Was Michael Strahan always going to be a ubiquitous presence—from Good Morning America host to NFL commentator to having his own line of clothing at Men’s Wearhouse? Maybe—but if you ask him, he would tell you it wouldn’t have happened were it not for his move from Texas to New York. There was also another thing: winning a Super Bowl.

On this episode of The Deal, the ex-football Giant says trial by fire in the most unforgiving of sports towns set him on the path to success in everything else.

Strahan has put together a post-NFL career that’s unique for its simultaneous proximity and distance from the game. On one hand, there he is every Sunday during the season, jawing with a coterie of ex-players and coaches on Fox NFL Sunday. But during the week, he’s a co-host of Good Morning America, alongside Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos. Then there are the apparel lines with JCPenney and Men’s Wearhouse, and an annual collaboration with Starter for the Super Bowl.

His co-architect in all of this is Constance Schwartz-Morini, a former NFL executive-turned-manager who’s also worked with Snoop Dogg, Erin Andrews and Deion Sanders. Much of that work has come under the auspices of SMAC Entertainment, the firm Strahan and Schwartz-Morini created in 2011. We also got a chance to sit down with Schwartz-Morini, who is our guest on episode three of The Deal, dropping March 15.

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