Game Plan can be your ticket to success in the unique and complex sports industry
30+ YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
Randel E. Vataha
Unmatched experience in the sports industry having been an NFL Player, a Player Agent, a team owner and Co-Founder of Game Plan in 1994.
Founder and Chairman • Bio
- NFL Player for seven years, 1971-1977 (Played for New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers)
- Member of Executive Committee for National Football League Players Association (One of four-man negotiating team for NFLPA with NFL owners in 1976-1977)
- Nominated to be President of National Football League Players Association, 1976
- Founding member of United States Football League
- Part Owner of Boston and New Orleans Breakers Football Club in USFL and President of New Orleans Breakers
- CEO of Bob Woolf Associates, 1987-1994. Negotiated major contracts in NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL as well as Media (Radio and Television) for clients such as Larry Bird (Boston Celtics), Joe Montana (San Francisco 49er’s), Tom Glavine (Atlanta Braves), Larry King (CNN) and New Kids on the Block
- Structured deal between Marriott and Champions Restaurants which resulted in 18 Champions Restaurants in Marriott Hotels internationally
- Formerly on Advisory Committee to NFL Players Association and NBA Players Association
- Only agent to participate in NFL collective bargaining negotiations in 1989-1993 which led to the first long-term NFL CBA. Responsible for developing several of the concepts and provisions utilized in that CBA
- Raised the capital and recruited a small group of investors which offered to buy Wang Labs out of bankruptcy in 1993. Became advisor to Wang’s new ownership and completed the assignment to sell the company’s Asian operations
- Has been a Member of the Board of Directors of both private and public companies
- Winner of two Emmy Awards for sports Broadcasting from the Boston/New England Chapter of the NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
- Profiled in The Name of the Game is Life by Robert L. Shook and Ramon Greenwood, Contemporary Books, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 1992
President and Principal • Bio
- 20+ years of extensive buy-side and sell-side mergers and acquisitions experience in the professional sports industry both with major and minor leagues and teams, including NBA, MLB, NHL, NFL, MLS, Affiliated Minor League Baseball, Premier League, Ligue 1, NASCAR, Arena Football League, Canadian Hockey League, National Lacrosse League, USL Championship, endurance events (i.e. marathons) and more.
- Served as Vice President of Football Operations for Your Call Football and successfully led two series of fan play-calling competitions in 2018 and 2019 including hiring coaches (including former Green Bay Packers Head Coach Mike Sherman and Pittsburgh Steelers Running Back Merril Hoge), players and other team support personnel for 2 professional football teams. Collin negotiated agreements to play Your Call Football games at the Jacksonville Jaguars indoor practice facility, to play games at Historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach, FL, to host practices at the University of North Florida and to house and feed all players, coaches and staff for 6 consecutive weeks each year.
- Board Member of Orange County Youth Sports Foundation since 2016, helping to enhance OC youth sports programs, provide opportunities for underprivileged or disabled OC students to attend major sporting events and award college scholarships to graduating OC scholar-athletes.
- Founder of Flex Golf LLC which operates Flex Golf Fundraisers and Flex Golf Tour, providing nonprofits and schools a new way to raise money with a month-long golf tournament and providing golfers the opportunity to compete at their convenience during the tournament month.
- Earned a BA in Political Economy from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts and won the 2001 Arthur B. Graves Prize in Political Economy.
- A wide receiver and place kicker on the Williams varsity football team, Collin received the 2001 Francis X. Keating Award presented by the National Football Foundation for outstanding character and achievement. Collin is remembered on the Williams College campus for his last-second field goal to beat archrival Amherst College 48-46 on November 8, 1997 in what has been called one of the greatest college football games of all time.
- Collin holds FINRA Series 79 Investment Banking and FINRA Series 82 Private Securities Offerings registrations as a registered representative of StillPoint Capital, LLC located in Tampa, FL.
Our Experience
SPEAKS FOR ITSELF
No one knows the business of sports teams like Game Plan.
The principals are sports business experts with 50+ combined years of unparalleled experience across many facets of the sports industry including:
Sports Advisory & Consulting
Sports Finance & Investment Banking
Team Ownership
Team Management
League Formation
Arena, Ballpark and Stadium Development & Financing
Athlete & Entertainer Representation
Collective Bargaining Agreement Negotiations
Relationships
Game Plan has a comprehensive network of contacts and maintains close relationships with all of the League offices and Commissioners as well as many key Team owners in both the Major and Minor leagues.
We also have close relationships with major banks and debt sources that have provided debt for major sports transactions.
Accomplished Track Record
We utilize our insider access and expertise to identify and evaluate potential opportunities, conduct negotiations, and apply sophisticated financing structures in order to optimize the value of the transaction for our clients.