Jim Riordan

Dr. Jim Riordan was named Director of the MBA in Sport Management program at Florida Atlantic University on July 1st, 2000. Prior to coming to South Florida, Riordan was Director of the Masters of Science in Sport Administration program at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY.

In May of 2013, SportBusiness International ranked FAU MBA-Sport Management 8th in the World and 5th in North America in their rankings of Masters-level Sport programs. In 2014, the same rankings saw FAU MBASport move to 6th in the World and 4th in North America.

Before coming to Canisius College, Riordan served as Director of Training and Quality Control for the Mets, as well as assisting in the management of . Between 1980 and 1983, Riordan served as an Assistant Director of Stadium Operations for the West Side Club (Forest Hills, NY) and the National Tennis Center (Flushing Meadow, NY) the former and current home of the US OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS. In August of 1983, he was named Director of Security and Event Services at the Spectrum (). At 22, Riordan became the youngest individual in a major market to hold such a position.

In addition to his Spectrum duties, Riordan served as Director of Security for the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL and assisted in the planning and implementation of crowd management operations for major outdoor concerts that included the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, Beach Boys, and the Live-Aid benefit concert held in 1985. Other major events that he has performed similar duties for include the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals, official visits to Philadelphia by Hillary Clinton and Nelson Mandela; to Richmond (VA) by Margaret Thatcher, to by Pope John Paul II.

After a brief stint as an Investigator for the New York Racing Association at and Saratoga Race Course, Riordan returned to the Spectacor Group and went to work for Spectacor Management Group (SMG). At SMG between 1989 and 1994, Riordan served as Manager of Event Services at Long Island’s , as Director of Operations for the Richmond (VA) Coliseum and Mosque Theater, and as Director of Operations for the Philadelphia Civic Center..

In 1996, Riordan was hired by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games to serve as Sector Coordinator for the Olympic soccer medal-round site, Sanford Stadium at the University of Georgia, in Athens. In 1999, he was retained by Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC) as a crowd management and event operations consultant for Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami and for XXXIV in Atlanta. In Atlanta, he trained and orientated over 700 new CSC employees that worked the Super Bowl and associated activities. Other projects Riordan has worked on for CSC included the Denver Broncos/Mile High Stadium and the Tennessee Titans/Adelphia Coliseum.

Riordan has served two terms as Vice Chair of the Stadiums Committee for the International Association of Assembly Managers (IAAM) (now known as IAVM) and one term as Chair of the Stadium Committee and served on the IAAM Board of Directors. Riordan was also a member of the 1998 IAAM- appointed task force on developing a unified crowd management curriculum to be used to train crowd management facilitators in public assembly venues. In 2004, he served as Host Committee Chair for the IAAM District V Meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Riordan was a member of the local host committee for the 2012 International Conference and Trade Show of IAVM held in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

As a member of the IAAM's Universities Committee, he moderated a panel session at the 1999 Annual Conference in Toronto on developing a curriculum in public assembly facility management for colleges and universities. He has authored articles on facility and crowd management for publications such as Journal of Crowd Management, Facility Manager and the Journal of Sport Management. In 2004, he wrote a textbook chapter on “Sports as a Leisure Experience” and has served as an expert commentator on sport, entertainment, stadium/arena and crowd management issues for The Sports Business Journal, Miami Today, Athletic Business, Los Angeles Times, South-Florida-Sun Sentinel, Miami Herald, BusinessFirst, Tampa Tribune and WMAQ-AM (Miami), ESPN’s Outside the Lines Nightly, and PBS’ Nightly Business Report.. Riordan currently serves on the Editorial Board of the peer-reviewed publications Journal of Venue and Event Management and the Journal of Sport Administration and Supervision. He has served as a reviewer for the International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal. Riordan served as a member of the Sport Management Program Review Council for the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM

In 2004, Riordan was named a member of FAU’s Athletic Advisory Board and has previously served as the Faculty Athletic Representative to the NCAA for Florida Atlantic University. In 2006, Riordan was named a member of the National Advisory Board of the University of Washington’s Executive Education Masters degree program in Intercollegiate Athletics Management, and was a member of its faculty in 2007In November of 2012, Dr. Riordan was hired as a site/program reviewer by the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education’s Commission on Accreditation to review American University-UAE application for accreditation for it’s Sport Management program.

Riordan, 54, holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership from Florida Atlantic University and a BS and MBA from Saint John’s University in New York. He is a member of the national academic honor societies of Phi Kappa Phi, and Golden Key International. The title of Riordan’s Ph.D. dissertation is Perceptions of Industry Practitioners Toward an Academic Degree Program in Public Assembly Facility Management. The purpose of the study was to inquire of managers and executives of stadiums, convention centers, theatres/performing arts centers, and arenas their preferences as to what competencies and course components should be included in an academic degree program in public assembly facility management. Preferred Academic unit/division and academic level of delivery of the program were also sought.