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Sport Business
Sport Management Newsletter
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.
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Fall 2010
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 2009-10 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.
New Haven Sport Business Update
Faculty Update
Internship Spotlight
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.
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
Major initiatives begun by the department include:
• Restructuring the curriculum and adding several new classes
ESPN
• Chairing the task force to restructure the College of Business
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
Connecticut Defenders
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.
Bridgeport SoundTigers
• 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.
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.
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Sport Management Newsletter
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Fall 2010
Philadelphia Flyers
University of New Haven Athletics
Toad’s Place
Binghamton Mets
Star Struck
Torrington Twisters
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
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Fall 2010
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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.
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Fall 2010
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.”
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 2010-11 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
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Fall 2010
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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
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Sport Management Newsletter
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Fall 2010
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.
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 2009-10 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
www.irwin.com/challenge 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.
Matthew Fealey, M.S. ‘07, Matt is a Marketing
Coordinator with the New York Mets.
Jennifer Michels, B.S. ‘07, Jen is working with
Logistics/Security Forces with the U.S. Air
Force Reserves.
Tom Gaudioso, M.S. ‘07, Tom is the
Coordinator of After School Programs
at Common Ground High School,
New Haven CT.
Be Thi Nguyen, M.S. ‘07, Be is an Instructor,
teaching tourism and sport management
classes at Hoa Sen University of HCMC
in Vietnam.
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.
Francis Otto, B.S. ‘96, Fran is the Brand
Manager with The Hive Strategic Marketing.
Ashley Kitchens, M.B.A. ‘09, (formerly Hill)
Ashley is the Camp Director for the
Adventure Unit with the South Windsor
Recreation Department.
Pam Pillo, M.S. ‘09, Pam, who just got
married in June, is the Assistant Director
of Graduate Admissions at Sacred
Heart University.
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.
The Thiffault Family
Audrey
Swierbitowicz
AnneMarie Rickes, M.B.A. ‘06,
AnneMarie is a Marketing Specialist with the
LIVESTRONG Challenge
Manager, working with the Lance
Armstrong Foundation.
Sport Management Newsletter
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Fall 2010
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Sport Management
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