Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Athletics Names Michael Smith
1/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | General
Jan. 26, 2011
BOCA RATON, FL - Michael Smith has been named Florida Atlantic University's associate athletics director for corporate sales.
Smith's efforts will be concentrated in corporate sales as related to the 30,000-seat on-campus football stadium scheduled to open in October.
Smith came to FAU from Telesouth Communications, Inc. where he served as the director of college sports properties since 2008. He was responsible for the properties at Ole Miss, Mississippi State University, and Jackson State University. In that role, Smith handled $3.3 million in total royalty in 2009, $3.5 million in total revenue collected in 2008 and more than 100 corporate sponsors. He assisted the Ole Miss Athletic fund-raising to increase group ticket sales in men's basketball by 15 percent, as well as ticket sales for the 2009 AT&T Cotton Bowl, along with the 2009 Ole Miss baseball NCAA regional and super regional ticket sales. Smith gained his licensee experience from 2005-2007 with Schutt Sports, Inc., where he was responsible for business development, management and execution of a $2.7 million sales goal for the fiscal year of 2005-06, a 25 percent increase from the previous year.
Prior to Schutt Sports, Smith worked for one year at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as the director of external relations for athletics and public affairs. He moved to UNC-Greensboro after a four-year stint with Learfield Communications, Inc. where his primary responsibility was with Tar Heel sports marketing. He has also worked with International Sports Properties and the IBM Corporation.
Smith received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from North Carolina State University in 1995.
The FAU stadium is the centerpiece of FAU's Innovation Village, located in the north central area of campus. Home of the Owl football team, the open-air stadium, a $70 million project, is slated to feature 6,000 premium seats, including 24 suites, 26 loge boxes, 1,000 premier club seats and 4,000 priority club seats, and the latest, state-of-the-art amenities.
For more information on the stadium, visit www.faustadium.com. To purchase season tickets, call 1-866-FAU-Owls.
