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Agent Spotlight: Darek Braunecker

brauneckerIf you want to look at hotbeds for young baseball talent, the first places you will look at California, Florida, and Texas.  They are heavily populated, warm weather states, with traditionally strong high school and college programs.  However, there is also a lot of competition amongst agents in those states, trying to secure the rights to represent the best of the best.  There is a risk of being a small fish in a big pond.  A few agents have recognized this, and practically created monopolies for their practices, by focusing on the less-noticed regions.  One of those people is Darek Braunecker.

After ending his career as a Minor League pitcher, Darek started representing players with Stephens Sports Management Inc. He then split off and created Braunecker Sports Council, a firm located in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Darek has focused on securing the best talent in the state of Arkansas, and he has succeeded in his mission.  He teamed up with Jim Lindell and Mark Rodgers to create a new agency, Frontline Sports Management, and represents guys like A.J. Burnett, Cliff Lee, and a young kid in the Angels organization named Dustin Moseley.

Braunecker recently talked with ArkansasSports360.com about his business and his two stud clients, Burnett and Lee.  This is my absolute favorite Q&A segment of the piece:

AS360.com: You started out at Stephens Sports Management and branched out on your own here. Are you happy being based out of Little Rock?

DB: Very much so. I don’t anticipate being anywhere but Little Rock, Arkansas. In this business now, if you have a laptop and easy access to an airport you can conduct business anywhere. This may not be a hotbed of talent from an amateur standpoint but this isn’t a regional practice for me either. You emphasize your own region, sure … but you don’t operate in a vacuum in a particular geographic region … Being here allows me to do things with the guys in the off-season on a more personal basis as well. If we could continue to produce guys like A.J. and Cliff, then I’d be in pretty good shape. Unfortunately you can’t rely on that within this state year in and year out. It requires you to spread your tentacles a little bit farther as well.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.

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