March 11, 2002

Draft preparation: blood, sweat, cash

Agents pick up costs to exclusive facilities in hopes of raising NFL clients' stock and earning potential

 

By Pete Williams

Correspondent

 

Mike Pearson already was leaning toward signing with IMG when he visited the IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla., in late December. After seeing the agency's sprawling training center and interviewing coaches at the International Performance Institute about their NFL draft preparation program, the offensive lineman for the University of Florida knew he would sign with IMG after his final college game.

"It's like taking college football recruiting trips to see who has the best facilities," said Pearson, who is likely to be selected in the first two rounds of next month's NFL draft. "Given how important the combine is, guys have to take that into account when they're choosing an agent."

"It's a great recruiting tool," said Loren Seagrave, the director of IPI. "You have a big edge if you can offer the best facilities and training."

Just seven years ago, many players prepared for the combine and individual team workouts on their own or with the help of college strength coaches. These days, they assume agents will have a regimented training program in place to take them from New Year's Day through the NFL draft.

The annual combine, held two weeks ago, brings officials from all NFL teams to Indianapolis to assess college players' physical skills and psychological makeup. How the players perform at the combine, and in individual team workouts taking place this month, can mean the difference in several slots, or even rounds, in the draft. And that can mean a difference of hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars in signing-bonus money

Draft preparation has become a huge business and a key component in how football agents recruit clients.

"Any competent agent has got to have a built-in plan to help a player maximize the player's performance and draft position," said agent Drew Rosenhaus, whose clients this year include likely first-rounder Jeremy Shockey, the former University of Miami tight end. "Guys expect that."

While IMG is the only agency that owns a training center, others that represent players likely to be selected in the first four rounds of the NFL draft send clients to a growing number of facilities that prepare athletes for the combine and team workouts.

Last year, SFX partnered with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to train players. SFX previously sent its clients to Tom Shaw, a speed and conditioning coach who operates out of the Kenner Regional Medical Center in New Orleans and handles clients of, among others, Eugene Parker and Marvin Demoff.

Across town at the Elmwood Fitness Center, Mackie Shilstone trains 15 clients, some of whom are represented by Rosenhaus, Ray Anderson and Jimmy Sexson.

Octagon sends some of its signees to the Saddlebrook Resort just north of Tampa, where they work with Pat Etcheberry, who until last year operated a combine prep program out of the Lake Nona Resort near Orlando. Some agents, including

Rosenhaus, send players to the Fast Program, a facility in Boca Raton, Fla., co-owned by Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Cris Carter.

Then there's Athletes' Performance, a $10 million facility that opened last year in Tempe, Ariz. Founded by Mark Verstegen, the former director of IPI, it already has carved out a niche in the draft-preparation market. Former Arizona State offensive lineman Levi Jones and Keyou Carver, who played last season at Nebraska, are among the 20 players working at Athletes' Performance in preparation for the draft.

Agents typically spread their clients among multiple programs depending on location and need. Rosenhaus has found that his Florida-based clients sometimes prefer to stay close to home and attend the Fast Program. Shilstone is known for his work rehabilitating athletes. Shaw, a former Florida State speed and conditioning coach, tends to attract defensive backs, wide receivers and running backs.

Agents typically pick up the cost of the training, which runs between $15,000 and $25,000 for a six-week, pre-combine program. That's a small price to pay if a player can improve his stock at the combine, move up in the draft and land a bigger, commission-boosting deal.

"It's an investment in the players," said Jim Steiner, who with Ben Dogra runs SFX's football division. "The expense is easy to justify because of the millions of dollars at stake."

The upside can be significant. Three years ago, IMG client Tim Couch worked at IPI on improving his foot speed and mobility. Improvement in those areas during a second workout for the Cleveland Browns helped persuade team officials to choose him over Akili Smith with the first overall pick. Couch received a $12.25 million signing bonus. Smith, who became the third overall pick, received a $10.8 million bonus. For IMG, which charges the maximum-allowed 3 percent commission on its contracts,

that was a difference of $43,500.

Ken Kremer, vice president of IMG's football division, said it's difficult to extrapolate the cost of the company's draft-preparation program since IPI is open year-round to IMG's veteran clients, who pay about $1,500 a week to train in Bradenton. It's also used by the dozens of tennis prodigies who train at the academies.

"It's a worthwhile expense," Kremer said. "You're preparing guys for the biggest tests of their lives."

For Willie Middlebrooks, the preparation was essential. Last year, he was coming off a season in which he broke his left ankle and missed his final four games at the University of Minnesota. He was projected as a second-round draft pick, but after six weeks of training and rehabilitation with Shilstone, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds at the combine and in April was drafted with the 24th overall pick by the Broncos.

Middlebrooks signed a five-year, $8.4 million deal with Denver that included a $3.65 million bonus. The package was about three times greater than what defensive backs in the second round received.

"In six weeks, you can improve a guy's stock significantly," Shilstone said. "You want to minimize any perceived weaknesses."

Much of the pre-draft training is geared to improving in combine tests such as the 40-yard dash and bench-pressing 225 pounds. Some programs bring in former NFL coaches for football-specific work and to prepare players for interviews. IMG even flies in client and Olympic gold-medal sprinter Michael Johnson to work with the players on running form.

For the performance coaches, pre-draft training represents a significant revenue stream, albeit a seasonal one. The core business for most programs is veteran athletes, those willing to pay between $50,000 and $150,000 annually to train during the off-season and consult with the coaches throughout the year.

While there are no official figures on the so-called performance management industry, those in the business estimate it to be a $20 million annual market. Many of their clients are athletes they first met during combine preparation, when the agents picked up the tab. As pros, they return as paying customers.

"You want to see players develop these relationships early," said Steiner, whose clients this year include likely first-rounders Bryant McKinnie and Josh Reed. "This kind of career-long attention to performance can help a player's career and maximize his earning power."

March 11, 2002

 

Arizona facility part boot camp, part spa

 

By Pete Williams

Correspondent

 

There are days when Athletes' Performance looks like the set of a shoe commercial or an "Arli$$" episode, with athletes such as Nomar Garciaparra, Billy Mayfair, Meghann Shaughnessy and Mia Hamm working out under one roof.

If Mark Verstegen has his way, those days will be typical. Last year, Verstegen opened Athletes' Performance on the grounds of Arizona State University as an elite training center for professional athletes. Verstegen is banking that more pros will be willing to spend $50,000 to $150,000 a year to receive individualized off-season training at the state-of-the-art, $10 million complex that's part boot camp, part spa and part executive retreat.

"Athletes think nothing of spending that much on a golf club membership," Verstegen said. "I tell them that for what they pay us, we can help them afford a hundred more golf memberships."

Athletes' Performance is partly the result of an unusual arrangement between Verstegen, Adidas and Arizona State. Adidas has a five-year, seven-figure sponsorship deal with Verstegen in which it provides Athletes' Performance with cash and product. In return, Verstegen and his 10-person staff test prototype shoes and open the facility for Adidas sales meetings and executive retreats.

Adidas is in the fourth year of a five-year shoe and apparel deal with Arizona State worth $1 million in cash and product annually to the school. As part of that contract, Adidas received a 25-year lease on the 3 1/2-acre site adjacent to the school's softball stadium where Athletes' Performance was built. Adidas picks up the monthly $10,183 lease payment as part of its deal with Verstegen, who owns 100 percent of the facility. Should Adidas and ASU not renew their agreement, Athletes' Performance would lease the land directly from the school.

Under NCAA rules, Athletes' Performance cannot work with ASU athletes unless the students pay. But Verstegen and his staff do provide ASU strength coaches with advice. And since the facility is on campus, coaches can take prospective athletes through the building, if only to show what's available to them if they turn professional. Several ASU football players trained for the NFL combine at Athletes' Performance in January and February.

"It's a huge asset having the facility there," said Tom Collins, ASU's senior associate athletic director. "The land would probably just be a parking garage otherwise."

Verstegen, 32, spent four years as the director of IMG's International Performance Institute in Bradenton, Fla. It was a dream job, he said, but he often felt overextended working with the hordes of young tennis and soccer prodigies IMG brought in to train.

In 2000, Verstegen built Athletes' Performance as an independent facility beholden to no agency or outside interest. He chose Phoenix because it was home to so many pros and landed sponsor deals with Adidas and Met-Rx. With former IPI clients such as Garciaparra and tennis player Mary Pierce continuing to work with him out of ASU's facilities while the new building was completed, Verstegen was able to obtain financing for his new business.

The new building has 30,000 square feet of professional-level facilities, right down to locker stalls with nameplates. There's also an Olympic-size pool, basketball court and artificial turf field. An entire wing is devoted to "rest," which includes a multimedia center and aromatherapy room.

Agents have brought potential clients to Athletes' Performance, promising the use of the facilities as an incentive to sign. The Arizona Diamondbacks picked up the tab for three players — Jay Bell and two top prospects — to train with Verstegen before spring training. Goldman Sachs sent a group of executives to Athletes' Performance to undergo pro-style conditioning as a perk.

Adidas, as part of its sponsor deal, offers time at Athletes' Performance to potential athlete spokespeople and used it to help land Shaughnessy, now one of the top players on the WTA Tour.

"It's become a big selling point with us for our athletes," said Kip Meyer, director of sports marketing for Adidas.

Verstegen says his goal is to have 100 pros coming to the center throughout the course of the year. "We want to keep it small, providing the best level of attention we can," he said. "When we get to that point, we'll be slammed."

 

© Copyright 2002 Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal