Beyond the Game: Saving Our Seas with Leigh Steinberg

WON’T THE REAL JERRY MAGUIRE PLEASE STAND UP?

Widely regarded as the greatest sports agent of all time (and notably known as the “Real Jerry Maguire”, who the film was based on),  Leigh Steinberg has represented many of the most successful athletes and coaches in football, basketball, baseball, hockey, boxing and golf. With an unrivaled history of record-setting contracts, Leigh has secured over $4 Billion for his clients and directed over $1 billion to various charities around the world. He is the author of two books: The Agent and Winning with Integrity. 

Leigh is known not only as an agent, but also as a consummate philanthropist and activist, who models ethical and socially conscious behavior as an example for the athletes he represents, whom he expects to be role models themselves. He has received commendations from U.S. Congress, CA State Senate & Legislature, the City of Los Angeles, and Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. He has been named “Man of the Year” by more than a dozen organizations including the March of Dimes, Cedars-Sinai, Boy Scouts of America, and Anti-Defamation League. 

For decades Leigh has been raising the volume on the topic of concussion awareness and actively seeking modalities and treatments to support the brain health of athletes. He is also a passionate advocate of health technology and biohacking solutions which enhance the performance, pain management, and longevity of not only athletes, but all of us.

Q: How did growing up in Los Angeles inform your perspective on our ocean? 

A: An important aspect to my childhood was our constant interaction with the beach and the water. My father took my brothers and I to Venice Beach and we learned how to body surf, boogie board, and surf. As a teen, I spent every day at the beach in Santa Monica. The ocean became my place of peace and renewal. I live in a house that overlooks the Pacific Ocean in Newport Beach. I could survive in a ramshackle hut as long as it overlooked the water. I begin each day looking out at the ocean and the molecules from the water stimulate my well-being. Our office overlooks the Newport Harbor and we regularly take Duffy and other boats out on the water.

Q: Looking back, how did your father’s lessons about standing up for those who can’t do it for themselves shape not only your career as an agent but also your sense of duty toward the planet?

A: My father stressed that waiting for the amorphous “they or them” to solve problems could result in waiting forever. The “they” is me or us. We have the responsibility to take action. I ask each athlete during representation to retrace their roots and establish programs in their  high school community or their college community, and to set up a charitable foundation in the professional athlete’s city. We enlist the leading political, business, and community leaders to serve on an advisory board that supports the program. An example would be retired running back Warrick Dunn’s “Homes for the Holidays” which has moved over 200 single parents into the first home they will ever own. Our athletes in aggregate have raised more than $1.2 billion on their programs. The actual product of our agency was the thousands of lives that have been transformed.

Q: What was the moment that made you realize that representing athletes and protecting our ocean could somehow share the same core mission of care and responsibility?

A: I created a program called Sporting Green Alliance which aggregated modalities in wind, recycling, resurfacing, and water that can be integrated into stadia, arena and practice fields. The goal was to drop carbon emissions and energy costs, and to transform those venues into teaching platforms that expose the millions of fans to a waterless urinal or solar panel and think about how to employ those practices in their own homes and businesses. Sports can lead the way in using its power to clean up the environment – especially our oceans. Quarterback Warren Moon and Defensive End Bruce Smith volunteered to participate in the virtual Million Person Environment March on Washington, D.C. Warren and I cut a public service announcement for the Sierra Club. I posed with my hybrid Lexus for the green issue of Kiplinger’s Magazine. 

Q: Many people see sports and ocean health as separate spheres — what do you think are the opportunities in bridging those worlds, especially now that sports culture is global and interconnected?

A: Our country and culture are obsessed with sports. A few weeks ago every one of the top 10 Nielsen-rated television shows was an NFL Broadcast. 130 million viewers watched last year’s Super Bowl. Athletes have the ability to trigger imitative behavior, especially for our youth. People who tune out authority figures will accept the message from one of their athletic heroes. We can have athletes spread the word about the dangers of ocean pollution and plastics and reach a broader audience.

“Our future as a species depends on safeguarding the ocean environment. Ocean Conservancy stands as a guardian, fighting against pollution and the destruction of coral reefs. I am proud to join their efforts in ensuring a healthier planet. Please join us in this important work.”

—Leigh Steinberg, Sports Agent, Philanthropist

Q: As someone who has built a career on amplifying athletes’ voices, what have you learned about amplifying the voice of something that cannot speak for itself: our ocean?
A: Athletes and other concerned citizens can be the voice for bodies of water that are essential to us but have no voice. We need to be the powerful lobby for nature.

Q: If you weren’t a sports agent, what path do you think you would’ve taken and how would it relate to conservation efforts?

A: I would have taken a leadership role in the campaign to roll back climate change. This is the most enduring and consequential challenge to our way of life.

Q: If  you could use your platform to send a single message about ocean conservation, what would that message be and what action would you hope it inspires?

A: When I was a child I asked my father what he had done in World War II to protect our country from fascist threats. Our children will rightfully ask us what we did to stop the progression of despoiled oceans and climate change. Did we understand the threat to the oceans and its impact on our viability as a species? And how did we respond? The ocean and earth will survive these challenges–it is our quality of life now and in the future which is in danger. Contact Ocean Conservancy and see where you can participate in their many programs .