Positive Impact Celebrates 25 Years as Leading Sports and Events Firm While Receiving Local and National Awards for Excellence
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Information Contact:
William Tuccillo
609-395-1972 ext. 103
Email: btuccillo@positiveimpact.net
CRANBURY, NJ – The mark of successful companies is their ability to be creative, to be relevant, to transcend and to continuously grow, made especially difficult in the highly competitive sports and entertainment marketplace. Positive Impact has done just that as it marks its 25th Anniversary as an international leader in the sports and entertainment industry.
The firm’s first assignment twenty-five years ago was to sell group tickets for a local Division 1 collegiate sports team which evolved into securing clients that span six continents and seventeen countries, becoming one of the most skilled and influential consulting groups in the World. “We have added new clients and expanded and extended relationships with existing clients, offering a broader bandwidth of services that delivers extraordinary success for our partners” said Allyson Rowe, Part-Owner, President and Chief Operating Officer of Positive Impact.
Among the firm’s recent accomplishments, Positive Impact extended agreements with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and RWJBarnabas Health, while also adding new services under those agreements, executing nearly 300 branding and promotional assignments each year. The firm increased fundraising efforts for Team Walker, a non-profit based out of Jersey City, NJ that provides academic and recreation programs for inner-city youth and completed their 8th consecutive year producing basketball operations and commercial fulfillment assignments for the BIG3 Professional Basketball League, founded by Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz. Additionally, to commemorate twenty-five years as an industry leader, Positive Impact organized a charity golf outing, with proceeds benefiting a local foundation.
NJBIZ has just recognized Positive Impact as one of the BEST PLACES TO WORK IN NEW JERSEY. Said Allyson Rowe, “We are appreciative and thank NJBIZ for this recognition. It’s a testament to our entire team of professionals who work tirelessly each day, treating every event like it’s the Super Bowl. What truly makes this a special honor is that the recognition is based on employee feedback and company culture.” And, just announced, Positive Impact has also been named one of AMERICA’S BEST WORKPLACES in 2026 by Best Companies Group.
Positive Impact boasts Principals at the firm who have unmatched experience in the industry. Michael Rowe, Founder and CEO of the firm, has a career spanning four decades. He is the former President, Chief Operating Officer and part-owner of the New Jersey Nets and was also the highly successful Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Meadowlands Sports Complex. He was responsible for the execution of thousands of public events and has hosted millions of spectators at such large-scale events as the 1994 FIFA World Cup, a Papal visit by Pope John Paul II in 1995, the 1996 NCAA Final Four and hundreds of family shows, concerts and sporting events. Michael Rowe said upon turning over the day-to-day management of the firm, “With Allyson at the helm, Positive Impact is well-positioned for continued success and growth for the next 25 years! Part of what makes our firm unique is that our clients work with seasoned Principals who have over 100 years of collective experience, having produced over 4,500 events attended by over 82 million patrons,” said Rowe. “We add to that senior client service an entire support team of professionals who eagerly welcome every challenge. I don’t know of any other group of individuals with the experience and the network to assist any client and perform in any situation, no matter how large or small the assignment. Our delivery capabilities surpass even my greatest expectations and that is what truly makes us stand out from our peers.” Their work is typified by the comments of former FOX Sports Executive Vice-President Larry Jones. “We retained Michael Rowe and his team to organize and execute every facet necessary for staging Division 1 college basketball games, and they did an outstanding job. In addition to the nuts and bolts of running the games, we had to upgrade the facilities at Bloch Arena in Pearl Harbor, a 75-year-old open-air facility, and Positive Impact handled it all quite professionally. We look forward to working with them again.” Additional expansion of the firm’s principal team includes the promotion of Bill Tuccillo, who’s been with Positive Impact for ten years, to Director of Event Operations and assigning Riley Kehoe as Lead Project Manager.
Working on projects as diverse as building and executing a televised NCAA Men’s college basketball game atop an active aircraft carrier (the Quicken Loans Carrier Classic), designing, planning and launching America’s most successful regional sports network (the YES Network), advising clients on how to buy, sell, or relocate their professional sports teams (Memphis Grizzlies) or producing and operating games for the BIG3 professional basketball league, Positive Impact consistently delivers winning strategies to get the job done.
As John Palmieri, former Executive Director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority said about Positive Impact, “Their advice is sought on business dealings with sports and entertainment issues, particularly at our Convention Center and our Historic Boardwalk Hall Arena location. Their skills in understanding the entertainment and sports business, marketing, facility management and public policy issues combine to provide our Board with viable options and recommendations that help make our operations more efficient and market competitive.”
Select Twenty-Five Year Highlights of Positive Impact
Positive Impact’s most unique assignment was the 2011 Quicken Loans Carrier Classic aboard the USS Carl Vinson. This was the first-ever NCAA Men’s College Basketball Game played atop an active nuclear aircraft carrier. Positive Impact had two weeks to build a basketball court on the flight deck of the ship and organize an in-season basketball game which featured UNC vs. Michigan State. The Classic was years in the discussion-phase, but Positive Impact was brought in to make it a reality. The Classic setting was repeated in 2022 when ESPN engaged Positive Impact to help produce a second college men’s basketball game on the USS Abraham Lincoln, again in San Diego.
The firm additionally had the honor of producing the 2016 and 2017 FS1 Pearl Harbor Invitationals - NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament played at Bloch Arena on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam to commemorate the attack on Pearl Harbor. “We are honored to have been selected by Fox Sports to help manage and operate this significant event,” said Michael Rowe. “This was much more than a basketball game; it honored the thousands of men and women who lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor.”
The most challenging assignment was the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007. Positive Impact hired a management staff of 35 to operate the catering and hospitality programs across 11 stadiums in 8 Caribbean Islands and the Country of Guyana in South America. The firm was also tasked with having to mobilize, train and supervise 10,000 local workers to carry out the additional hospitality and catering responsibilities.
Some additional firm highlights include:
• A successful bid effort to host the 1998 New York Goodwill Games Organizing Committee and served as Head of Games
• Representing Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey in corporate partnerships and 100 plus event activations annually
• Representing RWJBarnabas Health in 100 plus partnership activations statewide and select national assignments
• Part of the negotiating team to reach an agreement between the New York Giants and the State of New Jersey for their new football stadium (MetLife Stadium)
• Part of the negotiating team to bring an NHL franchise to New Jersey (NJ Devils)
• Member of negotiating team to bring the NY Jets NFL team to New Jersey
• Assisting BIG3 basketball league with the production of their games, handling everything from venue operations, game production, game operations, and liaising with broadcast partners
• Planning and fundraising for the non-profit Team Walker
• Assisted the NBA’s Grizzlies with their relocation to Memphis, Tennessee from Vancouver
• Advisor to the NHL Arizona Coyotes’ majority partner for his acquisition stake in the franchise
• Assisted in launching three new sports leagues; BIG3 Basketball, the Xtreme Football League (XFL) and the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA)
• Negotiated agreements on behalf of the Mills Corporation’s Meadowlands Xanadu Project (now American Dream mall)
• Consultants for the renovation project of Mosaic Stadium, home of the Canadian Football League’s Roughriders
• Consultant on Dubai multi-purpose outdoor plaza
• Consulted with Rwanda Sports Ministry on development projects
• Produced the National Lacrosse League’s All-Star Game at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT
• Teamed with Seton Hall University for marketing and sales support of their centennial season of men’s basketball
• Promoted an AVP Tour stop at the New Jersey Shore (Belmar)
• Produced sold-out Christian Rock Concert series at the IZOD Center and Prudential Center
• Led successful effort for Bermuda to host warm-up matches for the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup
• Consulted with two NCAA sports conferences; the MAAC and NEC
• Handled all business operations for the inaugural season of the New Jersey Storm NLL franchise
• Advised the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority on sports and entertainment matters concentrating on the operations and commercial optimization of Boardwalk Hall and the Atlantic City Convention Center
About Positive Impact
Positive Impact is a sports and entertainment management and consulting firm delivering business solutions to clients that help them succeed in the sports and entertainment business. Positive Impact brings innovative ideas, balanced with proven established business principles that help leagues, teams, conferences, venue developers, facility operators, governments, universities, media companies, corporations and sports entertainment rights-holders meet the challenges they face in the revenue-driven world of sports and entertainment today. Positive Impact S+E principals have produced and been involved in over 4,000 public events attended by over 80 million spectators in 17 countries. No other sports and entertainment business management firm has the experience and depth of knowledge to match Positive Impact’s skill sets and offerings. For more information visit www.positiveimpact.net or follow us on X @PISportsEnt, Facebook at @PISportsEnt, LinkedIn @positiveimpact-se and Instagram @positiveimpact_se
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