Larry DeGaris

Dr. Larry DeGaris is a leading research consultant to the sports and sponsorship industries. Larry has personally conducted more than 100 research studies for sports properties and sponsors funded to well over $3m. Clients have included sports properties such as the LPGA, NFL, and NHL, and sponsors such as Bank of America, Allstate, and Pepsi, among numerous others. A sought-after expert for the media, Larry's views have appeared in publications such as Forbes, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Penthouse. In addition his own consultancy, Sponsorship Research & Strategy, and senior-level executive positions at Ogilvy Public Relations, the Bonham Group, and the Interpublic Group (IPG), Larry has held faculty positions at Washington State University, St. John's University, James Madison University, and the University of Indianapolis.

A native of Lodi, New Jersey, Larry has been involved with sports his entire life, from Little League Baseball to his recent induction into Wesleyan University's Athletics Hall of Fame. Larry competed at the national level in college wrestling, and was captain of the rugby team, where he was a standout hooker during the team's undefeated season his senior year. But it was his worldwide travels as a professional wrestler, where he was known as a ruggedly handsome but somewhat vicious ring technician, that spurred his interest in the global sports business. There, he experienced firsthand that sports and sports fans are not the same everywhere. Despite his extensive sports participation, Larry concedes that it was his fondness for pints and pubs which spurred his interest in international soccer, especially afternoons with his English buddies at the Hudson Cafe in New York City during the 1990 World Cup.

Although Larry has hung up his boots for the most part (he says he still has "a few thousand miles on the transmission"), he is known for bringing a high level of enthusiasm to his classes. Consistently among the highest-rated professors in his unit, students have called him "knowledgeable" with "a great sense of humor", as well as "money" and "quite simply, the Man."