Full Transcript for EP: Andrew Brandt-From NFL Agent to Packers VP:Inside the Business of Football & Favre-Rodgers years

there. 62 00:04:04.412 --> 00:04:11.598 Again, for people thinking about sports, I turned down a lot more money, a lot more security, and I would have been a corporate lawyer. 63 00:04:11.618 --> 00:04:14.820 I would have made a lot of money, had a secure life, but I chose sports. 64 00:04:15.081 --> 00:04:21.846 And I realized, even as a 25-year-old, that this is not an easy path. 65 00:04:22.766 --> 00:04:23.047 But... 66 00:04:23.968 --> 00:04:25.029 Originally tennis players. 67 00:04:25.069 --> 00:04:27.391 Then I saw a guy down the hall, David Falk. 68 00:04:27.431 --> 00:04:29.873 He's representing Michael Jordan, all these great basketball players. 69 00:04:30.373 --> 00:04:31.934 I'm like, can I go work for that guy? 70 00:04:32.335 --> 00:04:33.476 They let me do that. 71 00:04:33.696 --> 00:04:36.798 And then this is the continuation of finding your way. 72 00:04:37.579 --> 00:04:39.140 I see all these football players. 73 00:04:39.180 --> 00:04:43.784 Now we have Michael Jordan and I'm representing a bunch of NBA guys, but no one's paying attention to these football guys. 74 00:04:44.825 --> 00:04:46.306 And I see an opportunity. 75 00:04:46.706 --> 00:04:47.587 I'm like, look at me. 76 00:04:47.607 --> 00:04:49.909 I never played football, but I'm like, I'll do it. 77 00:04:51.248 --> 00:04:57.714 And then I became a football agent, which led to the rest of my life because I saw an opportunity. 78 00:04:57.794 --> 00:04:59.715 I saw these football players no one cared about. 79 00:05:00.456 --> 00:05:01.417 I'm going to work with them. 80 00:05:01.457 --> 00:05:11.966 And over the next seven years, went from three to five to 10 to 15 NFL players, which launched me into different phases of my career on the other side of the fence. 81 00:05:12.026 --> 00:05:12.226 But... 82 00:05:13.227 --> 00:05:14.068 Find your way. 83 00:05:14.308 --> 00:05:15.969 I mean, life is not linear. 84 00:05:16.069 --> 00:05:18.130 You're going to end a miranding path. 85 00:05:18.170 --> 00:05:20.191 And this is how I did it in sports. 86 00:05:20.392 --> 00:05:24.454 I saw little tributaries where I could find my way into the business. 87 00:05:24.974 --> 00:05:28.256 Yeah, I've got a couple of connection ties, some bridges in here, too. 88 00:05:28.336 --> 00:05:35.501 So one of the guys that's been on this podcast, actually, when I was being recruited all over the country, I grew up in Seattle. 89 00:05:35.521 --> 00:05:37.002 I ended up going to the University of Washington. 90 00:05:37.042 --> 00:05:40.264 But I flew down to Cal and they were all over me. 91 00:05:40.284 --> 00:05:42.285 And the first guy's house I went to was Lee Steinberg. 92 00:05:42.725 --> 00:05:45.528 And so I went up and this is back to Lee, right? 93 00:05:45.608 --> 00:05:54.658 And so Lee was getting pretty blown up and big and Warren Moon, another University of Washington grad, former grad before me, was his first client, really his big client, right? 94 00:05:54.678 --> 00:05:56.680 That he really helped launch him to all this stuff. 95 00:05:56.740 --> 00:05:58.703 And I had Lee on the pod a couple of years ago. 96 00:05:59.443 --> 00:06:05.130 And, you know, just the trials and tribulations of of his alcohol disease. 97 00:06:05.170 --> 00:06:06.431 He talked about it very openly. 98 00:06:06.491 --> 00:06:10.295 And it's great to see with Patrick McCombs and some others that he has made a full comeback. 99 00:06:10.355 --> 00:06:15.541 But where I was going to tie, I believe one of your your your clients back in the day was Boomer Esiason. 100 00:06:15.661 --> 00:06:15.981 Correct. 101 00:06:17.622 --> 00:06:24.223 And the quick story in there was in, it was maybe 1983 or something, and we miss out on going to the Rose Bowl. 102 00:06:24.243 --> 00:06:29.664 So now we're going to play in our first, or it was either first or second Aloha Bowl at the time. 103 00:06:29.945 --> 00:06:33.325 And there's this guy over there, so we're playing in Maryland, which is where Boomer played. 104 00:06:33.865 --> 00:06:37.826 And so this guy comes over, and all of a sudden I'm hearing about this guy named Boomer. 105 00:06:37.846 --> 00:06:39.466 I'm like, who the hell calls their kid Boomer? 106 00:06:40.006 --> 00:06:43.107 And so it turned out he was this great player, and you know, had this, 107 00:06:43.507 --> 00:06:45.048 He's still on television. 108 00:06:45.448 --> 00:06:48.310 He's done wonderful things, you know, over the course of his career. 109 00:06:48.350 --> 00:07:03.157 But, you know, like you said, like what a great window to jump into to seeing guys like Boomer and many of these other guys as football was really starting to elevate in terms of the just, you know, where it is today. 110 00:07:03.337 --> 00:07:03.497 Right. 111 00:07:03.557 --> 00:07:06.559 I mean, obviously there were steps along the way to see that. 112 00:07:06.579 --> 00:07:08.580 I mean, that's very insightful. 113 00:07:08.620 --> 00:07:10.441 Who else did you help manage along the way? 114 00:07:11.008 --> 00:07:12.688 Well, just a quick note on Boomer. 115 00:07:12.728 --> 00:07:16.129 He was such a good person for me to learn from. 116 00:07:16.169 --> 00:07:18.930 And when I say I was his agent, David Falk was his agent. 117 00:07:18.970 --> 00:07:20.330 I was the guy helping his agent. 118 00:07:20.790 --> 00:07:28.032 But I got exposure to Boomer right away because, again, David's so invested in Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, all these great NBA players. 119 00:07:28.632 --> 00:07:31.153 And Boomer didn't treat me like a kid and an assistant. 120 00:07:31.193 --> 00:07:33.893 He treated me with respect, but he was demanding. 121 00:07:34.513 --> 00:07:39.155 And I learned, like, this guy is going to be successful way beyond football. 122 00:07:39.435 --> 00:07:40.595 This is a presence. 123 00:07:41.555 --> 00:07:46.796 And we had other Maryland players that kind of came along because Boomer was our client. 124 00:07:46.876

--> 00:07:52.878 And I was representing five, six guys from Maryland who were primarily clients because, hey, Boomer's good enough for Boomer. 125 00:07:52.918 --> 00:07:53.478 I'm doing there. 126 00:07:54.258 --> 00:08:03.940 And one thing that also got me, you know, prepared for harder things in life was he was drafted and played for the Cincinnati Bengals. 127 00:08:04.860 --> 00:08:10.282 And being in the NFL so long as I have, you realize which teams have certain reputations. 128 00:08:10.902 --> 00:08:13.723 That was a team that was very hard to negotiate with. 129 00:08:14.823 --> 00:08:21.205 As people would call it cheap, I would just say protective of their money as any team in the league. 130 00:08:21.305 --> 00:08:24.066 So over the years, I seem to have a lot of Bengals. 131 00:08:24.486 --> 00:08:26.047 And that was really tough for me. 132 00:08:26.487 --> 00:08:29.128 But it steeled me, as I said, to... 133 00:08:29.628 --> 00:08:38.312 for negotiations with all kinds of agents, players, teams, et cetera, because dealing with Mike Brown and the Bengals was as tough as you're going to get in the NFL. 134 00:08:38.893 --> 00:08:40.153 And that was all because of Boomer. 135 00:08:40.554 --> 00:08:42.274 The last story about Boomer, we go to the Superbowl. 136 00:08:42.314 --> 00:08:45.076 Oh my God, it's Boomer Esiason against Joe Montana. 137 00:08:46.356 --> 00:08:47.257 Two minutes left. 138 00:08:47.337 --> 00:08:48.878 The Bengals take the lead. 139 00:08:49.718 --> 00:08:53.460 We are ready to pounce on so many marketing opportunities. 140 00:08:53.520 --> 00:08:55.301 Like they're just lined up for us. 141 00:08:56.682 --> 00:08:58.863 Joe Montana gets the ball, 92 yard drive. 142 00:09:00.500 --> 00:09:04.684 The Disney people were around Boomer ready to film the I'm going to Disney World. 143 00:09:04.724 --> 00:09:06.745 They were standing next to him on the sideline. 144 00:09:07.746 --> 00:09:08.947 Montana hits John Taylor. 145 00:09:08.987 --> 00:09:09.728 They win the game. 146 00:09:10.068 --> 00:09:13.011 These Disney people go to the other side of the field. 147 00:09:13.471 --> 00:09:14.632 Boomer's left there hanging. 148 00:09:15.092 --> 00:09:18.115 I tell 20 marketing, like, we still got Boomer for it. 149 00:09:18.155 --> 00:09:18.655 No, no, no. 150 00:09:19.196 --> 00:09:21.137 He didn't win the Super Bowl. 151 00:09:21.377 --> 00:09:26.642 You learn just these little moments in time that are sliding doors that happen all the time in sports. 152 00:09:27.313 --> 00:09:31.135 I had just gotten out of football about that time and I was down in Australia actually watching that game. 153 00:09:31.415 --> 00:09:41.060 I don't know what crazy time during the day it was, but it was just like you said, it was a crazy game and it really set Joe Montana up for a lot of the greatness. 154 00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:48.624 And yeah, when I played in Newtown New Orleans, we I mean, as crazy as the alignment used to be, the

NFC West New Orleans and Atlanta were in. 155 00:09:49.104 --> 00:09:52.045 So we play the Rams and the 49ers twice a year. 156 00:09:52.105 --> 00:10:00.768 So go out there and watch him, just one of the greatest in the history of sport, play that position and orchestrate all the way down the field. 157 00:10:00.788 --> 00:10:01.908 It was really cool for me. 158 00:10:02.468 --> 00:10:03.869 So how do you now go? 159 00:10:03.889 --> 00:10:11.151 Because I don't know if I'm sure there's other guys who have been in your position, but how do you go from being this agent representing all these different players? 160 00:10:11.691 --> 00:10:17.733 You're obviously getting to know the different management of all these different companies, but then you get hired by the Green Bay Packers to come in 161 00:10:18.233 --> 00:10:24.116 for nine years and really run the negotiation and the salary cap and all those different things. 162 00:10:24.176 --> 00:10:25.316 And what was your time? 163 00:10:25.736 --> 00:10:27.517 I've been to Appleton, right? 164 00:10:27.617 --> 00:10:30.939 And I've worked out for the Green Bay and I've been down to that town. 165 00:10:31.339 --> 00:10:34.220 And for anybody who hasn't been down there, I'm just gonna describe that. 166 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:36.301 Think about the smallest town of the United States. 167 00:10:36.621 --> 00:10:41.543 And all of a sudden, you're driving through this little neighborhood and then there's grandma's house over there on the right. 168 00:10:41.923 --> 00:10:44.305 And on the left, there's a gigantic NFL stadium. 169 00:10:44.345 --> 00:10:45.145 It's crazy. 170 00:10:45.625 --> 00:10:47.366 But how did that all come about? 171 00:10:47.868 --> 00:10:49.028 What a time in my life. 172 00:10:49.208 --> 00:10:51.369 I was representing the biggest client I ever had. 173 00:10:51.449 --> 00:10:54.090 Speaking of Lee Steinberg, who was also one of his later agents. 174 00:10:55.511 --> 00:10:58.712 I had Ricky Williams, the star running back from University of Texas. 175 00:10:59.072 --> 00:11:00.873 And I had him as a junior. 176 00:11:00.893 --> 00:11:01.973 We're going to go to the pros. 177 00:11:02.013 --> 00:11:04.034 He decides last minute I'm going to stay in. 178 00:11:04.594 --> 00:11:06.134 So then we go a whole nother year. 179 00:11:06.194 --> 00:11:10.056 I'm going down to Austin, Texas every two weeks just to protect the asset. 180 00:11:10.636 --> 00:11:12.898 I got agents nipping at my heels all year. 181 00:11:13.458 --> 00:11:13.938 I get them. 182 00:11:14.319 --> 00:11:15.179 Wins the Heisman. 183 00:11:15.199 --> 00:11:15.699 Oh, my God. 184 00:11:15.719 --> 00:11:21.043 I got Rika Williams the best moment of my life in terms of being an agent until I didn't. 185 00:11:22.004 --> 00:11:23.745 And I see these guys hanging around him. 186 00:11:24.285 --> 00:11:25.306 Like, Rick, what's going on? 187 00:11:25.326 --> 00:11:27.968 He said they work for Master P. I'm like,

who's Master P? 188 00:11:27.988 --> 00:11:28.588 He's a rapper. 189 00:11:28.628 --> 00:11:29.889 He's starting a sports agency. 190 00:11:30.249 --> 00:11:30.990 I'm like, what's going on? 191 00:11:31.010 --> 00:11:34.432 He goes, I want to work with Master P, but I want you to work with Master P, too. 192 00:11:34.512 --> 00:11:35.853 I don't like the guys you're working for. 193 00:11:36.473 --> 00:11:37.534 I'm like, me and P? 194 00:11:37.634 --> 00:11:38.255 He said, yeah. 195 00:11:38.275 --> 00:11:38.375 Yeah. 196 00:11:38.995 --> 00:11:39.976 So I'm thinking about it. 197 00:11:39.996 --> 00:11:44.599 I'm telling my wife I'm going to go work for Master P. And this is my life. 198 00:11:46.140 --> 00:11:51.183 Within a day or two, Mark, the Green Bay Packers are calling, not my office, but my house. 199 00:11:51.223 --> 00:11:52.163 I'm like, that's weird. 200 00:11:52.644 --> 00:11:55.585 I had one client there, a third string quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck. 201 00:11:56.466 --> 00:11:58.928 And I'm like, I can't talk about Hasselbeck. 202 00:11:58.968 --> 00:11:59.748 I got Ricky Williams. 203 00:11:59.768 --> 00:12:02.530 I got Master P. They're like, we're not calling about Hasselbeck. 204 00:12:03.250 --> 00:12:04.271 I'm like, why are you calling me? 205 00:12:04.291 --> 00:12:06.432 And you'll appreciate this being from the Northwest. 206 00:12:06.973 --> 00:12:07.373 He's like... 207 00:12:08.686 --> 00:12:13.529 Our coach, Mike Holmgren, just took a job with the Seattle Seahawks. 208 00:12:14.429 --> 00:12:15.570 And I said, okay. 209 00:12:16.090 --> 00:12:17.471 I watch SportsCenter, okay. 210 00:12:18.212 --> 00:12:22.234 But he took the guy that runs our whole business operation, Reinfeld, with him. 211 00:12:23.234 --> 00:12:24.475 I said, okay. 212 00:12:26.276 --> 00:12:29.898 And then Ron Wolfe, the GM of the Packers, is like, how'd you like to switch sides? 213 00:12:31.599 --> 00:12:32.240 And I said, what? 214 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:35.281 He said, how'd you like to switch sides? 215 00:12:35.341 --> 00:12:36.122 Come here, Green Bay. 216 00:12:36.142 --> 00:12:36.342 Okay. 217 00:12:37.272 --> 00:12:38.773 And I said, wait a minute. 218 00:12:39.313 --> 00:12:41.413 First of all, there's 100 agents you deal with. 219 00:12:41.453 --> 00:12:42.494 Why are you calling me? 220 00:12:43.234 --> 00:12:45.915 He said, listen, Hasselbeck and these guys really like you. 221 00:12:46.135 --> 00:12:47.335 You know your way around the cap. 222 00:12:47.356 --> 00:12:48.196 You speak well. 223 00:12:48.956 --> 00:12:50.457 We want to get more agent friendly. 224 00:12:50.477 --> 00:12:51.817 You have a nice way of dealing with people. 225 00:12:52.977 --> 00:12:53.718 We want you up here. 226 00:12:54.958 --> 00:12:56.439 And I'm like, Green Bay? 227 00:12:56.459 --> 00:12:57.159 He goes, yeah. 228 00:12:58.504 --> 00:13:00.665 So I'm now in Austin, Texas. 229 00:13:00.725 --> 00:13:01.905 I divert to Green Bay. 230 00:13:02.025

--> 00:13:03.026 I said, let me come talk to you. 231 00:13:03.606 --> 00:13:04.826 And I'm very direct, Mark. 232 00:13:04.886 --> 00:13:09.288 I said to him, even as a young guy, I said, listen, don't take offense at this question. 233 00:13:10.328 --> 00:13:12.689 But do I have to actually move here to do this job? 234 00:13:13.629 --> 00:13:15.370 And he said, no offense taken, but yeah. 235 00:13:18.489 --> 00:13:21.751 And long story short, my wife and I, we all just had a young family. 236 00:13:21.771 --> 00:13:27.074 We decided it's time to get out of the agent chasing young players around the country. 237 00:13:28.195 --> 00:13:32.257 A little more secure life, albeit no connection to Wisconsin. 238 00:13:32.537 --> 00:13:33.658 Never been to that area. 239 00:13:34.778 --> 00:13:40.461 And what you just said, I still call it the greatest story in sports, that a little town of 100,000 people. 240 00:13:42.072 --> 00:13:44.692 not only has an NFL team, has a thriving NFL team. 241 00:13:45.673 --> 00:13:47.853 And we're able to do that and still able to do that. 242 00:13:48.013 --> 00:13:49.253 It's just amazing. 243 00:13:49.313 --> 00:13:58.615 Pick a town, anyone thinking of town, Duluth, Minnesota, Davenport, Iowa, McAllister, Oklahoma, same size, like NFL team. 244 00:13:59.395 --> 00:14:03.836 Like it's amazing to me that still exists. 245 00:14:04.136 --> 00:14:09.517 And we not only again existed, but thrive because basically three things, one equal revenue sharing, uh, 246 00:14:10.277 --> 00:14:14.158 Green Bay gets the same TV money as New York, LA, Dallas, etc. 247 00:14:14.918 --> 00:14:15.919 And number two, the cap. 248 00:14:15.979 --> 00:14:24.861 The cap is just such an equalizer where I, in my job, had the same money to spend as Dallas, New York, etc. 249 00:14:24.901 --> 00:14:29.403 Now, there are little ways around spending more than the cap, but that was really something. 250 00:14:29.443 --> 00:14:32.183 And it's still to this day the greatest story in sports, I think. 251 00:14:32.643 --> 00:14:37.565 One of the things that I, like, I recognized at the time when I was a player, 252 00:14:38.918 --> 00:14:42.161 being represented by agents, obviously, to negotiate with Al Davis and those guys. 253 00:14:42.201 --> 00:14:44.603 By the way, Ron Wolf, those other guys were all at the Raiders. 254 00:14:44.903 --> 00:14:45.584 Raiders guys. 255 00:14:45.804 --> 00:14:46.064 Right? 256 00:14:46.204 --> 00:14:46.444 Yep. 257 00:14:46.484 --> 00:14:47.725 And then they all went to Green Bay. 258 00:14:47.805 --> 00:14:48.586 So- Ken Herrick. 259 00:14:48.966 --> 00:14:49.767 Yeah. 260 00:14:50.047 --> 00:14:51.408 So I know all those guys you're talking about. 261 00:14:51.489 --> 00:14:58.494 But, you know, this is me speaking kind of on behalf of you of extending what you said just a little bit more. 262 00:14:58.514 --> 00:15:07.242 It's just like, you know, you would think that as an agent, like your only job is down there to negotiate contracts and this, and I'm just telling this for everybody that's listening to this podcast right now, 263 00:15:07.782 --> 00:15:11.343 that there's so much course management that you guys got to do. 264 00:15:11.644 --> 00:15:13.224 The girlfriend is pregnant. 265 00:15:13.604 --> 00:15:15.605 Somebody lost a ring. 266 00:15:15.825 --> 00:15:18.366 The logistics, they don't know how to get from here to there. 267 00:15:18.486 --> 00:15:25.409 So you're doing all this other stuff that's not under the agent contract, but you're babysitting, you're managing all that just because you don't want to lose the client. 268 00:15:25.789 --> 00:15:28.350 And you got to just be 24-7 with these guys. 269 00:15:28.430 --> 00:15:32.772 And it's just all the non-job description things that you have to do. 270 00:15:32.952 --> 00:15:35.313 So I could certainly see how that could burn somebody out. 271 00:15:35.877 --> 00:15:37.098 Yeah, it's a tough business. 272 00:15:37.158 --> 00:15:39.741 And I'll just say right away, so many people come to me. 273 00:15:39.761 --> 00:15:40.522 I want to be an agent. 274 00:15:40.582 --> 00:15:41.603 And I stop them right there. 275 00:15:41.623 --> 00:15:42.264 I go, stop. 276 00:15:43.605 --> 00:15:44.246 You're an agent. 277 00:15:44.446 --> 00:15:44.987 I'm a player. 278 00:15:45.047 --> 00:15:45.727 Let's role play. 279 00:15:46.308 --> 00:15:47.669 Why would I sign with you? 280 00:15:48.615 --> 00:15:49.435 Why would I sign with you? 281 00:15:50.195 --> 00:15:54.337 And they better have a good answer because the only way agents sign players is to make themselves different. 282 00:15:54.357 --> 00:15:55.337 They have a lot of players. 283 00:15:55.357 --> 00:15:57.538 They have a lot of players like the player they're talking to. 284 00:15:58.038 --> 00:15:58.998 They've made a difference. 285 00:15:59.538 --> 00:16:01.419 It's so hard to get in that business. 286 00:16:01.599 --> 00:16:02.899 And you said it so well. 287 00:16:03.019 --> 00:16:06.300 I always tell people when you represent a player, you represent the herd. 288 00:16:07.041 --> 00:16:12.222 Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, stepmothers, stepfathers, cousins, AAU coaches, pastors. 289 00:16:12.702 --> 00:16:13.363 I've got them all. 290 00:16:14.323 --> 00:16:14.523 And... 291 00:16:15.510 --> 00:16:17.831 People talk about Jerry Maguire, was it realistic? 292 00:16:17.911 --> 00:16:26.755 I'm like, yes, it was realistic, but think about all the time Tom Cruise spent with that one, just one player. 293 00:16:27.855 --> 00:16:30.076 Now imagine that for five, 10, 15, 20. 294 00:16:30.136 --> 00:16:32.057 You have no life, you have no life. 295 00:16:34.676 --> 00:16:42.145 You're on call 24-7, and like you said, a very small part of your life is negotiating contracts. 296 00:16:42.866 --> 00:16:47.091 That's where you get your money, your fee, but you're dealing with everything. 297 00:16:47.794 --> 00:16:50.476 And, you

know, you're trying to be a counselor. 298 00:16:50.877 --> 00:16:51.997 You're going to games. 299 00:16:52.098 --> 00:16:55.600 Like I got to the point in my life where like I can't go to another game. 300 00:16:56.301 --> 00:16:58.303 And now people offer me tickets all the time. 301 00:16:58.343 --> 00:16:59.864 I'm like, no more games. 302 00:17:00.244 --> 00:17:04.487 I've just been to too many games, too many practices, too many locker rooms. 303 00:17:05.068 --> 00:17:06.129 People think that's cool. 304 00:17:06.209 --> 00:17:07.930 That's not cool after about three months. 305 00:17:08.210 --> 00:17:08.431 Yeah. 306 00:17:08.671 --> 00:17:09.752 But yeah, that's a tough life. 307 00:17:10.637 --> 00:17:15.399 So I love Jerry Maguire, and I think a lot of that was shut down Manhattan Beach. 308 00:17:15.459 --> 00:17:25.003 But one of the great lines that he had in there, kind of to your point, is when he's in, I can't remember the guy's name, but he's in the guy's face that he's representing. 309 00:17:25.143 --> 00:17:29.405 And he goes, you have no idea what it's like to be me representing you. 310 00:17:30.745 --> 00:17:32.186 And that was the truth of the matter. 311 00:17:32.826 --> 00:17:36.288 That's a better tagline than show me the money. 312 00:17:36.328 --> 00:17:38.029 Show me the money is what everyone talks about. 313 00:17:38.510 --> 00:17:39.390 And that's true. 314 00:17:39.670 --> 00:17:42.872 But yes, people have no idea what an agent does. 315 00:17:43.293 --> 00:17:46.375 They have no idea how 24-7 that life is. 316 00:17:46.655 --> 00:17:47.896 Yeah, no, crazy. 317 00:17:48.316 --> 00:17:51.338 All right, let's stay with the Packers for a minute. 318 00:17:52.118 --> 00:17:56.021 I know that while you were there, I'm just asking you what your impressions were with all this. 319 00:17:57.382 --> 00:18:12.380 It must have been, again, very delicate, we'll say it that way, as the Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers transition was happening and how you guys managed that or tried to manage that relationship. 320 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:12.500 Yeah. 321 00:18:14.063 --> 00:18:15.304 Everyone talks about the draft. 322 00:18:15.364 --> 00:18:16.724 I talk all about the draft. 323 00:18:16.764 --> 00:18:17.765 What happened that night? 324 00:18:17.865 --> 00:18:19.106 Yes, we picked him. 325 00:18:19.226 --> 00:18:19.986 Brett's upset. 326 00:18:20.006 --> 00:18:20.866 His agent's upset. 327 00:18:20.906 --> 00:18:21.887 The media's upset. 328 00:18:22.087 --> 00:18:23.288 The fans are upset. 329 00:18:23.828 --> 00:18:28.670 No, Aaron's upset coming to a place that's cold from California and never going to play. 330 00:18:28.810 --> 00:18:30.251 I mean, it was tough all around. 331 00:18:30.291 --> 00:18:37.795 But what I detail in the book is the difference in what people know and what they really should know, which is managing that. 332 00:18:38.620 --> 00:18:40.821 And I was one of the primary managers of that. 333 00:18:40.861

--> 00:18:58.971 In other words, three years, Mark, three years of putting Southern California, I mean, Northern California cool into a room with country hayseed Mississippi, like never in any walk of life will those two people be in the same room for five hours a day. 334 00:18:59.871 --> 00:19:02.753 And it does happen in football and in sports. 335 00:19:03.053 --> 00:19:03.173 And- 336 00:19:04.945 --> 00:19:12.989 Every week or so, Brett's agent calling, Andrew, do you know what it's like to come into work every day and sit next to your replacement? 337 00:19:14.110 --> 00:19:14.730 It's not fun. 338 00:19:15.371 --> 00:19:16.091 I'm like, yeah. 339 00:19:17.092 --> 00:19:21.374 Aaron's camp would call every week and say, Andrew, he's never going to retire. 340 00:19:21.394 --> 00:19:22.795 What are you going to do with Aaron? 341 00:19:23.615 --> 00:19:24.656 Like Aaron wants to play. 342 00:19:24.736 --> 00:19:25.876 He wants to play football. 343 00:19:25.896 --> 00:19:26.737 That's what he lives for. 344 00:19:28.068 --> 00:19:31.810 I'm like, yeah, and you just have to be professional and tactful and manage it. 345 00:19:32.371 --> 00:19:38.914 Because sports, like every business, is about egos and insecurities and the numbers take care of themselves. 346 00:19:39.415 --> 00:19:42.897 It's just about how are you managing relationships? 347 00:19:44.052 --> 00:19:45.253 How are they feeling? 348 00:19:45.373 --> 00:19:47.415 Do they feel good about being a Packer? 349 00:19:47.895 --> 00:19:51.558 They feel good about your treatment of them and their agent and their family. 350 00:19:52.439 --> 00:19:53.880 That's so much of sports. 351 00:19:54.581 --> 00:19:57.744 And I think people get lost in this contract or that contract. 352 00:19:58.304 --> 00:20:04.289 The last thing I'll say on that quickly is like, Brett Favre, he doesn't care if he gets $20 million or $25 million or $30 million. 353 00:20:04.309 --> 00:20:07.112 The question was, are you treating me... 354 00:20:08.418 --> 00:20:24.042 like the Cowboys just treated Troy Aikman, like the Patriots just treated at that time, Drew Bledsoe, like the Titans just treated Steve McNair, because there's the comparison. 355 00:20:24.682 --> 00:20:25.542 The money is the money. 356 00:20:25.782 --> 00:20:28.643 Like I wanna know, that's what they care about. 357 00:20:28.903 --> 00:20:37.825 And so I never underestimated the importance of ego and insecurity with dealing with these athletes as an agent and as a team guy, it's all the same. 358 00:20:38.429 --> 00:20:39.330 Yeah, incredible. 359 00:20:39.831 --> 00:20:43.836 I do want to plug your book, Smarter About Sports. 360 00:20:44.517 --> 00:20:49.703 It came out this year in 2026, just like my book, Finding Your Son. 361 00:20:49.984 --> 00:20:50.805 What's the book all about? 362 00:20:50.885 --> 00:20:53.088 Obviously, you're a smart guy, you're in sports. 363 00:20:53.108 --> 00:20:54.790 So what is kind of the whole theme of the book? 364 00:20:55.373 --> 00:20:59.096 Since I left the Packers now 16 years ago, that's really what I've been trying to do. 365 00:20:59.196 --> 00:21:02.438 And it crystallized when I was up at ESPN a few years ago. 366 00:21:02.518 --> 00:21:08.342 Mike Tariq goes on the other side of the cafeteria and he comes towards me and I'm looking around like, who's he going to talk to? 367 00:21:08.362 --> 00:21:11.645 He comes up to me, he says four words, you make us smarter. 368 00:21:11.885 --> 00:21:20.211 And that's really what I've been trying to do through teaching, of course, my day job and being a professor of sports business, sports law, 369 00:21:20.971 --> 00:21:32.362 but also podcasts, radio, TV, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, trying to make people smarter about sports in ways that I tell through stories. 370 00:21:32.742 --> 00:21:35.344 You know, I think you know this, stories resonate with people. 371 00:21:36.293 --> 00:21:39.374 And there are hundreds, literally hundreds of stories in this book. 372 00:21:39.974 --> 00:21:43.996 As you said, from being an agent, a team guy, a media guy, a professor. 373 00:21:44.016 --> 00:21:52.459 And now my latest ventures are doing NIL contracts against these agents for the millions of dollars we're paying these college athletes. 374 00:21:53.279 --> 00:22:00.261 So through these stories, just getting you behind the curtain on the inner workings of sports, things people don't talk about on media. 375 00:22:00.341 --> 00:22:06.143 So this is deep, but it's told in an entertaining conversational way about sports. 376 00:22:06.203 --> 00:22:09.864 This is not a book that I went into a cave and researched. 377 00:22:09.924 --> 00:22:12.424 It's not a book I called 50 sources about. 378 00:22:12.964 --> 00:22:16.165 This is me, my life and sports. 379 00:22:16.485 --> 00:22:21.627 And also for anyone who wants to get into sports, this is how you do it. 380 00:22:22.365 --> 00:22:29.329 Yeah, my my you know, we have different yet similar careers and we overlap a lot. 381 00:22:29.670 --> 00:22:32.892 My best friend is Jim Moore, Jr. is the head coach at Colorado State. 382 00:22:32.932 --> 00:22:35.213 Now he's been in the NFL for 25 years. 383 00:22:35.253 --> 00:22:37.314 I have actually played for his dad, Jim Moore, Sr. 384 00:22:37.855 --> 00:22:43.778 I saw Jim Sr. You probably know him in Fort Collins two weekends ago. 385 00:22:44.158 --> 00:22:45.179 Jim's opening game there. 386 00:22:45.199 --> 00:22:46.160 He's 91 years old. 387 00:22:46.820 --> 00:23:11.871 pissy as you can possibly get that down there doing push-ups and what the hell is going on around just classic but you do get to know these different guys and it's fun to like talk about this you know my mike tariko story really quickly was in 2022 i was nominated um the nfl came to me wanted to co-produce a film going with my my journey up mount everest and so i did that i got to the top i got down i had gopros all over me 388

00:23:12.631 --> 00:23:19.734 and I was nominated for a Best Cinematography and Best Picture, we ended up winning Best Picture, Best Documentary. 389 00:23:19.894 --> 00:23:20.394 It was amazing. 390 00:23:20.534 --> 00:23:23.075 And who handed me this thing was Mike Tirico. 391 00:23:23.535 --> 00:23:28.597 Mike Tirico was sitting right in front of me during this whole ceremony back in New York. 392 00:23:29.277 --> 00:23:33.219 And I can only give you my experience, which is in the... 393 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:41.327 The 15 seconds of him just being friendly and turning around to me and greeting me and handing me this thing, he was the nicest guy ever. 394 00:23:41.567 --> 00:23:48.834 Just very, I mean, surprisingly for his fame, just non-egotistical good dude. 395 00:23:49.055 --> 00:23:57.243 I mean, it was great to obviously win that thing, but more importantly, it was just being able to be around all these different sports stores that were out there. 396 00:23:57.925 --> 00:24:10.355 Yeah, and he's, I talk about my ESPN time there, and Bob Lee, the guy, the sage, who I did ESPN outside the lines with for 30, 40 shows a year, he writes the foreword to my book, actually. 397 00:24:11.056 --> 00:24:14.718 And that's, it was so, so generous and kind of him. 398 00:24:14.859 --> 00:24:18.481 So, yeah, and listen, let me just say this. 399 00:24:19.282 --> 00:24:20.243 You did real Everest. 400 00:24:21.083 --> 00:24:22.124 I did fake Everest. 401 00:24:22.144 --> 00:24:23.826 I did a company called 29029. 402 00:24:24.206 --> 00:24:24.666 Yeah. 403 00:24:25.407 --> 00:24:31.371 They take people up these mountains to equal the number of feet up Everest. 404 00:24:31.992 --> 00:24:33.133 I did it in Utah. 405 00:24:34.554 --> 00:24:36.215 So I went up Snowbird 13 times. 406 00:24:36.235 --> 00:24:36.335 Yeah. 407 00:24:36.355 --> 00:24:36.475 Yeah. 408 00:24:40.239 --> 00:24:43.484 Uh, now we, we gondola down each time. 409 00:24:43.584 --> 00:24:47.131 So it was nothing like what you did, but that was one of those experiences. 410 00:24:47.151 --> 00:24:53.502 Like we talk about do hard things, get uncomfortable and it makes you steeled for the rest of life. 411 00:24:54.032 --> 00:24:58.073 Yeah, they had a 29029 here last weekend. 412 00:24:58.273 --> 00:24:59.633 So it just, it's, oh yeah. 413 00:24:59.793 --> 00:25:00.093 Yeah. 414 00:25:00.133 --> 00:25:02.174 So it just was here in Sun Valley, Idaho. 415 00:25:02.614 --> 00:25:18.977 And ironically, yeah, and this is before, obviously they decided to name this thing 290290, otherwise known as Everesting, but the mountain after there was a powerful earthquake there of, you know, a number of years ago, and it actually rose the summit, which it's actually 29032. 416 00:25:21.358 --> 00:25:22.539 So it's three feet higher. 417 00:25:22.619 --> 00:25:26.984 So the branding is all what the branding is, but they're not quite there for what it is. 418 00:25:27.024 --> 00:25:30.648 But for some value, you got to go up and down 16 times. 419 00:25:30.708 --> 00:25:40.560 And I can tell you from the bottom of my heart, I so wish I would have had a gondola from the top of Mount Everest back down to his camp, because that was a bitch getting off that top. 420 00:25:41.022 --> 00:25:42.022 That was a bitch enough. 421 00:25:42.102 --> 00:25:51.987 I mean, we got down the gondola every lap and you go to the right, there's the lodge and comfort and food, but you got to go left and go back up the mountain. 422 00:25:52.687 --> 00:25:58.870 And I'm more of a runner, sprinter, triathlete, and that was a different training. 423 00:25:59.050 --> 00:26:03.432 You know, the training I had then, Mark, was just time on feet. 424 00:26:04.322 --> 00:26:06.083 And that was not something I was used to. 425 00:26:06.123 --> 00:26:08.605 I was used to sort of shorter, faster workouts. 426 00:26:09.286 --> 00:26:10.607 It was just long and slow. 427 00:26:10.767 --> 00:26:13.069 And that was a grind that year I trained for that. 428 00:26:13.169 --> 00:26:20.215 Just, you know, put on these four hour Joe Rogan, whatever podcasts and just go for four hours. 429 00:26:20.235 --> 00:26:21.876 That was something I was never used to. 430 00:26:21.896 --> 00:26:24.258 And it was quite a challenge. 431 00:26:24.589 --> 00:26:26.290 Yeah, I mean, those things are challenging. 432 00:26:26.370 --> 00:26:33.274 I mean, these guys are, I mean, as you experienced, you know, out there 16 hours or something to get up and down here in Sun Valley. 433 00:26:33.574 --> 00:26:48.943 So you've been on with guys like pretty, pretty well known guys, you know, Rich Eisen, McAfee, Dan Patrick, all these guys, I'm sure your buddies, you know, what do you think it is about those guys that makes them stand out and has been able to have just not a career, but a career of longevity? 434 00:26:49.583 --> 00:26:52.465 McAfee is just kind of entering his zone right now. 435 00:26:52.605 --> 00:26:54.906 I mean, I don't think he was on air that long. 436 00:26:54.926 --> 00:27:06.532 Certainly hasn't been on as long as Eisen and Patrick, but he is quickly becoming kind of like the go to guys on game day and all these other shows beyond his his his show that he does daily. 437 00:27:06.572 --> 00:27:11.835 But what is it about these guys that really make them excel about beyond the other ones that are out there? 438 00:27:12.308 --> 00:27:13.449 Yeah, Pat's an everyman. 439 00:27:13.969 --> 00:27:17.311 And I think that resonates with people, especially younger audience. 440 00:27:17.491 --> 00:27:23.715 You know, they, the younger audience is not used to some old guy telling them how it works in sports. 441 00:27:24.295 --> 00:27:34.841 They want more someone that's like them, that resonates, that speaks their language, that is getting excited and he can be there in a tank top and he can just talk sports with famous people. 442 00:27:35.822 --> 00:27:38.583 He's got his own thing that's

really working. 443 00:27:39.063 --> 00:27:42.604 And some of the other guys you mentioned are just veterans in the industry. 444 00:27:43.264 --> 00:27:49.025 I've known Eisen since he was at the NFL Network long ago and he just asked great questions, so curious. 445 00:27:49.765 --> 00:27:58.708 Dan Patrick is just the master at letting you talk and then advancing the conversation with a quick question. 446 00:28:00.288 --> 00:28:04.349 I think some of the best interviewers ever are let the guests talk. 447 00:28:05.429 --> 00:28:06.890 And Dan is so good at that. 448 00:28:06.970 --> 00:28:12.811 He frames it in a good, short, concise, smart way, but then he lets the person talk. 449 00:28:13.711 --> 00:28:15.812 And then Jim is a combination of all of it. 450 00:28:15.912 --> 00:28:20.313 Jim is a conversationalist, but he sets you up. 451 00:28:21.153 --> 00:28:23.434 He's just a pro, you know, a pro's pro. 452 00:28:24.054 --> 00:28:27.315 And when I try to do my podcasts, you know, I take from all those guys. 453 00:28:28.375 --> 00:28:33.917 You know, when I speak, I speak, but I let the guests speak and I frame them up the best way they can. 454 00:28:34.476 --> 00:28:36.037 Yeah, I mean, that's the best way to do it. 455 00:28:36.237 --> 00:28:47.541 And like anybody who's out there in sales, I've always found with the things I've gone on to do is that like the salesperson, you always got to feel like you got to tell all the information that's out there. 456 00:28:47.561 --> 00:28:48.722 Let me tell you all about my company. 457 00:28:48.762 --> 00:28:48.942 Right. 458 00:28:49.522 --> 00:28:55.564 And if you can just ask one question, let everybody, they will tell you everything you want to know because they can't wait to talk about it. 459 00:28:55.584 --> 00:28:55.764 Right. 460 00:28:56.885 --> 00:28:57.205 All right. 461 00:28:58.065 --> 00:29:00.686 I believe you're out there doing some keynote talks. 462 00:29:00.786 --> 00:29:06.608 I want to know where people can find this book, Smarter About Sports. 463 00:29:06.648 --> 00:29:11.630 We all need to be smarter, certainly, and certainly about sports is so important in our culture. 464 00:29:12.410 --> 00:29:13.771 Where can people find this book? 465 00:29:15.202 --> 00:29:16.843 Obviously Amazon's easiest way. 466 00:29:17.123 --> 00:29:23.425 Amazon smart about sports have a website smarter about sports.com and on my Instagram, there's ways to get it. 467 00:29:23.545 --> 00:29:24.766 Andrew Brandt too. 468 00:29:25.606 --> 00:29:27.827 But yeah, as you mentioned, starting a tour. 469 00:29:28.147 --> 00:29:33.650 So the tour is going to go through Chicago this week, mid September, mid October. 470 00:29:34.050 --> 00:29:39.352 I'm going to be in Green Bay, Appleton, Milwaukee, Madison, big Packers audience there. 471 00:29:39.692 --> 00:29:41.613 Yeah, that's the weekend of the Cowboys game. 472 00:29:41.673 --> 00:29:46.515 So it's going to be October 16, 17, 18, Philadelphia

the next week. 473 00:29:46.555 --> 00:29:51.598 And we're adding some more, probably some West Coast stops along the way in November, December. 474 00:29:51.738 --> 00:29:54.079 But yeah, it's done very well. 475 00:29:54.099 --> 00:30:00.682 I'm very proud of it because I think you can see books out there, Mark, that are by agents like Lee, of course. 476 00:30:00.722 --> 00:30:02.543 You can see books out there by team people. 477 00:30:02.563 --> 00:30:03.623 Bill Polian wrote a book. 478 00:30:04.423 --> 00:30:05.644 Ron Wolfe wrote a book. 479 00:30:05.764 --> 00:30:07.105 Amy Trask wrote a book. 480 00:30:08.011 --> 00:30:12.155 And there's books by media people and there's books now about NIL, but this is all of it. 481 00:30:12.775 --> 00:30:13.796 This is all of it in one. 482 00:30:14.236 --> 00:30:17.259 So I hope people can get it and learn from it. 483 00:30:17.619 --> 00:30:17.920 Yeah. 484 00:30:17.980 --> 00:30:18.140 Yeah. 485 00:30:18.180 --> 00:30:26.407 I can tell you, you know, I've done a lot of hard things out there, but certainly me writing my little book, Finding Your Summit, it was probably the hardest thing I've done. 486 00:30:26.891 --> 00:30:35.973 I'm not a natural writer, but you know, you got to really buckle up and zero in on like what you think anybody else would be interested in hearing about your particular life. 487 00:30:36.053 --> 00:30:37.233 So it's a challenge. 488 00:30:37.253 --> 00:30:38.113 Yeah, I resisted. 489 00:30:38.233 --> 00:30:38.714 I get it. 490 00:30:38.734 --> 00:30:42.954 I resisted because I was doing columns and I'm doing my writing for school and all that. 491 00:30:43.074 --> 00:30:45.415 And finally, I'm like, I got to do this. 492 00:30:46.575 --> 00:30:47.595 And let me say this. 493 00:30:47.995 --> 00:30:49.276 I wasn't in a cabin. 494 00:30:50.016 --> 00:30:53.197 You know, I wasn't researching 20 sources. 495 00:30:53.397 --> 00:30:54.837 I was writing out my life. 496 00:30:55.821 --> 00:31:00.226 So from that perspective, it was a labor of love, you know, it really was. 497 00:31:00.407 --> 00:31:04.372 And like you said, I'm glad I did it, you know, because I always resisted. 498 00:31:04.452 --> 00:31:04.772 Yeah. 499 00:31:04.872 --> 00:31:09.738 But at some point I'm like, I got to get this down for future generations, if anything else. 500 00:31:10.099 --> 00:31:10.219 Yeah. 501 00:31:10.239 --> 00:31:10.399 Yeah. 502 00:31:11.188 --> 00:31:12.129 No, I felt the same way. 503 00:31:12.169 --> 00:31:14.551 I did it as much for myself as my kids. 504 00:31:14.851 --> 00:31:17.473 And even if just one person bought it, it's okay. 505 00:31:17.493 --> 00:31:18.654 It's a bucket list item for me. 506 00:31:18.674 --> 00:31:21.277 And everybody should write a book at some length, right, to get through. 507 00:31:21.297 --> 00:31:28.163 Because you definitely have to zero in and think about your life and be retrospective about what you've been able to accomplish and where you're trying to go. 508 00:31:28.923 --> 00:31:33.147 And it's definitely a labor of love, as you pointed out. 509 00:31:33.687 --> 00:31:34.928 Yeah, and I think I submitted... 510 00:31:35.689 --> 00:31:37.510 110,000 words. 511 00:31:37.810 --> 00:31:38.050 Yeah. 512 00:31:38.470 --> 00:31:39.590 This book's about 82,000. 513 00:31:39.891 --> 00:31:42.612 So there's a lot on the cutting room floor as well. 514 00:31:42.652 --> 00:31:43.072 Yeah, yeah. 515 00:31:43.152 --> 00:31:44.832 I ended up somewhere in the same neighborhood. 516 00:31:45.473 --> 00:31:46.073 All right, buddy. 517 00:31:46.113 --> 00:31:49.094 Listen, number one, thank you so much for coming on. 518 00:31:49.774 --> 00:31:51.655 Like I said, our common friend, Jim Rohn. 519 00:31:52.655 --> 00:31:55.176 was able to connect through that and I appreciate it. 520 00:31:55.196 --> 00:31:56.437 You've got a wonderful career. 521 00:31:56.517 --> 00:32:02.919 You know, it sounds like you have a lot of gas, you know, going into the future, continue to get after the Everesting whole thing. 522 00:32:03.259 --> 00:32:07.241 Um, it keeps us all alive and young and, and building for the future. 523 00:32:07.281 --> 00:32:09.222 So again, I so appreciate you coming on. 524 00:32:09.942 --> 00:32:12.463 I really appreciate you having me and our shared values. 525 00:32:12.703 --> 00:32:13.503 Thanks so much, Mark. 526 00:32:13.523 --> 00:32:13.783 Yeah. 527 00:32:13.943 --> 00:32:14.724 All right, everybody. 528 00:32:14.744 --> 00:32:17.485 There is the one, the only Andrew Brandt. 529 00:32:17.545 --> 00:32:17.885 Thank you.