Well today concluded my one week internship with the second most valuable sports franchise in the world; second to the popular soccer club Manchester United. It stinks to have to leave what was a perfect week for me to simply dip my toes in the complicated water that is the sports business, more specifically the NFL. However, today was a pretty chill day. Some might say it was a slow day at the office. I spent some time with the scouting department today, not really scouting anybody, but just talking about basic scouting techniques and stuff like that. Todd and I then went to go check on the status of the drainage pipe being installed to help the practice fields drain water, everything seemed to be running smoothly. Then we picked up lunch at Jersey Mikes and brought it back, and ate in the War Room and watched SportsCenter, life was good.
Overall, I'd say this week was a great success. I am so blessed to have this opportunity to intern with such a great organization, but more importantly a great group of guys. I am so appreciative of the people that I was able to meet this week, and hopefully the bonds forged this week will continue as I go off to college next year. Hopefully, I can intern again with this great organization.
Thank you Dallas Cowboys, It's been real.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Working For The Dallas Cowboys: Day 4
Today was a rather slow day out at Valley Ranch today. Thanks a lot NFL lockout! But nonetheless, I still had things to do. My day started out by sitting in on a meeting with my mentor, Todd Williams. Since Todd is basically the man in charge of making sure everything within the organization is operating smoothly, he has many meetings. This meeting dealt with an extra practice field that the team is trying to build at Valley Ranch. The field would replace a grass one, that is currently located where their old indoor practice facility, which unfortunately collapsed, used to be. Involved in the meeting was Todd, Chris (the head groundskeeper/maintenance guy), and the sales rep for the turf field company. The field turf rep presented a good bid to Todd, so it seemed that the meeting was a success. Following the meeting, we went to Hard Eight Barbeque with some of the Cowboy's college and pro scouts, it was awesome. I ate a lot of food, so I felt like a nap, but luckily didn't take one. Fighting through my urges to nap, I was tossed over to Todd's associate Adam, where learned more about how to read and analyze professional contracts. Adam hit me with some challenges today. He handed me the contracts of Cowboy's wide receivers Miles Austin and Dez Bryant. In Dez's contract, Adam told me to find the money guaranteed to Dez at signing, and the total money Dez will make in the contract. As for Miles' contract, Adam told me to find the money Miles will make over the six years of his contract, and the rolling average of money over those six years. Miles' contract was challenging at first, since he signed a contract extension that will begin in 2011. However, Dez's contract was also challenging, as it included many incentives and clauses, since he was a rookie. Even though today felt like I was in math class again, I really enjoyed it. Too bad it has to end tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Working For The Dallas Cowboys: Day 3
Just when I thought yesterday could not be topped, it was. Today I learned from Mr. Adam Prasifka, one of my mentor's associates, how to read contracts and dissect the dollar amounts being discussed within the contract. He has an extremely high knowledge of how contracts work, since he is after all the guy that writes out the contracts for each player signed by the team. However, the way he explained them to me was by using actual NFL contracts that have been given to players from other teams that he was able to pull from a database within the leagues website.
I learned how to find the injury and skill money guaranteed, which is the money guaranteed to a player if he is cut because he's not playing well, or if he is injured. I also learned how to find the signing bonus, which a player will be able to receive no matter what happens; and also the concept of escalators, which will elevate a player's salary if he reaches certain goals set for him. He also stated that with every NFL contract, there are certain clauses that say if violated, the player will default, or void the contract, thereby not receiving his full pay. The things that may null the contract are league suspensions caused by the use of banned substances (alcohol, drugs, steroids), league suspensions due to violation of the league's conduct policy, or sometimes non-football related injuries, like a motorcycle accident; in simpler terms, being really stupid and getting caught. Also, Mr. Prasifka then showed me the contract of current Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant, because it was extremely complicated with all the terms and clauses that were in it, and he used it to show me how complex NFL contracts can really come to be, especially with rookies.
The funny thing though is that the player rarely reads his contract, that's why he hires an agent. All the player does is just sign his name on the dotted line. Today was really cool, and I can't wait for tomorrow.
I learned how to find the injury and skill money guaranteed, which is the money guaranteed to a player if he is cut because he's not playing well, or if he is injured. I also learned how to find the signing bonus, which a player will be able to receive no matter what happens; and also the concept of escalators, which will elevate a player's salary if he reaches certain goals set for him. He also stated that with every NFL contract, there are certain clauses that say if violated, the player will default, or void the contract, thereby not receiving his full pay. The things that may null the contract are league suspensions caused by the use of banned substances (alcohol, drugs, steroids), league suspensions due to violation of the league's conduct policy, or sometimes non-football related injuries, like a motorcycle accident; in simpler terms, being really stupid and getting caught. Also, Mr. Prasifka then showed me the contract of current Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant, because it was extremely complicated with all the terms and clauses that were in it, and he used it to show me how complex NFL contracts can really come to be, especially with rookies.
The funny thing though is that the player rarely reads his contract, that's why he hires an agent. All the player does is just sign his name on the dotted line. Today was really cool, and I can't wait for tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Working For The Dallas Cowboys: Day 2
So overall today was pretty much awesome. I am now known as "the intern" by the security guard at the front gate, so he simply waves me on through, which is super cool. Also, I'm not considered a visitor anymore, so I no longer need a visitors badge, I'm now somewhat official.
Today, I spent a majority of the day with the scouting department, which made the day awesome. The scouting department's primary job during the season is to obviously scout the opponent for the upcoming week. However, since it's the offseason, and next season is still up in the air with this lockout issue, they were scouting potential players in which they could hopefully sign to their roster for next year. Luckily, today they were scouting offensive lineman. I spent most of the day with Will McClay, one of the team's scouts. I sat in his office watching film with him, and at the end, he asked me what my observations were. I won't go into great detail about what I observed, but I'll just say that what I observed matched his observations (thanks to Jeremy Calahan for teaching me my O-lineman knowledge). Following my intense film session, and me being the intern, I had to go to Subway to pick up lunch. I viewed this as my initiation into the "brotherhood" of Dallas Cowboy's interns. We then ate in the War Room, which is where all the executives sit on NFL draft day to discuss their next pick, and watched SportsCenter on the massive flat screen TVs. After lunch, I was shown by my boss Todd Williams a massive book containing every single college prospect the Cowboys might possibly have drafted in this years draft. He used it to show me how they would go about researching their potential pick. It's hard to explain, but due to confidentiality issues, I'll just say that the scouts and coaches definitely do their research. Then it was 4:00, so my day was done. All in all, today was pretty freaking awesome!
Today, I spent a majority of the day with the scouting department, which made the day awesome. The scouting department's primary job during the season is to obviously scout the opponent for the upcoming week. However, since it's the offseason, and next season is still up in the air with this lockout issue, they were scouting potential players in which they could hopefully sign to their roster for next year. Luckily, today they were scouting offensive lineman. I spent most of the day with Will McClay, one of the team's scouts. I sat in his office watching film with him, and at the end, he asked me what my observations were. I won't go into great detail about what I observed, but I'll just say that what I observed matched his observations (thanks to Jeremy Calahan for teaching me my O-lineman knowledge). Following my intense film session, and me being the intern, I had to go to Subway to pick up lunch. I viewed this as my initiation into the "brotherhood" of Dallas Cowboy's interns. We then ate in the War Room, which is where all the executives sit on NFL draft day to discuss their next pick, and watched SportsCenter on the massive flat screen TVs. After lunch, I was shown by my boss Todd Williams a massive book containing every single college prospect the Cowboys might possibly have drafted in this years draft. He used it to show me how they would go about researching their potential pick. It's hard to explain, but due to confidentiality issues, I'll just say that the scouts and coaches definitely do their research. Then it was 4:00, so my day was done. All in all, today was pretty freaking awesome!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Working For The Dallas Cowboys: Day 1
Today was an awesome day to begin my week-long internship with the Dallas Cowboys football club, even though it was more of an introduction day more than anything. I am attending Austin College in the fall and will be studying Business Administration, with hopes of somehow breaking into the sports business, preferably professional football, after college.
I arrived at the Dallas Cowboys headquarters at 10:00 AM and met the person that I'll be shadowing, Mr. Todd Williams, the director of football administration for the team. I was then given a tour of the facilities, which is where I met several of the other professionals in the other departments that I'll be working with, and also some of the coaches. Following the tour, Mr. William's associate, Mr. Adam Prasifka, explained the logistics of the team's salary cap, how they go about signing free agents and draft picks, and how they construct the contracts. I then went to lunch with Mr. Williams and Mr. Prasifka at Mi Cocina. When we returned from lunch, I met members of the team's scouting department, and was shown the team's draft board from this years draft. I then sat down with Mr. Williams, and simply shot the bull for the last thirty minutes of my day, which ended at 4:00 PM. All in all, I would say today was a resounding success, and I cannot wait for what is in store for tomorrow.
I arrived at the Dallas Cowboys headquarters at 10:00 AM and met the person that I'll be shadowing, Mr. Todd Williams, the director of football administration for the team. I was then given a tour of the facilities, which is where I met several of the other professionals in the other departments that I'll be working with, and also some of the coaches. Following the tour, Mr. William's associate, Mr. Adam Prasifka, explained the logistics of the team's salary cap, how they go about signing free agents and draft picks, and how they construct the contracts. I then went to lunch with Mr. Williams and Mr. Prasifka at Mi Cocina. When we returned from lunch, I met members of the team's scouting department, and was shown the team's draft board from this years draft. I then sat down with Mr. Williams, and simply shot the bull for the last thirty minutes of my day, which ended at 4:00 PM. All in all, I would say today was a resounding success, and I cannot wait for what is in store for tomorrow.
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