Posted on WorkInSports.com: 6/12/2007
By: Brandon McClung - SportsBusiness Journal
Gewirtz takes on a moving challenge with the Nets
Jeff Gewirtz is moving from the organizational/league side to a team setting as the senior vice president and general counsel of the New Jersey Nets and was also named to the Sports Lawyers Association board of directors. Gewirtz had been with the U.S. Olympic Committee and before that worked with Coca-Cola’s legal division and the LPGA and WTA tours.
Age: 38
New title: Senior vice president and general counsel, New Jersey Nets
Previous title: Chief legal and government affairs officer and general counsel, USOC
First job: Tennis instructor
College education: Bachelor of arts, Tufts University (1991); Juris Doctor, Brooklyn Law School (1994)
Resides: Relocating to the N.Y./N.J. area
Grew up: Baldwin Harbor, N.Y.
Brand most admired: NBA
Favorite vacation spot: Paris during the French Open and Melbourne during the Australian Open
Last book read: “Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games,” by Mitt Romney
Last movie seen: “After the Wedding”
Favorite movie: “Swimming Pool”
Favorite musician: Maroon 5
What will be the biggest challenge in your new position?
Making sure that the relocation to Brooklyn and to the Barclays Center goes as seamlessly as possible.
What is the biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?
Leaving the law firm of Dunnington, Bartholow and Miller, where I started right out of law school, at a very early point in my career to go in-house with the WTA Tour.
What is your biggest professional accomplishment?
With Bea Perez and Peggy West on the business side, negotiating the NCAA Corporate Champion sponsorship and media alliance for Coca-Cola with CBS Sports.
What will be the difference from going from a league setting to a team?
At a team I think the work is more at the micro level, in that you’re trying to entrench yourself in the local market as successfully as possible. In the New York market, there is a lot of competition in particular.
What career advice do you have for people wanting into the sports industry?
As a sports lawyer initially the two things that you can do are, No. 1, get the absolute best grades that you can possibly get in law school … and, No. 2, for a law student to write an article in some area of sports law that is related to sports business for a publication such as The Sports Lawyers Journal.
What is the one element you would like to see changed about the sports industry?
I would love to see a more objective way to establish ROI.
This career spotlight is courtesy of the SportsBusiness Journal. CLICK HERE to visit their official website.
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