Bird In Hand Worth More Than A Bush? Ornstein Inks Leinart
By Liz Mullen, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
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Ornstein Inks Deal To Become
Leinart's Marketing Agent |
In a stunning turn of events, agent Mike Ornstein has signed a marketing agreement with Cardinals QB Matt Leinart, a day after confirming that he was fired by Leinart’s former college teammate at Southern Cal, Saints RB Reggie Bush. Ornstein did not make himself available for an interview, but released a statement through his California-based agency, The Sports Link, announcing he had signed Leinart. That came after he released a separate statement Wednesday confirming his split with Bush, for whom he had negotiated numerous sponsorship deals, including pacts with Subway, Visa, Hummer and adidas. Sources said that Bush fired Ornstein, but they would not say why.
THIRD TIME'S A CHARM? The Sports Link will be the third marketing company for Leinart. The other two were Hollywood talent firm Creative Artists Agency and Chicago-based sports management and marketing firm CSMG. Leinart originally signed with CAA for marketing work out of college, but he fired the agency in April of this year. One of the reasons cited at that time by his contract agent, Chuck Price, was that CAA was not able to secure as many endorsement deals for Leinart as Ornstein had for Bush. “When he let go of CAA, the first person we went to was Mike, just based on his involvement with Reggie,” Price said Thursday. But Ornstein turned them down, Price said, because he was then representing Bush. “Mike just said it wouldn’t be fair to either one of those guys. (Bush and Leinart) were such good friends -- and are still such good friends -- that the potential of some business getting in the way of a friendship was a risk Mike didn’t want to take,” Price said. Price added that Leinart sought out and received Bush’s blessing before signing with Ornstein. “Matt called Reggie first and said he wanted to meet with Mike. Reggie told him, ‘Absolutely, Mike worked his tail off for me and he is still my guy,’” Price related.
CSMG: After leaving CAA, Leinart entered into a relationship, but never signed an agreement, with CSMG, Price said. That relationship fell apart when Andrew Stroth, who was handling Leinart’s business, left CSMG a few weeks ago. A CSMG official did not immediately return a phone call Thursday evening.
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