As a youngster, Jay Grossman '87 watched the New York Rangers at Madison Square
Garden, played hockey, and attended hockey summer camps
in Canada.
But when he discovered that his playing
skills wouldn't lead to a life in the National Hockey
League, he learned that working as an agent would offer
that opportunity.
So, during his junior year at Union, be
began analyzing videotape for the Rangers on weekends and
vacations (before the influx of satellites, hockey teams
needed personnel to go to games to scout out competitors
and search for new recruits).
Working part-time for Athletes and
Artists, a company representing big-name talent in
professional sports, Grossman began to establish
relationships with players at the high school and college
level. Today, he is vice president of Marquee Hockey,
part of Marquee Group/SFX Entertainment, which acquired
Athletes and Artists two years ago.
Grossman now heads the hockey division
of one of the largest sports and entertainment firms in
the country, which provides marketing services for the
sports, music, news, and entertainment industries. He
represents stars such as Brian Leetch of the New York
Rangers, Sergei Samsonov of the Boston Bruins, and Sergei
Zubov of the Dallas Stars.
Grossman says his part-time
undergraduate job was a good opportunity “because I
had the backing of the company to get to know these
players as people. While still a student, I started to
make contact with outstanding young players that are
still represented by the firm, such as Adam Oates and
Leetch.”
When Grossman began, he estimates that
there were twenty-five agents representing professional
hockey players; today, there are close to 200.
“The sports and entertainment
business has developed substantially in recent
years,” he explains. “The average salary of an
NHL player in 1991-92 was $368,000; in 1997-98, it was
$1.167 million. That is just one indication of how the
industry has grown.”
Grossman says that much of what he does
is similar to what was covered in the recent film, Jerry
Maguire — especially the complex nature of the
relationship between client and agent. “It's a
pretty demanding and challenging relationship,” he
says. “We really act as personal managers of our
clients, helping not only with contracts but also
providing advice about finances, taxes, endorsements,
advertising, and dealings with the media.”
Grossman emphasizes that many of his
clients are young — very young to be managing so much
money and fame. He points to one client, Sergei Samsonov
of the Boston Bruins, who was named Rookie of the Year
last year. At age nineteen, Samsonov makes $3 million a
year, and Grossman helps him manage that money, pay
taxes, handle immigration, and more.
“There are all sorts of things
that these young players need advice about, and they tend
to turn to us on a variety of those issues,” he
says. In turn, Marquee Hockey funnels information to a
variety of experts: lawyers, financial planners,
accountants, and others (Grossman has a law degree from
Benjamin Cardozo School of Law but doesn't practice law
in any traditional sense).
Grossman is always looking for new
clients and travels extensively, especially in Europe.
When he's home with his wife, Nancy Grundman '87, and
their children, Justin and Avery, he's watching hockey
and driving his kids crazy by changing the channel so
frequently that he sometimes has twelve games on at once.
He has no favorite team and usually roots for the players
he represents. What about his kids? “The jury's
still out on that. Our son is only four, but he tends to
like the players I represent, too.”