US OPEN POLO MATCHES PREMIER ON NBC SPORTS NETWORK FEATURING
LOCAL TALENT ON SUNDAY APRIL 28 from 2:30 – 430pm
CONTACT: Alan
Edstrom alan@saratogapolo.com (518)
260-7274
OR Jim Rossi jrossi@saratogapolo.com (518)
584-8108
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW
YORK – On Sunday, April 28th, the NBC Sports Network will be
broadcasting as Maserati presents the US Open Polo Championship from the
International Polo Club in Wellington, Florida, and two major sports
professionals from the Capital Region, Jim Rossi, the Managing Partner of
Saratoga Polo, along with four-time Emmy Award Winning Director Jim Carr and
Bob Hughes from Carr-Hughes Productions, are bringing it to TV.
Association, was named the Chief Marketing Officer of the U.S. Polo
Association, and saw an opportunity to bring the sport of polo to a larger
audience. “If you look at all the elements that the sport of polo has; a fast
pace, fantastic human and equine athletes, a party atmosphere in the stands
along with all the marketing partnership opportunities, this is ready made for
a TV breakthrough,” said Rossi. “We also knew right away with NBC Sports as a
broadcast partner, that Carr-Hughes Productions, an Emmy Award winning producer
of sports, and our neighbors here in Saratoga Springs, was the perfect team to
bring the sport of polo to the big time.”
knows, having presented world-class polo for almost a decade at Whitney Field
in Greenfield Center along with his business partner Mike Bucci), with all the
logistical challenges of presenting a premier match in Florida with producing
commercials, getting clearances, outfitting teams, choosing on-air analysts and
polo aficionados like John Walsh from “America’s Most Wanted” (who makes a
special cameo), ramps up the pressure to eleven.
Polo Association, “Jim has a great support team of professionals at the USPA
who know the sport. Bob Hughes and Jim Carr are unparalleled in TV Sports, and
the marketing apparel partners at U.S.POLO ASSN. are a major sponsor of the
broadcast.”
together, “If it seems like a lot of these marketing pieces sound familiar to
Saratoga Polo Association fans, it’s because our staff and team at Saratoga
have been testing these opportunities out over the years, and figuring out what
works, and what doesn’t,, and now all of these partnerships from around the
world and around the corner are coming together in a national broadcast that
benefits the sport of polo and brings it forward in a new and exciting way. We
couldn’t be more proud.”
International Polo Club in Wellington, Florida on Sunday, April 28th
at 2:30pm on the NBC Sports Network presented by the United States Polo
Association, and U.S. POLO ASSN., a JRA brand, and the official apparel partner
of the USPA.
Sunday April 28th at the Holiday Inn Saratoga Springs at Bookmakers
Lounge with a cash bar available.
ABOUT JIM
ROSSI
As part of his
new duties at the USPA, Jim will be looking at nationwide strategies to promote
and market polo, creating opportunities for new audiences in a sport that has
been played in the United States for over 150 years. “The audience for polo
across the United States has grown in leaps and bounds, especially in the last
ten years, and as the Chief Marketing Officer, I am looking at new and exciting
ways to expand the brand.” Rossi’s continuing leadership at Saratoga Polo as
well as his background as a business and marketing strategist for groups the
Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, American Express, AT&T, GE Financial
Assurance, Hilton, Home Depot, IBM, NASA, NASCAR and SeaWorld, make him a
perfect choice for the new and developing markets for the USPA.
“The USPA has
been growing phenomenally recently, and the successful programs that have been
developed at Saratoga Polo joined together with the amazing work done at
hundreds of partnerships at other polo venues certainly offers great
opportunities for polo nation wide.”
Jim, a graduate of
Skidmore College, in Saratoga Springs, New Yorks, is also actively involved in
the local community and has served on the boards of directors of Creative Place
International, Saratoga PLAN, the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation and
the Skidmore College Strategic Communications Advisory Board.