Author Archives: itlneil

New beginnings

06 Monday Oct 2014

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As regular readers of this blog already know, I’ll be joining sports business icon Leigh Steinberg tonight on his new Yahoo! Sports radio show ‘Behind Closed Doors’ (shameless plug: I’ll be on from 8:30-9 p.m. CST). It got me thinking about Leigh’s career, and perseverance, and to some degree, mine too.

When I was in my early 20s, ESPN’s SportsCenter was in its prime. These were the days of Craig Kilborn, Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann, Chris Berman, etc. I couldn’t imagine a sports career that could top being on SportsCenter. That was a major goal. But today, I can’t imagine being on SportsCenter, and I don’t know anyone who even watches it anymore. It’s become trite, and anyway, all the highlights you want to see have either (a) been broadcast or (b) are readily available online somewhere. The model has changed completely.

In a similar vein, Leigh’s career has changed completely. Obviously, he’s known for a lot of things. He was one of the fathers of modern sports representation, if not the father of it, and he was the inspiration/model behind the movie Jerry Maguire. The number of legendary quarterbacks he’s represented is endless, from Steve Bartkowski and Warren Moon to Troy Aikman and Ben Roethlisberger. However, after a highly publicized lawsuit and some personal struggles, he fell from atop the sports representation business, and over the last decade, people around the business started referring to Leigh in the past tense.

Now here’s the interesting part: as Leigh showed when he helped Bartkowski land a mega-deal in the 70s, he’s adept at identifying trends and leveraging the market. He’s still an agent — client Garrett Gilbert, a QB from SMU, was drafted in the sixth round by the Rams this spring — but I think Leigh recognizes that the Dodge City environment that made a creative mind such a license for success 40 years ago is not in evidence today. As the agent business has saturated and competition has risen to great heights, he’s leveraging online radio, social media and more traditional methods (he’s authored several books, including one published this year) to tap into what I call the sports education market. It’s the one populated by hard-core football enthusiasts as well as the endless number of students pursuing sport management degrees in universities across the country.

Leigh is uniquely positioned to tap this market. Not only has he represented several members of the Hall of Fame and served in several roles related to sports and entertainment, but he’s indirectly played a role in the birth of several major agencies, including Irvine, Calif.-based Athletes First; Rep 1 Sports, also based in Irvine; and even Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Vanguard Sports Group, which was just launched by Joby Branion. Joby was one of the three agents who left Leigh in 2002 to launch Athletes First, and he’s a top agent in his own right today.

I think the takeaway from Leigh’s career is that the opportunity that everyone else is pursuing is not always the best one. When players were not yet using agents, or barely using them, Leigh found a way to enter that market and make it a success. When others flocked to it, he found another way to capitalize. Keep this in mind as you launch your career. There’s more than one road to success.

Opening doors

03 Friday Oct 2014

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One of the reasons I always encourage people to give the football business a try is because when you make a strong push to do something against the odds, you usually wind up opening doors that would have never otherwise been opened.

Just today, I was talking to a client who’s still new to sports representation, having gotten certified the summer of 2013. While discussing strategies for recruiting this fall, he mentioned that he’d developed relationships that moved him into boxing representation. In that capacity, he manages a handful of pugilists, two men and a woman, all of them with five or fewer pro fights so far, all undefeated. He said that representing boxers involves finding fights as well as sponsors who will put their logo on the boxer’s shorts or signage in the venue.  He indicated that it was already a money-making venture with little start-up capital or heavy investment involved.

This is just one of several collateral professions you might pick up as a result of your work in football. Here are a few others:

  • Mixed martial arts: It’s not always ex-players who branch out into other combat sports like MMA. Sometimes, a client’s brother is involved in the sport and doesn’t have reliable representation. I have some agents who’ve been certified for years who are tempted to leave their NFL work behind because their MMA practice is emerging so steadily.
  • Wrestling: Believe it or not, I spoke to an agent who got certified two years ago who got into the NFL ring only to identify big, angry, physical types that could be molded into wrestlers. Here’s the best part: his business model actually attracted the interest of World Wrestling Entertainment. He invited me to meet with representatives from the WWE at last year’s combine but it fell through at the last minute. I’m still hoping to meet with them, for no other reason than pure curiosity. Also because I gave thought once to going to ‘bad guy school’ to learn how to be a wrestler in my younger days.
  • Sports law: OK, I guess this is the obvious one, but it still bears mention. Two of my longtime friends, Darren Heitner of Heitner Legal (and sportsagentblog.com) and Adam Kenner of Wolfe Law, both based in Miami, started off in representation. Actually, Adam never got certified, but he was a very close advisor/friend/assistant to David Canter of Davie, Fla.-based DEC Management. I’ve relied on both of them for legal advice and as a sounding board from time to time, and I’ve referred them both to my clients facing legal issues. Adam, especially, had my back when one of my reports drew the attention of a high-visibility rapper (Hint: I’ve got 99 problems, but that’s no longer one of them). They’re both excellent, partly because they’ve seen the business up close.

As you know by now, I’m a strong advocate of trying this business out, really going for it and pursuing your dream. One reason I’m so adamant is that even if you shoot for the stars, you might only hit the moon, and what’s so wrong with that?

 

‘Getting’ it

02 Thursday Oct 2014

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I remember early in the ’00s, probably around 2003 or 2004, my parents were over for dinner, and I was most likely lamenting something about the challenges of Inside the League in its early stages. It was just in its second year and I was still trying to find an audience, and maybe I was coming across as whiny. It was at that point that my dad asked me, ‘why are you still doing it?’

I wasn’t really offended by his question. My parents have always been ultra-supportive of me; I enjoy a relationship with them that is closer than most anyone I know, and it’s truly one of God’s blessings. My dad just couldn’t understand why I would pour so much effort into something that took away from my time with my wife (we didn’t have our sons yet), especially when I already had a job. Inside the League was spending my time and money. What was the point?

Today, Dad sees ‘the point,’ of course, and is excited for the (limited) success I’ve achieved. He just didn’t have the vision for where I wanted to go with ITL at the time, and who could blame him for that? At the time, pretty much all he knew about ITL was that I had asked him to go to Washington, D.C., with me to meet with the NFLPA, but that we had been snubbed (a story for a different day); that I had had to significantly reduce my initial price point; that it was taxing to juggle a ‘day job’ and a ‘night job;’ and that what I was doing was very different from what everyone else was doing. For what it’s worth, he wasn’t the only one who had doubts.

So here’s the point. I know it’s a bit of a cliche, but you’re going to have to be true to yourself.

I often use this space to encourage people to take the less traveled path — to look for a place in the market that you can satisfy that others don’t see. For example, my friend Ari Nissim, a former cap guy with the Jets, sees analytics as a great untapped market in football. I have another friend and client, Michael Dean, who specializes in concierge services for professional athletes. There’s Daniel Jeremiah, an ex-scout who had so much success on Twitter after getting dumped by the Browns that he left scouting altogether to become part of NFL.com. There are others out there that I haven’t even thought of.

It’s worked well for me, but it wasn’t a direct path. I had to spend a while searching and figuring out exactly where the need was. Along the way, others were questioning me, but hey, I was questioning myself, so who can blame you?

If you follow your passion and wade into this business, there are people who will ridicule you, but to me, they’re kind of easy to deal with. You just ignore them, or respond indignantly, or whatever. The harder thing is when  someone you know and love questions your path. That’s when you have to understand that not everyone’s going to get you. Don’t apologize for that. That may be what makes your business, your idea, your market, special. There’s value in that.

WSW: How an ex-NFL player got into scouting

01 Wednesday Oct 2014

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For today’s WSW, I ran down a few stories from ex-NFL defensive back (Seahawks, 1989-1993) and ex-NFL scout (Saints, 2000-2007) James Jefferson. He’s now a high school football coach in Texas. To watch my entire discussion with James, during which he talks about his experiences in scouting and the finer points of player evaluation, click here.

He said landing a job with the Saints came from his playing days in Seattle, when he’d developed a friendship with then-Seahawks Vice President of Football Operations Randy Mueller.

“Well, as it came about, I was finished playing ball, so I’d come back (to Kingsville, Texas, where James had gone to college) and wanted to get my degree and wanted to get into coaching. So I was back, and went to New Orleans to visit a buddy of mine. They had hired a new general manager at the time, and it was Randy Mueller, and I knew Randy very, very well. He was one of the reasons, as a player, that I went to Seattle, from Canada. And I just so happened to stop by the office, and didn’t get to see him but left my resume. We stayed in touch and what have you, and it got down to the last week, and they were ready to go, and he called me up and said, ‘Hey, are you really serious about doing this?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I really am, I like to learn.’ And I had kinda told him while I was playing ball that I wouldn’t mind getting in this business. I went out and interviewed and he gave me the job. It was a good deal.

“I was fortunate with Randy. Randy kinda trusted me and I really trusted him. He’s the type of guy that, he believed in what guys around him said. He really took to heart what guys around him said. He made that transition for me (from player to scout) very easy.”

I asked James if it’s different for scouts who, liked him, played in the NFL.

“Oh yeah, easily, especially with the guys who played (in the NFL). It was a brotherhood of scouts, and then inside that, you had a subculture brotherhood of scouts that played the game (on the NFL level), because you already have that anyway. Guys that played the game, there’s a select few that get that opportunity to play the game . . . and guys still respect that. When you got into that, you get in with those guys, and you had that big culture group, which is your scout group, then that subculture in the middle, that you either played (with) or played against them. It was pretty neat.”

I also asked him his thoughts on information-sharing between scouts. Where did team loyalty begin and camaraderie end?

“That was a fine line. That was a very, very fine line of how to do things. You’re told, certainly, you can’t let a lot of information out from your team, but at the same time, maybe it was a guy that could get information from a coach at the school that he knew that was in our area. We could kinda use that and work with that, without giving up any team secrets.

“It’s a very fine line and it’s really kinda hard to explain, I guess, but we’d talk, and I think there’s a line somewhere and you have to know where it is. Every team had one. Do I think that it made the some of the management guys a little nervous sometimes? Probably so, but they do the same thing. That’s just the nature of the business without giving up a lot of team secrets like who you’re drafting, or who you’re looking at. But all you have to do is pay attention. It’s kinda hard to hide anything these days. “

A new start

30 Tuesday Sep 2014

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I try to be encouraging in this space. On Monday, when I talked about knowing when to quit, though I was honest, maybe I wasn’t so encouraging. Today, here’s a bit more encouragement.

I work with four AFL teams. I help them locate players, find their contact info, identify their agents, etc. Finding players is not so hard, but finding good players can be quite challenging. So, one of the teams I work with is an expansion team going into Las Vegas next spring, and I have a friend who will not only be running personnel for the team (the Outlaws) but also helping coach, along with a number of other things. Pretty much, on the AFL side of football, “a number of other things” is always part of your job responsibilities.

So here’s his story. For the last three years, he was with an AFL team, handling personnel and working on the offensive side of the ball. However, his goal was to have a greater role in personnel and, best-case scenario, scout for an NFL team. Given his desire to reach his goals, he saved a bunch of money, then left the team he was working for after last season in an effort to ‘burn his ships’ and sink or swim. I helped him get his name in with a couple NFL teams this spring, but we both knew it wouldn’t be easy finding the right opportunity. Sometime this summer I lost track of him.

Anyway, this week, he contacted me to tell me of his new venture. Obviously, I was excited for him, and I can tell he’s really pumped up by this opportunity. I mean, the chance to launch something, to really put your imprint on a new team, is not only rare but super-cool. I’m psyched that (a) he’s back in the game, (b) we’re back in touch, and (c) he’s got a new, awesome opportunity.

So here’s my point. My friend knew he wanted a new opportunity, so he socked away his money and went for it. He didn’t get his No. 1 pick (working as an NFL scout) this time, but he did get something almost as good: the chance to have a foundation role with a new team.

First, pay your dues. Then, follow your dreams. Be smart about it, but do it. You won’t be sorry. It might not always happen the way you want it to, and you might not get the exact thing you want, but knowing you’re chasing the one thing you always wanted to do, well, there’s just nothing else like it.

Knowing when to quit

29 Monday Sep 2014

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This time of year is always bittersweet for me. On the one hand, lots of newly licensed NFLPA contract advisors are celebrating passing their exams and getting a chance to finally sink their teeth into their dreams. It’s fun to walk with them as they learn the ropes of a new business.

On the other hand, well, there’s this:

  • “I am . . . sitting here looking at the October insurance invoice for $1,400 due by October 1 praying for some guidance on which way to go. Decision time.”
  • “I don’t want to be a part of this culture/celebration of violence anymore. Thanks for all your help, I would have never made it as far as I did without you.”
  • “Just wanted to let you know that I have taken a job as an in-house lawyer with a company up here in Cleveland. They aren’t going to permit me to continue with the NFL stuff, which kinda sucks, but oh well.”
  • “It’s a bummer because we love it, but the opportunity cost is rough to ignore.”

It’s hard to hear this when you’ve worked alongside someone for a year or years, and they are closing the door on a chapter of their lives, however brief. However, I rarely if ever try to talk people out of this decision. Honestly, deep down, I’m often happy when I hear them say these things.

This business is hard, and it’s not for everyone. There are lots and lots of success stories, but there are far more that don’t end so well. If you’ve pursued a career as an NFL agent or tried to be an NFL scout, you’ve come to know and understand the sacrifices, financial and personal, that you’ll have to make. Anyone who takes an eyes-wide-open look at these sacrifices and decides it’s not for them is way better off than the ones who keep hoping for the best in the face of overwhelming odds.

It’s not that I’m saying you shouldn’t take chances. Far from it, in fact. It’s just that the mere fact of taking that faith leap to chase your dreams is a pretty considerable risk in itself, and measuring risk is part of life. Part of success is knowing when to quit and move on to another venture. Who can argue with someone when they’ve determined that they’ve given all they can give?

I often say that people only leave this business feet first — on their shields, so to speak — but it doesn’t have to be that way. I guess that’s my pitch, as a consultant in this business. Give it your very best effort, and I humbly feel that using ITL maximizes your chances for success. But if it’s not happening, and you’ve counted the cost, understand that there are other dreams you can pursue. There’s no shame in laying one dream down to chase another.

Encouragement

26 Friday Sep 2014

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I hate to be a sap, I really do, but I’ve been feeling encouraged about success in the football world these days. Maybe it’s a new college season and a new football season. Maybe it’s because it’s been unseasonably cooler here in West Houston over the last week or so. Or maybe it’s a couple of experiences I’ve had in the last 48 hours that put a little more wind in my sails.

  • One of them was a phone call I got Thursday from a client who’s a financial planner. He got started with ITL about two years ago, and at the time, he was a successful businessman in the Carolinas who knew nothing more than that he wanted to work with NFL players and saw a need. In other words, he was as green as grass. That first year he was with me, there were numerous conversations about the mechanics of connecting with players, what to say, what their expectation level might be, and questions of every stripe. Over time we got to be pretty friendly, but I came to hear from him less over the last year or so. Now I know it’s because he doesn’t have those questions anymore. In his two years in the business, he’s picked up four clients (a very good rate of success), and he told me that he was going to lunch with one of his clients next week along with a couple of the client’s NFL teammates. In other words, he’s now getting referrals from NFL players. That’s exciting, and it’s gratifying to know I played some small role in his success.
  • The other was Wednesday, when I spoke at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law’s Sports and Entertainment Law Society in Houston. There’s just something energizing about seeing the face of the ‘next wave’ of the business. We had a little less than 30 there. In the crowd, I saw not only eagerness and attentive faces, but also business attire; when I was in college, the closest I got was wearing a shirt that didn’t have any stains. In other words, it was great to be in the company of young people who take themselves and their professional goals seriously. They had good questions, they spoke with purpose, and they were on time. Not a bad combination for people who want to take the next step professionally in a competitive world. When I left them, I told them I’d see them at the top, and I mean it.

You really can succeed in football. Whether you’re well-established (as is my first example) or just getting started (as are the students in my second), you can do this. Have a great weekend.

WSW: Finding Felder

25 Thursday Sep 2014

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We’re running a little late on War Story Wednesday, considering it’s Thursday, but I think you’ll like today’s story. It’s a good look at how players slide below the radar.

Bill Schwenk had only been in player representation a month when, during the 2011 season, he noticed a cornerback at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, La., named Bobby Felder. Felder had played alongside Nicholls St. CB Lardarius Webb, who went 3/88 to the Ravens in 2009. Webb and Schwenk had a mutual friend, and this friend insisted to Schwenk that Felder was a player.

Felder had compiled big-time stats during his college career, but no interest from agents and only minimal attention from scouts. Though Felder had logged 190 tackles in three years, along with five picks, eight passes broken up, 12 passes defensed, 49 tackles, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and three blocked kicks during his senior season, he was missed.

How come? Maybe because Thibodaux is in swamp country in South Louisiana; Nicholls’ main claim to fame was that every summer it was home to Manning Passing Academy. However, it was by no means a football factory, having gone 01-10 in 2011 and 4-7 in 2010. The fact that the team went 1-10 his senior season didn’t do anything to help him create buzz. In addition, Felder wasn’t written up by either of the scouting combines, National and BLESTO, going into the season; of course, this was because the school didn’t bother to have a ‘junior day,’ the time when the combines come in to time, weigh and measure possible prospects. If a team were to find him, it would have to actually go to campus and check him out, or at least see him in a road game. It’s easy for a player to develop a rap as non-athletic when no one has a 40 time on him, and lack of speed at cornerback is the kiss of death.

It turns out that only three teams made it to Nicholls that season: Seattle, Oakland and Atlanta. Seemingly, none were all that impressed (though the Falcons met with Schwenk at the Senior Bowl to discuss Felder). Later, Bill asked a friendly scout why only three teams had made it to Thibodaux. “Honestly, they’re lazy!” was the response. The scout told Bill that because Felder played at lowly and remote Nicholls State, scouts knew few GMs would ask about the school or its players. That meant they could cut the school out of their route, and most did.

At any rate, Bill was a believer, and he continued to recruit Felder. He only got competition from one other agent, a veteran who heard of Felder very late and tried to get through to him through the cornerback’s brother-in-law. Bill staved off the older agent and signed Felder, but making believers of NFL teams wasn’t easy. That’s why he made a game film and started to send it out to teams.

One of the scouts who saw his film was Green Bay’s Alonzo Highsmith, who’s known in the business for his keen eye and excellent insights. Highsmith went directly to GM Ted Thompson and told him he had found a sleeper.

From there, word started to get out, and by the end of February, there was buzz around Felder. It reached such a fever pitch that when the school scheduled its pro day, many NFL scouts called to request that it be rescheduled to be held the day before LSU’s pro day so scouts could make both workouts. Alas, at his big day, he ran in the 4.6 range, turning most schools off. Only one team retained interest: Minnesota. The next day, Bill drove him to Baton Rouge to meet the Vikings’ scout and defensive backs coach after LSU’s pro day.

His chances mainly extinguished, the Vikings were the only team that called after the draft in April. Bill quickly signed Felder to a contract as an undrafted free agent, and the Colonel beat overwhelming odds and made the roster. Two years later, he’s still in the league with the Bills.

It’s just one more illustration that there are still sleepers, and scouts and agents who are willing to trust their instincts can find players in out-of-the-way places.

Guest speaker

23 Tuesday Sep 2014

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So tomorrow I’m honored to be speaking to members of the Sports and Entertainment Law Society at Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University from noon to 1 p.m. It’s going to be fun; it’s always nice to be among young, eager folks looking to get their foot in the door and build a profile in an exciting industry. I haven’t actually put together the nuts and bolts of what I’m going to tell them yet — I’ll be speaking about making a career in football — but here are the central themes whenever I speak to a similar group.

1. Think long and hard about whether or not you want to do this or not. The odds are long that you’ll succeed, and it may take years for you to see any real gratification from things. I remember during the first six or seven years of Inside the League I contemplated whether or not I’d made a mistake, and didn’t know if it was a service that really had a market, had legs. Finally there came light at the end of the tunnel, but it was a long time arriving. It took real stamina and lots of trial and error.

2. Understand that the career you set out for might not be the one you wind up with. When I launched ITL, I envisioned a service that was equal parts fan site and business site. I actually did mock drafts, rankings and the like, just like all the other websites, but didn’t realize that trying to do what others did was the surest path to failure. Maybe if I had really doubled down on that path I would have found success, but I’m convinced that what makes me different is what makes me successful(ish). I had to be willing to dump my old ideas and strike out in a different direction to really get traction. Good thing my wife offers good advice, and good thing I’m willing to listen to it.

3. Find a mentor, find competition, but don’t necessarily grade yourself strictly by others. Look, finding someone who will help you, who will open doors for you, who will share your vision and will encourage you when you need it is critical. It’s also good to find someone like you who’s having success so you can gauge your progress. However, realize that you are not a carbon copy of anyone else, and your success may come in spurts that don’t exactly mirror the success of others. Realize that if you’re truly dedicated to this business, there will be stops and starts. You have to be in it for the long haul.

So, these are some of the themes I’ll be emphasizing tomorrow. I see them as a common denominator for success in this corner of the world. Got other ideas? Let me know in the comments section. And if you’re in the neighborhood tomorrow, I hope to see you at TSU.

Rising, falling and in-between

22 Monday Sep 2014

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I’ve got thoughts on lots of different things, so rather than drone on and on about any one of them, I’ll touch on several topics today.

  • I know this is 2014, and we’re not supposed to be shocked by anything anymore, but did you know there is a service that ranks national youth football teams as young as fourth grade? Here are the sixth-grade rankings; my son, who weighs 90 pounds and played his second-ever football game on Saturday, faced the No. 2 team on this list on Saturday. He’s one of 14 players on the team; five others are in their first year on the gridiron. On Saturday, due to injuries and illness, we dressed 12 for the game. The results were pretty much predictable. By the way, when we shook hands after the game, I was able to look their biggest player (No. 50, pictured in the above link) in the eye. Actually, I looked up to him a bit, and I’m more than 6-3. He probably had me by about 30 pounds and I weigh 230. Crazy on a lot of levels.
  • LSU OT La’el Collins strongly considered leaving for the NFL after last season; in fact, it was a major surprise that he didn’t exit for pro football glory last January, as so many Tigers do every year. As always, it’s smartest to strike while the iron is hot. I texted with two scouts today and they both say he’s gone from a left OT prospect to more of a right tackle or even a guard prospect. No way he’s in the first-round conversation anymore based on the first third of the season.
  • Interesting comments from Shannon Sharpe here. Probably the closest I’ve heard to how I feel about it. There are limits to what even the NFL can do to control its players.
  • I told you in this space that I would be doing Leigh Steinberg’s new radio show on Yahoo! Sports radio tonight, but I’ve been moved to Oct. 6. I hope you can join us, especially if you’re interested in the football business and how you can get started, get established, and eventually build success in the game.