blowing up so fast and so much.
Julia: I never thought Nashville would be there.
Andy: No, and it’s—
Julia: I miss old Nashville.
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Andy: I miss the old Nashville. And that’s what I was about to say is, I am—I’ve seen Austin do the same thing and it’s to the point where they’re a little bit losing their identity. And so, like, what Nashville to me was always Music City. And it still is and I mean, I love it, but there’s a lot of I want to say disrespecting—
Julia: Oh yeah.
Andy: —the guard that had built a lot of what Nashville was. And so, now so many corporations and so many people are moving in their daily. So like, you know, people will have a misconception because Tennessee is such a long state, and they’ll all be like, “Oh, so you’re from the Johnson City area.” And they’ll kind of lump in everything. “Well, yeah, that’s where I grew up at, but I live in Knoxville.” And they’re like, “Oh, that’s Nashville area.”
I’m like, “No.” [laugh].
Julia: No, that’s another seven hours [laugh].
Andy: Yep. I said, “Knoxville—Tennessee is a huge state. It’s like, it’s a long state.”
Julia: Yeah.
Andy: And so, you know, some people, especially on the West Coast or something, they, like, “Well, I’ve been to Memphis before,” or, “I’ve been to Nashville.” And so, it’s kind of funny, I’m like, “Well, you if you ever get a chance, you need to visit Knoxville.” It’s its own identity, it’s its own place. Music-wise, we have some of the most talented musicians living in this area. Hands down.
Julia: People have no idea what Knoxville has to offer.
Andy: Oh, yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Andy: I mean, it’s a tremendous place. And like I said, like, there’s favorite places. I love Sonoma. I love going to Napa Valley. I love Phoenix. I’m a sucker for the West Coast in the fact that the sunsets, I love the mountains, the flying the drone, and doing photography out there is beautiful.
Julia: I was this close to buying a condo in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This close. I wanted to be there forever. We went for a week. I did not want to leave. I did not want—
Andy: Beautiful.
Julia: I had to get back for the dog, but I did not want to leave.
Andy: Yeah. And it is, it’s like, I always tell people if you can, go out West and just see the difference in the mountains. But then there’s something about our mountains, like, you know, they’re not as picky and high right, but it still—
Julia: But they’re home.
Andy: It’s home and there’s something, it’s like a big hug when you come back.
Julia: That is exactly, verbatim, how I described Knoxville to one of our podcasters, Almeida, who owns A New Hue and she does plaster—she’s from Argentina, and she has a business in Knoxville, a huge business in Knoxville. Had her on the podcast, and she said, “I just can’t describe how Knoxville makes me feel.” And I said, “It feels like a big hug. Every time you’re home you feel hugged.” It is exactly how I described it.
Andy: Yeah. No, it’s just—it’s genuine. And I don’t think we’ve lost our identity yet. I think there’s so much creativity in the arts especially, you know, like I said, for music but not only from a visual or something like that, but there’s just so much going on. Business-wise, there’s so many in this area.
I think, one of the things people are surprised about, probably more than anything is how many businesses are based here in the Knoxville—you know, Pigeon Forge Gatlinburg area, but you know, Maryville and all that. And I’m like, “Yeah, guys, it’s huge.” You know, but then of course everybody wants to say, “Well, is that Cocaine Bears movie, is it a true thing?” And I’m like—
Julia: Oh, God. I’m so embarrassed by that.
Andy: I said, “That’s what you want to know about Knoxville?” I was like, [unintelligible 00:19:44].
Julia: I honestly thought it was a story about the Butcher Brothers. I really did. I was like Cocaine Bears. I was like, “Is this a story about those bankers that used to snort cocaine off big piles of money in Knoxville?” I thought it was the banking industry. But it was an actual bear [laugh].
Andy: It’s an—and to read that story, it’s phenomenal. Like, so the guy accidentally, you know, did land down in South Knoxville. He fell out of a plane, but… well he jumped out of the plane with money and cocaine, but he dumped a bunch of it in North Georgia and that’s where the bear ate it. But that bear can be found in Kentucky right now. And Waylon Jennings owned the taxidermy bear.
So, it’s a fascinating story, and so when people ask me like, “Hey, Knoxville. Is that a true story?” I’m like, “Ahh, yeah, kind of. Obviously, it’s going to be made into a movie, but yes, the factual parts of the story are yes, this was a drug runner.”
Julia: We have so many amazing things in Knoxville. Off-the-wall things that people don’t—that is exactly why I started this podcast because connecting—I get asked, as a real estate agent, why is everybody flocking to your area? I need [unintelligible 00:20:52] I get hundreds of phone calls a week of, “I need to be there. So-and-so told me I need to be there. It’s affordable. Find me something. Why do people want to be there?”
And I’m like, “Well, there’s everything is here.” And they have no idea richness and the business entities and the opportunity that Knoxville brings because we really don’t talk about it. And we don’t talk—
Andy: No.
Julia: —with the people that have these companies like you do, even though you’re never here but you’re always here. And nobody knew what you did, but they all know what you did. And they know you’re Knoxville. And I think that’s one of the biggest things is Knoxville has the opportunity for you to learn from people who have national and international bases right here in Knoxville.
Andy: Oh, yeah. No, and you know, technology has helped so much, too, you know, being able to be based out of somewhere, but like, from manufacturing or a corporation, it’s amazing how many places are here. And people are always stunned when I say, “Yeah, that”—like, we’ll be on the West Coast, I’m like, “Yeah, that company is Knoxville-based.” “Huh?” “Yep. They’re out of Knoxville.” “What?” I’m like, yeah, as I said, Knoxville is a great little place.
We always have—and this is kind of funny—and I think everybody probably has a friend or a story like this, but I had—it was—and my dad even experienced this. So, the Bristol race, everybody would come in from—at that time—Bristol, Connecticut. A lot of ESPN people, New York. Fox now or NBC, you get a lot of LA and contingent, and everybody kind of comes together. But the eastern part of Tennessee, Knoxville all the way up and down, people come here, and then what happens, normally, because flights out of tri-city are difficult, they’ll fly out of Knoxville because it’s so easy, so you get to Dallas, you get to LA, or whatever.
And people, when they fly in, they are like, “Dude, you live in one of the most beautiful-est places. Like, oh my gosh.” Like, and several times, we’ve had people who have used—bought a second home, Sevierville or up in the mountains or, you know, north of here, Kentucky on the lake.
Julia: It happens all the time.
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: People will be here to visit and they’ll say, “Oh, my gosh, I would love to have an investment property.” And of course, I’m like [wha-tch]. But they all want to be here at some point, and it’s just part of it. This is an attractive place to be. But it’s not just for retirement; it’s to enjoy. Younger people are moving here and changing the trajectory of the opportunities and the growth.
Andy: Yeah, you’d be surprised how many people in NASCAR over in the Charlotte area have property in Dandridge on the lake, or out west or up north and just around the area, [Tellico 00:23:29] or whatever. It’s amazing. And they love it because they’re just like, “Dude, it’s a way, it’s out, we love Tennessee. We love what’s going on there.” So, it’s always nice when you have people that are, like, “Man we love—like, me and the wife went on a trip and we came through there and we stopped and, man, what a beautiful place.”
And one of our guys, he’s got a—he brought his car. In South Knoxville, I guess there’s a guy who does a lot of rebuilding. I’ve never heard of it. And again, here’s a guy who’s, like, notoriously, like, well-known nationally, who rebuilds these old ’50s and ’60s cars. And he said, “Yeah, I’m coming to Knoxville.” And I was like, “For what?” And he’s like, “I’m bringing the car down.” He said, “This guy, we found him and he does amazing work.” And I was like, “He lives five min—or his company’s five minutes from my house. I have never seen this.”
So, there’s always things to find. Out and I am blown away all the time. But just the history, I love it. It’s just an enjoyable place to be. And like I said, people are nice. Trust me, I travel all over this country and there are some places that I’m like, “I know I do not want to live here.”
Julia: [laugh]. I know, “Please just get me in and out.”
Andy: Yes, yes. This is a work trip. I got two nights in a hotel. Let’s get out of here. You know?
Julia: That’s hilarious. So, where can people find information about your company?
Andy: Yeah, so you know, a couple things you can do is obviously, website. So, www dot and then it’s entsport—E-N-T sport—no S [laugh] media dot com. So, entsportmedia.com. Or on Twitter or Instagram, Facebook, you can find Sports & Entertainment Media, but it’s entsport—entsportmedia.
And so, those are places you can find me. Of course, I’m on Twitter. I try to do social media and try to be as positive as possible. I don’t, kind of, dwell in the negative. But I try to promote races and I try to promote, you know, when our guys are doing good things. I get a little angry when our football team gets knocked down and we don’t get invited to the Heisman trophy, but other than that.
Julia: Yeah, that was pretty rude. Although I found that a blessing a little bit.
Andy: [laugh].
Julia: I did. I was like [unintelligible 00:25:40]—
Andy: It could be.
Julia: It was such a blessing if you think about how many of our quarterbacks deserved one and didn’t get one, and then became pro, pro, like, amazing multibillion-dollar owners of corporations, like, very successful building blocks. And I was like, “You know what? That’s a blessing.” He’ll just be amazing. It’ll be fine.
Andy: Yeah. He just—I just think [unintelligible 00:26:00] is, he’s an amazing athlete, but he’s an amazing guy.
Julia: Yeah. Have you read a book?
Andy: I have not.
Julia: Oh, it’s so cute. He wrote a little book for his brother.
Andy: Oh, wow. Okay.
Julia: He’s a good kid. I mean, he’s an author already.
Andy: Yeah. Yeah, he’s… I mean, just everything I have read and stories and things, and then people I know at the athletic department are like, he is an outstanding guy. So, those are the kinds of things that you do hope that, once the NFL—he rehabs and NFL comes knocking, he gets that opportunity. He’s going to work hard and—
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Andy: I just look at how he’s developed and stuff. So, you know, just, I don’t know, I’m always getting bitter about the Heisman trophy, and always feel we get left out of everything sometimes. But—
Julia: I feel like Tennessee is left out of a lot. Our baseball team gets slapped on the wrist constantly. Our football team gets left out of a lot of things. And I feel like we’re like, “You know what? That’s cool. We’re just a bunch of dumb silly rednecks down here. Just go ahead and ignore us. Ignore us. Keep going and we’ll be just fine.” [laugh].
Andy: [laugh]. Yeah, we’ll do our thing. So. But yeah, it’s… that’s the only part that, like, really drives me crazy sometimes. But it was fun because everybody knows I’m a huge Tennessee fan, so all the Fox, NBC guys who live in New York or LA or outside the skirts, they’re like—man, when we beat Alabama, I got more texts. I’m like—and I was in Vegas because, like, I didn’t get to go into a home game because my schedule didn’t work out.
Julia: Oh, man. Oh, you missed—oh that just breaks my heart for you. Now—
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: —now it hurts for you.
Andy: Yeah, because I cannot stand Alabama. Like, I’m old school. Like, my grandfather, that was the game. It wasn’t Florida. It wasn’t any of the other, you know, oh this—
Julia: Our truest rival is Alabama.
Andy: It’s Alabama. And so, my grandfather, my dad, and so, like, I can’t stand… I can’t stand them. And so, like, when we beat them, I mean, I was in Vegas and I was like, “Oh, this is the best.” So, I found a cigar bar real quick in Vegas and I proceeded to celebrate because I got tired of getting—every Alabama fan will always send me a text of them smoking cigars. So, I fired them off. And I was like, “Here we go.” [laugh].
Julia: Well, they took our thing, took our song, and it’s like, now we’ve taken it all back. So, [laugh] it’s [crosstalk 00:28:11]—
Andy: Yeah, we got it back, but then they get ranked higher than us. So, how does that happen? I don’t know. But anyway—
Julia: It is what it is.
Andy: —I digress. Yeah.
Julia: I appreciate always being the underdog. I feel like it gives us a leg up to keep fighting more and I feel like that’s what Volunteers do, so that’s what we’re just going to keep doing.
Andy: That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. So, we’re a tough breed, that’s for sure.
Julia: That’s for sure. Well, I’m so glad to have caught up with you because I never see you—
Andy: Yes.
Julia: —anymore. You do travel constantly, and I feel like we haven’t seen each other [laugh] since Covid at least.
Andy: Oh, yeah. No. And that’s probably one of the things that, like, it has been so, like—so during Covid, and—so NASCAR was, you know, was the first sport back. Like, NASCAR—
Julia: Yeah. We appreciate that, by the way.
Andy: NASCAR did—
Julia: It was the thing to do.
Andy: Oh, it—well and but that… and that’s what people kind of laugh about sometimes, but it’s, it’s—Fox and NASCAR really did a, I mean, amazing job of putting together protocols to how to get back to sports and how to cover it. Now, yes, there was no, you know, body-to-body contact and so you had a car, but you still have teams. And that’s the thing people always—“Well, it’s drivers. That’s easy to do.” I’m like, “Yeah, but the teams all have to—they work together and they’re close-knit.”
So, it was fascinating how NASCAR came up—and Fox—they wrote the protocols to bring us back. Now, with that, I had to be so careful because of what I was doing. I couldn’t miss work. And so, like, literally, it was just batten the hatches, stay in my little box, and I didn’t get out or do anything. So, I miss going downtown.
And then even after that, several people, even the year after, it was still, I had to be careful because then I was back in the booth with the announcers. And so, like, you have to be, you know, you can’t be selfish and you have to be a team player. And it’s just like, so I had to focus on. So, there’s a lot of relationships and a lot of people and friendships and people were out doing things, and I was like, “Oh, can’t wait for concerts to come back and I [unintelligible 00:30:11]. And I can’t wait to get back and see people.”
So, now that everything’s kind of calmed down, that part has been [unintelligible 00:30:18] because I’m just—there—like, I have friends downtown, and I love going downtown, and there’s so many, like, great restaurants and places that you kind of missed out on. And I was tired of takeout and I was tired of my four walls, but traveling during Covid was like the weirdest thing in the world. It was like ghost town in an airport. Now, the travel was a lot easier and better because there was no people [unintelligible 00:30:39] and of all that. But now it’s back to the chaos and craziness. But it’s—
Julia: It definitely is, and I think that people forgot how to travel.
Andy: Oh, completely.
Julia: I think they forgot how to travel. I mean, I felt like we had to travel a lot during Covid, unfortunately, and there was five people on an airplane and us. And I was like, “Well, this is the job. This is the job that we signed up to do, so we’re going.” And then now, it’s 8000 people packed in an airplane, and I’m like, “Y’all forgot how to travel. Put your shoes on.” I guess. [laugh].
Andy: Okay, so shoes, and then the other thing that drives me bonkers is, so there’s a way you fall off an airplane: seat goes, seat goes, let the young lady, let the whoever go, the family, if they got kids, let them go first, right?
Julia: Right.
Andy: And then you file out. When people jump in the back and they don’t have a connection and they come busting through, that drives me bonkers. That just—I’m sitting there, I’m like, “Where you got to be?” Because then they go outside and they wait for their luggage and they’re standing. I’m like, so you literally ran through this poor little old lady and then you wrote to this old guy and then now you’re standing there. I’m like, “What are you doing?” And I just—that and people that don’t wash their hands in public. After all we’ve been through.
Julia: I still stock up on the wipes. So, I wipe the seat in front of me and the seat beside me and my seat and the chair backs and the people next to me and I’m like, “Here’s your seatbelt [rubber 00:32:01].” And then I rub me, and I’m like, “Do you want this?” And they’re like—[laugh].
Andy: No. No, it’s just, it has changed and stuff like that, but the mentality. You know, and that’s the thing because you bring up a good point because you talk about, like, overall, like, mental health and happiness, and where do you find that? Well, home is that. And I think there’s something to be said because, like, you do see the edge and anger in the bigger cities and you do see people who just—the short tempers.
Julia: Yeah.
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: And, you know, when I’m in Knoxville, I’m like, “Eh, okay.” You know, somebody cuts me off, I’m like, “Yeah, they probably got somewhere to be. It’s fine.”
Andy: Yeah.
Julia: You know?
Andy: But not even, like—
Julia: But somewhere else, that could be—
Andy: Yeah. I mean, we still get people who are rude, but overall it’s like, it’s still nice to come and see a place where people hold doors open for people coming in and out, hands full, and stuff—
Julia: And they’re [crosstalk 00:32:53] by it.
Andy: And I—yeah. Oh, and a, “Hello,” or a, “Hey, how are you doing today?” You know? That part has been nice. And so, there is something to be said and I think it’s what’s so special about, you know, our city.
Julia: [crosstalk 00:33:06]—
Andy: So, that’s pretty cool. But thanks for having me.
Julia: Well, of course. And I think that’s very special way to end that is that people like you carry that Knoxville spirit everywhere you go, across the country and that is a—
Andy: All the time.
Julia: —[good 00:33:14] representative of Knoxville, Tennessee. And you have such a major play with major corporations and sponsors across the world who now relate that kindness and that attitude and that competency with Knoxville, Tennessee. So, thank you for bringing that home.
Andy: Oh, good. Well, that’s what’s fun and, you know, I take pride in the area and I take pride in what we have here. So, it’s a special place.
Julia: Well everybody, Andy Jeffers, Entertainment Sports Media.
Andy: Sports. Sports & Entertainment—
Julia: [crosstalk 00:33:41]—
Andy: Sports & Entertainment Media. Trust me everybody gets it—I was like, “I should make this simpler.” But yes. Sports & Entertainment Media.
Julia: [crosstalk 00:33:49] house of sport. I’m like, [crosstalk 00:33:51]—
Andy: Yes.
Julia: —sports go? Is there only the one sport? I’m so confused right now.
Andy: Sport is everything, right? So.
Julia: Sports is encompassing of everything. And you encompass Knoxville and everything that it has to offer so well. Andy, I hope you and your family have a fantastic Christmas. Please hug your mom for me.
Andy: I will.
Julia: I hope you have a wonderful day.
Andy: I will do. You have a Merry Christmas and enjoy everything.
Julia: Thank you for being on here. Thank you sponsors for making this podcast a possibility. Thank you for joining Connect the Knox.
Julia: Thank you for tuning in to the show. Make sure to like and subscribe, leave a five-star review on your podcast player of choice, and if you would like information on moving to Knoxville, send me a private message. As always, this is Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation.
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