'One Hell Of An Opportunity,' Fanatic's Business Training Camp Helps Professional Athletes Become Business Tycoons

Giving professional athletes the necessary tools to secure their financial futures through workshops on tech, entrepreneurship, and business was the primary goal of Fanatics' inaugural "Chapter: Next" career intensive.

Nearly two dozen athletes attended the event, which was hosted by sports merchandiser Fanatics and sports media and entertainment company Boardroom. The three-day business training camp promised to "equip athletes and their associates with business skills needed for success beyond the court, field, and ice."

"This definitely opened my eyes," NBA Memphis Grizzlies guard Cole Anthony told CNBC. "I'm already trying to do things on the business side with my partners, my family. It just motivates me more."

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A number of well-known business leaders acted as coaches for the camp, including Fanatics founder Michael Rubin, Goldman Sachs GS CEO David Solomon, Raising Cane's founder Todd Graves, ESPN Chair Jimmy Pitaro, Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman, and Apollo Global Management APO co-founder Josh Harris.

These established founders and company leaders spoke to rooms full of athletes like Aaron Donald, who retired from the NFL after the 2023 season, having played for 10 years with the Los Angeles Rams. Donald is a part-owner of sports nutrition company Ready, but told CNBC he was excited about the opportunity to expand his business knowledge through the training camp.

"I think it's one of hell of an opportunity," Donald said. "I'm in a room with guys running companies worth billions of dollars. How many opportunities are you going to get to do that? You have to take advantage of all of those opportunities and knowledge."

Rich Kleiman, who founded Boardroom with NBA all-star Kevin Durant, told CNBC that's precisely the goal behind the "Chapter: Next" events.

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"I think it's great to be able to give them a bit of a blueprint," Kleiman said. "Being able to put them in the room with people that have the answers, that have done it, that lead industries. I think you get so much power and opportunity just from the information you get from watching, from learning and from being in these rooms and understanding how to move."

Fanatic's chief people officer, Toretha McGuire, agreed with Kleiman, telling CNBC that the goal of both "Chapter: Next" and the Athlete Immersion Program is to help professional athletes move from their "1.0 career" on the court to their "2.0 career" in the office.

"The opportunities they have in their 1.0 careers in terms of access and expanding their networks are going to be very critical," McGuire said.

Participants like Anthony say that the program has shown them the parallels between competing on the court and winning in a business sense.

"The common thing with everyone who has spoken to us and I've been able to talk to one-on-one is that every person I met here has been a grinder," Anthony told CNBC. "They make whatever it is they are passionate about, or what they are working on their priority. I think that's just dope to hear from other people I can relate to in that sense."

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