I started the Athletes.tv podcast. This podcast is something that I began last year as an opportunity to get to know athletes and their stories. This year, I invited James Hagler of James Hagler Promotions to be my co-host. James is the son of Hall of Fame Boxer Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
Many of the athletes that we’ve welcomed on to the podcast have channels on Athletes.tv, however there are some that do not. Our goal is to have fun, informative conversations with athletes and talk about different topics related to sports that fans would be interested in.
You can watch the first episode “Athletes.tv Podcast with MMA Fighter Trever Bradshaw” here below.
This year, we have had a number of professional Boxers on our podcast. We even had an Olympic Gold Medalist on recently. As the Athletes.tv platform grows, I expect to have athletes from various sports on the podcast.
Athletes and sports content creators can request to be a content creator on Athletes.tv and have a free, ad supported channel and/or a paid subscription channel.
Is there someone you’d like me to interview on the Athletes.tv podcast? Or have any questions for me and James? Feel free to reach out to me here and let me know what you think.
I spent eight years as an NFL Agent, and went through the application process twice, passing the certification test both times I took it. This has lead many people to ask how I became a sports agent. My answer is always very simple. While I was in college, I researched the process and then applied to the NFLPA shortly after I graduated.
There are a lot of people interested in becoming a sports agent. Every agent I know could write a book with their own experiences. Most are vastly different than what is portrayed in the media and by the movies that have been made. That said, I thought I’d share what it takes to become an NFL agent for those that are interested.
The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) regulates and governs all NFL Agents. If you want to be an NFL Agent, the first thing you need to do to is send in an application to the NFLPA. Once a year, the NFL Players Association opens up its application process for people to apply to become a certified NFL Contract Advisor (Agent). This time period to apply is always in January each year. The deadline to apply this year is no later than February 4th, which is about 4 days later than what it usually is. Below are the required steps and how you can apply.
WHAT’S REQUIRED:
A Non-refundable Application fee of $2,500.00
Undergraduate AND Post Graduate degree (Masters or Law) from an accredited college/university (see FAQs)
Authorization to perform a background investigation
Mandatory attendance at a 2019 two (2) day seminar in Washington, D.C.
Successful completion of written multiple choice proctored examination
Valid email address
SEMINAR
The seminar and examination will be held July 18 – July 19, 2019 in Washington, D.C. Hotel location and other pertinent information will be provided when your application has been approved.
EXAMINATION
The examination will cover the CBA, the Salary Cap, NFL Player Benefits, NFLPA Regulations Governing Contract Advisors, Substances of Abuse & Performance Enhancing Substances Policies and other issues relevant to player representation. It is a 60 question multiple-choice examination and has a time limit of three (3) hours. It is also open book and you may use your prepared notes while taking the exam. Testing will be on the second day of the seminar immediately after lunch.
Source documents needed for the seminar/lecture and examination will be mailed several weeks after the application period closes. Do not contact the NFLPA to get the documents earlier.
Examination results will be available eight (8) weeks after testing. A passing score is a scaled score of 70 or higher. As per the Regulations, you are prohibited from recruiting or representing any players until you have been notified that you have passed the exam, paid the required annual fee and obtained the required liability insurance.
CERTIFICATION
Continued compliance with the Regulations is required in order to maintain certification. Compliance includes but is not limited to paying an annual fee immediately following:
Successfully passing the exam
Obtaining professional liability insurance from an approved carrier, and
Attending one of three NFLPA seminars held each year.
Additionally, you are required to notify the NFLPA of any and all changes to your submitted application, and to negotiate at least one player contract within a three-year period (Practice Squad not included).
APPLY TO BECOME AN AGENT
The period for filing is now open and will close February 4, 2019. Absolutely no early or late filing. You can apply to become an NFL Agent now through February 4th, 2019 through this link.
Currently the Raiders are looking for a temporary home while they wait for their new stadium to be ready in Las Vegas for the start of the 2020 NFL season. Oakland does not want them back and is suing both the team and the entire NFL, currently leaving the team without a place to play in 2019.
In addition to the Raiders needing temporary housing, the LA Chargers have been a disaster since moving from San Diego to Los Angeles. Their “home” games are filled with visiting teams fans. They can’t sell out a 27,000 seat stadium. The city of San Diego is not going to pay for a stadium to be built, which is why they left in the first place. Their owner is not going to pay for a new stadium anywhere, which is how the team ended up moving to LA.
Why Utah?
The state of Utah has a lot more football fans than most people realize. On a Saturday during the fall, more than 150,000 fans can be seen filling FBS stadiums when Utah State University (Logan), the University of Utah (Salt Lake City) and BYU (Provo) all play home games. The University of Utah has sold out their stadium every game since moving to the PAC 12 conference. On a really bad day, BYU gets 50,000 fans to their home games (65,000+ capacity stadium). To add to it, Weber State University, an FCS school located in Ogden, often draws 10,000 fans. I know that college football is different than the NFL. My point is, people in Utah are really into football.
Utah has one of the fastest growing populations in the country. It’s not the same place as it was twenty years ago. Ever since the Olympics were held here in 2002, the population growth along the Wasatch Front has been explosive. It’s not slowing down. The job market is also one of the best in the country, and there is a booming tech community here. People are coming from all over for jobs and the outdoors, and they are staying.
Add all this up and Utah is a place that should be on the NFL’s radar. Should being the key here. The top arguments are that it’s not a big enough market, and that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) won’t go to games on Sundays. In the past, I would agree. Now, not so much. Again, I reference back to the population growth that the Salt Lake City area and state has seen. The vast majority of the growth has been from people who are not from the predominant religion in Utah. Aslo, we are talking about 8 regular season home games a year. With games being played on Thursday nights, Monday nights, and some teams having a Saturday game in December, many teams will have at least one regular season home game that is not on a Sunday, leaving just 7 Sunday home games. In my opinion, there are enough rabid football fans in Utah to get 65,000 – 80,000 fans to an NFL home game 8 times a year.
The other factor is corporate money. Does Utah have the business community to buy up the premium tickets that would help sustain an NFL team. Again, in the past the answer was no. With the explosive growth the state has seen, the answer now is yes.
Finally, can a stadium get built. Again, my answer is yes. I personally think that owners of professional sports teams should pay for stadiums and arenas that their teams play in. That said, I can think of a handful of communities in the greater Salt Lake metro area that would line up to bid for an NFL stadium. It would get done, unlike in other places. Taxpayers payed for an MLS stadium in Utah, and the popularity of the MLS pales in comparison to the NFL.
Throughout my life, I’ve been to my fair share of NFL games. As I’ve traveled to games in the west, I’ve met fans from Utah in every stadium I’ve been to. I’ll never forget the first regular season NFL game that I attended. It was in 1994 at the LA Coliseum, and the Raiders were playing host to the Seahawks . My brother and I had taken a weekend trip to LA, as I had just graduated high school. There are many things that I remember about the game itself, but there is one thing that still sticks out. In a stadium full of people that was nearly 1000 miles from home, the couple that just happened to be sitting next to us were from our hometown in Utah.
The NFL is now scheduling more and more regular season games every year in London and Mexico City in an effort to grow their brand. At the same time, there are markets in the US like Utah that are clamoring for the NFL to come to town.
When I was a kid, my dad took my brothers and I to Utah Jazz basketball games every year. We traveled from North Ogden to Salt Lake City for the games, often on school nights. Jazz fans come from not only all over the state of Utah, but from the surrounding states. Although a teams fan base may consist mostly of fans in their home city/state, often times they draw from the surrounding region and nationally. Find me a bigger city in the US that the population has a longer drive to a city with an NFL team than Salt Lake City. You can’t.
In the preseason, the NBA would often schedule games in cities that did not have a team. On a few occasions, my dad took us to preseason games in our hometown. I also know that the team played games in other cities, like Boise, Idaho, Provo, Utah and St. George, Utah. The NBA still does things like this. The Lakers regularly play games in Las Vegas, Honolulu, and Anaheim. It grows their brand. Fans become attached.
The NHL recently brought one of their preseason games to Salt Lake City as the LA Kings played the Vancouver Canucks this last September. The preseason game was sold out the day tickets went on sale. MLB has done the same in the past few years, with a similar response in ticket sales. So why not the NFL?
So often we hear about the problems that NFL teams have in getting fans to go to preseason games. In my opinion, they should take their preseason games on the road to cities in the US that don’t have NFL teams. Play a preseason game in Salt Lake City, or even Provo. Test out a new market, and see what the response is like. I know what I think it would be like. Instead of an empty stadium, it would be packed. Instead of another game in London or Mexico City, the Chargers should strongly consider playing a regular season game in Utah (or better yet, moving here). Geographically it makes sense, and they would fill a stadium in Utah.
Call me crazy, or whatever you want. I think the NFL can work in Utah. I don’t expect it to happen, but I do believe it can. What do you think?
Should Ohio State or USC be in the playoff? Or should Alabama be the 4th team in? This will be debated over the next month while each of these teams sit home and prepare for their next game. Think about it. These schools will all have a month off while everyone debates over whose opinion is right regarding which one of these schools is the better choice to play in the playoff. My take – they should all be in the playoff.
There is plenty of time to have an expanded playoff. Give an automatic birth to all conference champions in the FBS. The FCS has a 24 team playoff. Why can’t the FBS do the same? Each of the power 5 conferences could have at least 3 teams in a playoff that big. If you feel 24 teams is too much, then 16 teams would be the next best option. Why base football championships on opinions? Is Alabama really a better team for the playoff with one loss vs a 2 loss USC team? What’s wrong with both of them playing each other next weekend? Or even two weeks from now? There’s plenty of time in the month of December to do, just as Mike Leach says in the video below, to settle all debates on the field.
In this video above, Washington State Head Coach Mike Leach.
Can you imagine if the NFL only had the 4 best teams in their playoffs? Football championships should never be decided on opinion polls but that is what we’re left with in major college football. Unfortunately there will always be controversy and teams left out in a 4 team playoff. Is it better than the 2 team “BCS” championship? Yes. But there is still no excuse of why it can’t be a real and bigger playoff.
The following was published on November 26th, 2017.
Once again, the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) and their 4 team “playoff”, is in total chaos just one week before the playoff teams are announced. Who should make the playoff is based on opinion and is sure to leave out conference champions of at least one major (Power 5) conference and all “mid major” conferences.
The biggest problem with the FBS playoff is that not everyone really has a chance to win the national championship. Polls and opinions can lead one team to have more “votes” to get you in the playoff rather than wins and losses. Every other college sport has the opportunity to play for a national championship if they win their conference, regardless of what conference they play in. Not so in football.
The people who run major universities (Presidents/Chancellors, Athletic Directors, etc.) should all listen what Mike Leach has to say here. He has the perfect solution. Coaches, players and fans should also take note. Until more people like Mike Leach speak up, we’ll be stuck with opinion polls giving us who plays for the National Championship.
In this video above, Washington State Head Coach Mike Leach.
Today, I attended the first ever college football playoff game to be played in the state of Utah as Weber State played Western Illinois. It was what was right with college football, while a reminder of everything that is wrong with the top division of college football. The crowd was much larger than a regular season game and the game was very competitive. Although I never attended Weber State, they are my hometown school and I’ve followed them since I was a young kid. Being in a real playoff tournament is a big deal to them and their community, just like it is for teams that go to the NCAA basketball tournament.
The following are brackets from the FCS Playoffs from both this year and last year. There is not one good reason (in my opinion) why the FBS cannot do the same thing. The people controlling the system are the only thing stopping this from happening.
Let me know what you think. Feel free to share this post and subscribe to receive notifications of my blog posts below.
I’ve been fortunate to be close friends with the Havili family for nearly 15 years. They are more than just friends of mine. They are family to me. The entire family is as good of family as you will ever meet.
When I first met Stanley Havili, he was a highly recruited high school athlete in Salt Lake City. He went on to play football at USC before being drafted in the NFL. Throughout his entire career, I’ve been able to attend numerous games with his family.
Recently, Stanley shared his personal story about prescription drug use and how it led him to nearly taking his own life. Below are three videos of a recent interview with Stanley sharing his story. He is very open and candid about his experiences and hopes that it can help anyone that may be going through a similar struggle.
Please feel free to share this with anyone that you know that may be struggling with addiction or that may have a family or friend who is struggling with addiction.
Part One – Former USC and NFL Star Stanley Havili talks about Prescription Drug use:
Part Two – Former USC and NFL Star Stanley Havili talks about Prescription Drug use:
Part Three – Former USC and NFL Star Stanley Havili talks about Prescription Drug use:
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Sports, and football in particular, have been a big part of my life over the past 15 years. This past week, former NFL star and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez allegedly committed suicide in his prison cell. Nearly every sports commentator gave their opinion on his life and outcome. There was a story published last year about Aaron and his brother, Jonathan, that I came across earlier this week. Whether you are a sports fan or not, this story of Aaron Hernandez and his older brother is worth reading. Here it is: Jonathan and Aaron Hernandez
This last week I saw an interview with Robert F Kennedy Jr. He spoke about vaccinations and the need for more analysis. Most people, especially those who have kids, have an opinion one way or another on vaccines and whether or not they are safe. I’ve got family and friends on both sides of this issue. In this interview below, RFK Jr brought up some great points. I hope you will watch this as they are, in my opinion, very valid points. Too often, our society has blind trust in our government and the pharmacutical industry. Let me know what you think.
