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David Willig is the Founder of American International Sports Management. He’s a certified international sports agent for the FIBA (International Basketball Federation). Willig believes there are tremendous benefits for athletes to play overseas. Playing overseas provides an alternative “jetsetter” kind of lifestyle to a select few. Willig discusses the level of play varying by country and region.

Willig is also an international business law veteran. He shares some cases he’s dealt with respect to international property issues. He also let’s us in on his secret to multiple language fluency.

ANNOUNCER: Welcome to the JetSetter Show, where we explore lifestyle-friendly destinations worldwide. Enjoy and learn from a variety of experts on topics ranging from upscale travel at wholesale prices, to retiring overseas, to global real estate and business opportunities, to tax havens and expatriate opportunities. You’ll get great ideas on unique cultures, causes, and cruise vacations. Whether you’re wealthy or just want to live a wealthy lifestyle, the JetSetter Show is for you. Here’s your host, Jason Hartman.

JASON HARTMAN: Welcome to the JetSetter Show! This is Jason Hartman, your host, where we explore lifestyle-friendly destinations worldwide. I think you’ll enjoy the interview we have for you today, and we will be back with that, in less than 60 seconds, here on the JetSetter Show.

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JASON HARTMAN: It’s my pleasure to welcome David Willig to the show! He is the founder of American International Sports Management, and he has some interesting things to share with us today about what happens when people play sports overseas, how they can live a JetSetter lifestyle, and then we’ll talk about business and law in general as it applies to the world of international life. David, welcome. How are you?

DAVID WILLIG: I’m great; thanks for having me on the show. It’s great to be with you.

JASON HARTMAN: The pleasure is mine. And you’re coming to us today from Miami, Florida, is that correct?

DAVID WILLIG: That’s correct.

JASON HARTMAN: Fantastic. How did you happen to found the American International Sports Management Group?

DAVID WILLIG: Well you know, it really grew out of a long time of practicing law pretty much around the world. I was an international lawyer for about 25 years. I’d represented athletes here and there once in a while over those years, but I got interested in sports law on a more intensive basis, I guess, about a few years ago. And you know, as I learned more about the field, I came to understand that sports agency has a lot in common with what I’ve been doing for the past 25 years. And since I was—I have to say I was pretty good at what I was doing. At the time I thought I would be able to have a really good impact in the sports agency business, particularly in overseas sports.

JASON HARTMAN: And so, when athletes are going overseas, what type and level of athlete are you talking about? Are you talking about someone before they get to the pros, or, what are we talking about there?

DAVID WILLIG: I’m really talking about all those things. it could be a college athlete, out of college in the United States. They’re gonna have the NBA draft in a few weeks. A lot of those college ballplayers are hoping to be drafted, but not everyone’s going to be. So, a good plan would be, if you’re not drafted in the NBA, is to have contact to be able to play overseas. As far as levels of play overseas, there are many different levels of play. I wouldn’t say that the highest level of play is the same level as NBA, but it is quite competitive in the highest levels, for example, of European basketball. And there are also lower levels of professional basketball in Europe and other countries. So there are I think a lot of niche places that players can get into, and play professionally without being in the NBA, or even the NBA development league.

JASON HARTMAN: But isn’t it more lucrative playing in the States? I would think that it would be. Maybe not.

DAVID WILLIG: You know, it is, because the NBA remains the gold standard of professional basketball around the world. So of course, on average, it’s better to play in the States. But there’s only about 400 odd NBA basketball players. So the odds of hitting that are kind of like hitting the lottery, in a way. So, if you want to have better odds, you know, when you play the lottery, if you play the great big game, the odds are high, and if you play the game that pays you less money, the odds are not as high, and you’re more likely to win. So it’s kind of like that. If you don’t make the NBA, I’m sure you’re not gonna make the NBA salary. But there are very respectable salaries to be made in professional basketball overseas.

JASON HARTMAN: And so, do you just deal with basketball only, or other sports?

DAVID WILLIG: Well, currently I’m a certified agent for FIBA, which is the International Basketball Federation. We eventually plan to expand our agency into other sports. I know that some agents say, no you gotta specialize in one sport. But you know, that’s kind of like saying, as a lawyer, you have to specialize in one thing. I’ve worked around the world at a number of things, and I think that I can handle hockey and basketball and you know, maybe football as well. So it really all boils down to contracts, I’d say is the heart of it. And so, contracts is, you know, it’s what I’ve done for a long time.

JASON HARTMAN: Right, right. And so, where do these—let’s take basketball, for example. Where do the players typically go? Are there probably a few sort of hot choices, I assume, in terms of countries?

DAVID WILLIG: Well, there are hot choices, because there are leagues that are more competitive, and therefore higher pay. For example, if you’re not going to be in the NBA, you might want to be in a Pro A level team in Europe, for example. France, the Pro A league is a league with very competitive players. We’ve actually had some French players come to the United States. Tony Parker, for example, played in the Pro A league before. So that’s a pretty high level of play. If you’re a good player, you’ll get a decent salary. That’s France. Spain and Italy have very competitive leagues. Germany has a competitive league. And again, all these leagues have a top level league, and then a mid level league, and then a lower level league. So there’s really room for all different levels of players. There are also very competitive leagues in Greece. Serbia is a huge market for basketball. Fans in Serbia love basketball. Turkey is an interesting market for basketball, also potential for a very high salary. For example, I understand that Allen Iverson—when he retired from the Philadelphia 76ers, went and played in Turkey for a couple of years, and he was drawing seven figure salaries in Turkey.

JASON HARTMAN: So, seven figures. Yeah, that’s good. Now, what else do the players have to deal with? What about tax considerations? I assume that some of their income is not taxable in the US. Maybe 100, 200,000, depending on if they’re single or married, I assume?

DAVID WILLIG: Well, without getting too into the technical details, there actually is a kind of an exoneration of taxes for US citizens who work a full year abroad. Most basketball seasons don’t last a full year, so it’s likely that the player will not spend the entire year abroad playing. But there are leagues for example in Paraguay, that they don’t take a break, they just play all year long. But that is one way. Another way that sometimes, for the shorter periods, when taxes might be reliable, or might be payable, sometimes teams, for example, over in Europe, offer to pay the local taxes as part of the remuneration to the player, which could also include sometimes lodging, the use of a car, it can even include meals at times. So, there’s other benefits besides just the salary.

JASON HARTMAN: And, what about the sort of, when talking about other benefits—is there a celebrity benefit and you know, I guess interpret celebrity benefit however you want—but, is it more than they would have, in terms of celebrity benefit, in the US? I guess what I mean by that is, these are players that wouldn’t necessarily make it into the NBA, as you mentioned, right? So, they’re not—they’re not at that level, but being from another country, is it more exotic, these leagues aren’t quite as high end as the NBA, so, how does that play out?

DAVID WILLIG: Well, let me just first say, I kind of agreed a little bit, maybe half-heartedly, that some of the players are not very competitive. Even by NBA standards. So I wouldn’t say that you’re playing in Eur