Alex Styrt ’22, L’25, is on the fast track. A 3L at Syracuse University College of Law, he is also founder and CEO of Premier Athlete Agency, a full-service sports agency representing elite athletes. The business is based in San Diego, California, and, thanks to Syracuse Law’s Orange Flex program, Styrt is able to live on the West Coast while finishing his law degree.
Styrt always wanted to be a sports agent, so he decided a degree in business followed by law school was the way to go. Typically, it would take seven years of school to get his career started, but then he found Syracuse University offered one of the country’s only 3+3 BS/JD programs. This accelerated program allows qualified students to earn a bachelor’s degree at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management in only three years and then, upon acceptance, get a jump start at Syracuse Law.
“The opportunities to get an undergraduate degree in three years and go right into Syracuse Law, along with the Orange Flex program, have let me accelerate my dream career, grow my agency and become a lawyer—all by age 24.”
—Alex Styrt ’22, L’25
At Whitman, Styrt majored in entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises (EEE). He was encouraged by his professors to take the plunge and start his own business in the developing area of NIL (name, image and likeness), which allows NCAA athletes to be paid for endorsements, appearances and other opportunities. He says the support system from the school “played a big part in his success,” even allowing him to use the work he was doing to establish the agency to fulfill course credit requirements.
“Getting the business running before starting law school made all the difference. Once I was a 1L, I don’t think I would have had the time to get it done,” Styrt says.
In 2022, he graduated from Whitman after just three years and started at Syracuse Law that fall with a focus on sports, entertainment and intellectual property. Styrt went to law school with the intention of building skills like negotiating, client advocacy and an overall knowledge of the law to help him better represent athletes for everything from endorsement deals to player contracts.
Styrt spent his first two years at Syracuse Law juggling classes while keeping his business growing over calls, texts and Zoom. But in 2L, Barry Weiss, special advisor to the Office of Career Services, suggested he look into Syracuse Law’s Orange Flex program, which allows qualified 3Ls to take their last year of classes online through the School’s JDInteractive program.
“Orange Flex was perfect for me,” he says. “I’m spending my 3L year in San Diego taking my courses online, while running my business full time. I’ve made a lot of sacrifices and put in plenty of 14 hour days jumping from classes to client calls, but the progress growing the company in just the past six months has been worth it. It’s my passion.”
His first client was signed by the San Francisco 49ers three years ago, when Styrt was only 21. Since then, the agency has expanded its client base to players drafted by more than a dozen NFL teams, as well as made inroads into women’s college basketball, beach volleyball and soccer. Styrt has worked with NFL athletes such as Jared Goff and Kerby Joseph, as well as artists such as Wiz Khalifa and Heembeezy. Most of Styrt’s time is spent working with his team at the agency, as well as representing athletes and their families in off-field business and marketing opportunities. He has negotiated endorsement deals with brands like Oakley, Alo, Bose, Fiji Water and Bulgari.
When Styrt graduates in Spring 2025, he will focus solely on the agency, but, to him, it’s become about so much more than just business. Styrt has become close with his clients and their families and says he “feels blessed to have developed great relationships that will last beyond football. They are family now.” He also credits his friends and own family who have been there since the beginning.
As his agency succeeds, giving back is important to Styrt, and he encourages his clients to give back, as well. Annually, Premier’s college athlete clients partner with Oakley to support the Boys and Girls Club through a holiday event where athletes sign autographs, take pictures and wrap gifts. Styrt assisted his client Cameron Young of the Seattle Seahawks with creating a bike drive where he gave away over 100 bikes to kids from his community in Crosby, Mississippi. And, currently, Premier is supporting client Josh Karty of the Los Angeles Rams, in his chosen charity for the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats—The American Cancer Society—by matching donations made in his name.
Today, Premier is a full-service sports agency operating remotely with more than 30 team members, including in-house legal counsel and some employees recruited from Syracuse University. As of December 2024, Premier is providing legal services and business and marketing representation to over 40 clients across the NFL, NCAA and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
“Of course, I want to continue scaling the agency, but, the more I do this, the more it’s important to build a reputation as a person of character who cares about the athletes I work with and their families,” he says, noting that he specializes in setting up clients for their lives after football, something often overlooked with NFL players.
While Styrt acknowledges that becoming a sports agent is very competitive, he believes he has found his niche and is eager to see where it takes him.
“The opportunities to get an undergraduate degree in three years and go right into Syracuse Law, along with the Orange Flex program, have let me accelerate my dream career, grow my agency and become a lawyer—all by age 24,” he adds. “The whole experience at Syracuse has definitely been a win for me!”
