Professional athletes lead complicated lives.
Sudden trades to places unknown. Parties to attend and golf courses to be played, with no invitations to be had and no tee times available. Distant relatives who'd like a little help paying for that Mercedes, or front row seats at the big game at the very least.
Sometimes, it can all be a little overwhelming.
An Atlanta company, Celebrity Personal Assistants Inc., has come to their aid.
CPAI will wait for the movers to arrive at the player's new digs if he can't get there in time after a trade. They'll get him on the VIP list at that hot South Beach club, maybe arrange a backstage encounter with Beyonce or Linkin Park. They might also plan a honeymoon, call a limo for a partied-out player, make flight reservations for family members, or get someone to fix a leaky faucet.
The four-year-old "lifestyle management" company also provides personal assistants to non-sports celebrities like Dave Matthews Band members and India Arie through its staffing division. It received a ringing endorsement from the sports world recently when it announced a deal with the NFL Players Association as the official concierge to its members.
Now, members can, with a phone call or e-mail, get 24-hour-a-day help from CPAI assistants.
The NFLPA, not the individual player, pays for the concierge services.
One athlete who has used the service for a year, Falcons offensive tackle Bob Whitfield, touts its usefulness.
"It's like having your own secretary," says Whitfield, who might use CPAI to make complex flight reservations ("that maybe I don't have time for"), find a maintenance firm to do a roofing job or pressure wash his home, or hire a housekeeper to clean it.
Defensive back Ray Buchanan, a former Falcon now with the Oakland Raiders, said in a company testimonial, "They even found someone to groom my [dreadlocks]."
"You don't know how valuable the service is until you get caught short on time and your wife says, 'Why didn't you do this?' " Whitfield says, laughing. "With [CPAI], I can pass the buck."
Dionne Mahaffey-Muhammad, a former computer software executive, came up with the idea for what she calls a celebrity lifestyle management service after doing some non-profit work with entertainers and observing their complex schedules and the pressures on their time.
She created a company that screens, hires and farms out personal assistants to entertainment and sports stars. She has added the concierge service, a particular benefit to athletes without need for a full-time assistant.
Making plane reservations, limiting the expenditures of relatives on the player's spending account and arranging party invitations are standard concierge requests.
Another common one is providing limousine service at a moment's notice, sometimes when the client is inebriated.
"We don't get a lot of those calls, but these are young people," Muhammad says.
There are limits to the services offered, however.
"Nothing relationships," she states. "You're not going to get us to hire a stripper. Besides, if they're going to do that, they'd probably be a little secretive about it."
Before CPAI, Muhammad says, an athlete might hire a friend or relative to run errands and do small tasks. Such informal relationships didn't always work well, she says. With her service, "You don't just have to pick an entourage of your homeboys," she says.
The business could soon expand. CPAI is bidding to supply the NBA and Major League Baseball, and the NHL could follow.
Says Whitfield, "It's a new thing, but as more guys know about it, they'll use it. It's all about ease of operations."
http://www.ajc.com/thursday/content/epaper/editions/thursday/sports_04ff46b8b339324a003b.html
