I like my clients to know that I will be there for them now, when they are professionals in their most learned and skilled trade, and later in life, when they venture into new business opportunities.  It seems like Doug Glanville would have benefited from having someone like me upon his retirement.  His Op-Ed piece in the New York Times linked above tells the story of a millionaire (most baseball players never even make it out of the Minors to make anywhere near that kind of money), who still struggled after retiring from baseball.  He writes:

Many of my former teammates and opponents were shaken to their core by [Steve] McNair’s death; it hit home for every one of them. There’s nothing to fill that void of competing every single day at the highest level.

According to [Eddie] George, McNair was lost, floating around trying to define himself without the pads, seeking solace in relationships outside his marriage. George remarked, “What people fail to realize is that when you make a transition away from the game — emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually — you go through something. You change, and you’re constantly searching for something.” Who will understand that a transitioning athlete needs help? There are few soft landings when you’ve been flying high.

Not many people can understand.  His teammates can, but they are busy playing or are going through the same thing.  His family can, but many players have stressful familial relationships because they are always on the road away from home.  What about the agent that the player has relied on throughout his professional baseball career?

This should also serve as a lesson to baseball players: Don’t go through 10 different agents before you decide to call it quits.  Develop a strong relationship with one agent, and try to stick with him.  He will go to bat for you after retirement.  If you keep switching agents throughout your career, which one of the many will actually care about you afterward?  Probably none of them.

It would seem that it is in everyone’s best interest to do a better job of supporting these players after their careers. They still have a place in the memories of a generation of fans and can be powerful mentoring influences.

Are enough agents recognizing this?

Players that are accepted to the program partake in a three-month, paid internship gaining experience in areas like communications, membership services, legal, and information systems.  Sports marketing internships are also available through the union’s marketing and licensing arm, NFL PLAYERS.  The pros must go through the same application process that students normally go through to get internships, by submitting an application, resume, cover letter, getting recommendations, submitting a writing sample, and a providing a transcript.  The only qualification…candidates must have played at least one full season in the NFL and/or AFL.  Tom DePaso, current Associate General Counsel and a Regional Director at the NFLPA and former NFL linebacker, participated in the internship back in 1984.  Being his first off-the-field work experience, DePaso said that “I would not be where I am today without having had that experience.”

The internship program isn’t the only way that the NFLPA helps out retired players.  The union holds a career opportunity expo as part of the NFLPA Retired Players Convention in Palm Springs.  The most recent one had eight employers in attendance, including New York Life Insurance Company, Prudential, and The Corporate Playbook.  Retired players can network and find out about employment opportunities from the companies in attendance, as well as have on-site interviews in private areas the expo has provided.  This year’s expo marks the fifth year that this aspect of the convention has been held.

In addition to setting up conferences like the career opportunity expo, the union set up a NFL Player Job Board in 2008 as a resource for retired players to find jobs with employers specifically interested in hiring former professional football players.  New Executive Director DeMaurice Smith has taken a proactive role in aiding former players find jobs.  He recently sent a letter to over 1,000 retired players who own their own companies or work for corporations in Florida, Texas, and California asking for help in finding employment opportunities for other retired players by listing their companies on the job board.  According to the NFLPA website, over 50 retired players have already found jobs using the job board.

While other unions like the MLBPA and NBPA help retired players find post-playing employment, the NFLPA’s efforts are even more necessary as the average career length is about two years shorter.  Retired football players have several options and resources to explore.  Agencies like Darren’s Dynasty Athlete Representation offer post-career guidance for their clients, and players often turn to their agents for help and advice when it comes to finding a new job because they have hopefully formed a trusting relationship over the years.  But the NFLPA’s continuous effort to aid athletes after their playing days are over is a noteworthy action for its players.

Agents seem to be doing their jobs, keeping player salaries increasing at similar rates in most sports, but many markets are still taking serious hits. The financial burden placed on some people in many industries has shined the spotlight on “cheaters” in athletics and everywhere else. Steroids and performance enhancing drugs are a huge issue of concern in almost every sport now. The most recent financial meltdown has leaked even further into the sports industry, as athletes are a large portion of the clients who have invested their earnings into larger financial institutions.

And after that grand introduction, I would like to bring to attention the connection and pandemonium that has been kept moderately under wraps between Athletic Resource Management (ARM) and Morgan Keegan Investments.

The facts sounds similar to the troubles Scott Boras and his clients had with Stanford Financial. Boras and his investment relationship with Stanford Financials was a big story that made national news after the Madoff scandal was brought to light. The connection here between Morgan Keegan and one of the greatest sports agents, Jimmie Sexton and his agency ARM, is just as relevant. However, the story has not made national headlines like Boras’s incident and seems to have been given the silent treatment, as Sexton and ARM have done a great job of keeping their names disconnected with Morgan Keegan’s financial plunders. The ability of ARM to shield the public from Sexton’s bad investment decisions is one of the underlying reasons people do not believe that athletes and agents are really taking a hit in this economy. From hiding links connecting agents and financial institutions, to loaning multimillion dollars of client’s money, agents like Boras and Sexton just do a great job of handling the tough situations in the current economy.

Athletic Resource Management was founded in 1985 by Kyle Rote Jr. A Professional soccer player who was once named “Greatest All Around Athlete” of all time by ESPN the magazine. The firm was based in Memphis but had offices, agents and much of its operations and contacts located in Dallas, Texas. ARM represents professional basketball, football, baseball players, and has a broad range of coaches as clients as well. The firm represented athletes such as Scottie Pippen, Clarence Weatherspoon, and Reggie White and currently has a list including Frank Beamer, George Sherril, Matt Cain, Lane Kiffin, Rex Ryan, Jason Witten, Nick Saban, Phillip Rives, and recent draftee Michael Oher. ARM had established a great reputation and was recognized by the Chicago Sun Times as one of the top 12 sports agencies in the country.

On June 1 of 1995 Morgan Keegan Financials Inc. officially announced an agreement purchasing Athletic Resource Management, Inc. Under the agreement, Morgan Keegan purchased the stock shares of ARM, while ARM continued to operate under the Athletic Resource Management name acting as a fully owned subsidiary of Morgan Keegan, Inc. From that day forward, ARM chief executive officer, Kyle Rote Jr., and President James Sexton II joined Morgan Keegan along with five other Memphis-based employees and four employees from their Dallas office, all moving to Memphis, Tennessee.

Although the two were technically separate, the close connection between the two companies is where the trouble started. Clearly, ARM was financially intertwined with Morgan Keegan. ARM and its agents would obviously recommend Morgan Keegan Financials expertise to all of their clients. Many agents and financial advisors advocate keeping the two job positions completely separate. Future agents are told to recommend several different financial agencies/advisors to clients in order to avoid potential liability if the recommended financial advisors don’t work out. In this instance it does not sound like ARM remained unbiased or offered its clients many options for investing.

The close relationship between Morgan Keegan and ARM started with the friendship of Sexton and John Wilfong. Wilfong was the financial advisor who handled most of ARM’s client’s and was best friends with Sexton for years. Apparently, they are not even on speaking terms anymore. He was also the one who originally knew of the athletes’ funds crashing. Mr. Wilfong was out the door at Morgan Keegan the very date the Kiplinger article below hit the stands. He now works for UBS and is no longer on the NFLPA registered financial advisors list.

“For years, bond funds run by Morgan Keegan’s Jim Kelsoe soared. Then, like Icarus, Kelsoe strayed too close to the sun and came crashing back to earth with melting wings… The Morgan Keegan disaster is a reminder that investors need to undertake a bit more investigation than usual when they contemplate buying into a bond fund that has delivered abnormally high returns.. That requires some understanding of the assets the fund holds. In general, you shouldn’t invest in what you don’t understand.”

To say it simply, Morgan Keegan lied and told their clients the funds were long term safe retirement funds, when in reality, they were placed in very high risk security funds. Morgan Keegan’s name was taken off ARM’s site immediately. Jimmy Sexton and ARM separated its alliance from Morgan Keegan in the middle of the night, right under a lot of people’s noses. Many people didn’t even realize Morgan Keegan own ARM in the first place.

The situation and transactions that occurred between Morgan Keegan and ARM affected many of ARM’s NFL clients and even caused a hit to future ARM clients. Among those affected by these actions are Donte Stallworth, Gibril Wilson, Jerome Woods and many more.

Woods was Sexton’s first 1st round draft pick and kept Sexton as his agent throughout his ten year NFL career. Mr. Woods and his wife Dana recently won $950,000 in a case against Morgan Keegan for losing nearly all of Wood’s money he placed with Morgan Keegan for retirement funds after his 2007 NFL retirement. This is a big decision, as many more Morgan Keegan cases involving athlete funds are still left on the dockets. Previous litigation against Morgan Keegan has not resulted in much, if any, of investor funds being awarded.

With the stench of Morgan Keegan still lingering around in the ARM offices, the agency has noticeably seen some top athletes chose their competitors. Rashad Johnson of Alabama was one athlete who fired ARM only a few weeks prior to the draft after seeing that ARM had a lot of clients who were unhappy with ARM at this moment.

In conclusion, this story shows how the two businesses should not be connected so closely. The moment Morgan Keegan purchased Athletic Resource Management, the relationship and cooperation between Morgan Keegan and ARM became too much. This clearly led to pretty much all of ARM clients being affected by Morgan Keegan’s bad investing decisions.

This is sadly another circumstance where an agent is involved in an area where he does not belong.

Former New York Giants superstar, Michael Strahan, is set to co-star alongside Darryl Mitchell in the new comedy series, “Brothers”, which will debut as part of Fox’s new fall lineup.  Strahan will pretty much be playing himself…a former NFL player.  His character will be moving back into his mother’s home after his NFL career ended.  The show also features Carl Weathers, another former NFL player.  This won’t be the former defensive end’s first television experience.  In April he premiered as the new host of Spike TV’s Pros vs. Joes, and joined the team of the FOX NFL Sunday pregame show before last season.  In the past, he has appeared in commercials for Snickers and Right Guard.  He’s also made guest appearances on Mad Money with Jim Cramer, NBC’s Chuck, and Fox News’ Hannity.  Strahan is represented by Maury Gostfrand of Vision Sports Group, LLC.  The sports management and marketing agency specializes in helping athletes and coaches attain jobs in broadcasting, as well as other television and radio opportunities.  Other VSG clients include Kenny Smith, John Kruk and Hubert Davis.

Here is a clip of Strahan on Conan.

Read the long and very informative SI piece: How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania: The Wharton program focuses on a broad range of business topics, including financial analysis, entrepreneurship, real estate development, stock market investing, negotiation skills, risk management, and community reinvestment.  Attendees work on directed as well as individual real estate, entrepreneurial and personal finance projects during the month between the program’s two sessions.

Players must apply to the program; applications are judged on criteria including previous education, leadership in the community, business experience, and interest in owning or managing a business.  In addition, the cost of the program is covered, as if these guys couldn’t afford it.  In fact, the under the current CBA, players can be reimbursed up to $15,000 a year for education at accredited institutions.

Players have the opportunity to explore a multitude of topics and opportunities that they can look to when their days on the field are over.  Drew Brees, who previously attended the program at the Wharton School, was among the players that showed up at Stanford this year.  Despite being in the middle of a 6-year, $60 million contract with the Saints, the star quarterback has shown a dedication to preparing for life after football.  Like Brees, Jaguars offensive linemen Maurice Williams is returning to the program; after attending the Stanford program in 2007, the veteran has enrolled in this year’s program at Wharton.  But the list of attendees doesn’t just include veterans; young guns like Brady Quinn will also take part in the educational opportunity.

The average NFL career lasts about 3.5 seasons.  The average NFL salary in 2008 was $1.1 million.  You do the math.  It’s extremely important for players to be thinking about life-after-football.  This is a program that all NFL agents should push their clients to attend.

Check out the section about the Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program on the NFL’s website, along with other player development topics

In Head Case: An Agent’s Guide to Protecting their NFL Clients from Concussions and Associated Risks, Shane Meecham makes a claim that it is our responsibility as agents to take acion and protect our football clients from repeated concussions and their potential devastating consequences.  The article will be featured in an upcoming University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review issue.  Meecham believes that we serve three major roles in assisting our clients: teacher, advocate, and counselor, and breaks down our responsibilities according to each classification.

As a teacher, we have an instrumental role in selecting training for pre-combine performance enhancement, offseason work, etc.  Meecham stresses that an agent look deep into what a trainer is offering in terms of workouts.  Neck strength and flexibility should be a focus during offseason training and also in team workouts.  There is no failproof way of preventing a concussion, though.  Thus, it is also important for us to let out clients know of the possible symptoms following enduring a concussion and that they should be relayed to both the team’s medical staff and ourselves in the case that those symptoms become evident.

It is easiest for an agent to understand that he/she is always an advocate for his/her clients.  Along with consistently building up their worth for potential suitors, agents must take an active role in their clients medical records.  NFL players are allowed to review their medical records in the pre-season and at the end of each regular season.  Meecham believes that agents should do their clients a favor and draft the letter for them, asking that a copy of their medical and training records be sent over (a client’s signature will be necessary before any letter is sent out).

Last, we should all be counselors and put our clients health and well-being ahead of our own self-interests.  Meecham would like us to seriously discuss retirement with any of our clients who have suffered two concussions (especially if those two concussions occurred in the span of a seven-year period).  In fact, I think Shane is one-hundred-percent correct when he states, Developing a reputation as an agent who looks out for her players’ best interests, even at her own expense, will probably economically benefit the agent in the long term.  There are too many stories of people trying to make a quick buck at the expense of true long-term success.  An older agent may see his window of potential high earnings closing, while a younger agent may be able to realize that there will be a lot of time for future wealth accumulation.  No matter what an agent’s age may be, she must be willing to put aside her own lofty goals to ensure that her clients are protected.

Shane Meecham’s article is short and straight to the point.  As a sports agent, we often have to wear various hats.  Our relationship with our clients goes well beyond the three categories of teacher, advocate, and counselor, but in those areas alone, a duty exists to help educate and prepare our clients about the likelihood and symptoms of concussions.  Additionally, we must do everything in our power to increase prevention of athletes suffering concussions altogether.  Following Meecham’s advice, we can all make a difference in our clients health and quality of life well after they step foot off the field of play.

There are many players who suffer after their days of playing professional sports are over. The extreme cases come in the form of being paralyzed or having extremely damaged brain tissue (ex: Andre Waters). Instead of forgetting about our clients once they are through providing us with the big-time commissions, we should uphold our fiduciary duty and aim to protect them for their entire life. Along with the huge rewards that follow with representing football players sometimes comes the tough reality of what we all have to deal with once their careers come to an end. – The Tough Part Of Representing Football Players

I wrote that paragraph back on January 21, 2007 and still believe every word of it today.  As agents, it is not only our responsibility, but it should be demanded that we look out for our clients on the field/court and off.  It goes beyond searching for potential jobs after our clients retire from the professional sports they play.  It starts with protecting them during their playing years.  All of us can do our clients a favor of lobbying their unions to provide additional support for retirees.  NFL veteran, Roman Phifer wants to help.

Blood Equity is a documentary produced by (Discernment Films) Roman Phifer and his partners (Rico McClinton and Joe Ruggiero).  The documentary covers issues and the struggles regarding lack of support for disabled, disadvantaged and disenfranchised retirees of the NFL/NFLPA.

Production for Blood Equity began in June 07′ approximately the same time John Conyers and Linda Sanchez convened their first hearings on the issue in Washington D.C. Prior to its completion, Blood Equity and Roman were the Cover Story of then HBO’s Inside the NFL (WK#13) with Bob Costas. Post-production was completed in early January 08′. Blood Equity interviews include Sylvia Mackey, Mike Ditka, Harry Carson and Tony Dorsett, Willie Wood and others.

Roman was very moved by all he heard and saw while attending a 2007 NFLPA retiree meeting in Atlanta. 15 years of suiting up and being part of winning 3 Super Bowl championships has afforded this Gridiron Warrior with many privileges in life. He decided to take advantage of the opportunity to give back to the “Game” that he loves.

Blood Equity and the No Forgotten Legends initiative provide the footings for a long overdue bridge for communication and information dissemination to be built.  For retired players, it is a platform from which their allegiance, contributions and sacrifices can be acknowledged.  For active players, it is a platform they can utilize to gather together to give back to their fraternal predecessors and acknowledge the benefits and privileges provided to them.  Working together as a cohesive united collective exponentially increases the opportunity for positive change for both active and retired players and their families.

2Way Mirror Media joined the project this past July, to coordinate, facilitate and manage disseminating, marketing and promoting the project.  Part of the multi-tiered strategy for Blood Equity and the No Forgotten Legend initiative include;

• securing a distribution deal or funding for a tour to disseminate Blood Equity I;
• funding to produce 2-3 more video installments as part of a series;
• assist/support existing efforts of retired NFL/NFLPA elder statesmen;
• reach out and enlist 25 active and 25 retired players to commit to be a part of core planned/proposed activities;
• identify, reach out and enlist support from other stakeholders and significant strategic allies;
• secure corporate sponsors and/or underwriters to support interactive community information dissemination and outreach activities;
• coordinate/convene meetings where both active and retired players can speak openly about the (past, present and future) issues affecting them;
• writing and publishing a book.

Commitment, courage and equity has been paid for with the blood and sweat of every player who has suited up for every game since it’s beginning.  This is what forged the foundation for the popularity and profitability of America’s favorite professional spectator sport. There is an undeniable bond that ties the youngest to the eldest member of this unique fraternity. Player compensation today is at a record high. However players are not acknowledged or considered equitable stakeholders in the governance or business of the game. This disparity has contributed to the challenges faced by some of the games greatest stakeholders.   Being disabled, disadvantaged and/or disenfranchised is not a choice. It is a choice to fight for the right to live your life with dignity.

Blood Equity is a series, but No Forgotten Legends (NFL) is the vehicle which will be built concurrently and parallel to the series that is designed to have no end point.  We should all be committed to NFL.  Contact us if you are interested in getting involved with either project.

With the Packers out of the running, should Favre really come back?  Or is this just an old man who wants to keep playing the game he loves?  As Favre was contemplating coming out of retirement, it made me think of other great athletes who came back after calling it quits.

Mario Lemieux, Sugar Ray, Ryne Sandberg, Floyd Mayweather, Zinedine Zidane, Lance Armstrong, Michael Jordan…did it twice.  Why do great athletes retire only to shortly return to the games they retired from?  Do they all have that “itch” to return as Brett Favre recently stated?  Why do they even retire in the first place?

Although the reasons vary for each individual player as to why they retired, the one thing they all have in common is that they were still key contributors to whatever team they rejoined.  After retiring to play baseball, Michael Jordan came back to lead the Bulls to win several more championships before he retired again.  His second comeback to Washington was not as successful but he still averaged over 25 ppg and helped build the Wizards franchise.  Zidane, retired from International soccer in 2004, only to come back three years later to help the French barely make the World Cup in 2008.  ”Zizou” went on to lead the French to the World Cup finals before his famous head butt.  We all know about Lance Armstrong.  One of the great stories in all of sports, Lance came out of retirement after successful cancer treatment to win seven yellow jerseys in the Tour De France. Many other athletes have come back to still be successful; however, others (like Ryne Sandberg) have returned to show their age and struggle.

After an amazing 13-3 season allowing Green Bay to host the NFC championship game last season, some questioned why Brett retired. It seemed as if the Packers pushed him out.  Now, after preparing UC-Berkeley product Aaron Rogers to start the 2008 campaign, Brett wants back in.  The Packers seem to be moving on without Favre, but would they release him and watch him lead another team to a possible championship?  Only time will tell, and the sooner the better for Brett Favre’s career and the Packers organization.

Let me know what you think.  Should Favre return to the NFL with another team? Will the Packers release him? Does he have the arm strength to play another year?