Your involvement is needed-PHIT Act of 2009

For your convenience, a sample action letter and links to your U.S. Representatives and Senators is below.

“The Personal Health Investment Today (PHIT) Act of 2009”
(H.R. 2105)
A bill to promote increased physical activity to improve health in America.

What is PHIT?
PHIT is legislation pending in Congress to allow for reimbursement of physical activity expenses using pre-tax dollars. PHIT would reduce the costs of physical activity to encourage healthier lifestyles.

How does PHIT work?
PHIT would allow taxpayers to place up to $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for families a year in existing pre-tax medical accounts for reimbursement of physical activity expenses; lower costs will promote active lifestyles and improve the health of Americans.

Covered expenses include:
· Youth camp & physical activity fees
· Membership and dues in a health club
· Exercise/fitness classes or instruction (personal trainer)
· Sports league fees (adult and youth)
· Marathon/Triathlon registration fees
· Equipment used exclusively for participation in physical exercise/activities

HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP…Please forward this email to your affiliates—leagues, coaches, families for action. Contact Congress now and let them know you want PHIT included in healthcare reform as a form of prevention. A sample action letter along with links to U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators is provided below.

HERE IS THE LINK TO FIND YOUR U.S. SENATORS…For a complete list of United States Senators including their name, address, phone numbers, and email addresses and home pages. http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

HERE IS THE LINK TO FIND YOUR U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES…For a complete list of United States Congressmen including their name, address, phone numbers, and email addresses and home pages. http://www.house.gov/writerep/

PHIT's goal to encourage active, healthy lifestyles and prevent illness make it an attractive option as Congress considers ways to reform health care and reduce medical expenditures. Let's blast the U.S. Congress with emails, faxes, and phone calls to support PHIT.

For additional information on PHIT please go to www.ncys.org/govrelations.html or go to www.getphit.sgma.com for details.

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HERE IS THE SAMPLE ACTION LETTER FOR YOU TO SEND TO YOUR U.S. REPRESENTATIVES AND U.S. SENATORS.

Date ________________

Dear Representative or Senator ______________________:

I want to commend you and your colleagues for making Health Care Reform a priority and ask for your support of initiatives to promote physical activity to improve health and reduce health care costs in America. Legislation introduced in the House, H.R. 2105 “The Personal Health Investment Today (PHIT) Act of 2009” will prevent illness and improve health in America by encouraging more active lifestyles. It is well known that increased physical activity and a better diet are the keys to avoid sickness and a more healthy life. I hope you will support the PHIT legislation as it works through committees to Congressional floor votes.

Changes to our health care model are long overdue. Our current system focuses almost exclusively on treating illness once you become sick which has led to significantly higher medical costs. As Congress works to reform our health care system, it is critical to include initiatives that will lead to more active, healthy lifestyles in order to reduce future spending. PHIT will increase physical activity in America by making it more affordable. Much like our health care system as a whole, pre-tax medical accounts are primarily limited to reimbursements of expenses once you become sick. PHIT changes this outdated approach by making prevention of illness through physical activity a reimbursable expense. If we continue down the current path, the CDC projects that by 2015 $1 of $5 generated in the U.S. will be spent on health care. Our economy simply cannot afford this expense; we need to do more to promote better health in America. A 2003 report by the World Health Organization reinforced the economic benefits of physical activity in the U.S.: “Investing in physical activity programs will lead to economic savings…in the U.S. an investment of $1 in physical activity leads to $3.20 in medical cost savings.” It’s no coincidence that the dramatic growth in health care spending has paralleled the rise in obesity and sedentary lifestyles in America. Currently 2 out of 3 people in the U.S. are overweight or obese. With the incidence of expensive chronic illnesses significantly higher among the obese, we must encourage physical activity to reverse the trend toward sedentary lifestyles and obesity in order to reduce health care expenditures. America needs to get PHIT! Support prevention through increased physical activity. Thank you for your time and consideration of this proposal to help address America’s health care problem.

Sincerely,
Name
Title
Organization

Rooney Rule

The NFL has adopted the Rooney Rule for front office personnel. Currently five minorities occupy top executive positions in the league. While I support hiring the best person for the job, just having playing experience does not mean someone can be the CEO of a billion dollar company. The athlete landscape is replete with former players who are broke becuase they were unable to run their own financial affairs, let alone be responsible to numerous stakeholders such as employees, sponsors, etc... Through training an executive can be born. Thus, any athlete who has played, taken courses, worked at the lowest level up to the top gets my nod and support. In contrast, I remeber a former player indicating that when he retired he wanted to be a General Manager of an NFL team. The athlete had not graduated from college, but felt that he should be given the shot at a GM position. My feeling is that anyone, regardless of their background, who has paid their dues should be given a chance. If you have a degree in sport management, have taken a large number of business classes, worked all the grunt jobs (i.e. pulling the tarp if you know what I mean), and paid your dues, you should be given preference over anyone else who is given the interview just becuase they fit a certain statistical category.

What are your thoughts?
Gil-

Account Executive Position

The Gazelle Group, a leading sports marketing and event production firm located in Princeton, NJ is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Account Executive, available immediately. Currently, we are looking for highly-motivated and organized applicants to handle sponsorship sales for several high-profile, college basketball tournaments (Performance-based commissions will be available). In addition to these responsibilities, applicants will also be expected to assume a crucial role in event planning and implementation.
Additional job requirements are listed below:
- Strong communication skills (both written and verbal)- Exceptional organizational skills- Outstanding interpersonal skills- Willingness to take on a visible role while working in a small team environment- The ability to work under pressure- Proficiency with MS Office applications- Travel is required (10-25%) - 2-3 years of sponsorship or related sales experience- Prior experience in event planning or coordination is helpful

If you are aware of any interested candidates, please have them forward a cover letter and resume to employment@gazellegroup.com.
More information about our company and our events can be found at www.GazelleGroup.com.
Thank you,

Chelsea Molyneaux
The Gazelle Group, Inc.475 Wall StreetPrinceton, NJ 08540Ph: (609) 921-1300Fx: (609) 921-2332

Good site

The Sport Business Education Network is a good start for those looking for some basic information. The blog contains a lot of self promotion, but also lists some jobs/internships and can be a great start.

Gil-

http://www.sben.org/

New Direction

I initially changed my blog to reflect international sport related issues. I had talked with a number of people who were going to help contribute stories to try and develop a truly international flavor. that has not really worked.

Thus, I am relaunching the blog to focus on one of my key areas of responsibilities- finding jobs and internships for those currently in or wishing to go into the sport industry.

Here is a sample and I will try to regularly post various links to web sites or post tips/hints about getting a job in the sport industry.
Gil-

Utah Flash Director of Sales
(If you are interested in this position please send Scott Mayo a LinkedIn message) Responsibilities: • Marketing corporate packages comprised of in-arena signage, promotions, community-based initiatives and/or corporate hospitality elements. • Selling and marketing of all related season, mini-plan, group, premium ticket packages as assigned. • Sell through outbound sales calls, via phone and face-to-face sales presentations. • Develop and constantly grow a database comprised of major corporations, medium and smaller-sized businesses, and individual prospects through various professional prospecting and networking efforts throughout the community. • Maintaining accurate daily call reports. • Attend weekly staff sales meetings and regular coaching/training sessions. • Monitor, manage, train and motivate an account executive team of 4 sales reps. • Develop working knowledge of franchise’s ticketing software. • Communicate and share pertinent sales information with AE team • Entertain clients and prospects at all home games and road games as needed. • Develop and enhance annual renewal/up-sell campaigns for season, group and mini-plan customers. • Maintain weekly sales report updates for Senior Management and central accounting office. • Participate in other related franchise marketing, sales and event projects as assigned. • Assist CR and/or game operations staff on game nights and at in-market appearances/promotions/community events. Ideal Candidate will be: • Professional, aggressive individual willing to lead by example. • Comfortable and confident on the phone or in individual/group presentation settings. • Strong communication and computer skills (Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint preferred). • Detail-oriented and organized; ability to handle several projects at once. • Documented sports sales experience (minimum of 2-3 years) with a collegiate, minor league and/or professional sports team is preferred. • Passionate about basketball and willing to promote the product consistently throughout the marketplace. • Has excellent listening and relationship selling skills. • Earned a four-year undergraduate degree in business, marketing or a related field.