Peter Schaffer (sports agent)
Peter Schaffer (born 1962) is an American sports agent/lawyer who represents players in the National Football League, Major League Baseball, PGA Tour, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League. He is founder and owner of Authentic Athletix, a Colorado-based sports agency, and is known for representing highly drafted players and marquee names.[1] He also owns the Authentic Performance Center, a world-class athletic combine training facility in Denver.
Schaffer represents more than 100 athletes and celebrities, both active and retired, including Joe Thomas, Phil Taylor, Barry Sanders, Trevor Pryce, Joshua Cribbs, C. J. Anderson, Mario Edwards, Jr., and Hakeem Nicks.[2] and PGA golfers including two-time PGA tour winner Jonathan Kaye and Shane Bertsch.
Biography
Early years
Schaffer was born in upstate New York. He attended Cortland High School and then The Hill School, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania on athletic and academic scholarship, graduating in 1980 with honors. Schaffer then attended Franklin and Marshall College, graduating in 1984 with honors while playing both varsity lacrosse and hockey. In 1987 he graduated from Brooklyn Law School.
In 1988 he played professional lacrosse in the American Lacrosse League (1988) (ALL) for the Denver Rifles.
His first job out of law school was with the Denver-based law firm of Weller, Freidrich, Ward and Andrews, a litigation firm. After law school in 1988, Schaffer became certified as a Contract Advisor ("Agent") by the National Football League Players Association ("NFLPA"), the NHLPA, and PGA Tour. During this time he negotiated some of the most lucrative deals in NFL history.
Schaffer was also appointed Chairman of the Denver Cable Television Commission.
He married Alison E. Schaffer (1998) from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, with whom he has two children, Lilian (born 2000) and Gavin (2004).
Contract Highlights
1997
He made Chad Brown the highest-paid linebacker in NFL history.[3]
2001
Made Trevor Pryce the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history.[4]
2011
Made Joe Thomas the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history.[5]
Schaffer also represents Willie Roaf, Pro Football Hall of Fame (offensive tackle, New Orleans Saints), Hakeem Nicks (wide receiver, Tennessee Titans), Chad Brown (linebacker, Seattle Seahawks), Jason Gildon (linebacker, Pittsburgh Steelers), C.J. Anderson (Running Back, Denver Broncos), David Diehl Pro Bowl Offensive Tackle New York Giants and current Fox Sports Game analyst, Larry Johnson (running back, Kansas City Chiefs), Rudi Johnson (running back, Cincinnati Bengals), and quarterback New York Giants and current ESPN and Jesse Palmer, Good Morning America studio host.
2016
Represented free agents who received lucrative deals in 2016 such as C.J. Anderson (Running Back, Denver Broncos) and Adam Jones Cornerback, Cincinnati Bengals
2017
Represented Joe Mixon, (running bac], University of Oklahoma), and assisted him in being drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals), in the second round of the NFL Draft after most pundits and experts opined that he would never get drafted.
Authentic Athletix
In 2011 Schaffer started his own agency called Authentic Athletix, LLC, a sports and entertainment agency.[2] http://www.agentaa.com
Association with John "JR" Rickert
Schaffer, who originally mentored Rickert in 1999, added him to his team at the new Authentic Athletix, giving them a client base of over 125 professional athletes and entertainers. Together Schaffer and Rickert have negotiated some of the biggest contracts in the NFL including Joshua Cribbs (2010), Kevin Burnett (2011), and Joe Thomas (2011).
Media presence
Schaffer is highly regarded as an expert on the business of sports, appearing on ABC Nightly News,[6] Fox Sports,[7] the Dan Patrick Show,[8] HBO Real Sports and 60 Minutes.[9] He has also co-hosted shows on KFFN (Denver) and Altitude Sports Network. His thoughts on the NFL can be read regularly in his national column for the Washington Post's "Inside the League." He has served as a Professor of Sports Law at the University of Denver and has lectured at Tulane University Law School, University of Colorado Business School, Johnson and Wales University, University of Colorado Law School and the University of New York-Cortland among others. He has also served as Chairman of the Denver Cable Commission and the Denver Professional Lacrosse Commission. He is a member of the Agent Advisory Board of the NFL Players Union and is a member of both the NFLPA and NHLPA.
On August 11, 2015, the Esquire Network premiered a new docu-series titled The Agent which follows Schaffer and three other NFL agents as they court potential clients in the months leading up to the NFL draft. Camera crews documented Schaffer's recruitment of Florida State star defensive end Mario Edwards, Jr. and 2014 Thorpe Award winner Gerod Holliman of Louisville. The series includes footage of Schaffer playing golf with NFL star and client Adam Jones, a trip to a men's lacrosse tournament where Schaffer convinces his teammates to take the Wonderlic test with his new clients and even captures Schaffer watching former Washington State quarterback Connor Halliday suffer a broken leg shortly after contacting him as a potential client.
References
- ↑ "NFL Back in Business". Rick Reilly, ESPN. Retrieved 2011-06-01.
- 1 2 "Authentic Athletix Clients". AgentAA.com. Archived from the original on 2015-07-09. Retrieved 2011-09-01.
- ↑ "Snake Charmer". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
- ↑ "Pryce Signs Seven-Year, Sixty Million Dollar Contract with Broncos". Clemson University Athletics. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
- ↑ "Highest Paid Offensive Linemen". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
- ↑ "Why NBA Players Get Into Trouble". ABC News. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
- ↑ "Seahawks Sign Thomas". Fox Sports. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
- ↑ "Dan Patrick on Peter Schaffer". AgentAA.com. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
- ↑ "Pelley Interviews Schaffer 60 Minutes". AgentAA.com. Retrieved 2011-07-01.