About Boardroom

Boardroom is a sports, media and entertainment brand co-founded by Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman and focused on the intersection of sports and entertainment. Boardroom’s flagship media arm features premium video/audio, editorial, daily and weekly newsletters, showcasing how athletes, executives, musicians and creators are moving the business world forward. Boardroom’s ecosystem encompasses B2B events and experiences (such as its renowned NBA and WNBA All-Star events) as well as ticketed conferences such as Game Plan in partnership with CNBC. Our advisory arm serves to consult and connect athletes, brands and executives with our broader network and initiatives.

Recent film and TV projects also under the Boardroom umbrella include the Academy Award-winning Two Distant Strangers (Netflix), the critically acclaimed scripted series SWAGGER (Apple TV+) and Emmy-nominated documentary NYC Point Gods (Showtime).

Boardroom’s sister company, Boardroom Sports Holdings, features investments in emerging sports teams and leagues, including the Major League Pickleball team, the Brooklyn Aces, NWSL champions Gotham FC, and MLS’ Philadelphia Union.

All Rights Reserved. 2022.

Ravens Rookie WR Rashod Bateman Means Business

He already did the most important thing: buy his mom a house. Now, the Baltimore first-round pick gets his first chance to turn heads on the field.

Tasked with upgrading their receiving corps around star quarterback Lamar Jackson, the Baltimore Ravens chose Rashod Bateman with the 27th pick in April’s NFL Draft.

And it’s easy to see why Baltimore opted to go in that direction.

An All-Big Ten player at the University of Minnesota who scored 19 touchdowns in 31 games, the 6-foot, 21-year-old Bateman provides the combination of football prowess and no-nonsense attitude that NFL front offices dream about: When Boardroom asked him what he does in his spare time, he said he mainly gets treatment for his legs and lower body, stretches, and watches film.

“I’m addicted to football, and it’s my job now,” he said. “Your legs are definitely the No. 1 priority that get a lot of work and overuse. I gotta stay locked in and be ready at all times.”

Baltimore Ravens 2021 Offseason OTAs Under Armour Performance Center May 25, 2021 Rashod Bateman, WR

The Ravens obviously loved hearing things like this during the pre-draft process, and now, things are really kicking into high gear. With minicamp and voluntary workouts in the rear-view, preseason training camp got underway for Baltimore’s rookies on July 20. The team could use more weapons around Jackson given that they ranked last in the NFL in passing yards per game last season and 31st in the league over the last three seasons combined, so it’s not hard to fathom where Bateman fits into Greg Roman’s offense.

As with any first-year guy, life started moving at warp speed for him following April’s NFL Draft. Relocating from the Twin Cities to Baltimore was quickly followed by minicamp and OTAs and weeks of training in the Phoenix area to prepare for training camp.

And now that he’s no longer in college, Bateman said that learning to do things on his own has been his biggest NFL adjustment.

https://youtu.be/LxKfEHrK3F0

 “In college, you’ve always got coaches calling and checking in, knowing and making sure you’re at the right place at the right time. But when you get to the NFL, it’s obviously a professional job,” he said. “You’ve gotta mature really fast, take care of your business. Luckily, I had those traits when I was in college. So I just carried them over.”

Throughout his college career and leading up to the draft, Bateman’s agent, Blake Baratz of IFA, saw these traits and knew right away he would become an ideal client.

“His work ethic, character, maturity and intelligence is off the charts,” said Baratz, the agency’s founder and owner. “A lot of guys this day and age are very out of touch with reality or not self-aware, but he’s eclectic, he’s unique, he’s empathetic. He’s just a good person.”

Photo via Joe Koezly and IFA

Bateman bought his mother a house with his first NFL paycheck, a heartfelt gesture magnified by the domestic abuse Rashod had to witness her suffer as a child. This was made possible in part because he became the first No. 27 pick in league history to sign a fully guaranteed contract.

The four-year, $12.6 million pact included a reported $6.5 million signing bonus.

While he said he’d like to keep his various investments to himself, Bateman has a wide array of endorsements lined up, including Adidas, Panini, Onyx, Wild Card, Sage, Fanatics, and Filti.

“I’m just amazed by them all,” the Georgia native said. “I’m a rookie, so I’m still getting used to this. Everything’s still cool to me. I’m not really used to this lifestyle yet.”

Stay Ahead of the Game, Get Our Newsletters

Subscribe for the biggest stories in the business of sports and entertainment, daily.

All the endorsement deals Bateman has now were unavailable to him throughout his time at Minnesota, as NIL only recently became the law of the land in college sports. He said there definitely would have been impactful financial opportunities out there as a Golden Gopher if he were at least a year younger, but that he’s happy that current student athletes can finally benefit from name, image, and likeness rights themselves.

“It should’ve been in play a long time ago,” Bateman said, “but I’m just happy that players can finally get what they deserve.”

Photo via Baltimore Ravens

Bateman is now about looking forward, to training camp, to preseason, and building a rapport with an MVP quarterback like Jackson. He said he tries not to judge anyone before meeting them — Jackson included — but concluded that his QB is a fun guy to be around, a humble guy, a hard worker, and someone he’s definitely looked up to.

“In the NFL, everybody’s good,” he said, including the Ravens defensive backs he’s practiced against. “So just being out there on the field with Lamar and JK Dobbins, James Proche, just seeing players working, balling, hustling, everybody out there’s good. So I was just amazed by everybody I saw.”

Now, it’s time for Bateman to prove that he not only belongs out there with his veteran Baltimore teammates, but that he can thrive right away in his rookie season and help take the Ravens’ passing game to the next level.

Shlomo Sprung

Shlomo Sprung is a Senior Staff Writer at Boardroom. He has more than a decade of experience in journalism, with past work appearing in Forbes, MLB.com, Awful Announcing, and The Sporting News. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2011, and his Twitter and Spotify addictions are well under control. Just ask him.

About The Author
Shlomo Sprung
Shlomo Sprung
Shlomo Sprung is a Senior Staff Writer at Boardroom. He has more than a decade of experience in journalism, with past work appearing in Forbes, MLB.com, Awful Announcing, and The Sporting News. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2011, and his Twitter and Spotify addictions are well under control. Just ask him.