diana berreen photography

Michael Melnitzky is becoming a go-to investment banker that sports franchises and prospective team owners can rely on … as long as they are not asking him for a ride.

The New York City product is a quintessential denizen of his city: He went into high finance and earned a degree, but not a driver’s license.

“Maybe I am ahead of time” not knowing how to drive, he said laughing, referring to the rise of ride-sharing apps like Uber, and the coming of self-driving cars.

Road skills aside, Melnitzky has quickly moved into the world of sports investment banking, advising with his senior colleagues on such deals as the sale of the Milwaukee Bucks, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Hurricanes and Brooklyn Nets. And he is well ahead of his own schedule.

He knew when graduating from the business school at the University of Michigan in 2008 that he wanted to get into sports within 15 years. A big sports fan, he had even written for website RealGM.com in college, but he figured a steady grounding in either law or finance would get him there.

When he joined media and technology investment bank Allen & Co. in 2009, he didn’t know Steve Greenberg, the managing director who started the sports practice there, even existed.

“One of my first assignments was helping a buyer look at the Detroit Pistons, and … I said, ‘Wait, we do that here?’”

But when he learned more, even his father was excited because Greenberg’s dad was the legendary Jewish ball player, Hank Greenberg. “Jewish people of a certain age have a reverence for Hank Greenberg. When I told my dad, he was quite happy and told all his friends.”

Steve Greenberg established the practice largely on baseball and expanded into the other stick and ball sports. Now Melnitzky is expanding it into esports and has advised Activision Blizzard on the start of Overwatch League.

Melnitzky also has won permission to look at opportunities in MLS. No doubt he will get there — as long as he doesn’t have to drive.

— Daniel Kaplan