By Leigh Steinberg

Original post on Forbes.com, October 8th 2014

Another striking example of how teams with a strong philosophy, chemistry, situational hitting, and relief pitching win in the playoffs- not bloated payrolls -came this past week in Major League Baseball. The heavily favored Dodgers, Angels, Nationals, and Tigers were quickly eliminated in favor of the Cardinals, Royals, Giants, and Orioles. If big money was the key to winning in the playoffs, different teams would have won.

The Dodgers have a payroll which tops the majors with $235 million, yet they lost to the Cardinals who paid players $111 million. The Giants were salaried at $154 million because of players who have won two World Series in the last four years. The Nationals were $20 million less. The Angels payroll was $155 million and they lost to Kansas City, who paid $92 million. Detroit had a payroll of $162 million, and they lost to the Orioles with $107 million. So, something besides payroll was at work in these playoffs.

Teams like San Francisco and St. Louis are built around strong philosophies.  St. Louis calls it “The Cardinal Way.” This is the fourth straight year the Cards are in the NLCS. They have strong a farm system. They have heavy team leadership, where older players mentor younger players, as do the Giants. As a result, a definite team chemistry and bond is formed amongst the players.  In addition, Kansas City developed amazing team rapport this season. These teams play “small ball”, do not rely on home runs, and instead feature smart hitting, base running, and strategy. They have strong relief pitching. This approach gives St. Louis, San Francisco and Kansas City the ability to win in tight games. Every player is able to bunt or hit a sacrifice fly and deliver what is needed in that game situation.

The Angels won their most recent World Series in 2002 and dominated baseball this year with good chemistry and total participation. They lost their best performing pitcher, Garrett Richards, and an additional starter, Tyler Skaggs, to injury this summer. They put on the brakes and played Minor Leaguers with several weeks to go and lost their momentum and batting eye. The Angels have moved to a strategy of aging superstars paid on long term contracts for past performance rather than realistic future projections. Josh Hamilton went 0-13 in the recent series and they are stuck with two more years at $25 and $30 million. Albert Pujols had limited success in the series.

The Dodgers used to have a set lineup of players developed in the minors who knew how to situationally hit and deal with the distant dimension of Dodger Stadium. Their chemistry was weak this year, with little leadership. Their highly paid aging free agents spent much time on the injury list. They could not hit in the playoffs at Dodger Stadium. No one could have predicted Cy Young Award winning pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, coming off of a phenomenal season, would lose two games.

Strong starting and relief pitching with great situational hitting and good defense is the formula for winning in the postseason. Team rapport and good leadership is also key. What wins pennants does not seem to be the same skill set as needed in a short series. Baseball is enhanced by new playoff teams like the Royals and the Orioles being in the mix. Until someone figures out what the Cardinals and Giants have utilized and can replicate it, those teams will continue to dominate in the postseason.

By Leigh Steinberg

Original Post on Forbes.com, October 14, 2014

A fundamental tenant of my approach to representing athletes has been the concept that they are role models and have the ability to stimulate giving to charitable and community programs. The most commonly used event for fundraising has been the celebrity golf tournament.

It has always been valuable to utilize the glamour and allure of sports as an effective way to stimulate charitable giving, but has it reached saturation? Though it still is a positive, the sheer number of athletes and celebrities running their own fundraisers has skyrocketed, impairing the ability to motivate them to commit to external non-profit fundraising events like golf tournaments.  These tournaments have been a staple for raising funds and awareness for the charities, even though they reach less than 400 people in their community.  They drive corporate donors who enjoy rubbing shoulders with celebrity players, but their effectiveness is in question.

To put it in perspective, there are over a million charitable golf tournaments a year held in this country.  Yet the average tournament generates $5,000 for the charity after expenses. That does not include all the time from their team and board members. To put it in perspective, the top 3 to 5 percent of tournaments produce the lion’s share of revenue like the Byron Nelson tournament.  They donate $4.7 million of the $11 million they generate. But the norm is less than sufficient for most non-profits, which includes those run by athletes.

What’s an athlete to do?  Many are turning to bowling and poker games. These events have smaller audiences and revenue in most cases. In addition, they are rarely as productive and enjoyable as a day on the golf course with friends and celebrities.

What does it take to bring back successful and fun charity golf events and how do you reach more than just the 144 players, 20 sponsors and a few volunteers?

Two Orange County business men, one a successful veteran in high tech, and the other a principle at Private Capital Network (Angel investors) in Newport Beach have devised a ‘smarter mousetrap’ to maximize the fun and funding around charitable giving. Ken Hubbard and Ted Hsieh created the Charity Golf Association (CGA). It is a Sustainable Giving Organization (SGO), a novel fundraising device, designed to sustain the giving by corporations without having them reach back into their pocket throughout the year for additional donations.

The process seems simple enough, corporations join as members.  Their dues are used to run four membership programs.  1. THE BUFFER – CGA becomes a buffer between non-profits and member companies. The member company refers the charity to the CGA for support and in turn the CGA helps the charity with their financial and organizational requests 2. MANAGED CSR – members receive important supportive press, not on just one or two charities, but on all the charities within their community that the CGA supports. They call it Corporate Social ‘Returns,’ the rewards to companies for giving back.  3. CELEBRITY EVENTS – CGA delivers exclusive celebrity events for their members. 4.  SUSTAINABILITY –  The CGA invests a portion of every dollar into companies that serve the golf and non-profit industries.  These investments, like their new app, Coco (short for Course Concierge) delivers refreshments right to your cart as you play a round of golf, not only improve the player experience, but also increase revenue for the course.  At the same time raising funds for local charities, hence sustainability.   In addition to these 4 programs, the CGA markets with great companies like RantSports.com, celebrity fan bases, their own Coco app, and social media to enhance the reach for members in excess of 13 million nationally.

In short, the CGA delivers a turnkey corporate social responsibility program, delivering returns along with responsibility, while easing the corporation’s time and financial investment.  It is great for lean organizations that wish to give more without taxing their teams and finances.  The CGA intends to give 80% of every dollar to these local charities.  Sustainable giving – make more, give more.  Their goal is to give $5 million annually to over 50 community based charities across the country that are improving the lives of mothers and children, the foundation of America.

Some of the charities that the CGA is supporting are; Mommy and Me (aiding young mothers with cancer), Boystown (supporting children of all ages), and Project Access (working to educate our less fortunate) and many more.

The Charity Golf Association is pioneering new methods to amplify the impact that corporations can have in their communities.

By Leigh Steinberg. Original post on RantSports.com 

There is a vast interest in the field of sports agentry at every level of school, as well as with people in other occupations. So far, there has been virtually nothing credible available in terms of specific training and direction. Many undergrad and law schools offer a course in Sports Law, but it tends to be taught with cases that apply to the NCAA, or other legal issues without focusing on the concept of representation.  If we hope to have a new generation of sports agents who are idealistic, ethical and care about the long term interests of athletes and sport itself, they need to be trained.

When I taught Sports Law at UC Irvine and Chapman University School of Law, I tailored an interactive course emphasizing underlying skills. The students did personal value inventories to identify their own priorities. They wrote a mission statement as to what they hoped to bring to their practice. They used the priority list to elicit an understanding of athletes that they recruited in class. They were taught recruiting considerations and strategies.

The students were given the task of creating a charitable foundation for an athlete and designing a public service announcement. They were taught the basics of branding.​ A number of sessions were spent on the art of negotiating. The course culminated with students getting the role of agent or general manager and negotiating a complex, first round draftee contract. They had to create a business plan and a structure for their firm. They were taught about how to deal with client maintenance–injuries, disgruntled non-starters, and concierge. They were taught the considerations in a free agency setting.

They heard from Bob Hacker, VP of Business at Fox Sports about how to do a media contract for an athlete. Professor Mark Francis lectured on how to create an app. Former Giant, Cowboy, and 49er Mike Sherrard shared perspective from a player standpoint. Kevin Kaplan of Coaching Charities presented the steps to create and run a charitable foundation. Robert Alvarado, VP of the Angels, instructed the students on how marketing and ticketing works.

In an attempt to create the best and brightest of tomorrow’s agents, I decided to hold a Sports Academy with a day-long boot camp. Hopefully this will spur other practical educational opportunities. It will be held October 11th in Newport Beach, California, and young super-agent, Chris Cabott, will add his wisdom.

We owe athletes representation that focuses holistically on an individual, and prepares them for life after football.  For more information about the Agent Academy: www.steinbergsports.com/agent-academy