Bush cuts loose Ornstein, again

Reggie Bush of the New Orleans Saints has (again) fired Mike Ornstein, the Reebok representative and CEO of the Santa Monica-CA based The Sports Link, who began serving as Bush’s marketing agent in January 2006 and who once hired Bush as a paid-summer intern. The Sports Link represents former NFL players Marcus Allen, Tim Brown and Shannon Sharpe (and also current NFL star Tony Gonzalez) for marketing and broadcast work. While unnamed sources reported the news early on Thursday, Ornstein himself confirmed the news in a phone interview with The Associated Press that he was no longer working for Bush.

“We had a great run together,” Ornstein said. “Reggie’s a special, special guy. The most special I’ve ever been around in my 20-plus years in sports. We’ll remain great friends. I worked for him. He didn’t work for me. He makes decisions about how he wants to run his business, Luckily, we leave each other still being great friends. I’m still a huge Saints fan.”

For those not familiar with Ornstein, here’s the good, bad and ugly. According to Yahoo! Sports, Ornstein is alleged to have given thousands in cash and gifts to Bush and his family during USC’s 2005 season. By November of that year, Ornstein began to both advise Bush’s stepfather, Lamar Griffin, on Bush’s search for an agent, and also to start negotiating the Heisman Trophy winner’s NFL contract. But Ornstein has always claimed that he provided Bush with nothing but the soundest of advice, given how competitive the landscape became between various agents at the time to sign him (he eventually signed with Joel Segal, who also represents Michael Vick, and whose only previous claim to fame was his suspension for a year in the ‘90s by the NFLPA for using an assumed name to pass money to a Florida State player). According to Sports Business Journal, “Ornstein is Reebok’s main contact person for star NFL endorsers,” and in fact he was instrumental in helping Bush land an unprecedented $50 million in endorsement deals (with Adidas, Pepsi, Hummer, Subway, EA Sports, Gameloft, GoldToe socks, GTSM Memorabilia, Schutt Sports and Halcyon Jets) before he ever even signed his rookie contract with the Saints (in which he signed for a reported $26 million bonus)! And many people credit Ornstein for his prominent role in helping Bush create a charitable image in the New Orleans area. Following the 2006 NFL draft, for example, Bush and his sponsors donated more than $50,000 to Holy Rosary Academy to help keep the special-needs school operational, and also funded an $86,000 installation of a new playing surface at a stadium used by many of the area’s high school football programs. They also arranged for Hummer to donate a dozen of its vehicles to the police department in a city adjacent to New Orleans. Ornstein also helped with Bush’s charitable efforts in partnering with the international hunger relief organization “Feed The Children,” the NFLPA and Urban Impact Ministries, to help deliver food and toiletries to needy families in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

But in November 2006, roughly a year after he first began heavily advising the Bush family, Bush parted ways with Ornstein for undisclosed reasons. Things only got worse for Ornstein, however. Two months later Ornstein was subpoenaed by the U.S. Attorney’s office to answer questions before a grand jury in Ohio, in relation to Ornstein supposedly receiving Super Bowl tickets from the Cleveland Browns several years ago in exchange for the use of cars. To many, the alleged behavior was not a surprise, given that Ornstein was convicted—along with two others—of defrauding the NFL while he was a league employee in 1995.
(A judge handed him five years of probation, four months of home confinement and $160,000 in restitution plus fines). However, this latest divorce is somewhat of a shock. According to insiders, Ornstein was in the process of building his agency around Bush, even instructing employees to become NFLPA certified (Ornstein himself is not). Meanwhile, Lloyd Lake met as planned with the NCAA this week. What evidence did he disclose? What evidence does he even have to disclose? One thing’s for sure. Reggie Bush won’t have Mike Ornstein to commiserate with over these questions—or any others—anymore.

— Jason G. Wulterkens