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Stanford GSB News

 

Program Plans a Game Strategy for NFL Careers

March 2006

STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS—"You hit on it earlier. You've got the key," MBA student Lynn Robinson said.

"I've got the key?" Jeb Terry of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers replied with surprise.

The study group erupted into laughter enough to shake the tiny room at the Schwab Residential Center. Robinson and four National Football League players, averaging about 300 pounds each, were crowded around a table reviewing three cases for the final day of the NFL Business Management and Entrepreneurship Program.

The program is in its second year, its first at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. A joint project of the NFL Player Development Department and the NFL Players Association, the March 5-8 seminar was designed to provide players with an opportunity to start transitioning into their post-football careers while doors are still open to them as celebrities. Despite their glamorous image, most players will never sign multimillion-dollar contracts and nearly everyone will have to work after they "retire."

In fact, the average NFL career lasts only four years, and the rookie minimum salary was $230,000 in 2005. The players can do the math. As an investment in themselves and those second careers, the seminar's participants pay $4,500 each and will be reimbursed through the NFL's tuition reimbursement program.

One of the most important aspects of that career transition is building networks now, so the program also aims to make the players feel a part of the Stanford community. In addition to leading study groups, MBA students joined each lunch and dinner, and the NFL program had a joint class with program director George Foster's Sports Business Management MBA class.

"In the classroom, I was actually a little jealous because our professors are always trying to get us to discuss, and not to just raise our hand and wait to be called on. The players did that seamlessly," Robinson said. "They talked with each other, disagreed and agreed with each other, and brought in salient points. It was very fun and educational to watch them."

On the final day, MBA students, players, and the Cardinal football coaching staff came together for a lunch with the university's interim athletic director, Bill Walsh, also a Super Bowl–winning NFL coach.

"I am trying to make sure that at the main touch points for the players at the university—the athletic department and the Business School—the players meet people who are genuinely interested in what they are doing," said Foster, the Business School's Paul L. and Phyllis Wattis Professor of Management.

The players appreciate the networking opportunity as much as the MBA students.

"It was good to sit there and ask them questions about the stuff that they are doing and what we are doing and about their school as well," said San Diego Chargers linebacker Donnie Edwards. Business students told the players the coursework was very similar. "We do the exact same thing you guys are doing in this program, just on a larger scale," Edwards says he was told.

The learning went both ways.

"It's good to see a new perspective in terms of people who are not MBA students and how they look at the case studies," said Nic Esparza, a second-year business student and study group leader.

While some players had been invited to the Stanford community for the first time, a few were already intimately familiar with the university. Four of the 22 participants were Cardinal alumni: Coy Wire, BA '01, of the Buffalo Bills; Kirk Chambers, BA '03, of the Cleveland Browns; Donnie Spragan, BS '99, of the Miami Dolphins; and Troy Walters, BA '99, MA '00, of the Indianapolis Colts. All were eager to return to their alma mater.

"The knowledge you get from Stanford, from Stanford professors, and from Stanford students—I feel you cannot get that anywhere else," Spragan said. "Also, the way of life here is conducive to learning. It is not rigid and strict. It is fun and open and everyone is a lot more understanding. It is just a great environment to learn in."

Some participants, like Spragan, are here for an introduction to business and entrepreneurship. Others, like Wire, already own their own businesses.

"I have a company. Actually, what I learned in class yesterday is that it is a branded house. I have Most High Clothing, Most High Sports Complex, and Most High Management," Wire said.

"I came into this [business program] hoping to come away with one thing that would make me a better business person or even just a better person," Wire added. "So far I have a whole notebook full of philosophies and pieces of knowledge from all our different speakers. I'm really blessed to have been a part of this because it is more than I expected, more than I ever imagined, in how helpful it has been to me."

The program used many case studies featuring businesses of Stanford alumni who then came to class for face-to-face-discussions with the players. The impact was vital.

"They are giving us real-life examples from Stanford MBAs who have gone on to do amazing things. We are really fortunate to be able to be a part of this and learn from this experience," San Francisco 49er Brian Jennings said. "The way they do this with the case studies sends a powerful message."

Jason Wingard, BA '95, executive director of the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute at the Stanford School of Education and a lecturer in the NFL program, is more than happy to start working on that learning curve now. Wingard was himself a Cardinal football player and track athlete. He said he understands that the players are in fact at a disadvantage to their MBA peers, unless they leverage what they have available now.

"Some people say, 'What a gift. These guys just play a game and they make this amount of money.' I know that they are making their money in a hard and difficult way, and as a result you should not be broke for the rest of your life," Wingard said.

"I have a place in my heart for making sure that whether they make a little bit of money or a lot of money, they know how to spend it and they know what their next step in life is going to be. That is what this program is for."

—Hannah Gordon