New School of Management student organization explores the business of sports

While business administration majors Kieran Rose and Julien Alegre first met at an Admitted Students Open House, they didn’t speak again until they were case competition teammates during their first year in Binghamton University’s School of Management.

By the end of the competition, Rose, Alegre and teammate Frank Porcasi were ready to create a new student club.

“I remember the exact moment we came up with the idea,” Alegre said. “I was sitting in C4 and Kieran came in and said, ‘There’s nothing sports management-related to do on this campus,’ and I said, ‘Okay, why don’t we just start our own club?’”

The three set out to create the Sports Management Group (SMG), despite the extra workload and challenges that came with the process. Rose said that his passion for sports and Alegre’s entrepreneurial skills are what made the organization possible.

“We had to go through a long process to get provincially chartered with the Student Association,” Rose said. “It was a lot. We had to get signatures and we had to draft a constitution, but it was something we really wanted to do.”

And they pulled it off in just two months.

Rose is SMG’s president, with Alegre and Porcasi serving as co-vice presidents. The trio selected seven other students to form an executive board.

“Kieran and I are used to being interviewed for positions, but being on the other side of the table and interviewing people and then deciding who we were going to work with was kind of fun,” Alegre said.

Believing that the best way to spread sports management knowledge is to hear directly from professionals, the SMG leadership created a speaker series.

Each of the group’s monthly meetings is dedicated to a different topic within sports management, with at least one professional per month coming in to speak on that topic. Recent speakers include:

• Jonathan Kliment, director of media relations and broadcasting at CAN-USA Sports
• Jeremy Donovan, video production coordinator for intercollegiate athletics at Binghamton University
• Alicia Marinelli, founder and president of Living Sport LLC
• Sofia Beltran, manager of media affairs at the NFL

Christopher Levins, a first-year business administration major, said the speaker series has been very helpful.

“[The speaker series] helps me understand how to get into these kinds of positions,” Levins said. “If I choose to go into the sports industry, these are paths and network opportunities that I’ll have to get into similar positions.”

Levins has already used the club and its speaker series to give himself an advantage while exploring the sports management world.

“I actually have an upcoming interview through a connection I got through the group,” Levins said. “It wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for this club.”

While the speaker series is the club’s current major focus, Rose and Alegre have other goals and hope to eventually start an introductory sports management class for Binghamton students.

The two students, now sophomores, believe starting the club has made them better leaders. They hope to use their next few years at Binghamton to solidifying a name and reputation for the Sports Management Group.

Levins said that he’s pleased with the club’s leadership because of how much they’ve done for him.

“They’ve been looking out for me, helping me, guiding me through my first year in college,” Levins said. “They’ve been mentors to me.”