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Agent Spotlight: Leigh Steinberg

Leigh Steinberg has gone from the most prominent NFL agent to maybe just another option in a field dominated by young, passionate personas.

Steinberg first began representing athletes living as a Resident Advisor (RA) in his college dorm at UC Berkeley when he represented Steve Bartkowski. He quickly rose to the top, representing big name quarterbacks and making nice commissions on their salaries. Things started to get bad when he took on Ricky Williams as a client. It got worse when his former partner David Dunn, took 50 NFL clients with him as he left Steinberg’s company. Dunn eventually had to pay Steinberg $44.6 million for such actions, however. The money did not reverse Steinberg’s luck. He went on to be Matt Leinart’s agent [Early $ for Leinart]. Leinart moved on to CAA. Then Winston Justice of USC also terminated his representation agreement with Steinberg [Leinart Ditches Steinberg].

So what is Steinberg up to now-a-days? Well, he is still throwing his annual Super Bowl extravanza [Party Like A Sports Agent]. He is advising his clients to bank stem cells from their children or even from their own body in case this type of injury repair takes off in the near future [A Good Cellular Signal]. He actively lobbies for better concussion treatment [At NFL summit, concussions’ impact].  He recently was arrested for DUI [DUI In The OC].  And he is representing the last pick in the 2007 NFL draft?

Has Leigh Steinberg really gone from an agent who represents first overall picks and who had a movie based on his life (Jerry McGuire) to a person who has the time to represent Mr. Irrelevant? Apparently so. Ramzee Robinson, the 255th overall pick taken by the Detroit Lions, is represented by Steinberg [A T-Bone and Lowsman for Bino].  Former offensive lineman, Matt Willig, thinks that Robinson needs to date a coach’s daughter in order to just make a roster.  Has Steinberg really had his name devalued this much?

-Darren Heitner 

For more on Leigh Steinberg, check out his book: Winning With Integrity. 

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.

5 replies on “Agent Spotlight: Leigh Steinberg”

Book was still a good read despite his fall. Could be some sort of repercussion from the book? Loved all the negotiation mumble jumble he threw in, basically read like a how to negotiate contracts book with sports agent examples. Still enjoyed it.

I’ll agree that it was a good read, and was one of the first “sports agent” books that I finished. However, I thought that it was a little too preachy at times.

By Post Author

Ramzee Robinson is not represented by Steinberg. He is represented by Andrew Benedict. Steinberg throws a Mr. Irrelevant party in Newport Beach every year. The contract the article speaks of is a bit of a recurring joke. Steinberg no longer actively recruits new clients, but serves as a quasi-consultant for the Tollners at Rep 1.

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