Tips for Negotiating an NFL Contract

May 17, 2006

By: Donald L. West, Jr., Esq.As an NFLPA Certified Contract Advisor, a.k.a., an NFL Sports Agent, there is no skill moreimportant than your negotiating skills. When you sit down with a current or potential client, theonly reason you are there, is the client has a need for someone to

NEGOTIATE

on his behalf.In fact, the word “agent” is a legal term that is used to define this special role.

TIP #1 – Know your relationship and responsibilities to your Client!

Before we get into how to improve your skills as an NFL negotiator, let’s examine therelationship that should exist between an Agent and his or her Principle, or more commonlycalled “the Client.” Black’s Law Dictionary defines an Agent as follows:

AGENT

(

’

ent,

. )

A Person authorized by another to act for him,one instructed with another’s business.

One who represents and acts for another under the contract or relation of agency.

A business representative, whose function is tobring about, modify, affect performance of, or terminate contractual obligations between principaland third persons.

One who undertakes to transact some business,or to manage some affair, for another, by theauthority and on account of the latter, and to render an account of it.If we use the Black’s law definition of an Agent as our starting point, then it may prove to behelpful to also develop a concrete working definition of a sports agent…

SPORTS AGENT

( sp

rts

’

ent,

. ) - A person hired by a professional athletefor the express purpose of negotiating on behalf of the athlete for the athlete’sprofessional services and may also be expressly authorized and charged toact as a representative on the athlete’s behalf to further or simply conduct theathlete’s business and who owes to the athlete client a duty of loyalty, a dutyof good faith, and a duty to accurately report back to the athlete client.So, now it is a little clearer that one of the only reasons a sports agent exists is so he, or she,can negotiate on their client’s behalf let’s discuss improving those negotiation skills. Almostevery time a sports agent takes a phone call or takes a meeting with someone, more times thannot, a negotiation is going to take place.

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Tips for Negotiating an NFL Contract

Tip #2 – A skillful Negotiator is a Great Listener!

As a general rule, people love to hear themselves talk, but as a skillful negotiator you have tolisten. In the NFL, if you are not listening, it will be impossible to get your client the best overalldeal that is available. How is that, you ask? If you are acting as a Contract Advisor for a clientwe will call Rick, what are the things that are important to Rick about his upcoming negotiation?Does Rick have any family concerns that would make it better for him to play for a team in acertain geographical region? Will the type of playing surface for Rick’s new team have anyeffect on the number of years he can continue to play? Does Rick want all the money he canpossibly get in the short run, or is it more important to be on a team that can compete to win aSuper Bowl? Does Rick have the kind of leverage necessary to affect any of these choices?You would be surprised at how many agents walk into the team’s conference room and are notprepared to get what is best for their client because they were not acute listeners. Or moretragically, they were too busy talking about themselves, and sometimes, not even asking thecritical questions, assuming they already know the answers. Now are you beginning to see whylistening is so critical to the negotiator?

When you enter the negotiation with a clear game-plan, you are able to sit at the negotiationtable and listen to the other side. When you walk into that conference room to negotiate your big deal, you should already know what you want. It is not important to make sure that the other side instantly knows that too. What is important is that you learn their agenda and their needs.You have got to get inside their heads, and this requires listening. Remember, you’ve got to bea great listener.Ask open-ended questions and JUST LISTEN! If you want to interrupt….DON’T!“I can’t overemphasize this point enough. As you walk into a conference room, you shouldremind your Client to listen as well. INFORMATION IS POWER!!! Strategic information issomething you give away, bit-by-bit, and only when you get information back in return as a “quidpro quo”. If you are disciplined in your listening, you’ll be surprised how much strategicinformation can be gathered. You can learn about the owner’s need to finance the new stadiumbecause he is strapped for cash. Perhaps the general manager, (GM), hints that the next player on the depth chart is contemplating retirement. Every little bit of information can be used todevelop a stronger position of power for you and your Client.If you, or maybe even your Client have a problem with listening, try writing yourselves a note…

“LISTEN! DON’T TALK!”

Tip #3 – PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE

Once you have consulted with your Client and developed a clear understanding of their desiresand objectives, it is time to prepare. There is no special formula, no secret key to success here,diligent hard work is the only answer. Any negotiation can be won or lost before talks ever begin if you do not prepare properly. And when you are going up against the Billionaire Boys’Club that we all fondly call the NFL, you better be prepared.These billionaire owners are not looking to hand out their hard earned dollars simply becauseyour client came to practice on-time and played every down last year. Not to mention the

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Tips for Negotiating an NFL Contract

detailed salary cap reports and negotiation alerts that each team receives from the NFL’sManagement Council. These reports are detailed guidelines for each GM, telling him whatpoints the agents may bring up and giving facts and statistics to help defeat the agent’s bestarguments. You have to be sharp and diligent to beat resources like those that the NFLGeneral Managers have at their finger tips. Each team has an experienced General Manager,sometimes a separate additional experienced NFL negotiator, and usually a separate salary capexpert. Three minds combined with the resources from the NFL Management Council, adds upto one well-prepared opponent.But it is not a completely lopsided battle; as Agents we have our bag of tricks as well. We getdetailed salary cap information and updates from the NFLPA Salary Cap Department, and hereat RSM we also maintain our own internal contract database that monitors the salary levels of all the various positions and players throughout the entire NFL. Prior to any negotiation you runexhaustive analysis of past NFL drafts, team depth charts, prior team records, coaching staffs,scouting reports, comparing player salaries and contract structures, as well as team marketdemographics to determine off-the-field marketing opportunities.Once all of the information has been gathered and cross-checked, here at RSM we run the datathrough our

RSM Strategy Matrix

™

and ultimately develop a refined negotiation positioncustom tailored to each Client’s unique circumstances and variables. This way, when you walk

into the team’s conference room, you have a very clear and precise picture of where you aretrying to get to in the conversation.

Tip #4 – Be Willing to Go the Extra Mile

It all starts with preparation. But in some instances you are required to go above and beyondfor your client. Take time to decide what you want and then plan a strategy for getting there.When we were hired by Andre Johnson, then a rookie who had been drafted third overall by theHouston Texans, Andre’s number one priority was to be in training camp on-time. We haddecided that he would have the best chance to develop into a superstar by not missing a singleday of camp. To try to maximize our chances of achieving the goal, we set up a complete field-office in Houston, Texas at the InterContinental Hotel, only minutes away from the Texanspractice facility. This placed us in the greatest position to continually meet with the Texans tocomplete Andre’s contract negotiation before training camp opened. And we did not leave townuntil we had negotiated a contract that increased the overall dollars paid to the third pick fromthe year before. Also, due to the

Strategy Matrix

™

, we were able to insure that Andre was notforced to reduce his contract value based on the

“Non-Quarterback”

discount many players areforced to receive. (The player selected no. 3 in 2002, the year before Andre was drafted, wasDetroit’s Joey Harrington a high profile quarterback.)It is important to understand that there is always ‘give and take’ in any relationship. Therefore,you never want to start by putting everything you want on the table… the most important thingyou can do is learn everything you can about the other side FIRST. This becomes increasinglyimportant as you deal with a team or general manager, (GM), for the first time. The more youknow about them, the more likely it is that you will be able to satisfy THEIR need while takingcare of your CLIENT’S! When up against a polished GM, these initial conversations take on thefeeling of a long and sometimes strange, if not awkward dance as each side seeks to feel outthe other’s position.In a “typical negotiation,” (if there is such a thing), you need to discuss crucial points in betweenthings you can easily give away. Contract length is always a critical point. The teams are

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