The Montag Group and IF Management are merging talent operations to form a broadcast representation business with more than 200 clients, including some of the biggest names in sports media.
The new company will continue to operate, for now, under both agency names. Financial details of the merger were not disclosed.
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MONTAG
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HERZ
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IF, founded by Steve Herz, is based in New York City. The Montag Group, founded by Sandy Montag, has offices in Manhattan as well as White Plains, N.Y. The merged company will continue to operate out of those offices. IF and The Montag Group each have seven employees, all of whom remain.
The Montag Group has more than 60 clients, including some of the best-known broadcasters in sports. Montag moved his talent representation business — he also represents some
coaches and other sports personalities — to his own firm from IMG, where he worked for 30 years. Montag also owns a media consulting business and a crisis management business in partnership with Ari Fleischer Communications, but those businesses are not part of this merger.
IF represents 150 broadcast clients, about half of them on the sports side and half on the news side. Herz founded IF in 1996.
“I have done a lot business with Sandy and a lot of business with Steve,” said ESPN President John Skipper. “It is not hard to understand why they might work together nor why their working together will clearly be productive, as they are similar in style, business practices and share a fundamental commitment to fairness and integrity.”
Montag and Herz decided to merge practices based on a long-term friendship and a belief the two practices would complement each other.
“We’ve been known for essentially having the biggest names in broadcasting and I’ve been intrigued by Steve and his company, how creative and resourceful they’ve been in finding the next up-and-coming great talents in our industry,” Montag said.
Some notable sports broadcasting clients of The Montag Group and IF Management:
The Montag Group
■ Bob Costas, NBC
■ Mike Tirico, NBC
■ James Brown, CBS
■ Jim Nantz, CBS
■ Scott Van Pelt, ESPN
■ Mary Carillo, NBC
■ Jeremy Schaap, ESPN
IF Management
■ Dan Schulman, ESPN
■ Seth Greenberg, ESPN
■ Liam McHugh, NBC
■ Dan Hellie, NFL Network
■ Lindsay Rhodes, NFL Network
■ Joe Davis, Los Angeles Dodgers
Herz and Montag talked, back when Montag was still at IMG, about merging their businesses.
“Our businesses were always very compatible with each other,” Herz said. “Sandy has had this kind of leading position in the industry and we’ve always had the guys pushing up at the next level.”
“You can give someone a certain piece of advice and help them be better,” Herz said. “Specific to the younger people, I love seeing a 24-year-old guy or woman and thinking ‘OK, if this person had a better voice, they would really rise to the top. And here is a great voice coach they can work with that will help them go from being this mediocre play-by-play guy to being a really top guy.’”
Together, they can share information and resources, both said.
“It’s not in competition to what we do, it’s additive,” Montag said.
It is not clear whether the merger will make the combined practice the biggest broadcast representation practice in sports. Agencies that have recently made a big push into sports broadcasting, including Hollywood agencies, do not publicize the number of clients.
“I am sure the large agencies come close” to the firms’ combined number of more than 200 broadcasters, Montag said.
In recent years Hollywood agencies, including Creative Artists Agency, WME-IMG and United Talent Agency, have been aggressive in signing up sports broadcasters.
Asked about that, Montag said, “We are not doing anything to react to anyone out there. We are not doing it to be competitive in a way, but I think what we are doing will form an agency that will really be the preeminent [broadcast] talent agency in the country because of the size and the culture of our company.”
