TED LESHINSKI
Sports Public Relations and Communications
Clients and Organizations
The 2008 Winter Classic (first-ever NHL outdoor game): For the historic event, I drafted the initial press release, set-up and coordinated interviews between Commissioner Gary Bettman and national media, and produced publicity value report measuring dollar value of public relations impact.
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The PGA TOUR event “The Barclays” (formerly The Westchester Classic) is the first leg of the FedEx Cup (the PGA TOUR’s playoff system) and is currently held at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, NJ.
While serving as an account executive for The Hamilton Group, a sports public relations and marketing agency in New York City, I served on the special events PR team, contracted by Barclays Global Financial, to oversee publicity for the prestigious golf tournament. My responsibilities with the Barclays’ PR team for the tournament were divided into two areas: pre event and during the event.
In the months leading up to The Barclays, I primarily focused on a branding initiative through digital media outlets. The tournament was officially known as “The Westchester Classic” and then “The Barclays Classic” for the previous 40 years. As a result, many digital media outlets (ESPN.com, SI.com, PGA.com, etc.) were listing or identifying the tournament by an incorrect name.
correctly and uniformly – The Barclays. I switched focus when the five-day tournament commenced and became the liaison between Barclays President Bob Diamond and the media.
Mr. Diamond made himself available for media requests during the tournament. My role was to communicate his availability to the media, gauge interest, brief both the media and Mr. Diamond, and coordinate interviews. Immediately following the conclusion of the tournament’s final day, in conjunction with the PGA TOUR's media relations department, I drafted the press release announcing the winner and final overall standings.
The New Haven County Cutters were a minor league baseball team from New Haven, CT. A member of the Can-Am League, the Cutters played their home games at Historic Yale Field. The organization left New Haven and relocated in the fall of 2007.
As director of public relations for the Cutters, I oversaw and managed all team and business communications. I also served as stadium public address announcer and team official scorer.
The Cutters had no public relations outreach or strategy prior to my arrival, so my immediate priority as director of public relations was to introduce and establish a PR presence in Connecticut.
Aside from local New Haven media, I researched, developed and established media contacts throughout the team’s identified market (primarily Hartford and Bridgeport) and began securing placements in numerous newspapers, radio, television and digital media outlets.
I directed the team’s media relations and all PR that surrounded the players, coaches and manager by writing and distributing game notes, post game stories and articles for programs. I supervised the press box and attended to team’s beat writer and visiting media.
Aside from securing media placements regarding game results and player news, I coordinated PR outreach for numerous promotional events including:
Along with managing and updating the team’s Web site, I utilized many PR tools and avenues to gain publicity for the organization. Among them included maintaining a weekly newsletter, writing and voicing radio spots (aired locally), managing a blog and emceeing and guest speaking at numerous area events.
contact for seven NCAA Division I athletic programs.
For each athletic program, I was responsible for:
• Developing and maintaining relationships with appropriate media
• Writing, designing and the overall publication of the team media guides and programs
• Writing post game stories and both distributing to media and posting to GW sports Web site
• Researching and writing bios for each coach and athlete for media guide inclusion and Web site positing
• Tallying and recording team and individual player statistics for media distribution, posting on GW sports Web site and archival purposes
• Writing and producing feature stories to pitch to media for PR placements
Among the athletic programs I represented was baseball where, along with my general sports information responsibilities, I served as ballpark public address announcer, team official scorer and music coordinator.
Other above and beyond duties I performed as a sports information assistant included:
• Hosting and emceeing annual Senior Honors Lunch for senior athletes and their families, coaches, athletic director, other administrators and faculty. The events were attended by more than 500 people each year.
• Hosting and emceeing annual end-of-season dinner for nationally-ranked women’s basketball program. The dinner and ceremony was attended by more than 100 people each year and included players and their families, coaches, athletic director, other administrators and faculty.
• Served as secondary contact for nationally-ranked men’s basketball team. Among my responsibilities were serving as game shot-clock operator, alternate public address announcer and post-game press conference coordinator (usually attended by more than 15 local and national media members).
As a sports information assistant in the George Washington University Athletic Department (Washington, DC), I primarily served as the media relations
Prior to its closing in February 2009, the 19-gallery Sports Museum featured state-of-the-art interactive attractions, dramatic original films and an iconic collection of over 1,000 sports artifacts and memorabilia items.
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iPhones and gaming devices. The cordless charger is shaped like a Blackberry, but smaller. Turbo Charge is lightweight and compact enough to fit into a small purse, backpack, briefcase or small pocket.
While serving as an account executive for The Hamilton Group, a sports public relations and marketing agency in New York City, I was responsible for researching and developing appropriate media lists to pitch and secure placements.
digital media outlets.
I also developed media kits and created “sample packages” for appropriate media and distributed accordingly. Included in the “sample package” distribution were anticipated media attending the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, NV. Media attending CES that received Turbo Charge samples and press kits were then pitched face-to-face at the event.
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Lifestyle and Entertainment (Non-Traditional) Media Guide: In an effort to reach non-traditional NHL media (lifestyle, entertainment, features), I created and distributed to appropriate
As director of public relations I also managed the organization’s community relations efforts. A very successful PR initiative I created while leveraging community relations was a program called
The 2007-08 All-Star Game: To increase publicity and promote the event, I set-up and coordinated interviews for both Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and national media. I also produced publicity value report measuring dollar value of public relations impact.
The Sports Museum of America was the nation’s first-ever all-sports museum located in downtown New York City. The $100 million sports and events attraction was created in exclusive partnership with more than 50 single-sport Halls of Fame, national governing bodies and other sports organizations across North America.
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While serving as public relations manger, I successfully directed an external PR team (Rubenstein Communications) to secure strong media coverage from virtually every metro New York-area television station, numerous local and regional newspapers, sports and travel publications, Web sites, blogs, and national television shows like ESPN’s First Take and Live with
Regis and Kelly.
Other areas of PR I was responsible for included managing the media for more than 25 special events hosted by the Sports Museum. These events featured major athlete/celebrity appearances, among them included: Don Mattingly, Joe Frazier, Justin Tuck, Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Golden Spikes Award Ceremony (USA Baseball) and MLB and Chinese National Baseball Team joint event (pre Olympic event).
I led more than 50 media tours, serving as Sports Museum spokesperson, where I communicated PR messaging points and guided media to portray organization in most beneficial way for sports industry and potential visitors and customers.
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While serving as an account executive for The Hamilton Group, a sports public relations and marketing agency in New York City, I represented the National Hockey League for a number of projects including:
media an NHL Media Guide. Working with the NHL’s director of communications, I wrote copy, selected pages and directed a graphic designer in the production of 1,000 guides.
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Turbo Charge is a portable, reusable charger applicable for most cell phones, iPods,
I was very successful in creating stories (PR placements) for Turbo Charge in a number of sports-lifestyle, entertainment and travel publications along with gadget blogs and other
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The client, spending millions of sponsorship dollars on the event, needed to have the tournament referred to
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“Cutters Baseball: Off the Field and in the Community”.
The program garnered tremendous PR buzz for the organization. Another PR initiative I created and implemented was Media Day. A few days prior to the start of the season, I arranged an event (and lunch) at the stadium where I invited all area media to visit the players, coaches, manager, general manager and team owner following a workout.
Aside from setting up and monitoring all interviews, I created bio booklets for the players and the overall team and distributed to all media.
I also researched, wrote copy and emceed annual “Senior Day” for graduating players on the final home game of the season (attended by more than 100 people each year).
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• American Idol singers Ace Young and William Hung
• Oil Can Boyd’s Traveling All-Stars barnstorming team featuring former Major League players)
• The Legendary King and His Court (world-famous traveling softball team)
• Grammy Award nominee singer “Jana”
