MATT VOLZ
Sports Editor
Who knew the best ideas could come from FredFest?
Indeed, the weekend last May provided two sport management majors the inspiration to bring back a club that had been dormant for a few years.
Mason Neale and Alex Smith were hanging out that weekend, blowing off steam from a long semester.
They had both gone to Las Vegas for Super Bowl 58 in February, and from there the two had the idea to bring Sport Management Club back.
Since the Spring semester was essentially over by then, the two made a plan to lay the groundwork beginning in the Fall.
Neale became president of the club, and Smith became the vice president. They brought in fellow juniors Rachel Bayer and Riker Smith as secretary and treasurer, respectively.
“I really want[ed] to get the club back up and running,” Neale said to Dr. Kerry Fischer, the club’s adviser. “And I think I know the people who can help me.”
Fischer, a sport management professor, had technically served as the adviser for multiple years.
But with no students to run the club, Fischer said she was unable to get it off the ground.
“I needed students who were willing to put in the effort, and I’m glad I finally have them,” she said.
For a group just starting out, the club is already bringing in some notable guest speakers.
Mark Washo, a Fredonia alum and former adjunct professor, spoke to the club in September about his experience in the world of sport management.
Washo owns Freedom Sports and Entertainment (FSE), a Rochester-based agency that Neale interned for over the summer.
“They’re already using their connections to find people to talk to the club,” Fischer said of her E-board.
Danny Markino, manager of football communications for the Chicago Bears, and a relative of Bayer’s, is speaking to the club on Wednesday, Oct. 2.
After Markino, the club is planning to bring in Marc Witt, general manager of Elmira-based CAN-USA Sports.
Witt was Alex Smith’s internship boss over the summer with the Elmira Pioneers, a collegiate-level summer league baseball team.
Witt is speaking to the club on Thursday, Oct. 17.
All of these guest speakers were scheduled within the first few weeks of the semester.
“I’m so impressed with what they have done in the last three weeks,” Fischer said. “I’m just blown away by their initiative.”
The group is also working on planning a trip to Highmark Stadium later in the semester.
It would include a tour of the stadium and a networking event with members of the Buffalo Bills front office.
Alex Smith said the trip will likely be in November, and that there is already significant interest among students.
He said the group is also considering planning other events, such as a tour of KeyBank Center, a trip to March Madness in the spring or a 3-on-3 basketball tournament.
“We want to grow the outreach of events that we can cover,” he said.
In order to be considered for the Highmark Stadium trip, however, he said students must be members of the club and must attend at least one meeting and speaker event.
“I think that’s a smart idea,” Fischer said. “It’s a way to recruit.”
Fischer and the students hope that the emergence of the club will help promote the school’s sport management program.
“The club is, in theory, going to make being in the major better and get students excited about all the possibilities that are out there in sports,” Fischer said.
However, students don’t have to be sport management majors or minors to be in the club.
“We’re making it really inclusive,” said Alex Smith. “We’re trying to grow people’s networks of connections that they have in the industry.”
In the past, the club was responsible for the annual Super Bowl trip, and only club members could go.
“I don’t know that I necessarily want to go back to that,” Fischer said. “But [having the club] is a good place to start.”
Sport Management Club is active on Instagram. They can be found at @fred_spmgclub.
Fischer said the students started the page on their own, and it’s run entirely by them.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better group of students to bring this up off the ground and get it up and running again,” Fischer said. “I’m excited to see where they go with it.”
While Fredonia doesn’t have the sport management reputation of schools like SUNY Cortland, the program has been on the upswing in recent years, and the hope is that it will continue to soar with Sport Management Club.