On Monday, Nov. 4, Pizza with the Pros welcomed Anthony Figazzotto, the Philadelphia Phillies’ coordinator of marketing and events.

Figazzotto always had a passion for sports, stemming from his love for the game as a child. However, he realized a little later on in his life that playing professional sports wouldn’t be an option.

“I knew I was never going to be good enough to play any sports professionally, but that kind of opened my eyes to see that I could still make the major leagues on the front office side of things,” Figazzotto said.

When it was time to choose what school he wanted to attend, it became slightly difficult for him. This was because he had no idea what he wanted to major in. At the time, he figured he would major in business and attempt to take that to the sports industry. When Figazzotto was on his college tour at St. Joseph’s University, he heard people mention sports marketing.

“Just happened to hear something about sports marketing when I was in the business school,” said Figazzotto. “I heard sports, and I was like, ‘that sounds like me,’ and I heard marketing, business, sure. That’s when I found that it was even possible to work in the sports world.”

After hearing this, Figazzotto’s mind was made up. He attended St. Joseph’s University as a sports marketing major, combining the two things he excelled at. Figazzotto claims this decision “led him to where he is today.”

During his sophomore year, Figazzotto landed an internship with the Philadelphia Flyers. He volunteered to do it, as the team needed help with their game day giveaways and Figazzotto took this opportunity to get a taste of what professional sports is all about.

Three months later, Figazzotto landed a job with the Philadelphia Phillies, working on the Concourse Staff, doing things such as supervising the Phunzone area, working at the MLB Ballpark app check-in desk, and even helped run the MLB All-Star voting campaign.

During his nine months with the team, he met great people. One of these people told Figazzotto there was a job opening for the Philadelphia Eagles as a Merchandising Associate. He applied and got the job, working every Sunday home game for the team’s 2016-17 season, selling merchandise to fans, and learning how to meet weekly salary goals.

When the football season came to an end, the baseball season had started up. When he rejoined the team, he worked as the Entertainment Staff Supervisor. From that point on, Figazzotto continued to climb up the organization’s ladder, working for the Promotions Team, to a Season and Group Sales Representative, to Marketing and Events, to a Marketing and Events Representative, until he got to where he is today and has been for the last three years, as the Coordinator of Marketing and Events.

The most impressive part about Figazzotto’s journey is how much he was able to achieve while still being a college student. He worked a season with the Flyers and Eagles, and two seasons with the Phillies. This hard work ethic inspired so many students in the room and showed them that if you want to achieve your goals, you need to take any opportunity you get.

Next week, Pizza with the Pros will welcome the host of the Eagles & Phillies Postgame Live for NBC Sports Philadelphia, Michael Barkann.

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