TV executive and wrestling All-American Chris Bevilacqua to speak at Hofstra dinner on Dec. 9
Jim Sheehan Hofstra Univ.
12/06/2006

FORMER ALL-AMERICAN AND CSTV CO-FOUNDER CHRIS BEVILACQUA TO SPEAK AT HOFSTRA WRESTLING DINNER SATURDAY

HEMPSTEAD, New York - Chris Bevilacqua, a two-time All-American at Penn State University in the 1980s, and co-founder of College Sports Television (CSTV), will be the guest speaker at the 2006-07 Hofstra Wrestling Dinner this Saturday, December 9 at the Hofstra University Club in David S. Mack Hall at 6:30 p.m.

In addition, Hofstra Head Wrestling Coach Tom Shifflet and Penn State Head Wrestling Coach Troy Sunderland will talk about their teams leading up to Sunday's Pride-Nittany Lion match at the Mack Sports Complex at 1 p.m.

Bevilacqua, a leading sports television and marketing executive for the past 20 years, joined SCP Worldwide in August, 2006. He currently serves as a partner for the company whose holdings include the St. Louis Blues, the Scottrade Center, Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake, as well as Running Subway, a New York-based entertainment production company.

In 1999, Mr. Bevilacqua approached then partners and co-founders Brian Bedol and Steve Greenberg with an idea for a network featuring all college sports all the time and, soon thereafter, the CSTV: College Sports Television concept was born. Under his stewardship, CSTV became the leading digital and cable programming network dedicated to college and amateur sports developing a "multiple platform" concept that incorporated nearly 250 websites and broadband services for more than 13,000 events annually that helped to revolutionize program distribution. Launched on April, 7 2003 CSTV was acquired by the CBS Corporation in January of 2006 for $325 Million.

Prior to co-founding CSTV, Mr. Bevilacqua served as director, global negotiations and league affairs at Nike, Inc., negotiating sponsorship, television and licensing partnerships with professional league offices, including the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS and the WNBA as well as professional sports teams among the likes of the Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders, Boston Celtics and Detroit Red Wings. Mr. Bevilacqua also was responsible for helping Nike to establish it's leadership position in college sports through broad based partnerships with many NCAA Division I schools such as Florida, Michigan, USC, Penn State, Kentucky, Florida State, St. John's, etc, as well as international governing bodies including the USSF, IIHF, USATF and the USOC. The deals totaled over $1 billion in commitments and included the landmark deal to put the ubiquitous 'swoosh' insignia on all Dallas Cowboy uniforms.

Prior to Nike, Bevilacqua served as director, corporate sponsorships for The Baseball Network (TBN), a revolutionary and groundbreaking joint venture between Major League Baseball (MLB) and the NBC and ABC television networks. At TBN, he helped develop and launch the network's sales and marketing department and secured advertisers such as Anheuser Busch, General Motors, MCI, Nike, Reebok, Texaco and Gatorade.

Earlier, Bevilacqua was a manager of sports programming for NBC Sports where he worked on several high-profile program acquisitions including the NFL, MLB, NBA, Olympics and college sports. Before joining NBC Sports, he was an independent sports TV producer during which time he was honored with an Emmy Award for his work as an associate producer of the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.

A native of Massapequa, NY, Bevilacqua holds a B.S. in marketing from The Pennsylvania State University. Bevilacqua was an NCAA All-American wrestler in 1984 and 1985, a three-time (1984-86) Eastern Wrestling League champion, team captain for the Nittany Lions, and also captured a gold medal at the 1983 United States Espoir Wrestling Championships.

Chris is also the son the of former Hofstra Head Wrestling Coach Al Bevilacqua, who coached the Pride from 1977 through 1980.

Tickets for the Dinner are priced at $100 each, and can be reserved by calling Mark Cox at 516-463-6144.