Jason Belzer is Dynasty's Chief Operating Officer and Director of its Coaching Division, GAME, Inc. He negotiates employment contracts, appearances, endorsements and sponsorships for all coaches represented by the company. He also helps manage the direction, strategy, daily operations and growth of Dynasty's basketball and entertainment division.
Belzer has several years of experience in sports marketing and client representation. Before founding GAME, Inc. he worked as Director of Client Representation for Sports Management Group Worldwide in Washington DC, working in the representation of many of today's most celebrated professional athletes and coaches. He started his career at IF Management, one of the nation's leading sports broadcasting and coach representation firms.
Belzer graduated from Rutgers University Cum Lade in three years, earning a Bachelor of Science in Sports Management and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He is currently a Juris Doctor Candidate at Rutgers University School of Law.
Q: Please tell us about your background in sports marketing and client representation. How did your education at Rutgers help propel you into your current role?
As an undergrad at Rutgers, my sports marketing professor brought in an NBA agent to speak in class one day, and that sparked my interest in the business. I landed an internship with a broadcasting agency in New York that represented some college coaches and I realized that it was a niche practice that combined two of my biggest interests, college sports and client representation. After graduating early from Rutgers, I got a job at a sports agency in D.C. where I had the opportunity to start up a coaching division. Eventually I left to start my own firm, GAME, Inc., which focuses on the representation of college and professional coaches.
Q: I also know that you're very involved in the Jewish Coaches Association. Was this an organization that you started? If so, what inspired this vision? If not, how did you get involved, and how does it help advance the professional work of its members, including yourself?
The Jewish Coaches Association was started a few years ago at the Final 4 by a group of Jewish coaches who decided to get together for a Saturday Sabbath breakfast. For the next few years, the breakfast started to grow and grow until there were over 100 Jewish coaches, players and administrators who showed up at this year's Final 4 in Detroit.
When I attended my first breakfast, I couldn't believe what I had stumbled across. A group of some of the best basketball coaches in the business, boisterously discussing X's and O's over Bagels and Lox. But the great thing was that you didn't need to know a thing about basketball to feel like you fit it, being a Jew was what mattered most... and everything else was just icing on the challah.
I knew that the rest of the Jewish coaching profession needed to know about the association. I met with President Bruce Pearl (Tennessee) and told him my vision for the organization, one that was aimed at fostering the growth and participation of Jews in both the basketball coaching profession and athletics as a whole. The associations new website, www.JewishCoaches.com, is the first step in accomplishing that goal. There's an incredible amount of initiatives that we have planned, which will firmly cement us in the forefront of Jewish sports.
Q: Who are some budding Jewish Coaches Association members that we should keep our eyes on?
Josh Pastner. Remember that name. He's the new head coach of Memphis, and is the next great head coach of the college basketball world. Not only will he continue to lead Memphis to national prominence, but he will bring success to every single program that he will coach throughout his career. Josh, more so then any other coach I've ever met, embodies the Jewish work ethic and values that will assure the greatest of successes on the college level and beyond.
Also look out for Harris Adler (LaSalle) and Scott Garson (UCLA) as well. Both are young assistants who have been paying their dues in great programs and will soon make the jump to being head coaches of their own.
Q: College basketball and football coaches are securing sizable contracts these days, and sometimes making more than the University Presidents. In your opinion, is this justifiable? Will this trend change?
University Presidents are responsible for insuring the higher education of their respective schools' students. Basketball and Football coaches are responsible for winning games, which not only pay for all of the other sports, but also increase the schools exposure more than all of them combined. In fact, it is not out of reason to say that basketball and football coaches are the only two employees at a University whose sole purpose it is to bring financial profit to the school.
If you ran a multi-million (even billion) dollar business and had one employee whom through product of their work brought you more business than any other employee, would you not, too, pay him more than anyone else?
Q: The CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, which you head up, is increasing in popularity. How closely do you work with the NCAA, and how does potential expansion impact this tournament?
Your very question contains its own answer. The CollegeInsider.com tournament is embraced by the NCAA (although not publicly) as the perfect solution to all the cries of expansion for the NCAA tournament. Last year 2 of the 31 at large bids for the tournament went to Mid-Major programs. The fact of the matter is that this statistic will not get any better soon and because of that Mid-Majors need to look for postseason opportunities elsewhere.
The CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament was the first of its kind, with 16 tradition-rich Mid-Major programs who would have spent March at home if it wasn't for the opportunity we afforded them. We maintained contact with the NCAA and NABC from the day we thought up the idea to the final buzzer of the championship game. The tournament was a resounding success and we are confident that it can exist simultaneously, and in peace, with the NCAA tournament.
Q: You and I first connected through the SportsNetworker.com event in NYC. As everyone may know, SportsNetworker.com also builds community online through the use of social media. How does social media help and/or hinder your work in client representation?
Social media plays a profound role in my business as an agent. Almost every single one of my clients has their own web page, Twitter, blog and even Facebook page. Many of the clients I represent do not have the luxury of constantly being featured [for good or for bad] on major news networks, and as their representative, it is my job to insure that we seize every publicity and exposure opportunity there is.
Never once in the course of human history has there been so many opportunities for one single individual to gain so much exposure than they have available now. Those coaches, athletes, entertainers and other celebrities who choose to shun social media will see their careers go nowhere, while those that choose to embrace it, will enjoy career growth and success beyond anything ever seen before!
Belzer has several years of experience in sports marketing and client representation. Before founding GAME, Inc. he worked as Director of Client Representation for Sports Management Group Worldwide in Washington DC, working in the representation of many of today's most celebrated professional athletes and coaches. He started his career at IF Management, one of the nation's leading sports broadcasting and coach representation firms.
Belzer graduated from Rutgers University Cum Lade in three years, earning a Bachelor of Science in Sports Management and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He is currently a Juris Doctor Candidate at Rutgers University School of Law.
Q: Please tell us about your background in sports marketing and client representation. How did your education at Rutgers help propel you into your current role?
As an undergrad at Rutgers, my sports marketing professor brought in an NBA agent to speak in class one day, and that sparked my interest in the business. I landed an internship with a broadcasting agency in New York that represented some college coaches and I realized that it was a niche practice that combined two of my biggest interests, college sports and client representation. After graduating early from Rutgers, I got a job at a sports agency in D.C. where I had the opportunity to start up a coaching division. Eventually I left to start my own firm, GAME, Inc., which focuses on the representation of college and professional coaches.
Q: I also know that you're very involved in the Jewish Coaches Association. Was this an organization that you started? If so, what inspired this vision? If not, how did you get involved, and how does it help advance the professional work of its members, including yourself?
The Jewish Coaches Association was started a few years ago at the Final 4 by a group of Jewish coaches who decided to get together for a Saturday Sabbath breakfast. For the next few years, the breakfast started to grow and grow until there were over 100 Jewish coaches, players and administrators who showed up at this year's Final 4 in Detroit.
When I attended my first breakfast, I couldn't believe what I had stumbled across. A group of some of the best basketball coaches in the business, boisterously discussing X's and O's over Bagels and Lox. But the great thing was that you didn't need to know a thing about basketball to feel like you fit it, being a Jew was what mattered most... and everything else was just icing on the challah.
I knew that the rest of the Jewish coaching profession needed to know about the association. I met with President Bruce Pearl (Tennessee) and told him my vision for the organization, one that was aimed at fostering the growth and participation of Jews in both the basketball coaching profession and athletics as a whole. The associations new website, www.JewishCoaches.com, is the first step in accomplishing that goal. There's an incredible amount of initiatives that we have planned, which will firmly cement us in the forefront of Jewish sports.
Q: Who are some budding Jewish Coaches Association members that we should keep our eyes on?
Josh Pastner. Remember that name. He's the new head coach of Memphis, and is the next great head coach of the college basketball world. Not only will he continue to lead Memphis to national prominence, but he will bring success to every single program that he will coach throughout his career. Josh, more so then any other coach I've ever met, embodies the Jewish work ethic and values that will assure the greatest of successes on the college level and beyond.
Also look out for Harris Adler (LaSalle) and Scott Garson (UCLA) as well. Both are young assistants who have been paying their dues in great programs and will soon make the jump to being head coaches of their own.
Q: College basketball and football coaches are securing sizable contracts these days, and sometimes making more than the University Presidents. In your opinion, is this justifiable? Will this trend change?
University Presidents are responsible for insuring the higher education of their respective schools' students. Basketball and Football coaches are responsible for winning games, which not only pay for all of the other sports, but also increase the schools exposure more than all of them combined. In fact, it is not out of reason to say that basketball and football coaches are the only two employees at a University whose sole purpose it is to bring financial profit to the school.
If you ran a multi-million (even billion) dollar business and had one employee whom through product of their work brought you more business than any other employee, would you not, too, pay him more than anyone else?
Q: The CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, which you head up, is increasing in popularity. How closely do you work with the NCAA, and how does potential expansion impact this tournament?
Your very question contains its own answer. The CollegeInsider.com tournament is embraced by the NCAA (although not publicly) as the perfect solution to all the cries of expansion for the NCAA tournament. Last year 2 of the 31 at large bids for the tournament went to Mid-Major programs. The fact of the matter is that this statistic will not get any better soon and because of that Mid-Majors need to look for postseason opportunities elsewhere.
The CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament was the first of its kind, with 16 tradition-rich Mid-Major programs who would have spent March at home if it wasn't for the opportunity we afforded them. We maintained contact with the NCAA and NABC from the day we thought up the idea to the final buzzer of the championship game. The tournament was a resounding success and we are confident that it can exist simultaneously, and in peace, with the NCAA tournament.
Q: You and I first connected through the SportsNetworker.com event in NYC. As everyone may know, SportsNetworker.com also builds community online through the use of social media. How does social media help and/or hinder your work in client representation?
Social media plays a profound role in my business as an agent. Almost every single one of my clients has their own web page, Twitter, blog and even Facebook page. Many of the clients I represent do not have the luxury of constantly being featured [for good or for bad] on major news networks, and as their representative, it is my job to insure that we seize every publicity and exposure opportunity there is.
Never once in the course of human history has there been so many opportunities for one single individual to gain so much exposure than they have available now. Those coaches, athletes, entertainers and other celebrities who choose to shun social media will see their careers go nowhere, while those that choose to embrace it, will enjoy career growth and success beyond anything ever seen before!
