Branion arranged the meeting with a high-end financial services firm. It’s not typically part of his job, but Branion feels its part of his responsibility.
“It’s important to have quality professionals around you who all have independent fiduciary responsibility to you,” he tells Miller.
Branion is one of more than 750 sports agents who were actively registered with the NFL Players Association before the union dissolved. Each is now caught in the middle of the labor battle between NFL owners and players that is threatening the 2011 season. They have no seat at the bargaining table, but as long as players are locked out, so are their agents.
“I don’t know if many people have a lot of empathy for an agent or an agency, but we’re not all evil people,” Branion says. “This is a business, and everyone who works for us, their livelihoods are directly tied to us doing our job. We can’t collect fees if our clients don’t get paid.”
For Miller, a highly touted linebacker from Texas A&M, this marks his first trip to New York, and he spends much of his time walking the streets with his neck craned toward the sky. Branion, 48, has taken him all over the city: Central Park, dinner at Carmine’s, appointments with stylists and suit designers, and this meeting in the office of Vernon Brown, who heads the financial services firm. Miller listens intently, and Branion occasionally interjects to make sure his client fully digests everything Brown tells him.
Branion, whose stocky, 6-foot-plus frame still hints at his own football playing days, is protective of his players. He survived a traumatic childhood, his own obstacles stripped from the pages of a dime-store murder-mystery novel. He aims to usher his clients not just into the world of pro football, but into adulthood.
“There’s a natural paternalistic component to me,” Branion says, “a natural desire to want to help people.”
Money talks
The agent business revolves around money, first and foremost. Without free agency and with no bonuses paid since NFL owners locked out their players March 4, agencies like Branion’s have had little cash flow, while accumulating heavy expenses. They get ready for the draft by pouring money into prepping prospects, not knowing when they’ll see a return.
Branion works for Athletes First, and he and his company are banking big on this year’s draft. Athletes First represents 15 prospects, and Branion is primarily responsible for Miller, who is engaging and talented, and also happens to be one of the 10 plaintiffs in the players’ class-action lawsuit against the NFL.
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