Category Archives: Agents

WSW: All-Star Sacrifices

17 Wednesday Feb 2016

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This week, we’ll be talking to New York City-based Eugene Lee of MBK Sports Management Group. Eugene was certified in the early ’00s and has been an Inside the League client almost since its inception in ’02. He’s also been a great friend all those years.

He’s a man of great integrity, great faith and hard work, and it’s been exciting to watch his rise in the business. In fact, a lot of people got a chance to watch part of that rise as he was the focus of documentarian Morgan Scurlock’s ESPN 30 for 30 presentation, The Dotted Line, in 2011.

Eugene recently wrote a book about his experiences as an agent, My Brother’s Keeper: Above and Beyond The Dotted Line with the NFL’s Most Ethical Agent (more on that title later). It’s really good, and gives readers a real inside look at what the business is like for an independent agent without a million-dollar expense account. Eugene has to carefully pick his potential clients, trying to find high-character young men who can also play a little, while trying to keep costs in line. Meanwhile, he’s also got an off-the-field life which includes his wife, who’s an actress and singer. It’s a true high-wire act, and his book includes dozens of stories of his successes but also, to his credit, tales which make him the butt of the joke. Like Eugene, it’s very authentic and real, and it’s a fun read that I highly recommend, especially if you are considering life as an NFLPA contract advisor. You can check it out on Amazon here.

I’ve interviewed him about the book, and I’ll have that interview in this space over the next two days, but first, a story that, I think, shows a little about Eugene’s dedication to his clients (and that didn’t make the book).

It was January of 2008, and about 48 hours before players arrived for the ’08 Hula Bowl. At the time, the Hula Bowl was the No. 3 all-star game (after the Senior Bowl and Shrine Game), and an invitation was pretty highly valued. After all, the game offered not only a platform for getting evaluated by NFL scouts, but it was played in Honolulu, not a bad place to spend a week in January.

Like dozens of other agents I knew, Eugene had been reaching out to me regarding a player he represented. It was Stillman cornerback Brian Witherspoon, a player scouts told me had incredible straight-line speed (Witherspoon actually made a run at an Olympic berth as a sprinter after his NFL career ended) but who had a small-school pedigree and who was still a little raw as a pure cover corner. Eugene knew ‘Spoon’ needed that game, and an invitation to the Senior Bowl and Shrine Game were a long shot.

Unfortunately, I was all out of spots for defensive backs. What’s more, I had spent my entire travel budget when I got a call, less than 48 hours before he was scheduled to arrive, that Washburn cornerback Cary Williams (now with the Redskins) had sprained his ankle during combine prep and couldn’t make the game.

As I hung up the phone, I didn’t know what to do. Well, I knew what I wanted to do, which was to call Eugene (for some reason I’ve always called him by his initials, E.T.), but I didn’t know how to do that. Eugene had been begging and pleading with me for weeks to get Witherspoon into the game, but I simply had no room. Now I did, but I had no budget to get him there. Would Eugene pick up that flight? I could only imagine what it would cost.

Now, I know dozens of agents who would have told me to get lost. Yes, getting a kid into an all-star game is a big deal, but asking an agent to pay for his travel back then was pretty much a slap in the face. Never mind that we were talking about a ticket that would cost at least a grand, and probably more. But hey, I needed a cornerback badly, and maybe, just maybe, Eugene would send him.

I remember calling him from the offices we had set up at the Marriott Ihilani in Ko Olina, the team hotel. I think I called him in the afternoon, Island time, which was probably late-evening in NYC. I didn’t really know how to make the conversation ‘pretty,’ so I just came out with it: if Eugene could get Witherspoon to Honolulu in a day-and-a-half, he could be in our game. Of course, that would mean that (a) Eugene would have to arrange for Witherspoon to get there, (b) he’d have to find Witherspoon’s pads and get them there, and (c) Eugene would no doubt want to join us at the game so he could talk up the kid’s prospects with the NFL scouts in attendance.

As I recall, Eugene took the call well, but asked to think about it. Even then, I couldn’t give him a break — I had to know ASAP if I had a corner or not, and I didn’t know where I’d find one. Soon, however, he called and confirmed that he’d find a way to get Spoon on a plane.

We never talked about how much that flight cost, or how he came up with a helmet and shoulder pads, or any other of the particulars. But it impressed me then, and impresses me now, that Eugene was willing to take all that on to get his client to the game. As it happened, Brian had a great week, which didn’t get him drafted, but did get him signed as an undrafted free agent, and he beat the odds by sticking in the league for four years. There’s no doubt in my mind that doesn’t happen if Eugene doesn’t get him to Hawaii on a few hours’ notice.

Check in tomorrow as we talk to Eugene about his book and his career to date.

 

Post-Symposium Thoughts

15 Monday Feb 2016

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As you know, I was part of a sports panel at Chapman Law in Orange, Calif., last week. If you’re interested in watching our panel in its entirety, it’s already been posted online. I’d encourage you to check it out.

Here are a few observations and thoughts.

  • Early on, we discuss success in the business. Every year, there’s some out-of-nowhere agent who signs several players that the bigger firms sought. Often, that agent gets media attention and maybe even praise from other contract advisors, but on draft day, where do his players wind up? Sometimes there’s a happy ending for the players, but at what cost? Often, these new agencies win because they throw buckets of money at their clients. We never get to see their balance sheets, however, and that’s where you really find out who won and lost.
  • At one point, one of the panelists decries agents who claim they can get players into the NFL Combine or the Senior Bowl. I agree on half of that statement; no agent can get a player into the combine. On the other hand, there were a dozen players who competed in Mobile this year that are not going to Indianapolis. I’d be very surprised if an agent’s strong lobbying wasn’t part of the reason one or all of them were in the game. In fact, I know for a fact that one of them (Northwestern State WO Ed Eagan) made it strictly because his agent, New Orleans-based Jason Cavignac, pushed hard enough to get Eagan an actual workout with the game’s organizers, which led to his assignment to the game when another receiver got hurt. That’s good agent work.
  • One of the agents on the panel, Select Sports Group’s Erik Burkhardt, very famously rid himself of a troubled client, former Browns QB Johnny Manziel, the week before the panel. Many of us on the panel expected a question from the audience about Erik’s decision; God knows I’ve had several agents who’ve reached out to me with words critical of Erik. Had anyone asked, however, I would have defended him. I’m confident Erik did what he could. What’s more, he hung around longer than the marketing people that surrounded Manziel did. Manziel’s father has gotten a lot of press for claiming Johnny wouldn’t see 24 if he didn’t get the right help. Well, Mr. Manziel, Johnny’s social media shows that you were out there with him, getting tattoos and partying it up when he was on top. Where were you then?

There are other panels that are online from the full-day event, but I think the panel I participated on is probably the one with the most appeal to folks considering making football their profession. Don’t forget to check it out.

 

 

Thoughts Approaching A Symposium

10 Wednesday Feb 2016

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On Friday, I’ll be part of a panel at the Fowler School of Law Sports & Entertainment Symposium at Chapman University in Southern California. It’s a big deal, and if you’re in town, I hope you can make it out (and if you do, I hope you grab me and say hi). Here are a few thoughts as I approach this week’s event.

  • It’s a little intimidating to be sharing the dais with five agents from four major firms. I don’t mean to sound immodest when I say I study the player-agent recruiting game probably more closely than any non-agent in the business. However, I’ll admit that’s a little different from being in the room with a draft prospect plus his parents, or his girlfriend, or his ‘business manager,’ or his former coach, or anyone else who has influence over him. It’s also different from going toe to toe with an NFL GM.
  • I’m always a little out of sorts when it comes to addressing sport management students and/or law students with a sports interest. On one hand, I want to be insightful and genuine, and want to stimulate learning and interest in the business, but I also don’t want to get too focused on the finer points of the agent industry and lose them entirely. I also have a habit of, at times, focusing on the challenges rather than the rewards. If our credo at ITL is really going to be ‘succeeding in football,’ I have to give young people the ammo to do that, or at least not extinguish the flame before it’s even lit.
  • I’m kind of on the fence about how I curry favor with the NFL Network’s Rand Getlin, who’s moderating the event. I mean, we’re buddies, but he’s gotta be provocative to stir interest, right? How do I know he’s not going to ask me a question that I respond to with ‘um’ or ‘huh’ or ‘may I be excused?’ Maybe a bribe is in order. But how much? I know Rand is a car guy. Perhaps I dangle the keys to some fancy wheels. Maybe that’s too over the top.
  • With every trip I’m taking this year, I’ve set a goal of trying to solidify one relationship and create (at least) one relationship. I want to do this in very intentional ways. For example, I’m having dinner with a relatively new client, Tim Johnson of the accounting firm JLK Rosenberger. Ironically, I met him at the last event where I spoke, the 2015 Sports Financial Advisors Association’s Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., last November. Hopefully, this trip will be equally as productive.

If you’re in Southern California and you’re interested in the business, try to make it out for the symposium. I promise you won’t be sorry.

 

2016 Recruiting Stories

09 Tuesday Feb 2016

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If there’s one thing I love, it’s stories from the recruiting trail. I think you do, too. Here are a few I’ve heard lately.

  • I referred an agent who’s gotten a slow start (due to health reasons) to a player who’s badly in need of representation. This young man’s pro day is early, and he’s been training at school in what seems to be a haphazard way, to put it kindly. I know this agent would be a good fit for the young man, who has potential despite a small-school pedigree. Unfortunately, he’s put his trust in a man of faith who, at best, is highly uneducated on the process, and at worst is exploiting his position for personal gain. After one conversation with this pastor, my friend emailed me that he was asked, “what we’re really asking is what does (the kid) get for signing with you?” Unfortunately, more and more, that’s all the recruiting process has come to — what you put in the kid’s hand. “That’s what infuriated me,” my friend emailed me. “He is being misinformed in such a way that may wreck his chance to get a look. Too bad.” Too bad, indeed.
  • I was told yesterday that some players wrapping up their final year of eligibility (seniors as well as those entering the draft early) are now pocketing their residential scholarship stipends, then asking agents to pick up their back rent. In some cases, they’re asking potential agents to clear out their back rent, plus pay in advance for the next 4-5 months, even though they’ll be spending most of that time at a combine prep facility. In some cases, that’s a five-figure ask.
  • One kid had $10,000 in credit card debts that he wanted wiped away. This was not a first-round talent, just a late-rounder or maybe even a camp guy. This is in addition to major combine prep and all the other trappings of the draft process.
  • One player told an agent I know that he liked him, and that the agent hustled and worked hard, but the player had debts that he needed covered. Because that contract advisor wouldn’t cover those debts, the young man wanted to have two agents: one that would cover his debts, and the other who would actually do the agent work. No word on whether or not the ‘other agent’ would be cool with all the debts but only half the fees.
  • I’m told that a standard big-agency pitch to players with first-round grades includes (a) lifetime legal representation on all matters (barring an O.J.-style situation); (b) first-class flights for the whole (immediate) family for every game, home and away, in the ’16 season; (c) a guaranteed job in TV or music (but not the film industry) in retirement; and (d) covering the costs of the player’s father moving with him to the place where he trains for the combine. All of this is in addition to a weekly stipend, a signing bonus or marketing guarantee (but not a loan), and possibly reduced fees.

 

Part 2 with Agent (And More) Austin Atkinson

05 Friday Feb 2016

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Today is Part 2 of our guest entry from Austin Atkinson, an NFLPA contract advisor who’s served in personnel roles with the Charleston, S.C.-based Medal of Honor Bowl (’14-’15) and the Tropic Bowl (’16). I feel he’s got a unique perspective in how to build a strong presence in the game. Today, he talks about some of the unexpected drama he faced working with scouts and agents to build an all-star roster.

“Literally within the first 60 days of me taking the job in Charleston, I was contacted by two individuals who were affiliated with two of the more established all-star games. The first emailed to say that he had heard that the other was calling a bunch of agents and saying that I was planning on using my status as a personnel director to recruit players to my own agency. Days later, the second person emailed to say that he had heard that the first guy was actually calling around and saying that I was unscrupulous and that agents shouldn’t send their players to our game. At that point, I had no choice but to block out the outside noise and handle things my own way. It was obvious that neither one of those guys was going to play any sort of role in helping me establish myself as a personnel director anyway.

“Because of those two individuals, I actually drafted a letter and sent a copy to every single agent in the country via email (thanks, NFLPA directory!) and explained that they should have no concerns over my involvement with the game, and that any concerns could be addressed to me personally. Other than having to tactfully correct a few doubters on Twitter a few times, I never heard another concern from the agent community. I am happy to report that we actually had 38 players report to our game in Charleston that year that were unsigned or otherwise uncommitted to any particular agency. That kind of number is unheard of for a major all-star game, and is one of which I am particularly proud. I had hoped to make it clear to the scouting and agent community that I was going to give my best effort to find talent on my own, and not just ‘play favorites’ with any agencies.

“Now, that is not to say that I don’t value the input from my fellow agents. As many will attest, I’ve spent hours and hours on the phone with them during the last couple of years. Although I spend a lot of time traveling to games and attending practices before and during the college football season, the agents that I speak with that are scattered across the country serve as my eyes and ears on the ground. I am extremely grateful for their insight and I always try to give them an honest opinion or otherwise not ‘leave them hanging’ when they inquire about my interest in a certain player. I understand that this is a pressure-filled business, and I have personally been cussed out and threatened by a few agents during the last couple of draft cycles. But the vast majority are personable and respectful, and I enjoy hearing from them throughout the year.

“To wrap things up, I thought I would share something that happened last week in Mobile that kind of brings my experience full circle. There I was at Veet’s (a bar that’s a Senior Bowl ‘must’) and I was speaking to a CFL coach and a veteran NFL scout. The CFL coach was going on about how much he liked a certain ACC player, and said he hoped to sign him if he didn’t get picked up by an NFL team. I knew, and the NFL scout obviously knew, the particular medical history of this player and how that accounted for why he hadn’t received a single all-star game invite. The scout must have sensed that I had some information to share, so he gave me an ‘after you’ wave of the hand. I then proceeded to spout off to the coach this player’s entire medical history, and told him that despite being an all-conference, record-breaking player while in college, the player had virtually zero shot at passing an NFL physical. The coach was initially shocked by this revelation, and then repeatedly thanked me for sharing that key piece of information. It was definitely one of those moments where I realized that I had come a long way from being ‘just an agent’ just a few years ago.

“I hope to see many of you at the NFL Combine later this month in Indianapolis. Please introduce yourself if we haven’t met already. I’m already working on another all star game for the 2017 Draft cycle, and I hope to share that information with everyone soon. Good luck to all of the players and agents in this year’s Draft!”

Finding Your Own Personnel Path (Pt. 1)

04 Thursday Feb 2016

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I met Austin Atkinson more than three years ago sometime after he passed the NFLPA agent certification exam in 2012. An attorney in South Carolina, Austin was enthusiastic, smart and details-driven, like dozens of new contract advisors. He’d also made alliances with several people in the football business before he’d gotten certified, which is always wise.

It was through these alliances that Austin found himself helping out with the Medal of Honor Bowl, a college all-star game that ran for two seasons (2014-2015) and saw 20-plus players get drafted and hundreds go to NFL camps. The game is also the place where Patriots Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler first caught the eye of scouts. Though it didn’t get the headlines of the bigger and more traditional games like the Senior Bowl and the Shrine Game, the game became known, in short order, for its abundance of sleepers and the hospitality organizers showed to NFL personnel.

This year, the MOH Bowl moved to a more traditional bowl format, leaving Austin without a personnel role. However, he was able to assume the same role with another game, the Tropic Bowl, which launched in January. Once again, the game quickly gained traction with scouts, and Austin earned praise for the roster he (largely) assembled for game owner/founder Michael Quartey.

Whenever you handle such a role, you get interesting insights on the business and get to see a side few see. It’s almost like real-life fantasy football on the college level. There’s nothing more rewarding than providing a draft hopeful with a platform for achieving his dream. With this in mind, I asked Austin to take the reins of SIF for a day and give readers a peek into his world.

I’ll let Austin take it from here.

 

 

 

“One of the biggest challenges I faced personally when entering the personnel world was fighting the perception that I was ‘just an agent’ and couldn’t possibly know that much about evaluating talent. After all, it was only a year earlier that I had been the guy on the other end of the phone lobbying other all-star game directors to invite my players to their game.

“To overcome this, I made a decided effort to visit as many college campuses as I could to personally visit with coaches and pro liaisons. In year one, our personnel director,  Cal McCombs, and I visited something like 55 college football programs between the months of August and November. We were determined to make absolutely sure that they knew about our game, and that we were very interested in their players. During these trips, we would often run into NFL scouts or scouting directors who were there to check out the crop of senior prospects. In a few lucky instances, we would be allowed to head to the film room with the scouts before practice started.

“To be able to sit and dissect game film with a room full of NFL scouts was an education that is impossible to put a price tag on. Truth be told, I mostly just sat there quietly and absorbed every bit of information that they were willing to share. Whether it was finding faults with a certain defensive lineman, or expressing concerns over another player’s off-field issues, I made plenty of mental notes on the litany of things that a scout looks for when evaluating a prospect.

“The other major obstacle that I faced was being affiliated with a ‘new’ all-star game that didn’t have a long track record, or even a national television deal, when I first came on board. I chose to instead view these things as a positive, since we had not developed some of the bad habits that some of the more established games had developed over the years. Essentially, we had a clean slate to make a good impression on the scouting and agent community.”

Austin will be back Friday to wrap things up, discussing some of the issues he faced in his campaign to advance his game (and his personnel work) in the face of tremendous competition. Back tomorrow.

 

Thinking (Big) Out Loud

22 Friday Jan 2016

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I’ve written pretty extensively about the College Gridiron Showcase held a week ago in Bedford, Texas, just outside Dallas. Its owners, Craig Redd and Jose Jefferson, took some chances and had big success, and I think the job they did will impact future all-star games.

Part of the week that helped sustain it financially was a workout on Monday that featured ‘street free agents,’ i.e., players who are no longer draft-eligible. The problem with such player is that the NFL forbids its college scouts from evaluating these players, which kind of defeats the purposes of their workouts. Unless a team sends its pro scouts to check out the action, there aren’t any NFL representatives to give players a chance. Most of the time, these players have been watched and evaluated multiple times, so pro scouts don’t see them as especially sexy.

However, big players are sexy. You can’t teach size. That’s why I’ve been thinking about an idea that might just attract NFL teams’ pro scouts to next year’s game.

Why not cast a wide net for ex-basketball players under 25 years old, then pitch them on the idea of trying football? Basketball players are the best pure athletes in college athletics, and they bring the kind of explosiveness and strength that the NFL is always seeking. What’s more, there’s a track record for such players. Jimmy Graham, Julius Peppers, Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez are all former hoops players that turned into stars on the gridiron. Even Steelers OT Alejandro Villanueva and Eagles OT Jason Peters, though not basketball players, are examples of big men who played other positions with varied success before finally plugging into the o-line and getting traction.

I’d been thinking about this idea for some time, but felt it wasn’t a powerful draw for a simple reason: basketball players not good enough for the NBA can still make good money overseas. Or, at least, I thought so. Last week, I had a long talk with Tyler Glass, who partners with his father to represent several NBA players when he’s not working with his NFL clients. Tyler told me two things that encouraged me. One, the international game is more fast-paced and doesn’t lend itself to players much above 6-foot-6, so the true giants aren’t especially valued in foreign lands. Two, most big men who do land contracts overseas aren’t making much more than $60,000-$70,000. That’s not bad pay for a few months’ work, but it pales in comparison to an NFL minimum salary of $435,000 for those who make a 53.

The NFL has a number of rules for the way all-star games can conduct workouts, and there may be several reasons why this idea would be untenable. However, what if it were? And what if we padded up 50-60 (or more) men 26 or under, and for a full day, timed them in the 40, ran them through pass-catching drills, weighed and measured them, and even did some modified pass-blocking drills? Wouldn’t it be beneficial to see if the next Graham or Peppers is out there, finished with his career on the hardwood and wondering what’s next?

It may be something worth looking at next year. Or am I crazy? Your thoughts on this idea would be appreciated in the comments section below.

32 Opinions (and More)

21 Thursday Jan 2016

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As we’re entering draft season, I thought it a good time to remind players, fans, and even a few people in the league where the info being Tweeted, broadcast, written, IG’d, etc., comes from. This is kind of a companion piece to Wednesday’s post.

  • Small agents: Let’s start here. Many players see an agent’s job as to ‘get their name out there,’ and given that this is kind of hard to do with NFL teams (that already have opinions on these players), many agents turn to the media. Once we get to April, countless small-school draft hopefuls will have had features done on them by small-school beat writers and/or draft websites trying to produce original content. This is why when you read these features, you really have to take it with a grain of salt when the player is described as ‘rising’ or ‘a probable draft pick’ or given other vaguely hopeful platitudes. Almost every time, this story was pitched by an agent and most of the backstory came from the agent. He’s just hoping someone somewhere will take notice.
  • Big agents: This is where the major media really come into play. Once we get into March and April, when pro days take place, there’s a constant jockeying for places in the draft order, and it’s important to understand the quid pro quo among top writers/broadcasters and the major firms representing players. Much of the on-air talent is represented by the same agencies representing players, so often the big firms can control almost all communications, good and bad.
  • Director-level NFL personnel: Many of the top front office personnel who haven’t yet made GM work furiously with the media to put themselves in the best light. Obviously, they can enhance their standing with national writers by passing along tidbits about the draft process and various players. Sometimes, a player, an NFL executive and top media member are all represented by the same agency. It’s really easy to keep the draft narrative on script when this is the case, and don’t think an agency doesn’t emphasize this during the recruiting process.
  • Coaches: More and more, the coaching staff is becoming part of the draft process, and I see this as a trend that could become even more pronounced if analytics continues to take hold across the league. Coaches often have cordial relationships with writers; they see each other every day, whereas scouts are out on the road and have far less daily interaction with writers. I remember a scout telling me that KC head coach Andy Reid, when he was in Philadelphia, used to give short shrift to the local beat guys, but when the national media came around, he always trotted out the ‘I’m fat’ schtick, and that’s just one instance. Everyone’s trying to get someone to tell their story, and coaches are one of the best examples.
  • Area scouts: I think this is the least common source of info. Most scouts at this level, unless they’ve been in the game for years, lack media contacts and are constantly trying to hold onto their jobs, so they’re loathe to provide inside info. Still, it happens sometimes. It’s just more rare.

It’s also important to remember that plenty of the info coming out over the next 2-3 months is subterfuge intended to mislead other teams about draft intentions.

At the end of the day, it’s very important to know how info travels around the league and just how much weight you can put into what you read. So keep in mind what you’re hearing and where it might be coming from.

The 2 Percent Solution

11 Monday Jan 2016

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Because it’s the season of all-star games, January is always a time when I’m with ‘my people’ non-stop — the agents, financial planners, scouts, coaches, parents of players and everyone who make up my clientele. It’s a pretty exciting time. It’s great to deepen relationships and make connections. This week, I’m in Bedford, Texas, just outside Dallas, for the second annual College Gridiron Showcase.

Seeing so many people here who understand the game gives me a great platform for answering questions about a business that has an ever-changing financial model. For that reason, last year, I decided to ask one question consistently to people around the game (especially contract advisors). Last year, my question was, ‘What’s the going rate for representing a player you know may or may not be drafted, but will surely go to a camp? What’s the going rate?’ Here’s the answer I got.

This year, there’s a large shadow looming over the business as the NFLPA seems set to lower the maximum fee for representing players to two percent from its present three percent. The players will vote on the measure this spring at their annual meeting, and it would be an upset if it doesn’t pass. For that reason, I asked three agents today this question: “If you can only charge players you recruit for the ’17 draft two percent, what will you do?”

I got three responses, and I’m paraphrasing them below:

  • “I have a great passion for this business, and I have other professional endeavors that bring me resources, so I don’t have to rely on it for a living. I’ll find a way to make it work.”
  • “I was always encouraged by my mentor to get on the business advisor side of the business. I could still work with players, but it’s not regulated and you can charge as much as you want.”
  • “I guess I’ll try to figure out some way to ask them to repay training fees (which can run as high as $25,000) when they get to the league.”

Three interesting responses. Note that none of them said flatly, “I’m out of football and I’ll never return.” This game, and this profession, kindles a fire in people that is very hard to quench. It’s why I always say that no one walks out of this game. They only leave on their shield.

More responses as we proceed through all-star season.

 

The Life (Pt. 2)

08 Friday Jan 2016

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Earlier this week, we talked about how so many players are infatuated with the trappings of playing in the NFL, maybe moreso than they are with actually wearing the uniform and taking the field. We also talked about how it’s a rather politically incorrect topic, though no less true. But let’s make another point. ‘The Life’ isn’t just something players are pursuing.

Here are a few examples.

  • I meet young people all the time who are college-aged or immediately past college and looking around for what they’re going to do in their life. If they get my business card, or the subject of what I do comes up, they almost always ask me if I take interns. I then ask for them to email me, just to see if they actually follow up. They almost never do.
  • The room where the NFLPA provides its agent exam every year in D.C. is always crowded with 200-300 people. You will see people from every walk of life and demographic there. Black, white, Asian, Hispanic. Men and women. Old and young. All of them are spending $2500 to take a test that will allow them to pursue a business that the overwhelming majority know nothing about.
  • I was just talking to a longtime friend in the financial industry who’s been communicating with a player rated in the first round for more than a year, walking with him through the process, taking his calls, answering his family’s questions, etc. He’s ready to walk away from the young man because nobody — none of the agents recruiting him, none of his coaches, and not even his parents — are willing to tell him no. There are simply no limits put on him whatsoever. Even the members of his family are unwilling to buck this young man, fearful they’ll get on his bad side and miss out on being part of ‘The Life.’

To me, the reason people are willing to do almost anything for a taste of ‘The Life’ is partially due to fantasy football. When a first-year agent signs his first client, it’s fun to share his excitement, but often the mindset is, ‘now I’m in the game! Now I have a real piece of the action. I’m in the league now.’

To some degree that’s true, but at the end of the day, this job is commission sales. Whenever I approach a financial advisor considering getting in the game, my first question is, are you comfortable recruiting someone you don’t know? Are you comfortable getting told, ‘no?’ Are you OK with chasing 22-year-olds, hoping for 30 seconds with them? If the answer is no, maybe you’re not interested in the business as much as you’re interested in ‘The Life.’