The Sports & Entertainment Group PLLC (TSEG) held its annual player retreat in Miami Beach, FL last weekend. This is the 10th year TSEG has held this unique retreat and it is led by TSEG CEO and Principal Founder, Adisa P. Bakari and TSEG President, Jeffery A. Whitney.
“We know the average career of a NFL player is 3-4 years. The failure rate involving player finances specifically bankruptcy is around 80% and unfortunately that number continues to grow. The reason we put on this retreat is to help players elongate their careers. We have our veteran players tell our younger players how they’ve sustained a NFL career for 9+ years. We want to make sure our players don’t end up in the 80% and are able to transition into life after football successfully” said Whitney.
The 3-day retreat was jam packed with events such as a Paint Ball tournament, which served as a team-building exercise for the agency’s 50 NFL players, including the likes of Le’Veon Bell, Antoine Bethea, James White, Jordan Howard, Tevin Coleman as well as professional boxer Anthony Peterson, among others were in attendance that all got to play around with some of the Best Paintball Guns during the team-building tournament.
The retreat also included a shark tank presentation aimed at helping players identify business opportunities, a session where Bakari & Whitney reinforced that clients should lean on them when making decisions and not try to figure everything out on their own as TSEG has a team of legal and business professionals to help clients make decisions and navigate issues that professional athletes face in their career, and a “My First Year” panel where the 2016 rookie class gave advice to the 2017 rookie class about their first year in the NFL and shared stories about their experiences, both on and off the field.
The retreat ended with NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith & NFLPA Director of the Player Affairs & Development Zamir Cobb speaking to players about “The State of the Union” & “Power of the Player Rep”; these sessions allowed players to ask questions and gain more of an understanding of what the NFLPA offers and what roles that they can take as leaders on their teams.
The Sports & Entertainment Group annual retreat is the only all-expense paid retreat offered to athlete clients by their agency to ensure that clients are equipped with the necessary tools to conducting themselves as sports and business professionals and serves as the proper gateway to a successful upcoming season.
For more information on The Sports & Entertainment Group PLLC, please visit their website.
Follow The Sports & Entertainment Group PLLC on Twitter here; Follow The Sports & Entertainment Group PLLC on Instagram here; and “Like” The Sports & Entertainment Group PLLC on Facebook here.