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Sports Agents

Kristen Kuliga – A Long Island Iced Tea

Kristen KuligaOver a year ago, I did a special spotlight on female agent, Kristen Kuliga. It took FOX Business a lot longer to realize the great strides that Ms. Kuliga has made in the sports agent industry. While Kuliga is no longer the only woman NFLPA certified agent to negotiate contracts for active NFL players, she is still a prime example of a person in a minority class who breaks the stereotype that a successful agent must be a man between 40 and 50 years of age.

Worthwhile knowledge that Fox Business provides includes the fact that Kuliga is the daughter of an athletic director. Things that the report could have left out are references to her being like a long island iced tea: If Kuliga were a cocktail, she would be a Long Island iced tea: five parts hard liquor with one part sweet mix. It might appear innocent, but you realize how strong it is after drinking it. Can’t beat mainstream journalism. Another thing that the journalist does is make agen, Tony Agone, out to look like a real ass.

When another agent, Tony Agone, says his daughter was thinking about becoming a sports agent, he told her “no way.”

“It’s tough,” Agone says. “Not a lot of women make it. You have to be really hard-headed to make it in this industry, plus she would make a lot more money as a [veterinarian].”

I wonder what my recent panelist at UF Sports Law Symposium, Kristine Rosendahl, would have said about that comment. Moreover, I wonder what Tony Agnone (with an N after the G) of Eastern Athletic Services thinks about FOX butchering his name a couple of times.

Anyway, Kristen is fully back into the business of representing athletes. In 2004, she sold her company, K Sports & Entertainment to Paid Inc, but recently bought back the rights to her company and has never looked back since.

FOX Business had a short Q and A with Kuliga. Here are my two favorite discussions:

FOX Business: If you “knew then what you know now,” what advice would you give yourself?
Kuliga: To be more strategic and conservative in some of the players I invested time and money into for training and representation.

FOX Business: In your opinion what is the biggest advancement women have made in business in the last decade and what is the biggest obstacle women must overcome in the next 10 years.
Kuliga: In the sports business, there are a lot more women that work at teams and in the sports marketing end of the business. I believe this has a lot to do with Title IX and women playing sports and therefore becoming interested in a career in sports and assertively going after these opportunities. Next biggest obstacle is for more women to become agents in representing athletes for their contracts with teams and more women working in management for teams.

 

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.