Sport Management Club to host fifth Charity Sports Auction
Syracuse University’s Sport Management Club will host its fifth annual Charity Sports Auction this Saturday in the Carrier Dome.
The event is taking place in the fall semester to attract a larger crowd, said Joey Persoff, club president and a senior sport management major.
‘We wanted to put it with a basketball game,’ Persoff said. ‘We definitely want to make more than we did in the past and that’s why we switched it.’
This is the first year that the auction is being held in the winter. The past four years it has been held in the spring and has featured a prominent figure in the sports world as its keynote speaker.
Past speakers have included former baseball player Jim Abbott, quarterback Donovan McNabb, NBA legend Bill Walton and sports agent David Falk, an SU alumnus.
This year the club will hold a dinner in the spring with a speaker instead of having one come to the auction. Saturday’s auction will begin at 5 p.m. in the backcourt. The auction will benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central New York. The auction will feature a wide array of donated items, including memorabilia from professional to college sports, gift cards, a Vera Wang mattress and vacations up for bidding.
Up to 300 items are up for bid, including an autographed Hank Aaron rookie card, which is expected to be among the top items. Prices will range from $25 to nearly $1,000. The bidding will take place before the game and during halftime.
‘It’s pretty remarkable how many items we’ve raised in the last two months,’ Persoff said.
The auction will also feature university items, including autographed memorabilia from Carmelo Anthony and McNabb.
There are plenty of items available for college students in all of the categories, including a Wii video game console.
‘There’s stuff for everybody. It’s not just sports stuff,’ said Kate Futrell, 2010 auction chair and manager of the career center and event planning for the Department of Sport Management.
The club has been working all year to put the auction on, as it is one of its biggest events of the year.
Past auctions have averaged a profit of $25,000, Futrell said, but this year’s auction aims to take in $35,000.
Published on December 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Contact Rachel: rnmarcus@syr.edu
