Gina K Antoniello

Gina Antoniello is a sport culture expert, social justice activist, and Academic Director of Undergraduate Programs and Clinical Assistant Professor at the Tisch Institute for Global Sport. Before joining New York University in August 2020, she spent over a decade working in professional sports, leading marketing-communications strategy, social corporate responsibility, and player development programs for globally recognized teams like the Golden State Warriors and the Brooklyn Nets.

Professor Antoniello has been recognized as a changemaker in sport, most recently being honored by the “Women We Admire” collective who named her to the “The Rising Star Women of Education for 2024” list for her educational leadership in fostering academic excellence and creating equitable opportunities students and faculty alike at NYU. Gina was previously commended by NYU’s School of Professional Studies in 2023 with the distinguished school-wide “Teaching Excellence Award” for her commitment to designing activities where students learn through action and reflection, while embedding the values of inclusion, diversity, belonging, equity, and accessibility into her teaching. For her work in community service and programming, Gina has been recognized with a Citation of Honor, was a Congressional Capitol Flag recipient, and was also commended by the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the development and launch of league-wide social responsibility programs that have impacted thousands of school age youth.

Immediately before coming to NYU, Gina became the one of the first women in the history of professional football to lead both football and corporate communications, when she was appointed as “Head of Communications” for the XFL's New York Guardians in 2019. She continues to actively consult in the sports industry focusing on athlete advocacy and strategic communications. She currently teaches in the Tisch Institute’s executive education program with the National Football League (NFL), focusing on transformational change initiatives and also serves as a strategic advisor for The United Football Players Association (UFPA) to support the mission of ensuring the health and well-being of professional football players.

Her research agenda focused on athlete activism and social justice in sport and society. In her doctoral coursework, her cognate was law and policy in sport and her Dissertation examines using sport as a protest platform and its impact on fan attitudes and behaviors. At NYU, she has taught a special topics course on “Athlete Activism and Social Justice,” which examines the economic, political, and social impacts of this activism on the business of sport, both domestically and internationally. Internationally, her socialization of sport and advanced marketing seminars have been taught across eight cities and four continents in the last year alone, as she brought her NYU students on global field intensives to Australia (Sydney), China (Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing), and Italy (Milan, Turin, Venice, Florence).