In this episode of The CJ Moneyway Show, host Corwin CJ Moneyway Johnson interviews sports negotiator Andreas. They discuss how changes in the league salary cap directly affect player contract demands, with agents using cap movements as a proxy for league revenue to justify raises. Andreas shares his decade‑long experience teaching sports‑negotiation courses at Johns Hopkins University, describing the classroom as a laboratory for simulations and the challenges of online teaching versus the energy of in‑person students. The conversation then pivots to a broader philosophy: while many things can be negotiated, practicality depends on the dollar amount and the counterpart’s “skin in the game.” He illustrates this with a gum‑purchase example versus high‑stakes negotiations such as salary, paid time off, 401(k) matching, titles, and car allowances. Real‑world high‑stakes cases are recounted, including rebuilding a home after a neighboring fire and negotiating with insurance adjusters and contractors to avoid 10‑30% losses. Finally, Andreas explains the strategic importance of no‑trade clauses in athlete contracts, advocating for them in hometown or championship‑focused deals while noting that teams may resist granting them. Throughout, he emphasizes empathy, effort, and the need to assess whether a negotiation makes sense before engaging.
Questions this video answers
Andreas says conceptually everything can be negotiated, but the key is whether it makes sense—consider the dollar amount and whether the other party has skin in the game. Small items like a $1.50 gum purchase are usually not worth negotiating, while larger stakes such as salary, benefits, or a home rebuild are.
He explains that a no‑trade clause is essential when a player wants to stay with a hometown or championship‑contending team, regardless of salary level. However, teams may resist granting it because players are valuable assets.
Chapters
well, geez, now the, you know, the salary cap's up 25%, so I want a 25% boost to what happened last year. So I think if I had to oversimplify it, I'd say if I was the agent back then, I'd be looking at, you know, what's the revenues of the league, and the salary cap is kind of a good indication of that. So if it jumped, I'd be asking for more than $100 million, but if it stayed the same or barely moved, $100 million might be a little much. But again, also what's publicly being asked for and The way it's being asked are very different, right? You know, you can say it's $100 million or nothing and I'm not negotiating until you write that check. Or you could say, look, $85 million, I want $100 million. And you know, those are very different things, man.
Yeah. So yeah, man, thanks for your insight on all that. I couldn't get off. That was fun. Uh, Andres, man, let me ask you. So you also teach sports negotiation courses at Johns Hopkins University. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Yeah, I love it. I started, I think I just finished my 10th year. So I run a class in intercession and I enjoy it. I love being on campus. So sad. You know, we teach a lot in person or online, more in person, but we do both. But I gotta admit, when we went online for COVID, you know, I didn't get as much out of it because to me it's the energy of students and, you know, the fact that they'll question everything. I enjoy it. I use this kind of as a laboratory for trying new exercises, simulations, and ideas and case studies. So I love that as well. And so for me, it's kind of a way, you know, I enjoy kind of, you know, my university, whether it's college, you know, and then going to the graduate school along the way. And so we have it in our own backyard here. And so when I was, you know, humbly asked to do it one time, and for whatever reason they keep asking me to come back, so I keep doing it. But I really enjoy it. To me, it's kind of being on campus, trying new things. And I think that, you know, it's a lot of work. If you do, I will say this, and I think this, I've got two young kids too, so these remind me, but I think teaching a class at any level, and like I said, my two young kids, when I interact with their teachers and then teaching at the college level, you know, I think everyone should do that once. It's like same as service industry. I've worked in the service industry, you know, as kind of was coming up in high school, because I think you, the empathy you have and your appreciation for these roles goes up dramatically. To be a really good teacher at any level takes an immense amount of effort. And I mean, it's, you know, because you could be a teacher and just kind of run the same program every year and not care at all. But to really care about your students, grade them and give them real feedback, individualize, adjust and update every year your information and really put it in is an unbelievable amount of work. So I'm just very appreciative, I think, of, you know, whether it's at the high school level, grade school level, university level, people that do that and really put their heart in it because it is hard work.
Man, you wear a lot of hats, man, because like you say, to do all that, to be a teacher, you know, so that's one thing in itself and to do the other that you're doing, man. I think that's pretty cool. And then like you say, you got kids yourself, so I gotta, you know, do, do the, do the father thing, the husband thing and this and that. So, hey, so, uh, let me ask you this question. I only got a couple more questions for you, Andreas, man. Um, I was speaking to a salesman, a salesman recently, and he said that anything can be negotiated. Now in your opinion, is that true? Can anything be negotiated?
I think conceptually, I think, uh, there's nothing wrong with it. And I like the concept that I think really should open people's eyes. There's some things that you don't think can be negotiated, but can. So that's the short. The longer is, I would say it's not so much can it be negotiated, but does it make sense? So here's the example I'd give you. So you go to the convenience store, you buy a pack of gum and the pack of gum is $1.50. I mean, so, you know, the cashier has no skin in the game. They don't care if they sell that, you know, pack of gum or not. They're getting paid hourly. They got no skin in the game. They don't care. And it's $1.50 total. So not to minimize that, $1.50 is real money, but you know, if you get 10% off, that's 15 cents, probably not going to change your life. And it'd be very difficult. You're going to have some people behind you probably mad that you're holding up the whole line to save 15 cents, and you're very unlikely to negotiate a better deal. So that's probably where it doesn't make sense, right? But then all of a sudden you start to think about, you know, what I do like is inspires people to negotiate their salaries, or I do inspire people to negotiate when they're buying a house, or leasing a place or they're buying a car or in some places that you may not think, right? And so, you know, I'll give you another example. So we've had, I mean, some good luck because we're healthy. We've got some bad luck with, uh, you know, some like, uh, we had a, you know, some years ago we lived in a row home in Baltimore and our house, a neighbor's house burnt down and basically destroyed ours with fire and smoke. We had to rebuild our house. That's another example that a lot of people get private adjusters because they just don't have to deal with the issue, but you got to negotiate for everything there. Even the good insurance companies, they're trying to save every penny. So that's an example that if you told the, you know, average person, they wouldn't be thinking about— you got to be negotiating with the contractors, the insurance company all the time. And if you don't, you know, the person that doesn't is going to get 10, 20, 30% less, right? And so I think that's an example, I think, that, you know, to inspire folks that you got to think about whether it makes sense, right? The dollar is big enough that it makes sense. Is this something that— is the other person willing to engage, right? If they're a cashier you know, they don't care, they got no skin in the game, the dollars are too small. But I think that's what I like about that, you know, everything's negotiable. Someone said that to one of our facilitators, and they— that's, you know, same thing. And, uh, and that's what I would say to folks, is that keep in mind, like, there's, you know, if the dollars are big enough, you should at least think about, is this something I should be negotiating? And negotiating doesn't always mean more dollars. I can't tell people enough, like, negotiating salary, they want more salary. What about paid time off? What about 401 matching? What about your title? What What about how many days you're in the office? What about your car allowance? I mean, all these things. So I think there's, you know, that's the thing that I like about that statement.
Okay, real quick, Andrea, negotiating no trade clauses, and because a lot of people don't have that in their contracts, but a few that had a no trade clause in there, how important is that, you know what I'm saying, as far as the negotiation side of it? To have for an athlete to have that in a contract?
I think the short answer on that is if you're giving your hometown or you're the team that you want to play for a sweetheart deal, you should get it, period. Almost regardless of what your level is, right? If I'm representing a player, whether the $30 million guy taking $22 to leave Caps for a better player or a $7 million guy taking the minimum wage because they want to win the championship, I want no trade clause because you're getting a better deal because I want to be there and I don't want you to be able to move me. But I would say otherwise, I, I mean, I, as a team, I wouldn't do it, right? I disagree with it because the reality is, you know, players both ways are assets. And again, if you think more in the NBA than anywhere else, one player can make a difference. They'll go wherever they want, they'll sit whenever they want, you know. So there's a lot of power being the player, and I get that. I mean, their services are particularly unique and special.
