Some new light was shed on the drama behind the split between “I AM ATHLETE” founder Brandon Marshall and Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor. Appearing on “Bussin’ With The Boys,” Taylor and Crowder alluded to business arrangements not being clearly set up as the main reason for the split.
“It was spring of 2020 during the height of quarantine. We called it ‘Quarantine Dream.’ Brandon [Marshall] said, ‘Y’all want to do a podcast?’ We said yes, we agreed to it, and the show just took off. The show went much faster than the paperwork,” according to Taylor. “The business wasn’t … we didn’t take care of the business. From that standpoint … because we didn’t have the business buttoned up, because Brandon made the initial investment he took it upon himself to gain the majority of control. Fast-forward to March of 2021, we have a meeting to try and iron out some things that didn’t go the way we all thought. The valuation of the company [and our piece of it didn’t look right]. But we’re buddies? But the business wasn’t tightened up on one end, so the whole buddy conversation was out the window. From there we still serviced the show, although we didn’t have real skin in the game. We were merely talent at that point.”
Taylor, Crowder, and ESPN’s Ryan Clark launched “The Pivot Podcast” earlier this year. This time they created a company and the terms of ownership have been laid out.
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It seems as the major issue with “IAA” was Taylor and Crowder thought their personal relationship with Marshall would allow them to handle the business side of things in a manner everyone could accept. But there are no friends in business.
Whenever you enter into an enterprise with someone, regardless of personal relationship, the terms of agreement need to be clearly ironed out and legally agreed upon. You form a business entity with an agreed-upon ownership split and revenue share.
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Taylor and Crowder’s authenticity and connections allowed the “IAA” podcast to explode. As the main catalysts, they needed to think about how that would impact “IAA” as a whole financially.
To be fair to Crowder and Taylor, it seems like they did have that in mind but maybe Marshall didn’t give them an opportunity to discuss the business side in detail.
“I wish we could’ve really pushed forward with ‘IAA.’ Brandon is gonna keep pushing forward and I support that,” said Taylor. “That’s what I texted him when we talked about going different ways. I made sure, look, ‘I support everything you do with House of Athletes, I AM ATHLETE.'”
“We still brothers, man. Ain’t no beef, ain’t no animosity, ain’t no sideway stuff. It’s just his business and his vision didn’t necessarily align with what everybody else expected or wanted and that’s business.”
In their first episode on “The Pivot” and in the “Bussin’ With The Boys” conversation, Taylor was very clear in stating “we took the high road.” That suggests there is more to the story, but they’ve made peace with that and moved on.
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