But I understand insurance, or protecting your investments. My favorite thing to tell them is that I make pizza, and you make doughnuts. I don't want to go into your kitchen, and I don't want to catch you flipping any pizzas. Stick to what you're good at. The financial advisors, or the money guys, are my biggest challenge. For some reason, they want all of the money their guys are spending to flow through them, and a player taking out a policy with me cuts them out. But again, what I tell the advisors and the players is that I'm providing a product with protection and a guarantee, regardless of what happens.
So players can take out a policy to protect themselves against injury. What about the teams that are paying them millions of dollars? How can they protect their investments?
Many teams do take out insurance policies these days, particularly for their top picks. It works no differently, to be honest. And it happens a lot when a team re-signs a guy to a long-term big deal. It's investment protection for both sides, no matter what happens. If a player gets hurt, the team can sometimes recoup a signing bonus or similar financials.
How many players actually take out these policies, and how often do you see them paid out?
I'd say in the NFL alone, which is where the majority of my business still is, about 30 to 35 percent of the league has these policies. But that number has gone up significantly in the last few years (Salgado alone has insured 25 first-round NFL draft picks in the past five years). When everything went down with Sean Taylor a few years back, I spent a few days with Jeremy Shockey immediately after, because he wanted to make sure everything in his life was in order, just in case something were ever to happen. (Taylor was shot and killed by intruders at his home in 2007.)
The policy that was paid out that sticks out in my mind was with one of my hockey guys, Bryan Berard. Bryan was playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and I'll remember this day forever. It was March 11, 2000, and Bryan took a stick to the right eye. The doctors didn't think he'd ever be able to see again, let alone play hockey. He got a $6.5 million settlement, but gave a majority of it back because he wanted to play again. And he did.
You work with some big name players, coaches and owners. You travel around the country to different events and to meet with all of them. What have you learned through working with all of these people?
You know, I've made some amazing relationships through this business. Since I'm wearing a Super Bowl ring right now, I'd say my closest friend and biggest reference here is Michael Strahan. But I'm close with a lot of executives as well, from Thomas Dimitroff with the Atlanta Falcons, to Stephen and Jerry Jones in Dallas, and probably the closest of all, Kevin Abrams with the New York Giants. But even when I was just getting started, I lived with Neil O'Donnell in college and then for three years when he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The people I met when he was with Pittsburgh are all over the place now, and perhaps more than any other business, this is about who you know and where you've been. I don't really bug the guys I work with for business advice, trying to keep those relationships cordial, because I believe if they know who I am and what I do, that's good enough.
What business lessons have you learned through the years and what might you do differently?
I don't know if it's an advantage or a disadvantage, but I travel a lot and I had a really hard time initially learning how to delegate work when my business started growing. I'd be up in the office until 11 or 12 at night, every night, and then on a plane the next morning. Now, I have a great staff of about 15 people here in the office who understand the business really well, which allows me to travel, be the face of the company and have the meetings we need to have.
As far as offering up advice to others, I always tell people that while I'm one of the big players in this industry, don't use me as an example. This business model was built for me since I was just a little kid, it just happened to be insurance. I grew up around football, I know this game as well as anyone, and I just want to help guys protect themselves.
Where are the growth opportunities for Coastal Advisors?
When the NHL lockout happened a few years back, because the players were around the world playing in different leagues, my business basically quadrupled. Guys saw and understood the need to insure their bodies in case something were to happen. I don't want to project anything about what is going to happen in the next few years, particularly regarding the potential NBA and NFL lockouts next year, but I can tell you that I want Coastal Advisors to be the official insurer of all four leagues and for all of Hollywood. Is that cocky and arrogant? Sure, but if you don't reach for the top, you're selling yourself short. I'm just going to be out there, keeping a clean image and letting people know why I'm there and what we do. I'm as important to an athlete as the agent and the financial guy, and the smart guys get that.
