Leigh Steinberg an agent for change

LEIGH STEINBERG told a story of how when he was just starting out as a sports agent he called to tell his father that he had successfully negotiated a multimillion dollar contract for a client.

His dad congratulated him for his hard work but that was about the extent of things.

Another time, Steinberg told him that one of his clients - Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon - had sent 300 kids to college through his "Crescent Moon Foundation."

"Then my dad was totally proud of me," said Steinberg, who many refer to as the inspiration for the hit movie "Jerry Maguire."

"That's just the difference in how we were raised. It was never all about the money for me. My dad hardwired us to try to make a difference in the world."

Often called the NFL's original "super-agent," Steinberg has seen the vicissitudes of the volatile world of his chosen industry.

Having negotiated over $3 billion in contracts for more than 300 professional athletes, Steinberg was once ranked the 16th most powerful person in sports by The Sporting News and the sixth most powerful person in the NFL by Football Digest.

On the other side, Steinberg has faced the personal demons brought on by alcoholism and a bankruptcy that nearly cost him everything he held dear.

However, like a Phoenix from the ashes, Steinberg, now 66, is back in the game. But, this time his mission also includes a desire to help those who are thinking about becoming agents understand the business and how to avoid some of the pitfall inherent in such a hyper-competitive industry.

Last Saturday high above Philadelphia at the top of One Liberty Place, Steinberg hosted his Leigh Steinberg's Agent Academy.

The one-day agent educational boot camp, which was run by Chris Cabott, a partner in the Philadelphia law firm Remick & Cabott, who is also the COO of Steinberg Sports & Entertainment, had 23 participants ranging from college students to practicing attorneys looking to transition into sports agency.

"Our agency is very new," said Benjamin Khabie, the co-founder of Vision Quest Agency, in New York. "We do only basketball for now.

"I've always had a dream to get into this business, but I've learned that it is not something that you can just wake up one day and say, 'I'm going to be a sports agent.'

"I've never interned. I've never really learned anything from anyone about being an agent from an unbiased point of view. Leigh Steinberg is one of the legends in this industry.

"I figured it was a 1 1/2 hour train ride to learn from someone who knows the business really well."

John Knox of Knox Legal Advisors in Erie is the representaive for San Antonio Stars player Kayla McBride, who was the third overall pick in the 2014 WNBA draft. He recently took the NFL Players Association test to become a certified agent.

"Working with [McBride] sort of fed my appetite for the area of sports law," Knox said. "There is a lot of information you can get, but you know deep down that while you might be book-smart in it, you're not street-smart in the business.

"I thought this seminar would help me become a little more street-smart about some of the unwritten rules and things you can't get out of just reading the collective bargaining agreement. I drove seven hours from Erie to learn from one of the best ever."

Cabott said that was the intent when they held the first academy last year in Newport Beach, Calif.

The session in Steinberg's hometown was so well received that they added sessions in Houston, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago and Miami for this year.

"There is no programs in college that focus on preparing you to be a sports agent," said Cabott, who graduated from La Salle and then got his J.D. from the Widener School of Law in 2005. "These people will learn more about being an agent in one day with [Steinberg] than in an entire semester in a sports management program in college."

That opportunity is why Philadelphia Soul co-owner and Temple graduate Cosmo DeNicola gave four students - Kristen Kemnitzer, Erin Johnson, JaCarl J. Smith and Matthew Swiren - from Temple's School of Tourism and Hospitality Management scholarships for the academy.

"I think it's a good opportunity to give young professionals a look into the life of the sports agent," DeNicola, a self-described "serial entrepreneur," whose holding company has portfolios of businesses ranging from healthcare, technology, professional sports and entertainment. "It's a very dynamic field and profession in a space I think it is fun to be involved in which is sports and entertainment.

"I've been a partner of [Steinberg] for about a year and I admired what he did in really inventing the professional sports agent but more importantly creating in the young athletes a responsibility to give back to their communities."

Steinberg is not flawless. His fall that ended with him living back with his parents and struggling to get into a rehabilitation facility attests to that.

Through it all, however, the core principles that his father instilled in him stayed - give back; try to help make the world better.

Through his clients' willingness to be open to giving back, Steinberg has helped direct more than $750 million to charities throughout the world.

The workshop covered details such as recruiting clients, points of effective representation, branding and marketing clients, structuring deals, crisis management and utilization of social media.

Still, Steinberg continually stressed ethics, charity and community involvement.

"You need to understand how to use the high profile of athletes to make an impact on social and community programs," Steinberg said. "For instance, when I get Lennox Lewis, the heavyweight champion of the world, to cut a public service announcement - 'Real men don't hit women' that demonstrates the power athletes have to influence an individual life for the better and larger society for the better.

"I don't want these participants to fall into the typical stereotype associated with agents. They need to be stewards of the business. I want them to be able to carve their own paths in an ethical, principle and idealistic way."

Steinberg said agents have to first understand themselves and what motivates them. Then, they must listen to and understand who potential clients are and what is important to them.

That's when you can determine if the relationship could work or if you should walk away.

Steinberg was a brilliant and innovative negotiator and developed things like signing bonuses and buy-back years as ways to outsmart the NFL salary cap.

Still, he said he always played within the rules of the game because breaking them was not worth it.

Steinberg says the rewards are easy to see but the realities of the amount of time, work and financial investment that must be done before an agent receives a commission is a reality few people talk about.

Agents must evaluate players as well as teams do because agents cover most of the costs leading up to a draft, such as training for combines and workouts.

Investing in a player who you think is first-round talent but slips to the third round could mean a substantial loss.

"The allure and glamour of representing an athlete needs to be tempered with a sound business understanding of this field," he said. "About 90 percent of the people who enter the field either drop out or are inactive or considerably less active in four or five years."

Columns: ph.ly/Smallwood

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