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About Darren : Darren is a south Florida based attorney, focusing in sports, entertainment, music, and intellectual property. Among many other things, Darren is the Founder of HEITNER LEGAL, professor at the University of Florida and UF Levin College of Law, Contributor for Forbes, Inc, and chief editor of Sports Agent Blog .
Moments before Darren Heitner joined us inside the SportTechieHQ Slack community, DraftKings announced that they would be pulling sponsorship money away from esports teams.
DraftKings has pulled its sponsorship from 6 #eSports teams https://t.co/KUjrec2LsS
— Darren Heitner (@DarrenHeitner) February 26, 2016
With a pending FBI investigation and potentially years of uphill legal battles, DraftKings is in a position where they have to save resources. A position that Darren believes could have been avoided entirely.
“It’s likely a move based on necessity. Money has shifted from marketing and promotion to legal and lobbying. If DraftKings had focused a bit more on legal and lobbying in the beginning, it may not have needed to pull back as much as it has lately on the marketing side. Damage could come for DraftKings if it is breaching contracts in the process of pulling out.”
Darren knows all too well what the unforeseen damages a lengthy legal battle can have on any firm. Aside from his background as a prominent sports business writer, and sports law professor. Darren is the Founder and CEO of Heitner legal, his own law firm based in South Florida.
As a successful sports and entertainment attorney, he has seen his fair share of similar cases throughout his lengthy career in the industry. Here’s how he got his start…
the brief version — Born and raised in South Florida. Undergrad and law at University of Florida. Started SportsAgentBlog.com in 2005. Started a sports agency in 2007. Converted the sports agency into a consulting company in 2011. Started practicing law in 2010 at an insurance defense firm. Built up my own sports, entertainment, IP book of biz. Left to be an associate for a big entertainment attorney in Miami in 2011. Forbes asked me to start writing in 2012, Inc in 2015. In June 2014, I started HeitnerLegal.com. I taught at Indiana University Bloomington for 3 years (Sports Agency Management) and have been teaching at my alma mater for a year (Sports Law).
Quite an impressive resume for someone who initially didn’t see the sports business as a viable career path.
…at first, I had no intention of SportsAgentBlog.com becoming a business of its own nor that it would be the precursor for literally everything I’ve done in the world of sports. It was a way for me to stay on top of sports agent related news as well as to hopefully make a few solid connections in the space. I started with a readership of my closest friends and family. But then a few agents here and there started to subscribe (back then through RSS) and then we started to somehow coerce them into doing interviews, and before long it became a reputable website that was actually getting breaking stories. I would say it took at least a year before it was recognized as somewhat legitimate.
I mentioned that his approach with the blog and coercing thought leaders into doing interviews seems oddly similar to what we are doing with SportTechieHQ.
The idea of something you are passionate about accidentally becoming a business is something we can all relate to. Most freelancers, consultants, and entrepreneurs have thought about it before, it is ultimately the goal for most of us anyways. Darren was not unfamiliar to this thought either, getting his first taste of entrepreneurship at a early age…
… probably as an undergrad when I went from being a promoter of nightclubs to actually starting my own promotions company. It was the first time I printed a business card (funny thing — I refuse to print or carry business cards forHeitnerLegal.com). Handling everything from marketing, to paying out assistants, to the vast responsibility…it was an important experience for me.
Although it was not the most conventional path to success, Darren certainly found his way. He now knows all too well what it takes to make it in this industry.
I hate the idea that there is a “right” path to success in any industry. That said, it is so much harder to go out on your own as opposed to getting your feet wet with a reputable firm. Usually, that entails beginning with an unpaid internship. Do whatever you can to get that hands on experience. Watch the agents doing what they do, day in and day out. Soak it all up. Speak to as many clients as possible…
Heitner Legal has taken on quite a few impressive clients along the way.
We represent a wide array of amazing individuals and companies, includingSureSportsLending.com, MyMixtapez.com, GlobalPokerLeague.com (which just had its inaugural draft today), Flo Rida, SportsManias.com, and many more.
Darren has certainly experienced his fair share of obstacles, but he’s managed to embrace these challenges. With Success their always seems to be controversy. Darren knows this better than anyone, he embraces it though…
it’s fun to push the boundaries and embark on a brand new journey. There will be haters and obstacles, but that’s part of what makes the ride fun and worthwhile.
You just learn to block out the noise…
I was given some strong advice early on from an industry vet, who said that said “haters” should be referred to as “cheerleaders.” They are on the sidelines with words coming out of their mouths. Use it as inspiration. I have always found that advice to be helpful.
What we learned about the Sports Industry.
1. What type of regulations and bills will we see in the controversial daily fantasy sports industry?
I don’t think it’s necessary to guess at the types of DFS regulations we will see. The first place to start is Virginia, which has sent a regulatory bill to the governor. It does seem like a wide array of states will require DFS companies to pay a fee to be registered.
… posted link.
Virginia Becomes First State To Send Fantasy Sports Regulatory Bill To Governor
I do think leagues are concerned that they have not figured out how to monetize sports betting, though, which could be why they continue to fight so hard against its broad legalization.
https://twitter.com/DarrenHeitner/status/704096505658011654
I believe what you are referring to is a list of sports business contributors that have been listed based on the value of their content. This is obviously a task based on subjectivity. I think it is curated by 1 individual
… there cannot be a list of top sports biz contributors that doesn’t include Rovell. You can hate him all you want, he contributes a lot of solid content to the industry.
3. The increase in athletes looking to find outside investments. 
As an ESPN’s “30 for 30” once explained, far too many professional athletes end up either broke or under financial strain after an alarmingly short amount of time once their playing days are over. Now many look to find outside investments to stretch their buck after their playing days.
They don’t have to look far either with tech IPO’s making headlines, news of billion dollar startups emerging, and all the glitz and glamour of Silicon Valley. Equipped with this false portrayal of easy money, many athletes have recently taken an interest towards investing in early stage tech startups.
Maybe not the best way to go for athletes as more and more founders are looking for “smart money” from VC’s and Angels with years of experience and knowledge in the tech startup scene. With such high profiles, athletes are now looking to intellectual property as a way to make money outside of their big sports contracts. This is exactly where Darren comes in as he and Heitner Legal have amassed a strong list of clients interested in trademarking their intellectual properties.
We have done trademark applications for quite a few. Some examples — LeGarrette Blount (Blount Force Trauma), Draymond Green (Money Green), and we were just retained 2 days ago by Terrell Owens to renew his “Getcha Popcorn Ready” and make it incontestable.
These deals can be extremely lucrative too…
Intellectual property can be very lucrative. I.e. the newly retired Marshawn Lynch reportedly made roughly $500,000 in 1 year from licensing “Beast Mode” to various companies for their commercial use.
…very valuable for an athlete to get IP ownership early and use it as a tool to license and drive up prices.
4. Fantex and buying stock in the careers/brand potential of professional athletes.
I like the idea of Fantex for the athlete and his/her agent. Turn non-guaranteed, future potential income into money in hand today. As long as the projected brand income is fair, it’s a great hedge against risk. But athletes need to read the fine details in these deals (which I’ve reviewed). They also need to know what it means to have people think they’re investing in you and what rights they (the fans) now think (wrongly) that they have over your life and decisions. As an investment vehicle for you and me? NO THANKS!
Alright, I’m off to watch some reality TV (Republican debate). Have a great night.
Passionate about sports and tech?
This Live Chat AMA was held in the SportTechieHQ Slack community. To attend events like this and many others just like it, join our Slack community at SportTechieHQ.
This article was originally posted on Medium by Troy Ruediger