Keep Your Head in the Game

Leigh Steinberg talks cultivating the professional in the athlete and the student

By Ahmanielle Hall

“My father had two values. One, treasure relationships, especially with your family; and two, try to make a meaningful difference in the world, especially for the ones who can’t do it for themselves.”

Steinberg tells students how to be innovative  entrepreneurs in the sports industry.

Sports agent Leigh Steinberg told USC Gould students he lives up to those values by helping athletes see beyond the prestige of being professional players to become professionals outside of sports. Life on the field is temporary, but Leigh said helping athletes cultivate their professional self can help contribute to having a rewarding career.

Steinberg, called the “super sports agent and attorney” by the Sports Law Society at USC Gould, said he works on crafting the image of the athlete as a role model. He cited his work with Warrick Dunn, the former Atlanta Falcons running back who created the Homes for the Holidays program. Since its establishment in 1997, the Warrick Dunn Charities’ initiative has helped 123 single parents achieve first-time home ownership.

“Programs like these help athletes defeat self-absorption,” Steinberg said. “We look to empower an athlete so they can move into a successful second career.”

Steinberg encouraged students to cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit and seek to be innovative as technology continues to change the sports world.

“There are fortunes to be made in anticipating the next trends for this world,” Steinberg said.

He offered a few ideas of his own, painting a picture of a more interactive fan experience both at home and in the arenas.

“You’ll have fans in seats with two screens on either side of them;” Steinberg said. “One screen will have their fantasy stats and the other will have their bets; or, fans will be able to vote on the next play from the stands.”

He challenged the students to think differently and take those concepts further, perhaps even creating a new sport. He said that many students want to emulate what he has done, but he wants them to exceed his success by creating new sports experiences.

“Everyone wants to do what I do, and that’s partly my fault with the whole Jerry Maguire film,” Steinberg said. “But the reality is that this field is hyper-competitive so you have to be entrepreneurial.”

Jerry Maguire Director Cameron Crowe asked Steinberg if he could use him as the inspiration for the film. Steinberg laughed as he described how Tom Cruise’s images to overtake his own in his office during production. He also discussed his role as a reality coach to actors Cuba Gooding Jr., Cameron Diaz and Al Pacino in both Jerry Maguire and Any Given Sunday. From teaching the cast how to throw footballs or how to give locker room speeches, Steinberg said he was responsible for helping the actors maintain suspension of disbelief throughout the film.

After sharing about his stint behind the scenes in Hollywood, Steinberg said the key to negotiation and being a great sports agent or attorney was the ability to know the client.

“Get athletes to open up,” he said. “Peel away at the layers of the onion; it’s about creating enough quiet space to get them to open up. What does the athlete value?”

He said one thing athletes didn’t seem to value was their long-term health. He has valued it for them, holding conferences on concussions and how to make football safer for players. Steinberg has called on neurologists and researchers to find ways to protect the professional football player from the more than 100,000 “potential concussive events” he endures over the course of a career.

“To the athlete it’s the play,it’s right now,” Steinberg said. “Athletes are in a state of denial.They’re taught to ignore pain -- they’re young and don’t have the ability to think into the future.”

Steinburg with the Sports Law Society Executive Board (Pictured right to left: Vincent Tremonti, Adam Krepack, Morgan Medlin, Leigh Steinberg and Aaron Ginsberg).

He told students they had to think about what they wanted in their careers and to reflect on their personal values before they could think on behalf of an athlete.

“Find something important to you and take it into your career,” he said. “If you find something you enjoy, it won’t be work. It would be your life’s work.”

Aaron Ginsburg ’14, president of the Sports Law Society, said Steinberg’s tales of career successes were motivational for students aspiring to pursue careers in sports law.

"Leigh Steinberg is an incredibly engaging and accomplished professional in the sports business,” Ginsburg said. “Listening to him tell his stories with such energy and passion makes it hard not to want to pursue a career in sports. Even though he has spoken at USC many times over the years, Mr. Steinberg made students feel like they were reliving the experiences with him, which made us excited and eager to make our dreams working in sports a reality."