Class profile: ‘Sports and Entertainment Management’

Students may neglect to think about what their professors did before coming to Portland State or what they do outside of teaching, but given the scholastic diversity of PSU’s faculty, there’s no doubt many professors have interesting stories and rich experiences they can pass on to their students.

J.E. Isaac is a case in point. Currently an adjunct professor in the School of Business Administration, Isaac carries a diverse resume of accomplishments achieved prior to landing at PSU.

After Isaac finished undergraduate school at the University of Kentucky, he pursued law school at the Florida State University College of Law. Upon completion, Isaac practiced law in Florida for three years before making the decision to move to a new city.

“I circled three cities on the map of the U.S.: Seattle, Denver and Portland,” Isaac said. “I went to visit all three, and I had a friend that lived here and showed me around, and I just fell in love with it here.”

Isaac moved to Portland and practiced law in the area for a couple of years before he decided it was time to do something more creative. With no previous management knowledge, he began managing a local band, Quarterflash. After hooking up the band with Geffen Records, they went platinum and became internationally known.

Eight years in the music industry went by before Isaac felt the need for another change. In 1988, he was given the opportunity to work with Paul Allen, who had just bought the Portland Trail Blazers and was in the process of transforming the team from a sports franchise to a full-service sports entertainment company.

Allen was looking to build an arena because, at the time, the Memorial Coliseum was the smallest and third-oldest arena in the NBA and lacked the modern amenities necessary to fully monetize the franchise. Isaac was brought in to begin work on the Rose Garden Arena project.

Hired as director of game operations and merchandising, Isaac said he immediately worked to establish a new retail arm that included a store downtown and others around the state.

“I demonstrated that I was good at doing due diligence on businesses and developing them, and that led to my promotion to vice president of business development,” he said.

Isaac continued to climb the ladder, becoming vice president of business affairs and then senior vice president of business affairs. In addition to his work with the Blazers, Isaac also held positions in
Allen’s other companies, including the Seattle Seahawks.

After 24 years with the team, Isaac left in the summer of 2011 to take a long vacation.

“I needed it,” he said. “It was really a grueling pace and workload that I had while I was with the Blazers.”

Despite the need for a break, Isaac said he wasn’t ready for retirement.

“I wanted to use the knowledge, expertise and connections that I had built up over 30 years of working in sports entertainment in Portland. So I took a job consulting,” he said.

Isaac was asked to design and teach a course in sports and entertainment in the summer of 2010 and found he thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now Isaac spends his time teaching the course at PSU while maintaining his job as a consultant.

“It gives me the freedom to travel, which I like to do. But still feel like I’m giving back and staying firm on things,” he said. “It’s just been really fun.”

The course that Isaac teaches at PSU is called “Sports and Entertainment Management,” and as the title suggests, it’s about the sports and entertainment industry.

Isaac said that most sports franchises nowadays are far more than just a football team or a basketball team. They often own and control their own venue, as well as their own food and beverage company, and put on concerts and events outside of sporting games.

“They are really full-service sports entertainment companies,” Isaac explained. “This class is designed to allow students to understand how that industry works and also to point out opportunities for them to be a part of that.”

In addition to the experience Isaac brings, students in the class are also exposed to an array of guest speakers, including people in high-profile positions like the chief operating officer of the Portland Timbers, the former chief operating officer of the Trail Blazers and the president of the Winterhawks.

“I try to bring in people who are longtime executives. I want to give the students opportunities to hear from people with experience beyond mine,” Isaac said.

Isaac incorporates a lot of multimedia into his lessons and tries to make it as interesting for the students as possible. Students get to go on a field trip that changes from term to term that showcases what it’s really like to be a part of the field.

The class involves a lot of discussion and a final project that helps students understand real-life sports and entertainment. Two years ago, during the NBA lockout, Isaac was able to split his class into two groups, the owners and the players, and had them negotiate their own deals.

“I’m extremely impressed with the student body at PSU. I don’t know if this is true in other schools, but in the school of business the students are older, and they already have been in or are currently in the workforce, and they are going to school for the right reasons,” Isaac said. “They are there to learn and to advance their careers. They pay attention, they work hard. Most of the students here are serious students, and they’ve just been a pleasure to work with.”

The class will be offered next term and is primarily for upper division and graduate business students, but qualified students from outside the School of Business Administration will be considered on a case-by-case basis, space permitting. If interested, contact Isaac at [email protected].