Sports agent

A sports agent is a legal representative (hence agent) for professional sports figures such as athletes and coaches. They procure and negotiate employment and endorsement contracts for the athlete or coach whom they represent. Because of the unique characteristics of the sports industry, sports agents are responsible for communications with team owners, managers, and other individuals. Also, they are responsible for making recommendations in regard . In addition to finding income sources, agents often handle public relations matters for their clients. In some large sports agencies, such as IMG, Creative Artists Agency, Roc Nation Sports and Octagon, agents deal with all aspects of a client's finances, from investment to filing taxes.

Sports agents may be relied upon by their clients for guidance in all business aspects, and sometimes even more broadly. For example, hockey agents start recruiting clients as young as 15, allowing the agent to guide the athlete's career before the NHL draft, which happens usually at 18 years of age.

Due to the length and complexity of contracts, many sports agents are lawyers or have a background in contract law. Agents are expected to be knowledgeable about finance, business management, and financial and risk analysis, as well as sports. It is important for a sports agent to follow trends in sports. Other skills an agent must possess are excellent communication and negotiation skills. Agents must be highly motivated, willing to work long hours, and capable of multitasking. It is very common for agents to be in negotiations on behalf of several clients at one time.[1]

Some agents are part of large companies, and some are on their own.[2] The number of clients an individual agent can handle and how many clients his or her employing agency can handle in total are interdependent variables.

Before the 1990s, most football players did not use agents. In some cases, they used their fathers as agents. Because of most parents' naivete about the football business, these young footballers were often given less-than-stellar contracts by football clubs, which yielded lower salaries than they thought they deserved.[3] In Sweden, there were only three licensed agents in 1995.[4] As of 2002, there were 33. According to FIFA, there were 5,187 licensed association football agents worldwide, with 600 agents in Italy alone.[5] Since 2001, agents have not been licensed by FIFA. Instead, agents are now licensed directly by each association.

Sports agents generally receive between 4 and 10% of the athlete's playing contract, and 10 to 20% of the athlete's endorsement contract, although these figures vary. NFL agents are not permitted to receive more than 3%, and NBA agents not more than 4%, of their client's playing contracts.

Media depictions

The popularity of television shows such as Entourage, which stars a talent agent named Ari Gold, and Arliss, have helped glamorize the profession.[6] Prior to that, movies such as Jerry Maguire, Two for the Money, and Any Given Sunday depicted sports agents. In England, ITV's Footballers' Wives put a new spin on sports agents by casting a no-holds-barred female agent Hazel Bailey. The television show Ballers, which started in 2015, also shows a strong depiction of sports agents.

Due to the popularity of these works, there has been increase of attention in the profession. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair's son decided to become a football agent.[7]

Notable sports agents

American football

Football agent Drew Rosenhaus
Football agent Leigh Steinberg

Australian football

Baseball

Scott Boras

Basketball

David Falk

Cricket

European basketball

Association football

Golf

Ice hockey

Motorsport

Olympics

Notable former sports agents

Sports agency groups

There have been some efforts to transform the sports agency business from an individual, entrepreneurial business, to more of a corporate structure. These experiments met with varying degrees of longevity and success.

Formerly active agencies

Some sports agency firms were once prominent, but are now gone or reorganized:

  • Assante Corporation – Canadian public company that acquired the Steinberg, Moorad & Dunn agency, then acquired other than agencies including Dan Fegan & Associates and Maximum Sports Management in an unsuccessful effort to build multi-sport corporate agency.[45]
  • SFX Entertainment (now Live Nation, a publicly traded company) – in 1998 SFX agreed to pay up to $150 million in cash, stock, and bonuses for F.A.M.E., the sports agency run by David Falk, the agent for basketball players Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing. SFX also acquired two other major sports agencies, Arn Tellem's agency (Tellem & Associates) and the baseball-oriented firm run by Randy Hendricks and Allan Hendricks.[46] SFX would later reverse course, and sell off the pieces of its large sports agency business.
  • Steinberg, Moorad & Dunn ("SMD") – a multi-sport agency sold in October 1999 for reported $120 million to Canadian financial firm. Defections of principals, and litigation, followed. Originally led by entrepreneurial agents Leigh Steinberg and Jeff Moorad.[47]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Job Profiles.org Archived 2010-01-09 at the Wayback Machine. – description of roles of sports agent and some educational programs to prepare for the field
  2. ↑ An Industry Of Conglomerates Sports Agent Blog, July 16, 2007
  3. ↑ "The Big Interview: Neil Webb" Sunday Times, Nov. 28, 2004, interview with soccer/football player
  4. ↑ "Market Saturation of Agents" Archived 2011-08-10 at the Wayback Machine., May 23, 2002, note: source can be translated into English on the website
  5. ↑ [ FIFA – Players' agents list – by country]
  6. ↑ "So, You Want To Be An Agent? The Entourage Effect" Sports Agent Blog, Dec. 4, 2008
  7. ↑ "Blair's son to become a football agent" Nov. 28, 2009, The Independent
  8. ↑ Hanzus, Dan (March 4, 2013). "Joe Flacco's Ravens contract includes $52M guaranteed". Around the League. NFL.com. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Authentic Athletix Clients". AgentAA.com. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  10. ↑ Meisel, Barry (April 28, 1996). "Toomer Catches Fancy Of Giants". New York Daily News.
  11. ↑ Butler, Steve (March 3, 2008); Show me the money, Ricky Nixon; Realfooty.com.au; Retrieved on March 14, 2009
  12. ↑ "Agent says Boras' group 'stalking' his client – MLB – ESPN". Sports.espn.go.com. May 1, 2006. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  13. ↑ Nicholson, Ben (December 23, 2010). "Nationals Sign Sean Burnett To Two-Year Extension". MLBTradeRumors.com. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  14. ↑ McGrath, Ben (August 1, 2011). "Tampa Bay Ray's Late Bloomer Super Sam Fuld". The New Yorker. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Interview with Matt Sosnick" SportsAgentBlog.com.
  16. ↑ Gus Lubin (November 29, 2010). "The 12 Best Sports Agents In The World". Business Insider. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  17. ↑ "Agents again at forefront of NBA labor dispute", CNN/SI, December 28, 1998, accessed June 16, 2007.
  18. ↑ Migala, Dan. "Career Spotlight: David Falk", WorkInSports.com, June 4, 2001, accessed June 30, 2007.
  19. ↑ Janowitz, Neil (March 9, 2012). "After Backing a Dark Horse, Lin's Agent Is Riding High". The New York Times. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
  20. ↑ https://www.forbes.com/pictures/fiei45fdil/9-rob-pelinka/#413e11381ab0
  21. ↑ "HoopsHype.com Agents". Retrieved May 8, 2008.
  22. ↑ Nets Star Has Deal to Play in Turkey;The New York Times, 7 July 2011
  23. ↑ Perry, Michael (May 3, 1999). "Agents court Xavier star Posey". Cincinnati Enquirer.
  24. ↑ Bremer still leading the way in Europe | Sports | oleantimesherald.com
  25. ↑ Archived 2012-07-15 at Archive.is; The Morning Journal. Bob Finnan. Retrieved July 31, 2008
  26. ↑ ESPN. Evan Alexander Demiriel. Retrieved July 23, 2011
  27. 1 2 Belzer, Jason (September 25, 2017). "The World's Most Powerful Sports Agents 2017". Forbes. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  28. ↑ Top 10 most influential football agents – Pere Guardiola, Pini Zahavi, Jorge Mendes, Paul Stretford, Mino Riaola | Metro News
  29. ↑ "How Tiger's Top Man is Managing the Crisis", Wall Street Journal, Dec 8, 2009, Wall Street Journal – subscription and fee may be required to access older articles
  30. ↑ Reilly, Rick (June 23, 2011). "Golf's new era is here". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  31. ↑ Tait, Alistair (October 21, 2011). "McIlroy leaves Chandler's ISM for Horizon Sports". Golfweek. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  32. ↑ NHL.com - Features
  33. ↑ Michael Barnett Archived 2007-10-10 at the Wayback Machine.
  34. ↑ "Barnett joins Rangers' front office". New York Rangers. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  35. ↑ "Top 10 Sports Agents -Ask Men.com
  36. ↑ "Octagon Sports – Hockey – Team Bios – Allan Walsh". Octagonhockey.com. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  37. ↑ "From The Executive Editor: The education of Peter Carlisle". Sports-agent-directory.com. Retrieved January 3, 2013. Template:Updated the dead link
  38. ↑ "Colleen Howe, 'Mrs. Hockey', dies at 76". Associated Press. March 6, 2009. Retrieved March 7, 2009.
  39. ↑ Harig, Bob (July 17, 2011). "Darren Clarke returns in major triumph". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
  40. ↑ "Former No. 1 draft pick Kwame Brown might be looking to make an NBA comeback". Retrieved 2017-04-24.
  41. ↑ "Interperformances Expands in United States". Archived from the original on 2017-04-25. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
  42. ↑ "Jay-Z Launches Roc Nation Sports Teams With CAA to Co-Represent Robinson Cano". Variety. April 2, 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  43. ↑ "Wasserman Acquires Tellem Business; SFX Promotes Pelinka". Sports Business Daily. 2006-01-27. Retrieved 2017-08-07.
  44. ↑ The business of sports | Dhaka Tribune
  45. ↑ "These Drafts Come and Go, and So Do Agents' Fortunes" New York Times, April 28, 2003
  46. ↑ ""Steinberg Sells Sports Firm" New York Times October 28, 1999". Nytimes.com. October 28, 1999. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  47. ↑ "Crash Landing"- ESPN, by Peter Keating, article about Leigh Steinberg

Further reading

  • How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, by Darren Heitner, 2014, ABA Book Publishing, ISBN 978-1-61438-916-3
  • The Business of Sports Agents, by Kenneth L. Shropshire, Timothy Davis, 2008, University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 978-0-8122-4084-9
  • License to Deal: A Season on the Run with a Maverick Baseball Agent, by Jerry Crasnick, 2005, Rodale Books, ISBN 978-1-59486-024-9
  • An Athlete's Guide to Agents: 5th Edition, by Bob Ruxin with Darren Heitner, 2009, Jones and Bartlett, ISBN 978-0-7637-7611-4
  • How To Be A Sports Agent, by Mel Stein, 2008, High Stakes Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84344-045-1
  • The Football Agent, by Knut Høibraaten, 2015, HHH Forlag, ISBN 978-8-26900-990-3
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