About Stafford Sports

Stafford Sports has served as Advisor for other major facility development projects including:

• BB&T Center for Broward County, FL
• Iowa Event Center Complex for Polk County, IA
• Amway Center for the City of Orlando, FL
• AT&T Center for the NBA San Antonio Spurs
• Wells Fargo Center for the Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers
• Transformation of Madison Square Garden

Hirsh was the former President of Spectacor Development in Philadelphia.  In that capacity, he served as the Owner’s Representative for all aspects of the development of the First Union Center (now Wells Fargo Center), where he gained considerable acclaim as the key negotiator on behalf of Comcast-Spectacor, a privately held, Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment conglomerate. Hirsh negotiated a comprehensive development agreement with the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that allowed Comcast to build and finance the new state-of-the-art arena and to secure development rights for the mixed-use entertainment complex, Xfinity Live. While guiding the new project, Hirsh also served as President and CEO of The Spectrum in Philadelphia, guiding the operational, administrative and day-to-day activities of the legendary 18,000-seat facility.

Formerly Executive Vice President of Operations for SMG, Hirsh was responsible for the dramatic growth of the company’s accounts.  Under his supervision, SMG grew from five accounts to more than 30 privately managed convention centers, arenas and stadiums.

He has provided strategic business planning for venues including the American Bank Center Complex; Berry Center Complex, Bon Secours Wellness Arena, H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, Intrust Bank Center, Iowa Events Center Complex; Mobile Civic Center Complex, Pine Belt Arena and State Farm Arena.

Oriolo has provided strategic planning for Stafford’s university clients including Boston, Cleveland State, Georgetown, Fairfield, Houston, Lehigh, Massachusetts Lowell, Rider, Saint Joseph’s, Seton Hall, Siena, and Villanova. He has served as Strategic Advisor for the A-10, MAAC and NCHC Conferences and has helped negotiate site locations for conference championships.

Prior to joining Stafford Sports, Hirsh was Assistant General Manager at the PPL Center in Allentown, PA, where he was influential in the day-to-day operations of the 10,000-seat arena, the home of the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Previously, he was Director of Special Projects for the opening of the $1 billion Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. In this role, he was instrumental in the development of the building’s policies, procedures and best practices. Following the new building’s opening, Hirsh was named Senior Director of Event Services, which made him responsible for overseeing more than 360 events a year, including the NBA playoffs, MTV Video Music Awards, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Championship and many others.

Hirsh has also served as Event Production Coordinator for Spurs Sports and Entertainment in San Antonio, Texas. In this role, he acted as the AT&T Center’s representative for NBA and AHL games as well as concerts, family shows, and the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.

He began his career as a facility operations intern at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, eventually being named a Game Day Supervisor in charge of housekeeping and non-baseball event support.