Dec. 5, 2006
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF Athletics Association, Inc. announced the hiring of Jason Horn as Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Promotions and the promotion of Matt DiFebo to Assistant Athletic Director for External Services.
Horn will oversee the marketing and promotions for UCF's 17 varsity programs as well as athletics licensing, spirit programs, in-game entertainment and serve as the liaison with ISP Sports.
DiFebo, in his second year with UCF Athletics, now oversees the areas of tickets sales and merchandising for the Golden Knights.
Horn comes to UCF from Bowling Green State University where he served as Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Corporate Relations. In that role, he oversaw the Falcons marketing and promotional strategies for its 18 varsity sports, corporate relations, ticket sales revenue and BGSU's 10-station radio network.
Prior to BGSU, Horn served as Assistant General Manager for the New Haven County (Conn.) Cutters of the Can-Am Baseball League in 2004-05. He was Director of Marketing and Corporate Relations for the Mobile (Ala.) Revelers of the NBA Development League during the 2001-02 season. He also was a Sales and Marketing Manager for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games from 1999-2001 in Salt Lake City.
On the collegiate level, Horn was the Director of Marketing and Promotions for Conference USA from 1997-99 and was an event and ticket sales assistant at the University of Miami (Fla.) from 1993-95. He also worked as an account executive for the Detroit Pistons and was a ticket and sales manager for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.
A 1991 graduate of Michigan, Horn, a native of Detroit, was an operations assistant for the Wolverine basketball program from 1990-93.
DiFebo's expanded responsibilities now include other external revenue streams, merchandising and new business development, in addition to UCF athletics ticket sales.
Since 2005, DiFebo had focused on establishing UCF's business model for ticket sales and customer service programs. Under his direction, the number of new season ticket sales have increased by over 6,500, and there has been an increase in football ticket sales revenue by over $2 million.
Before taking a position with UCF, DiFebo spent two years with the NBA's Seattle Sonics and WNBA's Seattle Storm as the Manager of Inside Sales for the Pacific Northwest's professional basketball franchises. His responsibilities with the company focused on the hiring, training and guiding of staff members in the Sonics and Storm's Inside Sales department. He was also responsible for the initial training and development of many of the professional sports organization's general salespeople.
Through the work of his Inside Sales Staff in 2003 and 2004, DiFebo helped generate a dramatic increase in ticket sales and revenue during a period in which the Sonics and the Storm were not playoff teams and required one-to-one, representative-to-client marketing. Through his specialized training in sales dialogue and messaging, DiFebo set aggressive sales goals that were quickly achieved by his focused, highly motivated staff. Committed to developing the talents of his sales personnel, many of DiFebo's former staff members have been trained and frequently promoted to positions throughout the sports industry.
Prior to his career in Seattle's professional sports community, DiFebo worked in a related role as Manager of Inside Sales for Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Similar to his position with the Sonics and Storm, DiFebo guided Tampa Bay's sales associate staff to successful campaigns in the selling of full season tickets, group packages and ticket plans to Devil Rays fans.
From October of 1997 to December of 2000, DiFebo worked for the Clinton Group, Inc. of Gainesville, Fla. where he served in various supervisory and sales roles. A native of Pennsylvania, DiFebo is a graduate of the University of Florida where he earned his Masters of Exercise Science and Sport Management and his Bachelors in Recreation. He serves on the Migala Report Editorial Board and the Board of Managers at the Central Florida YMCA. He is also involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Florida.
DiFebo and his wife, Joyce Lee, reside in downtown Orlando.
For the latest news and information on the Golden Knights, tickets or apparel, log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF athletics. Tickets for men's and women's basketball games are currently on-sale and are available by visiting www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 407-839-3900. Season tickets are also currently available by calling 407-UCF-1000.