Sport. Business Sport Management Newsletter Fall 2010

Transcription

1 Sport Business Sport Management Newsletter Fall 2010 ESPN Legend Visits Campus in Celebration of 25th Anniversary of Management of the Sport Management Program More than 300 people came to hear ESPN sports journalist Chris Berman when he visited the campus on April 15. Berman, who was joined by ESPN Emmy-winning producer and UNH alumnus Craig Mortali 84, discussed his successful and unique career at ESPN. Topics included how the field of sports management has developed over the last 30 years and how Berman and Mortali got started in sports broadcasting. The event was co-sponsored by the College of Business and Liberty Mutual. UNH Welcomes Kevin Mongeon to Sport Management Faculty The University of New Haven (UNH) has appointed Kevin Mongeon, Ph.D., as an assistant professor in the Sport Management program. Mongeon has more than 10 years of experience in the sports and entertainment industry and previously taught sports economics at Washington State University. Mongeon s research interests include the effects of indirect substitutes on professional leagues and determining the economic value of professional hockey players. Kevin is a principal owner of The Sports Analytics Institute, which uses economics, statistics and data mining to model underlying processes of sporting events. Prior to WSU, Kevin worked at the Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, Ontario, with the Detroit Red Wings and with a sport marketing agency on projects for the Canadian Football League. Kevin also earned his MBA from the University of Windsor. Sport Management Club Voted Best Club on Campus The undergraduate Sport Management Club was designated the university s student organization of the year for by the Undergraduate Student Government. This prestigious award is given each year at the spring student awards ceremony. About 30 student organizations competed for this award, earning points for the number of activities sponsored and the impact these events and activities had on the entire student body. The club officers were Charles Fick, President; Katie FitzPatrick, Vice President; Chelsea McCauley, Treasurer; and Greg Thomas, Sergeant at Arms. Sport Management Professor Allen Sack (left) and Chris Berman (right) pose for a photo during the 25th anniversary celebration of the Sports Management program on April 15. During the year, the club sponsored trips to the Boston Garden for a Celtics game, to Citi Field to meet with New York Mets management and to tour the facility, and to Rentschler Field, home of the UConn Huskies. Other activities included pizza nights during March Madness, fund raising events, and a powder puff football tournament. The club played a major role in negotiating with Brian Cashman s agent and organizing the Yankee General Manager s visit to campus. The club also worked closely with other organizations to manage Chris Berman s visit. This year s club has already gotten off to a fast start by sponsoring a trip to a Boston Red Sox game.

2 New Haven Sport Business Update Faculty Update Gil Fried Professor Fried has been busy this past year running the department through a major transition. One of the major changes was hiring a new faculty member, Kevin Mongeon. Major initiatives begun by the department include: Restructuring the curriculum and adding several new classes Chairing the task force to restructure the College of Business Helping to bring in major speakers Growing the department s mentor program Creating a sister school program with Wuhan Normal University in China and Laurentian University in Canada entering into a comprehensive internship agreement with Yale University Athletics to supply them with more than 10 interns every year Besides working on these initiatives, Prof. Fried s Sport Facility Management textbook was published in its second edition and has been adopted by more than 130 sport management programs throughout the United States. Prof. Fried also published several crowd management articles and served as an expert witness in several major crowd related cases including a major case in which he defended the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority (NJSEA), which runs the Meadowlands complex. Internship Spotlight Our students have pursued and/or will continue pursuing a number of internships over the past several months at the following organizations: Yale University Ocatgon ESPN South Windsor Rec. Department YMCA S&S Worldwide Global Spectrum Madison Square Garden Southern Connecticut State University Central Connecticut State University University of Hartford Wirz & Associates Bridgeport Bluefish Allen Sack Dr. Sack has had an interesting year. He has appeared on ESPN discussing running off basketball players at the University of Kentucky and the problems created by one-year-renewable scholarships. He also appeared on WPSU radio at Penn State and did a one-hour television interview on the Patty Satalia Show, which will air on the Big Ten Network this fall. He has been interviewed by New York Magazine and his views on college sports continue to be quoted in newspapers throughout the country. Dr. Sack gave a keynote speech at this year s College Sport Research Institute Conference at the University of North Carolina and has been asked to give an address at next year s NCAA Scholarly Colloquium on College Sport at the San Antonio meetings of the NCAA. Connecticut Defenders Bridgeport SoundTigers Philadelphia Flyers University of New Haven Athletics Toad s Place Binghamton Mets Star Struck Torrington Twisters 2 Sport Management Newsletter Fall 2010

3 New Haven Sport Business Update Internship Spotlight (continued) UNH Alum Donates Legends in Sport History Library South Windsor Athletics Tri-City Valley-Cats Golf Digest Publications New Rochelle Crusaders Bethel Municipal Center West Haven Twilight League New Britain Rock Cats Miami Dolphins Stadium One student in particular, David Potamianos (M.S. 09), finished his internship at Wirz & Associates in February 2009 and is now seeking his next challenge. Potamianos assisted with revenue generation through column subscribers, developed a Facebook site, contributed to LinkedIn discussions, enhanced the organization s blog and increased readership. Potamianos and his colleagues also teamed up with the Greater New Haven Convention and Visitors Bureau in an effort to secure additional club sport national tournament events in New Haven. Craig Mortali, B.S. 84, an ESPN Emmy Award winning producer, has donated 1,000 books to the sport management program at UNH. Mortali used these books while researching programs he produced. When ESPN Classic recently stopped producing new shows, Mortali donated the collection to his alma mater. According to sport management professor Allen Sack, We were delighted to have books that served as a research base for many shows on athletes, teams, sport controversies and sport history. Productions supported by the library included: Triumph and Tragedy The Ray Mancini Story, which was nominated for a Sports Emmy and resides in the permanent archives of the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Sportscentury, ESPN s biography series profiling the greatest sports figures of the 20th century, won multiple Sports Emmy Awards and a Peabody. Ringside, which chronicled the history of boxing - the greatest fighters and greatest bout - won a Telly Award. Other series that used this book collection include Top 5 Reasons You Can t Blame..., Who s Number One, Reel Classics and many others. Katie FitzPatrick Lands Prestigious Internship Sport Management major Katie FitzPatrick was selected to serve as an event management intern at the Stadium Managers Association (SMA) Conference this year. Competition for the internship was open to all sport management majors in the country. The conference took place over six days in Orlando, Fla. As a result of networking at the conference, Fried and Katie FitzPatrick Katie was able to land a summer internat the SMA Conference. ship at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots, where she served as the head intern for special events, sponsorship, and marketing. According to Department Chair Gil Fried, Katie s experience with SMA is exactly the kind of experiential learning students need to get a leg up in this very competitive job market. Current students and alums joined together for a New Britain Rock Cats game earlier this summer. Sport Management Newsletter Fall

4 New Haven Sport Business Update UNH Adds Concentration in College Sport Management to its Graduate Sport Management Program Brian Cashman Visits UNH Professor Gil Fried, chair of the Department of Sport Management at UNH, has announced a new graduate concentration to meet the needs of students pursuing degrees in athletic administration. According to Fried, Collegiate sport is becoming increasingly complicated and students need a strong business-based degree to give them the greatest opportunity for success. The concentration in the already existing M.S. in Sport Management Program combines courses in the day-today nuts and bolts of running a college sports program with courses that tackle the major policy issues confronting athletic directors and college presidents. Dr. Allen Sack, an expert on policy issues in college sport, currently teaches a course on major financial, educational, ethical, legal, and political issues that affect college sport administrators, and a course on the daily operations of an athletic department has just been approved by the Faculty Senate. Students in the concentration can also choose electives in sport facility management, facility infrastructure, strategies for event planning, safety organization and administration, among others. According to Dr. Sack, The number of UNH students seeking and finding careers in college sport is one of the reasons we have expanded the offerings in this area. Brian O Gara, Major League Baseball s Senior Director of Special Events, to Speak at UNH Brian O Gara, senior director of special events for Major League Baseball, will give a talk on his experiences as event director of the MLB World Series and All Star game, and other events on Tuesday, November 5, 2010 in Bartels Alumni Lounge. The talk, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. is open to the entire University of New Haven Community. O Gara is a 1989 graduate of the University of Notre Dame. In his position as senior director, O Gara oversees game presentation and fan entertainment; producing/directing pre-game ceremonies; special event development and operations and broadcast event production. O Gara, who has organized Major League Baseball events around the world, once met Fidel Castro while arranging a MLB game in Cuba. O Gara s talk is one of several that will be sponsored by the Department of Sport Management throughout the year. His talk will also be part of the Robert Alvine Professional Enrichment Program, which encourages students to be involved in experiential learning activities outside of the classroom. Brian Cashman spoke to students at UNH on February 11. On February 11, 2010, the University of New Haven had a very special guest on campus for an up close and personal session with students. New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman visited campus to give a lecture titled, Talking Baseball: An Inside Look at America s Pastime and the Most Famous Organization in Sports. The event was sponsored by the Sports Industry Club, Undergraduate Student Government Association (USGA), College of Business, and Robert Alvine Professional Enrichment Program. Chuck Fick, the Sports Industry Club president, started organizing the event in October 2009 and worked extremely hard on the entire event. The hardest part in making this event happen was getting the funding, which the USGA covered for us, but after that it was all downhill from there, with only a bump or two in the road, Fick said. Cashman kept the audience entertained by giving them stories of when he was first an intern at the New York Yankees, including the mistakes he made along the way. He then answered questions from the audience. I love coming to schools and talking to students, Cashman said. These kids are in the same shoes I was in when I was in college and giving them advice that can help shape their futures is something I love to do. 4 Sport Management Newsletter Fall 2010

5 New Haven Sport Business Update Graduate Sport Management Club Builds Momentum UNH students work on in-game promotions for World Cup warmup Under the leadership of Jamal Nelson and a critical mass of dedicated sport management graduate students, the club has built considerable momentum over the past year. Club members played an important role in organizing the campus visits of New York Yankees General Manager, Brian Cashman, and ESPN s Chris Berman. The club also organized off-campus events such as a tour of ESPN, a volunteer work experience at the Mexico vs. Ecuador soccer match, a Meadowlands tour and a trip to the The Stadium Managers Association Conference in Orlando. Approximately 20 UNH students traveled to the new $1.6 billion Meadowlands Stadium on May 7th for the Mexico/Ecuador World Cup warmup friendly game. The club s plan for the academic year includes continued success in event management as well as attending professional conferences. Some scheduled events include: Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden tours, a farewell to 2010 networking event, and a trip to the International Association of Assembly Managers conference. Club President Jamal Nelson says, It has been a good year for the sport management club. A core group of students has begun to develop a community outside the classroom and the club has helped several of its members secure jobs and internships. This is very gratifying. The game was the first professional sports event at the new facility. The students were there to watch the game, but were also part of a new program with Major League Soccer (MLS) in which they worked on in-game promotions during halftime. This opportunity gave the students the chance to see first-hand what was required to activate a sponsor s campaign at halftime. Similiar events in the future also will incorporate graduate and undergraduate UNH students. We thank UNH alumn Jef Thiffault, B.S. 00, Sport Management, for helping to arrange this opportunity. Thiffault is the Senior Coordinator of Game Operations for Major League Soccer. To be a part of the action, ask a Sport Management faculty member about the undergraduate or graduate organizations. Students at the new Meadowlands Stadium in May. Sport Management Newsletter Fall

6 New Haven Sport Business Update What do Shaquille O Neal, Evan Turner, and Professor Gil Fried all have in common? At 5 feet 6 and 145 pounds, sport management professor Gil Fried may not appear to have much in common athletically with Shaquille O Neil and Evan Turner, the number two pick in the 2010 NBA draft. But Fried s recent sponsorship deal with Li-Ning, the Chinese shoe company, puts him in with the big boys like O Neil and Turner, who are also part of the Li-Ning stable. Professor Fried has had an illustrious career as a competitive badminton player. While playing in college and thereafter he played in more than 140 open tournaments, both in the U.S. and internationally. Such exposure was not lost to Li-Ning, which is quickly becoming the top sporting goods/apparel company in the world. The number one company in its market in China, Li-Ning is now undertaking aggressive marketing efforts to grow in America. One of the company s key product lines is badminton gear and the company sponsors the Chinese national badminton team. Through a former student, James Du, Li-Ning contacted Professor Fried and the two parties were able to reach an agreement in which Fried would exclusively wear Li-Ning badminton clothes and shoes, and use Li-Ning rackets. While he does not play in open tournaments as much as he used to, in his first high- level tournament in more than 10 years he won some money at a tournament in New York City. He plays several times a week in the New Haven area, and trains some of the best players in the state once a week in West Hartford. His coaching and training partners help make him a local celebrity in the badminton world and his contacts, especially with current and former Olympians, help to increase his exposure. Visit the New Haven webpage for previous and current newsletters! Key words: Sport Management Newsletters 6 Sport Management Newsletter Fall 2010

7 New Haven Sport Business Update Alumni Update Melissa Biniewicz, M.S. 05, Melissa is the Academy Operations Manager with the United States Soccer Federation. Dan Blake, B.S. 08, Dan is the Event and Operations Coordinator at the Arena at Harbor Yard. Leigh A. Bogensperger, M.S. 10, Leigh was recently named an event management intern in the athletic department at the University of Notre Dame. Jessica Bohrer, B.S. 02, (formerly Brown) Jessica and her husband own P & J Building Specialists, a remodeling company. Stephanie Calvano, M.S. 06, Stephanie is the program manager at the Marist Institute for Public Opinion and Adjunct Professor of Commuications at Marist College. Matthew Deltenre, M.S. 09, Matt is working with the Connecticut Tigers, a new team in the New York/Penn League playing in Norwich, Conn. Greg Dickinson, M.S., Greg is a licensed personal banker at J.P. Morgan Chase with his Series 6 and 63 licenses. Steve Fcasni, B.S. 06, Steve is an Account Executive with Marketing Drive in Norwalk, Conn. Matthew Fealey, M.S. 07, Matt is a Marketing Coordinator with the New York Mets. Tom Gaudioso, M.S. 07, Tom is the Coordinator of After School Programs at Common Ground High School, New Haven CT. Michael Kobylanski, M.S. 08, Michael was recently named to the Board of Managers for the New Haven YMCA. He is also the Associate Director of Athletics/Communications at Southern Connecticut State University. Adam Leiser, M.S. 04, Adam owns his own business and spent the academic year as an assistant women s basketball coach at Southern Connecticut State University. Brett Lipman, M.S. 07, Brett started a new job with IRWIN Tools as an Event Marketing Associate. He will be in charge of day to day operations of a National Promotion called the Ultimate Tradesman Challenge. Check out for information. He will be hosting 50+ events in order to find the fastest, most accurate tradesman in North America. This will culminate in a North American Championship at Bristol Motor Speedway in August at the IRWIN Tools Night Race and a World Championship in March 2011, also at Bristol Motor Speedway. Sara Machowski, B.S. 02, Sara is an Assistant Event Planner with Yale University. Manya Makoski, M.S. 08, Manya played for the Los Angeles Sol and was re-drafted by the Atlanta Beat, but was out this season due to an injury. She hopes to return next season. Shelby Massaro, B.S. 98, Shelby is a math teacher with the Derby Public School District. Jennifer Michels, B.S. 07, Jen is working with Logistics/Security Forces with the U.S. Air Force Reserves. Be Thi Nguyen, M.S. 07, Be is an Instructor, teaching tourism and sport management classes at Hoa Sen University of HCMC in Vietnam. Maria Rossi, B.S. 08, Maria is a Sales Representative with Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. Sherene Sewell, B.S. 00, Sherene is an Administrative Assistant with Hunter College. Brian Short, M.S. 08, Brian is an Account Manager with MetLife. Allyson Skeens, B.S. and M.S., Allyson is a Police Officer with the Clinton, Conn. Police Department. Christopher Theriault, B.S. 03, Chris achieved his dream of opening his own law firm. The firm called Chleborowicz & Theriault is in Wilmington, NC. Welcome to the UNH Family! Alums Jef Thiffault and Lorraine Swierbitowicz recently welcomed new additions to their respective families. Sophia Dylan Thiffault was born on Oct. 4, 2009, to proud parents Jef and Betsy. Audrey Marie Swierbitowicz was born on Oct. 13, 2009, measuring 6 pounds, 15 ounces and 20 and 1/4 inches long to proud parents Lorraine and Ron. Brian Hadden, M.S. 08, Brian is working with World Youth Peace Summit, an event being held next summer at the University of Connecticut. The World Youth Peace Summit s mission is to develop current and former scholar athletes and scholar artists from around the world into successful peace advocates. Ashley Kitchens, M.B.A. 09, (formerly Hill) Ashley is the Camp Director for the Adventure Unit with the South Windsor Recreation Department. Francis Otto, B.S. 96, Fran is the Brand Manager with The Hive Strategic Marketing. Pam Pillo, M.S. 09, Pam, who just got married in June, is the Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions at Sacred Heart University. AnneMarie Rickes, M.B.A. 06, AnneMarie is a Marketing Specialist with the LIVESTRONG Challenge Manager, working with the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The Thiffault Family Audrey Swierbitowicz Sport Management Newsletter Fall

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