By Andrew Scharff
University Athletics has 18 Division-I teams that are widely known around campus. There is one team, however, that many don’t know of. This team has a manager who stands on the sidelines during all games and he even comes in with a plan 20 pages long. This is the sports Marketing Department and its Director of Marketing and Promotions, Jesse Bonfiglio.
Bonfiglio, who came to the University in 2003 from St. John’s University, and was an undergraduate marketing assistant with the Johnnies. Here he runs a department which overlooks the ticket prices and packages, sets up the promotions and most importantly tries to make the public aware of Pride Athletics and by getting them tocome watch the action.
“I find a way to reach fans, reach the public and make the public more aware,” Bonfiglio said. “I try to put people in the seats.”
Bonfiglio, who is the only full-time member of the department, works very closely with his graduate assistant Joe Portigiano, work study employees and volunteers. They have a very good relationship which in turn leads to results.
“Joe is not a partner. He’s more like a brother. He was a good find,” Bonfiglio said.
Both Bonfiglio and Portigiano are doing a great job setting up the promotions and drawing people to athletic games.
“They are doing a great job,” Athletic Director Jack Hayes said. “They have full support of the coaches, athletes and students. We all appreciate the environment they have created here at home. The best time to market and promote your team is when they are good. They have an opportunity.”
Bonfiglio and Portigiano are most certainly taking advantage of their opportunity, drawing crowds bigger than usual for men’s and women’s basketball and men’s soccer, which Hayes used as an example to show how their work paid off. Hayes and his staff submitted a bid to host an NCAA Tournament soccer game and it was granted as the committee chose Providence to visit the University in the first round of NCAA Tournament.
In the men’s basketball games Bonfiglio was able to get more than 1,000 students to attend the Feb. 2 game against Old Dominion. They set up a “Welcome Back Students” night with promotions geared toward the students such as giving away cash prizes, TVs, DVDs, cameras and students participate in on-court promos. At the time the ODU game set a record for amount of students at game. The games against George Mason and Drexel drew higher crowds including a near sellout for the Drexel game.
On a normal day not many people would come to the arena to watch these meaningless games, but Bonfiglio and his staff were able to draw big crowds as there were over 3,000 kids in attendance for Girl Scout Day and another 1,500 kids in attendance for “What I Want to Be” day.
He also reaches out to CYO teams around the community by letting them play at halftime. “Eight minutes on the floor of a Division I floor, and they think they are in the pros,” Bonfiglio said.
Not only do they work with community groups, they also align themselves with big businesses from Long Island. In the past, they have set up promotions with GEICO Direct, State Farm Insurance and most notably sponsored the Boswell Deli’s Wingszone.
Both Bonfiglio and Portigiano lead two different lives. During a normal day both men are making phone calls to numerous groups and businesses to set up future promotions. During game day they are either rolling up T-shirts that are thrown in to the crowd or finalizing their 25 page script, which dictates every thing during a game, from announcements to promos and entertainment.