The Game Plan

Marques Colston — Super Bowl Champ Shares His "Separation Mindset" and Paving a Path for Retired Athletes

The Game Plan

Show Notes

Marques Colston made a living as a wide receiver in the NFL by creating separation and getting behind defenses. During his 10-year career with the New Orleans Saints, he became one of Drew Brees’s favorite targets, racking up more than 700 receptions to go with 72 touchdowns. In Super Bowl XLIV, Colston helped bring home the Lombardi Trophy with seven catches for 83-yards.

Today, Colston has taken his separation mindset to the classroom. As an adjunct professor at the University of New Orleans, he’s helping the next generation of athletes become business leaders. Colston has gained an entire curriculum of insights since his NFL retirement in 2016, but his passion for business started early in his playing career; he often read business books in the offseasons, especially when he was healing from multiple injuries that sidelined him early in his career.

We first started talking with Marques about his off-field pursuits more than two years ago at a SportTechie conference. It was that conversation that helped inspire the creation of The Game Plan.

About The Game Plan

The Game Plan is a weekly SportTechie podcast hosted by venture capitalists Jay Kapoor and Tim Katt. The show features professional athletes and their business interests beyond sports.

You can follow us on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content! Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Question? Comment? Story idea? Let us know at [email protected]

More from The Game Plan

May 3, 2022

Human beings have been collecting non-utilitarian items for millennia. It just so happens that with the advent of the digital age, we're now able to collect items from around the world and display them digitally for fellow collectors all over the world to admire as well. Add to this Digital Collectibles, like NFTs, and you've got a space ripe for tech innovation.

Mar 15, 2022

If you listen to this show regularly, you know that the shifting interest of athletes from endorsement to ownership is something we talk about a lot. Well, it turns out that in the last few years, athletes aren’t the only ones that are thinking about how to get ownership in the brands, companies and financial institutions they help build as early adopters, micro-influencers, or simply as customers.

Mar 2, 2022

In many ways, Bennie Fowler's story is the epitome of resilience and exactly the kind of journey we love sharing onThe Game Plan every week. Bennie had tremendous success in college at Michigan State and like many of his fellow players, expected to hear his name called during the NFL Draft. Unfortunately, that announcement never came.

Feb 15, 2022

Podcasting and social audio as a viable business has seen explosive growth in the past decade, the last few years especially. With Spotify having spent over $1Bn to acquire both tech and talent, apps like Clubhouse raising at multi-billion valuations, and even platforms like Twitter launching their own social audio Spaces, we felt this topic deserved a deeper dive.

Feb 1, 2022

In this week's episode of The Game Plan, we venture into the wild, wild west of the internet: Digital collectibles, NFTs and Web3. What does it mean for athletes, how is it changing how athletes think about their personal brands and ability to monetize their work on and off the field, and who the key stakeholders in this new tokenized world are and will be.

See all episodes →