Tiki Barber Considers Hanging Up Cleats

Tiki Barber Considers Hanging Up Cleats

By TOM CANAVAN, AP Sports Writer
Thu Oct 19, 6:26 AM

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Walking away from the never-ending pain of professional football after this season for a career in front of a television camera might save Tiki Barber's body. It also would likely mean a significant pay cut for the popular New York Giants running back.

The 31-year-old Barber, who leads the NFL in rushing with 533 yards, created a stir over the past two days by saying he is leaning toward retiring after this season.

"I've been considering it for a few years now," Barber said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "It comes a point where your body just doesn't want to take it any more, you see other opportunities out there. I'm excited about the rest of my life as well as I am about this football season. So we'll see what happens."

Barber would be leaving a lot on the table _ $8.3 million _ the amount he would earn over the final two years of his contract.

At training camp in July, Barber spoke about the possibility of retiring, saying he was interested in working in television, writing books and getting involved in the financial field.

He seemed to leave the door wide open for a return next season, however. He closed it a lot the past two days.

Mark Lepselter, Barber's agent, said that the 10-year veteran has been "beaten up" this past season and gotten "bored of the monotony of the NFL."

Lepselter has been talking to broadcast networks about his client's future for a while, adding that Barber plans on being involved in both news and sports. He believes Barber will match his current salary, although industry observers disagree.

Barber has worked on several television shows, including "Fox & Friends" on Fox News.

Fox Sports President Ed Goren said a lot of networks will be interested in hiring Barber.

"There are two things about Tiki," Goren said. "He is TV savvy, and he is already experienced. His interests are so broad when it comes time to start a second career, the TV career will be more than sports."

Barber and his brother Ronde already have a weekly radio show on Sirius, "The Barber Shop."

George Gardner, director of strategic communications for the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University, said Barber is an ideal prospect for a television slot.

"He (Barber) is one of those unique packages," Gardner said. "He is popular, articulate, credible, well-liked and one of those all-time good guys. He is very marketable in New York right now."

However, Gardner doubted Barber would make half as much as he is getting paid to carry the ball. He noted that a television sports analyst on a national level might start at around $750,000.

Richard Liebner, the N.S. Bienstock Inc. agent who represented CBS anchor Dan Rather, agreed with that assessment.

"He has all the potential in the world to be a successful broadcaster," Liebner said in a telephone call from his New York office. "They are not going to pay him $4 million. That's a lot of money. We don't know how much he'll earn. He has so much style and he is so well spoken."

Sports economist Andrew Zimbalist of Smith College in Northampton, Mass., believes Barber will be successful in any television field, whether as talk show host or a sports analyst.

"He'll be able to parlay this into anywhere from $1 million to $10 million a year, but I think it will be closer to $1 million," Zimbalist said in a telephone interview.

Brian Socolow, a sports attorney at Loeb & Loeb law firm in New York City, said there are economic pros and cons to Barber retiring after this season.

"The risk that he runs is that he might not have the same national exposure that he gets on a weekly basis playing for the New York Giants," said Socolow, whose firm represents athletes such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michelle Kwan. "However, he has done well on other platforms and that could lead to new opportunities beyond the media."

Socolow said that if Barber got involved in Hollywood and business he could earn more than $4 million annually.

Barber did not know if anything would change his mind about retiring.

"I think the biggest thing is, and I recognize this, most players get kicked out of the NFL," Barber said. "They don't go out on their own terms. Being someone who takes a lot of pride in what I do, I kind of want to go out on my own terms."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.