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Mark Bellissimo: Master of the Universe
By Erin Gilmore | Sidelines Magazine, March 2011
To Mark Bellissimo, the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center is a living, breathing organ. The CEO of Equestrian Sport Productions sees the country's largest show jumping competition venue as a beating heart, steadily pumping life into the communities and businesses that surround it. During high season in Wellington, Florida, the PBIEC is indeed the center of life in a humming equestrian city. The venue is host to the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival, which is known simply as WEF. For ten weeks every winter, arteries leading towards and away from WEF, be they bridle paths or city roads, are alive with out of state rigs, foreign accents and horses, horses, horses at nearly all times of the day and night.
"This is the center of the universe for us," Mark explains. "Equestrian Sport Productions started at the core to create the finest facility in the world. And we think we've created a vehicle to really grow the sport and transform the industry."
And How
The PBIEC's history reaches back to the 1970s, when the legendary Gene Mische and his Stadium Jumping, Inc. established the most prestigious hunter/jumper circuit in the United States. By 2007, the Wellington Equestrian Festival was already the longest running and largest show circuit in the world.
But Mark views the world through the eyes of a developer, and where others saw the best, he saw what could be made better. Amid much legal wrangling, Mark and his Equestrian Sport Productions bought the old Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club in 2007, rechristened it and unveiled a grand plan for redevelopment. In three years time, the PBIEC would be the place to experience the highest end of hunter/jumper sport.
"It (the facility) fell short before," Mark says. "There was a lot of dust, a couple grass rings, no landscaping or permanent seating. Our strategy was to put together a place that was safer and more equestrian friendly."
Taking the Flak
Which sounds well and good, but with change comes resistance, and while Mark doesn't try to attract criticism, he never seems to lack a healthy population of critics.
"Equestrians are a very tough audience who don't like change," says Mark. "But I'll never be criticized for letting the status quo prevail. My talent is envisioning the infrastructure, and quite frankly, taking the flak."
With the backing of Wellington Equestrian Partners, a "very significant entity with very deep pocketed people who are passionately involved with the sport," Mark shunned the critics and put his three-year plan to work. Among the many improvements; a facelift was given to the entire International Ring. Twelve show rings were outfitted with the best footing money could buy. Most recently, the former South Grounds were closed and activities moved to two new rings near the front of the main property.
Infrastructure Atop Infrastructure
Mark rarely misses a chance to use the word "infrastructure." There is the improved infrastructure of the PBIEC itself, from permanent VIP areas to raised walkways for pedestrians. And ultimately, the ever-important infrastructure that gets non-riders involved in the sport. Those non-riders, thousands of which live in the surrounding county, could become riders or spectators to horse sport, and will only strengthen Wellington's equestrian infrastructure.
To that end, Mark and ESP oversee an entry-level riding program in Wellington, and equestrian programs that tie with the local public schools. In January, ESP hosted the Inaugural College Preparatory Invitational on the showgrounds during Week I of the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival.
"We want to build pipelines into this sport," Mark says. "There are a lot of people in Palm Beach County that are capable of getting into the sport but don't know how to get involved."
To feed the desire to participate, ESP has strived to create fans of the sport. Outreach in the form of 2011's Great Charity Challenge kicked off in December with a show jumping exhibition in downtown Palm Beach. Each grand prix in 2011 is billed as an entertaining sporting event. To attract more fans, themed tents now line the International Ring, a petting zoo and street performers greet visitors as they enter the main gates, and on a commanding Jumbotron or live and in the flesh, spectators can see horses up close and personal and under Saturday night lights. Saturday night attendance was up by 30% in 2010, and Mark predicts that number increasing more in 2011.
It isn't that Mark is striving to accomplish something different than what every other show manager in the country wants to achieve. But Equestrian Sport Productions is a mighty set of lungs, and it turns out that Mark's analogy is quite accurate. As the heart grows ever stronger, the center of the horse show universe may just become powerful enough to transform an industry.
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