Aaron Cooney is a sports communications professional and currently a front office leader for the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League with experience managing the team's broadcast, marketing, media relations, and sponsorship departments.
Since 2013, the Pittsburgh native has also served as the team's broadcaster, calling over 500 games in the OHL, a league that is widely regarded as the world’s top developmental hockey league. Throughout his tenure with the club, he has worked with many of the National Hockey League’s budding superstars, working daily with Connor McDavid, Alex DeBrincat, and Dylan Strome, among others, during their time in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Away from the microphone, Aaron manages the Otters media relations efforts by coordinating media availability and interview requests, managing social media accounts and the team website, and writing team related marketing materials and news releases. Most importantly to the franchise he has become a vital part of the organization’s sales team. He led Otters sales associates in corporate dollars in the 2017-18 season by increasing his sponsorship revenue by nearly 25 percent. Those efforts would catch the eye of management, leading to Aaron’s promotion to Director of Sales, Marketing and Media for the Erie Otters in July 2018. He also manages the Otters internship program, hiring as many as six students at the start of each season to gain valuable hands on experience.
Prior to joining the Erie Otters, Aaron interned with the Pittsburgh Penguins Radio Network from September 2012 through the end of the lockout shortened NHL season in 2013. His duties included live producing, setup and tear down of radio equipment, recording interviews with players and team personnel, and growing the Penguins Radio Network twitter account. In the fall of 2011 he began his professional career with an internship with Pittsburgh sports talk radio station 93.7 FM The Fan. There he would collect locker room sound and conduct interviews for on-air sports updates with various Pittsburgh sports teams, including: Pittsburgh Penguins, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Pittsburgh Steelers, and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers.
Aaron Cooney graduated from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pa. in December 2012 with a bachelors degree in radio and television broadcasting with a minor in public relations. While at PPU, he served sports director for the school’s student run radio and television stations. During that time, he provided play-by-play for the Pioneers baseball, basketball (men’s and women’s teams), softball, and volleyball for 670AM WPPJ, where he won an Intercollegiate Broadcasting System awards for Best Play-by-Play in 2010 and runner-up in 2012, and Best Sports Update in 2012. On television, he hosted and produced the school’s weekly sports highlight program “Pioneer Sideline.”
Since 2013, the Pittsburgh native has also served as the team's broadcaster, calling over 500 games in the OHL, a league that is widely regarded as the world’s top developmental hockey league. Throughout his tenure with the club, he has worked with many of the National Hockey League’s budding superstars, working daily with Connor McDavid, Alex DeBrincat, and Dylan Strome, among others, during their time in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Away from the microphone, Aaron manages the Otters media relations efforts by coordinating media availability and interview requests, managing social media accounts and the team website, and writing team related marketing materials and news releases. Most importantly to the franchise he has become a vital part of the organization’s sales team. He led Otters sales associates in corporate dollars in the 2017-18 season by increasing his sponsorship revenue by nearly 25 percent. Those efforts would catch the eye of management, leading to Aaron’s promotion to Director of Sales, Marketing and Media for the Erie Otters in July 2018. He also manages the Otters internship program, hiring as many as six students at the start of each season to gain valuable hands on experience.
Prior to joining the Erie Otters, Aaron interned with the Pittsburgh Penguins Radio Network from September 2012 through the end of the lockout shortened NHL season in 2013. His duties included live producing, setup and tear down of radio equipment, recording interviews with players and team personnel, and growing the Penguins Radio Network twitter account. In the fall of 2011 he began his professional career with an internship with Pittsburgh sports talk radio station 93.7 FM The Fan. There he would collect locker room sound and conduct interviews for on-air sports updates with various Pittsburgh sports teams, including: Pittsburgh Penguins, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Pittsburgh Steelers, and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers.
Aaron Cooney graduated from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pa. in December 2012 with a bachelors degree in radio and television broadcasting with a minor in public relations. While at PPU, he served sports director for the school’s student run radio and television stations. During that time, he provided play-by-play for the Pioneers baseball, basketball (men’s and women’s teams), softball, and volleyball for 670AM WPPJ, where he won an Intercollegiate Broadcasting System awards for Best Play-by-Play in 2010 and runner-up in 2012, and Best Sports Update in 2012. On television, he hosted and produced the school’s weekly sports highlight program “Pioneer Sideline.”
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