Being a National Football League agent means staying in contact with your client by any means necessary so if Allan Cunanan needs to fly from Hawaii to New York , he’ll drop everything in his schedule to do so.
“Being a successful agent is about maintaining positive relationships with not only players but with key personnel of teams like coaches, scouts and directors. It’s a 24/7 business,” Cunanan told the Asian Journal.
“Constantly staying in contact with current and future clients on a regular basis, your cell phone bill could be high. Not to mention racking up a lot of mileage on your car during recruiting trips,” he said.
Cunanan is a certified contract advisor of the National Football League (NFL) and the California Football League (CFL). Also known as a player agent. He works for Maximum Sports Agency. For the past six years, he has made dreams come true and given young men a chance to fulfill a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: play professional football.
“Seeing the joy and jubilation in a player and his family when they get that call from an NFL team. There is nothing more rewarding than that,” he said.
There are over 10,000 Division I football players in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Only two percent of football seniors get drafted by an NFL team, according to the NCAA. Last year there were only 254 players selected in the NFL Draft. And getting selected doesn’t necessarily mean making the team.
But the rewards are great if that player is selected and does make a team. The average NFL salary is $1.9 million and the minimum base salary for rookies or undrafted free agents is $375,000. An agent receives a three percent commission not including any endorsement or marketing deals he can procure for his clients.
As an agent, it’s up to guys like Cunanan to negotiate the highest deal possible for the client.
With so much money flying around, the competition to represent these players are fierce and cutthroat. There have been reports of agents paying players hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, or members of the player’s family while they are still playing college, a major NCAA and NFLPA violation. It’s part of the business, said Cunanan.
“Unfortunately there are a handful of agents out there that ends up giving the agent business a bad reputation,” he said, adding,
“There’s no real way to police it. So any agent with deep pockets can almost ‘buy’ there way into having a player sign with them.”
Cunanan doesn’t do any of that illegal recruiting. His speciality is to find and represent what he calls, “diamond in the rough players.”
Guys who are not in any team’s radar and fall through NFL draft cracks. Guys who go undrafted or get drafted in the late rounds.
Football players like Kurt Warner or Tony Romo who didn’t play major college football but developed into great players in the NFL.
Not all of the players he represents make it but most are greatful just for having an opportunity or a chance at making an NFL team.
“When you deal with small school players, and bubble division 1 players, more often than not there will be heartbreak,” said Cunanan.
“Not all of these diamonds in the rough players will make it into the NFL. It’s easy when you represent a top 10 rated prospect. All the teams want your guy. But when you fight for the underdog player that nobody has heard of, it’s tough. I feel that the true test of an agent is one who represents these types of players.”
Currently, Cunanan’s clients include D’Andre Goodwin with the Denver Broncos, Pago Togafau with the Arizona Cardinals, Jameel Dowling with the Arizona Cardinals, CJ Hawthorne with the Buffalo Bills, Nick Sanchez with the Oakland Raiders. He also represents Adam Bighill, who plays with the Canadian Football League BC Lions. His agency also represented Deuce Lutui, a highly regarded offensive guard out of USC who became a second round draft pick.
Dreams of making it
It was almost certain that when Cunanan was younger, he would work somewhere in the medical field when choosing a profession. His family, originally from Manila and Pampanga, all have a medical background. His father is a doctor in Hawaii . So is his aunt. His sister is a nurse and even his older brother married a nurse. Several of his cousins are also in the medical field.
“I guess I’m considered the black sheep of the family by not following the medical field path,” he said.
Cunanan, though, has always loved sports. In high school, he played basketball and football but he felt that he was way too small to play in the college level. Because he loved the games so much and wanted to be part of it, he said his best bet was to represent those players.
After graduating from the University of Hawaii , he went on to On2Pro Sports Management Agency where he represented several players from football, and basketball players to volleyball even Lacrosse.
Cunanan said the industry is tough. He doesn’t run into a lot of Filipino agents but then again, he says “To be honest I don’t pay too much attention to my competition.”
His goal is to show his client the “money.”
For future Filipinos thinking about becoming an NFL, Cunanan’s advise is “never give up.”
“If this is what you have a passion for, then keep doing it,” he said. “Like I mentioned, you will probably experience heartbreak before experiencing jubilation. Having family support really helps. It takes a toll financially, so if you don’t have much of a bankroll to start, then interning with a larger company may be best. It’s hard to try and start up your own firm from the ground up with out the financial backing.”
You future agents are going to need the funds. Just like Cunanan, one day you’ll find yourself racking up those high phone bills and frequent flyer miles.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend Oct 29-Nov 1, 2011 Sec A pg.10)
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