Categories
Headline NFL Players Sports Business

One Hell Of An O-D Life

On March 16, 2010, I received the following message on LinkedIn:

Hey Darren – love to hear more about your sports agent blog…..Working with almost every agent now, and O-D Life is providing an agent analysis for kids coming out of school so that they arent taken advantage or risk eligibility a-la-Dez Bryant.

Matt

I was skeptical about the whole “Working with almost every agent now” line, but I couldn’t argue with someone who said that he has athletes’ best interests in mind.  That was my first introduction to Matt Whittier and his company, O-D Life.  Today, I went through my email archives and found the following statements made by others about Matt Whittier and O-D Life:

  • Whittier has stated that he loves Drew Rosenhaus and they work together all the time.
  • While they claim to help players become aware of which agents are reputable, and which are dishonorable, Whittier has stated that there are only about 30 agents they would trust with his guys, and the number is shrinking.  They steer their players towards them, but doesn’t actually choose the agents for them.
  • College coaches work for them at their camps and are paid by them.
  • It is a team of four individuals.
  • Whittier says that they have worked with the NCAA and the NFL every step of the way.
  • Dez Bryant lived with Matt for a week at some point in Dez’s college career, and Matt tried to help Dez with his agent, but Dez didn’t listen and did what he wanted to do.
  • Whittier has stated that he has agents lined up to represent their players once they advise their players to fire their agents, because he doesn’t think the agent is doing enough.

If all bullet points are true, then it sounds like football may have something that rivals basketball’s AAU organizations in terms of influence with young players.  It also sounds like something the NCAA has been trying to fight quite a battle against recently: Student-athletes receiving benefits for free.

I am not the only one who has been the recipient of information concerning O-D Life.  Last week, George Dohrmann of SI.com revealed information about Whittier and O-D Life.

Over the past five years, the NCAA and its member schools have seen a spike in the number of companies and individuals approaching star football players. Agents were once the lone concern, but now financial advisors and marketing representatives, former players and coaches, and even fitness trainers are courting young players. They share the same motivation as the agents — to profit on a star athlete’s future — but not the notoriety or the infamy.

These individuals are the source of much of the corruption in college football today, and are at the center of NCAA investigations underway at schools such as North Carolina and Georgia, as well as probes at other schools that are expected to be made public in the coming weeks.

In an e-mail sent out to at least one agent earlier this year, Whittier said he would like the agent to be among those he recommended to players. “No need to fill anything out,” he wrote. In a later e-mail, he proposed that O-D Life would get half (1.5 percent) of the agent’s commission on any of the referred players he signed.

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.