Career Spotlight: Zac Hiller - NFLPA Agent and CEO of LAA Sports & Entertainment

So, okay, you know, you didn't think I was gonna get this far back, but okay, you grew up, uh, n-not so far from me in, uh, in Rockland County.

I'm in Westchester County, New York.

And, uh, you make your way to Michigan, sports management degree.

Um, and then you get your-

Dan

... you get your MBA?

Uh, no, no, no.

I got my master's in marketing, but you're, you're aware that I'm a, I'm a, I'm a pretty, uh, I'm pretty against the sport management degree, right? You know that?

Well, why don't...

Well, I actually did not know that, but, uh, I was gonna ask you.

A lot of people get the sports management degree, and they don't, it doesn't lead them to where you're at, so I'd love to hear your, your, uh, your, your, your views on this, on this degree here, 'cause it looked like it helped you out, but you can tell me I'm wrong.

Yeah, so I, I- it didn't help me out is what I would say, right? Like, I just happened to study sport management and then ended up working, you know, in sport management.

Like, if you're studying sport m-management because you think you're gonna become an agent, that is completely, like, that, you're, you're on the wrong path already, right? Now, if you, if, if it works out, right, great, but I, I, I don't think that, you know, you're getting an opportunity because you studied sports ma-management.

That doesn't happen, you know? I always, you know, kinda recommend, uh, you know, really getting, go to, go to business school or, uh, and learn, like, accounting and finance, and then you can always apply that to sports.

Where, where, like, when you study sport management, it's kinda the reverse.

They kinda, like, teach, at least my program, they teach you, like, finance and accounting, and they use sports, but it's not as in-depth as I feel, you know- You should learn it, and then ultimately, if you have the opportunity to work in sports, you're applying all those principles versus feeling like, "I didn't learn as much about, you know, finance and accounting as I wish I had," if that makes sense.

Yeah, I mean, there's like-

Because limiting yourself versus-

No

... versus being more broad.

No, I agree.

There's a lot of people that get the sports management degree, and they're all excited to be the GM of the Yankees, and they end up working, you know, with all good intentions, but like in the ticket office for, for some-

Correct

...

some stadium.