As a professional sports agent for five decades, the legendary inspiration for Jerry Maguire knows where the money comes and goes. Leigh Steinberg talks Dodgers baseball and football revenue along with the unlimited potential of Lamar Jackson with Nestor as his client Patrick Mahomes continues to earn Super Bowl wins and endorsements.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Maryland crab cake tour, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, baseball revenue, football revenue, Dodgers, Yankees, salary cap, franchise quarterback, guaranteed contracts, agent academy, fan experience, media model, Hollywood Bowl, Super Bowl
SPEAKERS
Leigh Steinberg, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive. I’ll get to my 26th oyster in the crab here shortly, we’re gonna be doing the Maryland crab cake tour this week. Maryland lottery puts us out on road with these Raven scratch offs to give away. We’re gonna be at mama’s on the half shell in Owings Mills on Friday. Luke’s got all coverage of all things browns, and then, of course, after that, the Denver Broncos next week as well. It is always pleasure to have this guy on the program. I don’t do the Super Bowl anymore, but I’ve been inspired by him and Jerry Maguire to do a cup of soup or bowl for the Maryland Food Bank each year during Super Bowl week. But he is a frequent visitor here, and an offer came my way to talk a little baseball, a little football, and we’re always comparing Lamar Jackson and Patrick mahomes here. He is the agent for Patrick mahomes. He is the inspiration for Jerry Maguire, my longtime friend of three decades. We welcome at least Steinberg back on from maybe the home of the world champion, Los Angeles Dodgers, I’ve seen everything’s gone blue in your life. Lee Steinberg, the last few weeks, huh?
Leigh Steinberg 01:09
You know, I fell in love with baseball because in 1958 the Dodgers came to Southern California, and we have been Scully voice, and we all listen to transistor radios, which we hid from our parents when they told us it was time to go to sleep and we would continue listening to the game. And my grandpa took me to the very first opening day when the Dodgers beat the giant six to five. And I passed that down to my kids. My father passed it down to me. His father passed it down to him. And that’s the hidden factor of baseball that people don’t often acknowledge, which is how it becomes part of your cultural heritage.
Nestor Aparicio 01:57
That was your first love baseball, even though you’re known for football,
Leigh Steinberg 02:01
yes, well, we have big baseball practice. Remember now we with my partner, Jeff Morehead, we represented 60 players, and we had Will Clark and Pudge Rodriguez and Corey Snyder and CC Sebastia and Manny Ramirez. So we have a big baseball practice too well, this
Nestor Aparicio 02:24
Dodger thing and the Yankee thing brings me to you, and we’ll talk about mahomes and Lamar, but every time I talk about baseball now, and I’m with a lot of Cleveland people this week and Cleveland’s payroll situation, and they’ve sort of accepted we’re small market. We’re small mid market, whatever quartile you want to put yourself in from a payroll perspective and from a media perspective and a population and where those brands are, brands like the Cardinals that have maybe a bigger area than, let’s say, the Royals and the pirates sort of pocketing money, and you’re an agent that can speak to that, that in baseball, you do what you want. Football, salary cap, I call it the Garden of Eden in the original sin for Major League Baseball. And you know, my last name is Aparicio when I get here, honestly that baseball’s never really figured this out. And the spotlights on that a little bit this week to say, spend more, get more. Order salisbury steak. You get salisbury steak. Order filet mignon. And the Dodgers and the Yankees really represent that, for better or worse, throughout American sports. I think,
Leigh Steinberg 03:26
well, there’s some pushback on that Nestor, because for a number of years, the World Series champs for people like the Texas Rangers or the San Francisco Giants, and they didn’t have the biggest payroll. I mean, the real key winning in the playoffs is, do you have good starting and relief pitching, and then can you do situational hitting? So teams that were not as heavily the Kansas City Royals, had a really good season this year, and they’ve got a really low payroll. So it’s not simply spending the money, and there is a luxury tax that goes with it. Now, if you own the Dodgers and your own in essence, by a hedge fund, which Mark Walters represents, then the challenges for coming up with more revenue aren’t that large, but the difference in the sport is that the major revenue source in football is national TV, and it’s done in baseball with local markets. So that’s where the bigger market has more revenue. Well, I
Nestor Aparicio 04:38
mean, let’s be honest, back in the day, it was ticket sales, and maybe some sweet sales. And stadiums came along, and then revenue came on television. And here the Angelos family just, you know, they milked the Mason tree here for a long, long time. They’re gone. Mr. Rubenstein is in now. We’re just trying to figure out where we fit in. You know, nothing was normal here the last 30 years or they. Angelos at all, in addition to the fact that Washington, the much bigger market, got its own team, its own championship, but never had a media deal these individual teams and you’re in LA, so it’s a different life. But the the angels deal with this, and the Padres came at it differently, as do the Diamondbacks and competing out there. But where are the Orioles going to fit in, from a fan’s perspective, from a long time media, business minded media member here to say, where are we in this thing, and how do we keep gunner Henderson, and how is Scott Boris going to represent a player in a place like Baltimore? And why can’t we sign Juan Soto or Corbin burns this off season? And I think fans are going to get an education about that locally, because we haven’t played, we haven’t shopped top shelf, Second Shelf, third shelf in the free agent market here in a generation in Baltimore. But maybe Mr. Rubenstein will be that guy. We certainly would want that watching the Yankees Play World Series games. First of
Leigh Steinberg 05:58
all, performance wise, Baltimore has been in the hunt the last couple years, so they’ve now reached the level of excellence on the field, where they’ve got a really tempting project. So the first infusion is attendance, right? So to the extent that the Dodgers sell out basically every game, and even the angels have great attendance. So the point is, if you granted you have the competition of the Washington teams is so close geographically, but the Dodgers have the angels that compete with so the first thing that can improve is euros attendance, and they can make money there. The second thing is, these sports tend to be more they can get booked on more national games. It’s it a lot of it is star building. And so you think of the Dodgers, and you think of the fact they have three MVPs as the first three batters in their lineup, and from the standpoint of stars were a market that needs stars now is Baltimore. Do they need to have a heavily identified player as a rooting focus? You’d have to look at that roster and see, can you brand any superstars out of it? Because that’s heavy. Wherever Shohei Otani used to pitch, he’d draw an extra 15,000 fans. So there are players like that, and these two teams have a bunch of them. They’ve got, you know, Soto and Aaron judge and Stanton and the Dodgers have you know, Mookie Betts and and Shohei Freddie Freeman. So they might do a better job in terms of marketing individual athletes.
Nestor Aparicio 08:04
Lee Steinberg is our guest, the great agent. He is working on agent symposiums and helping young people having an agent Academy so people can grow up and be Jerry Maguires or Lee Steinberg, in this case, to the football side of things and money, because it feels like the football thing. You’ve grown into it since the Bartowski as to seeing how this revenue has grown, how television has grown at the Internet, all the possibilities that they’ve worked out now on Amazon Prime and Thursday night games and two Monday night games, baseball, more regional and trying to figure this thing out again, from a media perspective, and RSNs, again, not a Dodger problem, not a yes network problem, but a real problem in a lot of places, as regional sports networks and the cable cord cutting has sort of caught up to the point where I’m wondering how the new Orioles, The Rubinstein Orioles, are going to create revenue around their media that may be involved in club. You know, I buy a season ticket, I get the games on TV, and I get them wherever I am, however I want them. These are things that still in 2024 the Angelos people, the massing people, Major League Baseball, they haven’t made the game as accessible as I would like it, especially when they’re on apple plus and all these places that I’m just I’m a 56 year old guy just not going to sign up to do that. And I don’t know how many people are to pick up a couple of Friday Games. They’ve had a really weird media model in baseball that serve them when they were just automatically getting money from cable TV networks, I think they’re going to have to do this differently, may maybe a little bit more like hockey, maybe a little bit more hand to hand combat to create revenue in markets like mine.
Leigh Steinberg 09:50
So the key really is, is when the doctors came to Los Angeles, they marketed Los Angeles like it was. Des Moines, Iowa, they had back to school nights. They had straight A nights, they had little league nights. They built into the community and with a solid base. So the dynamic became going to a Dodger game. And it didn’t matter who was pitching or who they were playing, you just went for the experience. And if Baltimore can create fan experience, where from the minute you drive your car into the parking lot until when you leave, there are all sorts of interesting things to do. If they can make the ballpark a place where there are multiple revenue streams, that’s one way to to address the issue and so and you create around the park sports town of of interactive rides and other things to Do. So it becomes a day at the ballpark. So think about fan experience and how they can enhance that, because even though there are 81 home games, they can still create ancillary revenue streams from that that goes from fantasy to gambling that we now have. You can go into Washington commanders stadium and oh, when you buy a hot dog, you can also place a bet. So there are revenue sources around, and it just puts pressure on a smaller market to be more resourceful. Dodger
Nestor Aparicio 11:41
Stadium is magical, and Janet Marie Smith is my friend. She’s been a part of built, rebuilding it. I’ve never been to the Hollywood Bowl. You meant, you mentioned, like experiential things that are bucket list. The Northern Lights are on my bucket list, and they showed up in my backyard two weeks ago. Saved me 1000s of dollars and chasing them in the cold and all of that. But Hollywood bowls on my bucket list, because so many people have told me it’s an experience I have to have. And if I come to LA and I I think Dodger Stadium is that I’ve been there many times, never to a World Series game there maybe next week, but, but that is part of the experience in a place like LA, it has to be larger than life, right?
Leigh Steinberg 12:16
So the Hollywood Bowl is like a big shell with a stage in it, and then the audience is all outdoors, and you’re in the equivalent, for most of it, of boxes, and people bring you can order food and people may. It’s like a picnic and a big social event, and it’s and it’s not real cold in Los Angeles at night. So it becomes this magical evening as lights go on, and you’ll have a great time. You’re
Nestor Aparicio 12:59
talking me into it. David Gilmore. Lee Steinberg is here, agents of the stars and agents of Patrick moms. So every time I bring you on, it’s Lamar, Patrick mahomes and and every time I bring you on, Lamar hasn’t won, and Patrick mahomes continues to win, including couple weeks ago, watching Lamar star from your seat. Mother represents him. His background is played out and how he did things, and you and I discussed it on the record. You wouldn’t represent yourself or have your mom represent you. I think you pointed out as well. But in your case of watching what he’s become and how the sports changed, this is the revolution, perhaps, that John Harbaugh talked about six, seven years ago. So
Leigh Steinberg 13:41
I watched the game last night, and that ravens theme will be highly competitive for the Super Bowl. I mean, they were explosive, and Lamar did some stuff that was like magic. However, gets away from the rush and and his long ball and the rest of me got Derek Henry running 85 yards off the sideline and Mark Andrews catching two passes. I mean, they were amazing. I don’t think that you really a direct comparison between mahomes and Lamar really doesn’t make much sense. I mean, you’ve got two brilliant players. Lamar Jackson can do some things that nobody else in football can do. He can extend the play. He can run from Sherman. She’s a magic maker, and I used to tell you that when the big holdout was going on, that somehow they would settle it. And people were really skeptical, but I knew you don’t let a once in a generation star like Lamar Jackson, who. So it’s it’s watching them last night. They were so exciting, and they’re such an attraction, and he is too. So look, each the two quarterbacks have won two MVPs a piece. They’re now the face of the NFL. Lamar doesn’t do as as much in the endorsement market, but I haven’t talked to him. I don’t know that may be his choice to not be that. But you know, it’s brilliant and brilliant. I mean, there to me, those two quarterbacks are in A League of Their Own.
Nestor Aparicio 15:38
Tell me about your Asian Academy, because I know you’re excited about it, and I always love to hear what you’re doing. Lot of times it’s good stuff in the environment in the world. Sometimes it’s Dodger Stadium and tips on Hollywood Bowl. But this is one of your babies here, and certainly a legacy project for you. And you have many of them,
Leigh Steinberg 15:54
yeah, and they pronounce it, Hollywood Bowl.
Nestor Aparicio 15:57
Bowl, okay, all right. Like Super Bowl, Hollywood Bowl,
Leigh Steinberg 16:03
with the emphasis on the second one, the agent Academy is our attempt to create a new generation of sports professionals. You go to law school, business school, sports management, and they teach you the basic principles, but no one focuses on the skill set you need to be successful. So we’re jump starting young people’s careers. We call it the agent Academy, but you could work for a team, a league, facilities, management, media, these skills will help you in all that. So first of all, it’s listening the ability to draw out another human being couple of the surface and get to their deepest anxieties and fears and greatest hopes and dreams, and then it’s how to recruit and how to sell, and then it’s how to brand and to market, and then it’s how to negotiate, and we do little exercises and all that. So they actually have to recruit a real NFL player and his family. They have they both sides, either play agents or GMs, and they negotiate against each other. So if you go to Steinberg speaks.com you can check it out, but we’ve probably done 30 of them. We’ve done them in Washington and New York and Houston and Dallas and Chicago and Denver and all over the place. So it’s a unique opportunity. And this one will be here in Newport Beach, which is fun to go to anyway, and it’s a couple days of of intense presentation and training in how to succeed in business in the world, specifically be an agent or be someone working on either side of the fence. Yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 18:00
legal background necessary or just sort of would be helpful. No
Leigh Steinberg 18:07
to to be certified by the NFL PA, the Players Association, someone needs an undergrad degree and some level of post grad degree. It could be a Masters of anything in the other sports, they don’t have that same educational requirement in football, they do. So no, I there’s, you know, having gone to law school and being a lawyer, there’s this is more people profession, and it’s all about how you relate to other human beings, and can you master communicating a future to some young athlete that they want to see? And can you also, besides the economics focus on second career, can you help someone do what we do, which is retrace their roots to the high school, collegiate and professional community, and establish charitable programs that where the players are role model and triggering imitative behavior. So we teach a unique style of agenting, but it seems to work. Last
Nestor Aparicio 19:20
thing for you, because I know our window short to Sean Watson. We played the the Browns this week last time I was with Steve Bucha a couple years ago. He running from guys like you, trying to get his money in, the agents and whatnot. But guaranteed contracts something the the risk would happen with tomorrow, handling a couple. I mean, there’s we. You’ve dealt with football players for 40 years. The notion that guaranteed contracts, this is, this is, this is going to get used against you in the future, and saying, we’re not doing that because of that, this has been a real outlier. I think from the minute I had you on talking about the guaranteed deal he got two and a half years ago. The most important
Leigh Steinberg 19:57
thing in football is saying. Have a franchise quarterback, and it’s why I knew Lamar Jackson and Baltimore would eventually be fine together, because it was just a marriage made in heaven. But if you can get a quarterback that can build around for 10 to 12 years and win because of, rather than with, and who, in adversity, thrown a couple interceptions, the crowd is booing the game’s getting in a hand. Can he, in that moment, compartmentalize, adopt the quiet mind and elevate his level of play, to take a team to and through victory, if you have one of those, that’s how you get to the Super Bowl, and those teams that have them Justin Herbert and Shane in Los Angeles, or Joe burrow or Josh Allen. So they made a bet that Deshaun Watson was the same thing, and based on his Houston experience for getting his off the field issues, he was well on the way to being a franchise quarterback. And so the problem is you have this choice as a team, which is, if not the incumbent quarterback, then who, and you could go for years, without solving your quarterback problem as a team like to jet show you. So the problem is that today, that position so valuable that there are big guarantees. So you better be right in your assessment. If you’re giving a guarantee, you better have be so thoroughly convinced that this is your guy, and he’s only going to get better and better. Otherwise, what happens is you’re on the hook and in a guaranteed contract, just for your viewers, to guarantee skill, meaning that if he drops in performance, and you wouldn’t be paying him that amount of money. You still have to pay him an injury, meaning, if he suffers a career ending injury, you’re still on the hook for every last dollar guaranteed over time. Lee
Nestor Aparicio 22:16
Steinberg has negotiated millions and millions, almost like Carl Sagan, billions and billions of dollars contracts. He is the agent to Patrick mahomes. He is always generous with his time. You can find his work at Steinberg speaks and the the academy and all the things that are going on that he does in all over the country. And I
Leigh Steinberg 22:32
have a new book coming out around the Super Bowl. It’s called the comeback, resilience, empathy and what matters.
Nestor Aparicio 22:41
I’ve been trying to come back for 33 years. I’m working. It’s breaking my back. Lee, I swear, uh, one day we’ll be in the room together. Maybe it’ll be at the Hollywood Bowl. Maybe it’ll be at game seven of the World Series next week. Who knows. But it is always good to see you, and thank you through all the years for your the generosity, your time and your wisdom. We appreciate you. Well, I
Leigh Steinberg 23:00
think you’re great. I’m always happy to do it. Lee Steinberg joining
Nestor Aparicio 23:03
us here from I believe he’s in Santa Monica, California, out there in LA rooting on the Dodgers, Dodgers and Yankees all week long. Luke and I go do a little bit on baseball, lot on football. We got a lot going on here with the Cleveland Browns happening this week and all the drama that goes on with that. We’re gonna be at mama’s on the half shell on Friday. It’s all brought to my friends at the Maryland lottery. I will have Raven scratch offs to give away our friends at Jiffy Lube MultiCare, also putting Luca out on the road. They can put you out on the road as well. I don’t know, last time you had your oil change, had everything checked. They check all the I get it back. The cars vacuum. It’s nice. Jiffy Lube is great. Jiffy Luke Baltic care, putting us out on the road. Also our friends at Liberty, pure solutions, keeping our water crystal clear, just like the oysters, keep the Chesapeake Bay clean. That’s why they are the sponsor, along with curio wellness and foreign daughter of our 26th anniversary oyster tour. You can find all of that, including some information about long time executive producer here, Ray Bachman and his cancer battle all out at Maryland oyster tour. It’s all at Baltimore positive.com we’re W, N, S D am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking to the super agents about Super things and Super Bowls and Hollywood bowls. Stay with us. You.
