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For more than a decade, The Montag Group – the New York City agency that represents many of the nation’s top sportscasters – has been a pipeline into sports broadcasting and management for interns from the David B. Falk College of Sport and seniors pursuing their capstone projects.
Sandy Montag ’85, the company’s Founder & President and a legend in the sports industry, admits he bleeds Orange. But Montag says he’s partial to Syracuse University students because they’re better prepared than students from other universities.
“I think with Syracuse interns you know what you’re getting,” Montag says. “They’re hardworking and they really have their finger on the pulse of the industry. They’ve studied it, they’ve asked the right questions, they’re industrious, they take charge, and they don’t always need a lot of direction.”
That strong background is essential because interns at The Montag Group may undertake a variety of projects involving research, marketing, development, and team building. “I have found that Syracuse students are the best positioned to really jump into a company and do some real work while they’re here,” Montag says. Some Falk College interns slide straight into full-time jobs at The Montag Group when their internships end.
Sandy Montag (second from left) attends the Falk College of Sport Kickoff Celebration in September 2025 alongside fellow members of the Falk College of Sport Advisory Board and Dean Jeremy Jordan.
Most of The Montag Group’s 200+ clients are sportscasters, including industry leaders such as Bob Costas ’74, Mike Tirico ’88, Scott Van Pelt, Beth Mowins G’90, Jim Nantz, James Brown, Tracy Wolfson, Rebecca Lobo and Julie Foudy. It also represents entertainers, chefs, coaches, and athletes in their off-the-field projects.
Communication is key to the agency’s business, and Montag says Syracuse students have better communications skills than most others. “Some students that come in want to tell you everything that they know,” he says. “I was taught that you learn more by listening than by talking. Syracuse students ask really good questions, not just how I got started but questions specific to our industry about representation and what we look for in a good broadcaster. I like inquisitive people who ask good questions and who you can tell have a real interest in what you’re doing.”
A large majority of The Montag Group are from Syracuse, Montag says. The majority are from Falk College, although some come from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The agency typically has one or two interns each semester and two or three in the summer, along with capstone students.
Learning the Business with John Madden
Montag was a sports nut from a young age. He remembers at age eight waiting after the end of basketball games at Madison Square Garden so he could snag the notes and stat sheets of his idol, Marv Albert ’63, commonly known as “the voice of basketball” for his broadcasts of NBA games. Ironically, years later Montag became Albert’s agent.
He was on the varsity basketball and soccer teams in high school but didn’t play much. While on the bench, he kept stats. He also started writing game stories for his local newspaper.
The powerful relationship between Montag and Syracuse University almost didn't happen. Dreaming of a career in sports broadcasting, he applied for admission into Newhouse. The alternative that was presented to him by Syracuse was a degree in speech communications at the College of Visual and Performing Arts, which he accepted, knowing he could still take a few classes at Newhouse outside of his major. "I quickly pivoted into production and stats work," he says.
Montag honed his resourcefulness during his years at Syracuse. He got a job writing for the Daily Orange, the independent student newspaper. When a guy in his dorm who was the lead football manager said the team needed another manager, Montag jumped at the opportunity.
As he worked in the athletic office one day, someone said ESPN was on campus and needed a person to do stats for that night’s basketball game. “I’m like, I’ll do that in a second,” Montag remembers. He sat in the front row at the game next to broadcaster Dick Vitale, to whom he fed point and rebound stats. ESPN paid him $50. Forty years later, Vitale has been a longtime client and friend of Montag.
The ESPN producer said he’d pay Montag $100 the next week for two days’ work if he could get to Pittsburgh. Recalling that an upstart airline, People Express, had an ad in the Daily Orange offering an hourly wage and free travel to employees, Montag hustled to the Syracuse airport. He got a job doing reservations one day a week and made it to Pittsburgh.
It was the first of 100 such assignments that eventually found him working stats after graduation for John Madden, who had shifted from an accomplished NFL head coach to sportscaster. That led to him becoming Madden’s assistant, traveling with him from game to game by train (Madden’s preferred mode of travel). Without the distraction of cell phones and other electronic devices, they talked, played cards, and drank beer. “We hit it off and developed a relationship,” Montag recalls.
Before long Montag became Madden’s agent, helped negotiate the contract for the spectacularly successful “Madden NFL” game by Electronic Arts, and brokered a deal for the first “Madden Cruiser.”
“When I went to school,” Montag says, “there were zero schools of sports management. My degree in sport management was really traveling the train with John Madden.”
The Madden gig also kicked off Montag’s 31 years at the International Management Group (IMG), where he rose to become senior corporate vice president and head of client representation before starting his own agency in 2014.
In 2019, Newhouse honored Montag with its Marty Glickman Award for Leadership in Sports Media. He’s the only non-broadcaster to receive the award.
In December 2025 Sports Business Journal named Montag to its list of the 125 most influential sports business figures of the past quarter-century. “As well-connected within the media side of the sports business as anyone,” the magazine said, “Montag continues to have vast influence even after more than 40 years in the business.”
Sandy Montag (left) speaks to fellow Advisory Board Member Patti Fallick ’78 at the Falk College of Sport Kickoff Celebration.
Today, Montag is an active member of the Falk College of Sport Advisory Board. And he’s proud that a third of the 20-to-25 employees at his agency are Syracuse grads. “I take pride in the success that they’re building,” he said, and “what they’re doing in the industry. It’s just a good feeling knowing that you have something to do with it.”