A sports agent is a person who procures and negotiates employment and endorsement deals for a player. In return, the agent receives a commission that is usually between four and ten percent of the contract, although this figure varies. In addition to finding incoming sources, agents often handle public relations matters for their clients. In some large sports agencies, such as IMG 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 of life, 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. Many sports agents have a major in law background, mainly to help understand the large and complicated legal matter in contracts. Some agents are part of large companies and some are on their own. The number of clients an individual agent can handle and how many his or her employing agency can handle in total are interdependent variables. [edit] Notable sports agents - Tom Condon:An American football agent, whose clients include Peyton Manning, Tony Romo,Matt Leinart, Tim Couch, Marvin Harrison, LaDainian Tomlinson, Tony Gonzalez, Steve Hutchinson, Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Chad Pennington, Alex Smith, Marc Bulger, Chris Simms, Byron Leftwich, Mathias Kiwanuka, Brady Quinn, and Adrian Peterson.
- Jason Fletcher: former player turned agent, partners with Fletcher Smith, his firm represents and negotiated deals for high profile athletes Antonio Cromartie, Charles Rogers, Adam Jones, Jamar Fletcher, Antwaan Randle El, Donovan McNabb, Gaines Adams, Lofa Tatupu, Kelvin Hayden, Darryl Tapp.
- Eugene E. Parker: American football agent, who negotiated the highest signing bonuses in NFL history for Emmitt Smith and Deion Sanders the real-life inspiration for the flamboyant character "Rod Tidwell" in the film Jerry Maguire. He also negotiated the largest rookie contract signing bonus for Larry Fitzgerald.
- Charles C. Pyle: American football agent representing Red Grange and Wildcat Wilson; founder of first American Football League (1926).
- Drew Rosenhaus: American football agent, quickly becoming notorious for signing high profile athletes and making high demands.[citation needed] High-profile clients include Plaxico Burress, Terrell Owens, Anquan Boldin, and Santana Moss. Often represents players from his alma mater, the University of Miami. The real-life inspiration for the character of Bob Sugar in the film Jerry Maguire.[citation needed]
- Jimmy Sexton: American football agent who represents a variety of professional players and both college and professional football coaches. His client list includes college coaches Frank Beamer, Phillip Fulmer, Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Tommy Tuberville, as well as Bill Parcells.
- Leigh Steinberg: American football agent and sports business pioneer.[citation needed] His clients include Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Warren Moon and Ben Roethlisberger. He is the real-life inspiration for the fictional sports agent Jerry Maguire in the film of the same name (he has a cameo appearance in that movie).[citation needed]
[edit] Baseball [edit] Basketball - Bill Duffy: American basketball agent whose clients include, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Jennings, Yao Ming and Steve Nash
- David Falk: Basketball agent; American. His clients have included Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Allen Iverson, and Dikembe Mutombo. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was generally considered one of the most influential player agents in the NBA,[2][3] but is now semi-retired.
- Rob Pelinka: American basketball agent and former basketball player at University of Michigan, whose clients include Kobe Bryant and Carlos Boozer.
- Arn Tellem: American basketball agent, whose clients include Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O'Neal, Pau Gasol, and Joe Johnson. His clients' total salaries in 2007-2008 season add up to more than $210 million, making him number 1 in total client salaries in the NBA.[4]
- Aaron Goodwin: American basketball agent known for representing LeBron James and his record $90,000,000 Nike deal before being terminated for agent Leon Rose. Goodwin now also represents Candace Parker, the 2008 WNBA MVP and Rookie of the Year.
[edit] European Basketball [edit] Golf and Tennis [edit] Ice hockey [edit] Horse race [edit] Large Corporate Agencies There have been some efforts to transform the sports agency business from an individual, entrepreneurial business, to more of a corporate structure. These experiments have met with varying degrees of longevity and success. - IMG - International Management Group a successful corporate agency established by entrepreneur Mark McCormack, originally with a specialization of golf and tennis. After the death of McCormack the company was acquired by private equity group Forstmann Little.
- 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.[6]
- Assante Corporation - Canadian public company that acquired the Steinberg, Moorad & Dunn agency, then acquired other agencies in unsuccessful effort to build multi-sport corporate agency. [7]
- 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 stars 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. [8] SFX would later reverse course and sell off the pieces of its large sports agency business.
- Creative Artists Agency: "CAA" - acquired various pieces of the sports agency business of SFX (see above), starting with professional football.
- Wasserman Media Group: acquired Arn Tellem's basketball agency from SFX.
- Octagon Worldwide - sports agency business that is part of conglomerate Interpublic Group.
[edit] See also [edit] Further Reading - The Business of Sports Agents By Kenneth L. Shropshire, Timothy Davis, 2008, University of Pennsylvania Press
[edit] References - ^ Butler, Steve (March 3, 2008); Show me the money, Ricky Nixon; Realfooty.com.au; Retrieved on March 14 2009
- ^ "Agents again at forefront of NBA labor dispute", CNN/SI, December 28, 1998, accessed June 16, 2007.
- ^ Migala, Dan. "Career Spotlight: David Falk", WorkInSports.com, June 4, 2001, accessed June 30, 2007.
- ^ "HoopsHype.com Agents". http://www.hoopshype.com/agents.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
- ^ "Colleen Howe, 'Mrs. Hockey', dies at 76". The Associated Press. 6 March 2009. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jgebG1zi1hYb3JbMJJZS4PpQuH6AD96OQDA00. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
- ^ ESPN The Magazine: "Crash Landing"
- ^ [1] New York Times, April 28, 2003, "These Drafts Come and Go, and So Do Agents' Fortunes"]
- ^ "Steinberg Sells Sports Firm" New York Times October 28, 1999.
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