Leigh Steinberg, Sports Agent, Climate Advocate, Becomes 3rd EcoAthletes Hall of Famer

Leigh Steinberg (Photo credit: Leigh Steinberg)

Leigh Steinberg is an iconic American sports agent who has represented the #1 overall pick of the NFL Draft a record eight times and who is often credited with being the real-life inspiration for the agent in the 1996 film Jerry Maguire. Steinberg has made climate action a core aspect of his wide ranging philanthropic activities over the last two decades.

EcoAthletes is honored to induct Leigh Steinberg as the third member of its Hall of Fame. We interviewed him about his passion for the #ClimateComeback and how agents can play a role.

EcoAthletes: When did your interest in the environment and the climate begin?

Leigh Steinberg: I grew up in Southern California and spent considerable time at the beach. The ocean was beautiful and I wanted to see it in it’s more pristine form. We traveled across the country and experienced the stunning natural beauty of national parks. When the ozone layer largely disappeared, it was dramatic evidence that human activities were altering our environment in ways that were threatening to maintaining healthy lifestyles and healthy societies.

How did that realization impact you?

The impact has been profound. How could it be anything but after what I’ve seen?

I’ve watched the alarming rate at which carbon emissions have skyrocketed since I grew up in the 1950s. As a result, I’ve seen the destruction of rainforests around the world - the lungs of our planet. I’ve seen the breakup of what we assumed was impregnable ice masses at both poles. In the relatively short period of my lifetime, I’ve seen sea level rise that should have taken hundreds of thousands of years.

I was raised by a father who inculcated our family with this admonition - “When a major problem like environmental devastation is threatening and its temptation is to sit and wait for the amorphous they or them - political figures, older people, experts - to act, you will be waiting forever. The they is you, son, you are the they.”

Given that our sports law practice was built on the concept of role modeling and triggering imitative behavior, I knew it was necessary to act. So I met with leaders like Matt Patterson from Global Green, Laurie David from the Virtual Million Person March on Washington, Frances Beinecke the Head of the Natural Resources Defense Council, former Vice President Al Gore, and others to understand environmental needs and issues more clearly.

What led you to form the Sporting Green Alliance? What was it? What happened in the end?

We were a bit ahead of our time back in 2008. Back then, I wanted to be the they as my dad would say by using the high profile and glamour of professional sports and the incredible influence of athletes to promote awareness and necessary action to start to reverse the climate change. I brought a set of sustainable technologies — wind, solar, recycling, and water efficiency — to professional sports stadia, arenas, and practice fields to drop carbon emissions and energy costs and transform those venues into educational platforms.

The goal was for millions of fans who attended games would see a waterless urinal, a solar panel, and think about how to integrate those systems into their own homes and businesses. Additionally, we explored the possibility of ‘sports super heroes’ fighting for the environment as a Saturday morning cartoon show or a comic book. We also proposed a nature preserve in the name of a team owner that would illustrate environmental principles. I made progress with baseball, football and basketball owners who were willing to consider LEED certification, green sponsorships, green naming rights, and green endorsements. Ultimately, I had crises in my personal life which meant that I never brought these projects to fruition but I was glad to see Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, the Green Sports Alliance and others take the proverbial baton to build the Green-Sports movement.

How do you think the sports world and athletes can best contribute to the climate fight?

We have been using athletes as role models, asking them to retrace their roots to the high school, collegiate, and professional communities in order to set up charitable and community programs.

Leigh Steinberg (r) at the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction of his client and friend Warren Moon in 2006 (Photo credit: Pro Football Hall of Fame)

Back in the 1970s, I helped San Diego Chargers placekicker Rolf Benirschke to contribute to the fund for endangered species at the San Diego Zoo. The program was called ‘Kicks for Critters’ and featured a pledge by Rolf to donate money for each successful field goal he kicked. He then challenged the Chargers fans to match his contributions at their own level. There was a poster and pledge card display which had him kicking a field goal off the flipper of a sea lion and the following year beneath the hoof of a baby elephant. Posters and pledge cards were prominently displayed in banks, fast food, outlets, and convenience stores and a Rolf-O-Meter ran in the local newspaper illustrating his kicks and the money raised.

That was the genesis of many later programs that matched player performance on the field, with charitable corporate giving, including giving with an environmental theme. Hall of Fame Quarterback Warren Moon and I cut a climate-themed public service announcement. During COVID, Moon and Hall of Fame Defensive End Bruce Smith joined the million person Virtual Environmental March on Washington. Thanks to EcoAthletes and other organizations, more athletes are using their voices to speak out for climate action, both in terms of public policy and from corporate sponsors.

What role can agents play? How can agents be convinced that purpose and activism — including climate — are good for their clients?

Agents need to be encouraged to see their clients holistically and explain the universality of the threat climate change poses to their welfare and the welfare of everyone and everything they care about. Remember that agents are also fathers and mothers with their own children’s future to protect.

To engage agents, we could try to get as many of them as possible to listen to a presentation of the nature and urgency of the crisis. Then we’d combine that with a series of asks and specifics as to how their clients can get involved. There are influencers among agents and players whose involvement could trigger imitative behavior among their peers. So securing the right athletes and developing a ‘reach’ agenda can simulate the desire of others to be involved is key.

Athletes and their agents are of course very concerned about their brands. The reason why we ask our clients to go back to their high school, collegiate and professional communities to set up programs is while they’re benefiting causes in society, they’re also honing a positive brand and learning invaluable skill sets. The enemy of an athlete's future is the concept of self-absorption — an athlete who only thinks about himself and is oblivious to the fact they have a larger role to play as citizens. When they engage in environmental role-modeling, it calls upon skills of advocacy, networking, creativity, and communication that can be critically important in a second career. Vivid imagery about rising oceans, polluted air and water, destruction of rainforests, climate injustice and how all of it endangers our future should be presented to agents and athletes to trigger their social conscience. If their involvement is portrayed as public service they can avoid the partisan disinformation campaign regarding climate change and avoid controversy.

Amen! What are your thoughts on entering the EcoAthletes Hall of Fame, joining Dr. Katharine Hayhoe (climate scientist and climate communicator extraordinaire) and Dr. Allen Hershkowitz (godfather of Green-Sports)?

EcoAthletes is playing a critical role in harnessing the power of sports to stimulate public awareness and action on the issue of climate change. They are doing God’s work in mobilizing action which is urgently needed. It is a great honor to join giants in the field like Dr. Hayhoe and Dr. Hershkowitz in this fight to preserve our children’s future. When I was a child I asked my father what he had done in World War II to combat fascism and dictatorship. Our children will ask us whether we knew oceans were rising, clean air was threatened, potable water was diminishing, and aberrational weather events were recurring with greater intensity and frequency. They will rightfully ask us whether we understood the threat and took action in the war against environmental displacement. Our answers need to be compelling for there to be a successful #ClimateComeback.

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