Menu
Opinion

Agent to interim AD: Wong’s jobs span sports biz

Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.

Glenn Wong believes in continuing education. Throughout his career, he’s left the classroom to be an agent, consultant and adviser in the industry. “I wanted to get involved with various areas of sports law, so I can use those experiences in the classroom,” he says. His first effort was in player representation. “I represented athletes in leagues that no longer exist,” he says with a laugh. “The North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, USFL. Then I got my first NFL client. The Oakland Raiders selected Sean Jones in the second round of the 1984 draft. I thought I’d made it as an agent. I was doing it in conjunction with teaching. I didn’t have the idea of doing it full time, but I thought I could do enough of it in conjunction with teaching 20-plus years ago.”

But it drained Wong. “It was very difficult, even after having a high draft pick and negotiating a good contract, to get other clients. I enjoyed the legal work but that was 20 percent of the job. The other 80 percent was getting them and keeping them. I didn’t have time for that. I didn’t have any interest in that, and I didn’t think I was very good at that.”

He stopped representing players in 1987. He served as an arbitrator for Major League Baseball for two years in the mid-1980s, handling such cases as the Boston Red Sox’s arbitration with volatile pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd. “That really gave me an interesting perspective, being fair and trying to understand both sides of the story. It’s probably the most interesting and challenging experience I’ve had, because every case is different.”

He was a sole arbitrator, different than the current system, which has three arbitrators. Wong believes he was seen as too management friendly. “I was not asked back after I made my fourth decision, which was my third management decision out of four,” he recalls. “If you’re selected, you get something in the mail. But no one tells you you’re not coming back.”

After that stint, he was hired by then-Boston Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette to handle the team’s arbitration cases, and he is still working for Duquette in Baltimore.

Wong also did a stint as an interim athletic director at UMass in 1992-93, right after the school’s basketball program had reached the Sweet 16. “I found that experience to be very valuable,” he says. “Seeing the pressures dealing with John Calipari, coaching contracts, Title IX, crowd control. That experience has been invaluable to me in terms of what I’m able to teach, but has provided me some credibility when I speak to athletic directors.”

Wong stresses that each experience has been vital to his professional development. “The things I’ve done outside the sports law teaching have been very helpful in terms of my career.”

— Abraham Madkour

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2014/11/10/Opinion/Glenn-Wong-jobs.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2014/11/10/Opinion/Glenn-Wong-jobs.aspx

CLOSE