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The Importance of Escalators

Not only are they a lot more fun than elevators, but making sure that you earn your client fair escalators in an NFL contract may make a difference in whether he gets paid any given year. With the high incidence of injury in professional football and no such thing as a guaranteed contract, agents have the tough job of trying to squeeze out as much close-to-guaranteed money as possible for their clients.

Get off my boyEnter Tom Condon and Ken Kremer of CAA and their cleint, 10th overall selection, Matt Leinart. Leinart was getting a lot of bad publicity for holding out from training camp and being the final draftee to sign a contract. As I have discussed before, the media often unfairly takes the side of the football team instead of the football player. I believe that Leinart was telling the truth when stating that he wanted to be in camp all along…he was just protecting himself [Last man home: Leinart, Cards agree to six-year deal].

So what was it that stalled the contract negotiations for so long? Escalators. Escalators are basically minimum standards that must be achieved for incentives to be awarded. Leinart’s contract provides incentives similar to the one Byron Leftwich signed in 2003: if he participates in 55% or more of the offensive snaps for 2 seasons or 70% or more of the snaps in one season.

ESPN reports that Arizona wanted Leinart to sign a deal that would have granted him absolutely no escalators if he would have played every snap in his first 3 seasons and then not played in his fourth year due to injury. The media did not sensationalize this fact, however. Readers and television watchers would much rather rip on the players and agents.

Before NFL head coaches start blasting their draft picks in the media, maybe they should try sitting in the General Manager or client’s agent’s position for a day and see if they can do any better [Green unhappy with Leinart holdout]. A more than generous offer, Denny? ESPN notes that your team’s proposal included escalator thresholds that would have been the most difficult to reach for any quartback chosenin the top 10 since 1993.

As many have said, it is over now, and Leinart can look forward to sitting on the bench for a while. The importance of the contract’s structure will become evident once Leinart takes control of the team.

[tags]leinart, matt leinart, dennis green, tom condon, caa, escalators, nfl, football, cardinals, arizona cardinals[/tags]

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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