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Contract Negotiation MLB Players NFL Players

Celebrate These Clauses

dradleWe are right in the heat of Hannukah and just a couple of days before my Christian brothers enjoy their special day.  As a side note, I love Christmas.  If you want to find a Jew on Christmas, hit up your local movie theater or call a Chinese restaurant and ask for the addresses of all of their deliveries on December 25th.  But I digress.  The point of this post is to congratulate a couple of agents on some nice clauses they put into their clients’ contracts.  Starting with…

C.C. Sabathia.  In the first year of his $161 million contract, C.C. will earn $14 million.  $9.5 million of that will be given to him before he ever puts his new Yankees jersey in the wash.  It must be nice to have more money than a majority of Americans will ever see before you ever actually provide any value to the person who pays you.  Although, that may be a lie, because I can imagine that the Yankees have already started to feel the C.C. affect in merchandise sold.

Chad Speck put his thinking cap on this past offseason.  The Titans wanted to place the Franchise Tag on his client, Albert Haynesworth.  Instead of going the traditional route of threatenining a hold out against the team, Speck accepted the deal with some conditions.  One of those conditions was that if Haynesworth were to make the Pro Bowl, he would have the right to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2009/10 season.  Not only has Haynesworth been a major part of the Titans gaining home field advantage throughout the playoffs, but he is going to the Pro Bowl, meaning that Tennessee is not permitted to place the hated Franchise Tag on Albert next year.

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.