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Agency to broker deals for NFL retirees

WME-IMG is announcing today the Football Greats Alliance, a new agency that has the rights to negotiate marketing and licensing deals on behalf of 22,000 retired NFL players.

The agency was created as a part of the settlement of a publicity rights lawsuit brought by a group of retired players against NFL Films. Created with the ready-made assets of 22,000 clients and their names and likenesses for marketing and licensing deals, the group involves most NFL players who retired before 2013, including more than 150 hall of famers, more than 50 Heisman Trophy winners and 35 NFL MVPs.

“It is a big deal” said Drew Sheinman, WME-IMG senior vice president of brand development. “In today’s age, to be able to create an agency like this from scratch is really unprecedented.”

Sheinman will oversee the agency and report to a seven-member board of retired players headed by Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown. FGA, for now, will be run out of WME-IMG’s offices in New York. About 12 people at the agency will work on selling marketing, licensing and other agreements.

“We can create sponsorship activity using six players or more,” Sheinman said. “For group licensing deals, it requires 50 players or more. It does not preclude us from — being who we are — to go out and do individual deals. We are going to bring all the resources to bear of WME-IMG.”

The creation of FGA comes out of the settlement of a lawsuit brought by a group of retired players in 2013 over the NFL’s use of their likenesses in NFL Films. About 2,000 former players opted out and tried to overturn the settlement by appealing it. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the NFL in upholding the settlement.

Pro Football hall of famer and former Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown will head the board of retired players overseeing the Football Greats Alliance.
Photos by: GETTY IMAGES
IMG was selected, after a competitive bid process conducted by the NFL and a group of players, to run the agency in 2013. FGA is being announced now after efforts to appeal the settlement were recently exhausted; the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case Feb. 29.

WME agreed to buy IMG in December 2013.

Ron Mix, Hall of Fame former offensive tackle for the Los Angeles and San Diego Chargers, is vice chairman of the seven member board of FGA. Mix noted that the FGA was “born out of severe conflict” between the NFL and retired players. But he hopes that is over now. “I would like to say to those players who opted out we are looking for a way to bring you back in and we hope to bring you back in,” Mix said.

Mix said that the players and the NFL chose IMG after reviewing about six agencies and

having three agencies give formal, in-depth presentations to create and manage the agency. He did not name the other agencies.

“Some players are going to love it and some players are not,” said Darren Woodson, a former Cowboys safety who is now an ESPN broadcaster.

But Woodson said he is in favor of having WME-IMG represent retired players. “We are talking about the leaders in brand strategy, in licensing, in events and hospitality,” Woodson said. “They are the big-name players in the industry and have been for a long time. I think they are positioned to be the stewards for the retired players.”

IMG has created a name, a logo and a website, which is expected to go live in the next few weeks.

Additionally, IMG conducted a study of 3,000 NFL fans, finding favorable results for retired NFL players. Among the key findings in the study, according to IMG: 68 percent of fans said their favorite player is retired and 81 percent of fans said they thought retired NFL players make great spokesmen.

WME-IMG is in talks about licensing deals, which may include licensing items such as jerseys, caps and collectibles, Sheinman said. “For the group collective licensing rights, I would say in the next two months at the latest, I would say we will have no less than 20 top, pre-eminent licensees committed to that program.”

Major corporations, including DirecTV, Anheuser-Busch and Visa are in talks with FGA about marketing deals. Anheuser-Busch has already made a commercial that was negotiated by IMG for FGA as part of the celebration of Super Bowl 50, Sheinman said. The NFL will celebrate its 100th season in 2019.

“So the timing is great to launch the agency now in advance of that next great milestone,” Sheinman said. “We are open for business.”

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