After I finished my degree at Canisius, I got a job working for PLAYERS INC, the licensing and marketing subsidiary of the NFL Players Association. It was created in 1994 with a mission of "taking the helmets off" the players and marketing them as personalities as well as professional athletes. Representing over 1,800 active players and 3,000 retired players, PLAYERS INC has become a major player in the sports marketing industry in areas such as apparel (i.e. Reebok jersey’s), collectibles (i.e. bobbleheads), fantasy football, trading cards and video games (Madden).
I work in the Trading Card and Collectible department at Players Inc. On a daily basis, I handle in-coming GLA’s, or group licensing agreements, for the upcoming draft eligible players, draft license agreements and addendums for current and new licensees. I work closely with licensees (i.e. licensed companies) on day to day business matters. Additionally, I distribute product samples from our licensees to the players. For instance, all players featured in trading cards receive samples of their card. My job is to get the cards from the companies, sort them by player and mail them to the players. Probably my most important function, and most interesting, is approving artwork from our licensees. My department looks at each trading card and collectible product (i.e. bobbleheads, pennants, medallions, etc…) before it is manufactured and then ultimately sold to consumers. My job is to make sure the information on the product is accurate; this includes proofing the player’s name and number as well making sure the image used depicts the player in an accurate and positive light.
Players Inc puts on a number of events throughout the year that I am a part of. The one that I am most involved in is the annual NFL Players Rookie Premiere. This is PLAYERS INC’s marquee event, which involves many of our licensees and sponsors and is televised by the NFL Network. The main element to this event is a photo shoot for the trading card licensees in which they capture photographs of the top 30-35 rookies of the most recent draft class. It is the first time these rookies will appear in a trading card while wearing their official NFL uniform. For me the interesting part of this, is that once the photos have been taken, they are then put onto trading cards and sent to me for approval so I get to see the outcome of an event that I was involved in.
I got my first Super Bowl experience this past January. I spent a week in Detroit preparing player appearances that my company activates during Super Bowl week. Player appearances during this ultra-busy and eventful week are booked through us. It is our responsibility to set up player transportation to and from the appearance, make sure the player arrives on time and meets the sponsor and to ensure the player knows his responsibility at the appearance. It made for a long week with over 300 appearances, but once the game kicked off, my responsibilities were over and I got to enjoy the game from the crowd.
I just had my one year anniversary at this job and really love it. The people are great, I am learning a lot and I get to work in a sport I am passionate about. I never mind coming in to work because I have found a job that I enjoy!