Sports agent explained

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. In addition to contract negotiations, sports agents may also help their clients with financial planning, legal issues, and marketing. They may work closely with financial advisors, lawyers, and marketing professionals on behalf of their clients.

Description

Because of the unique characteristics of the sports industry, sports agents are responsible for communications with team owners, managers, and other individuals. 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 parents as agents. Because of most parents' naivety about the football business, these 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 15% 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

Films such as Jerry Maguire, Two for the Money, and Any Given Sunday depicted sports agents. In England, ITV's Footballers' Wives included a female agent Hazel Bailey. The television show Ballers, which started in 2015, also shows a strong depiction of sports agents.

Notable sports agents

American football

Australian football

Baseball

Basketball

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:

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. http://www.jobprofiles.org/artsportsagent.htm Job Profiles.org
  2. http://www.sportsagentblog.com/2007/07/16/an-industry-of-conglomerates/ An Industry Of Conglomerates
  3. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article396507.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1 "The Big Interview: Neil Webb"
  4. http://sydsvenskan.se/sport/article18746/Marknaden-mattad-pa-agenter.html "Market Saturation of Agents"
  5. FIFA – Players' agents list – by country
  6. News: Joe Flacco's Ravens contract includes $52M guaranteed . Dan . Hanzus . Around the League . . March 4, 2013 . March 4, 2013.
  7. Web site: Authentic Athletix Clients . AgentAA.com . July 15, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150709213244/http://agentaa.com/topics/clients/ . July 9, 2015 .
  8. News: Toomer Catches Fancy of Giants . New York Daily News . Barry . Meisel . April 28, 1996.
  9. Butler, Steve (March 3, 2008); Show me the money, Ricky Nixon; Realfooty.com.au; Retrieved on March 14, 2009
  10. News: Agent says Boras' group 'stalking' his client – MLB – ESPN . . May 1, 2006 . October 6, 2011.
  11. Web site: Nicholson . Ben . Nationals Sign Sean Burnett To Two-Year Extension . MLBTradeRumors.com . December 23, 2010 . October 6, 2011.
  12. McGrath . Ben . Tampa Bay Ray's Late Bloomer Super Sam Fuld . The New Yorker . August 1, 2011 . October 6, 2011.
  13. http://www.sportsagentblog.com/interview-with-the-agent/matt-sosnick/ "Interview with Matt Sosnick"
  14. Web site: Gus Lubin . The 12 Best Sports Agents in the World . Business Insider . November 29, 2010 . January 3, 2013.
  15. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/news/1998/12/28/news.nbaagents.html "Agents again at forefront of NBA labor dispute"
  16. Migala, Dan. "Career Spotlight: David Falk", WorkInSports.com, June 4, 2001, accessed June 30, 2007.
  17. News: After Backing a Dark Horse, Lin's Agent Is Riding High. The New York Times. March 10, 2012. March 9, 2012. Neil. Janowitz.
  18. Web site: #9 Rob Pelinka . Forbes.com . 2021-11-23.
  19. News: Penicheiro's new career has Hall of Famer focusing on future . Steve . Megargee . Associated Press . Yahoo Sports . June 7, 2019 . June 15, 2019.
  20. Web site: HoopsHype.com Agents. May 8, 2008.
  21. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/sports/basketball/deron-williams-reaches-deal-to-play-in-turkey.html?_r=0 Nets Star Has Deal to Play in Turkey
  22. News: Perry . Michael . Agents court Xavier star Posey . The Cincinnati Enquirer . May 3, 1999.
  23. http://www.oleantimesherald.com/sports/bremer-still-leading-the-way-in-europe/article_b412b768-7ff2-11e1-92d4-001a4bcf887a.html Bremer still leading the way in Europe
  24. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/6795130/marcus-brown-all-time-leading-euroleague-scorer
  25. Web site: The World's Most Powerful Sports Agents 2017. Jason. Belzer. . September 25, 2017. September 27, 2017.
  26. http://metro.co.uk/2013/06/21/top-10-influential-football-agents-from-pere-guardiola-to-jorge-mendes-3850506/ Top 10 most influential football agents – Pere Guardiola, Pini Zahavi, Jorge Mendes, Paul Stretford, Mino Riaola | Metro News
  27. https://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/sport/football/loyalty-and-trust-are-hard-find-football-chesterfield-hero-kevin-davies-launches-new-business-2900855 Derbyshiretimes: "Loyalty and trust are hard to find in football' – Chesterfield hero Kevin Davies launches new business"
  28. [www.gsf.agency]
  29. News: How Tiger's Top Man is Managing the Crisis. The Wall Street Journal. December 8, 2009. subscription.
  30. Web site: Golf's new era is here . Rick . Reilly . Rick Reilly . . June 23, 2011 . June 23, 2011.
  31. Web site: McIlroy leaves Chandler's ISM for Horizon Sports . Alistair . Tait . . October 21, 2011 . November 21, 2011.
  32. http://www.nhl.com/intheslot/read/features/barnett_qa100604.html NHL.com – Features
  33. http://www.hockeyschools.com/card.php3?bioID=34 Michael Barnett
  34. http://www.askmen.com/top_10/sports/top-10-sports-agents.html "Top 10 Sports Agents
  35. Web site: Octagon Sports – Hockey – Team Bios – Allan Walsh . Octagonhockey.com . January 3, 2013.
  36. Web site: From The Executive Editor: The education of Peter Carlisle . Sports-agent-directory.com . January 3, 2013 .
  37. News: Colleen Howe, 'Mrs. Hockey', dies at 76. Associated Press. March 6, 2009. March 7, 2009.
  38. Web site: Simpson . David Mark . Mexican Baseball Is Finally Eliminating One of the Worst Unwritten Rules in Sports . Vice.com . Vice . 1 December 2015 . 1 December 2015.
  39. News: Mino Raiola, one of football's most powerful agents, dies aged 54 . April 30, 2022 . . April 30, 2022.
  40. Web site: Serie A international rights snapped up by Infront for '€139m a year' . SportsPro Media. April 6, 2021. 2021-04-26.
  41. Web site: Darren Clarke returns in major triumph . Bob . Harig . . July 17, 2011 . July 18, 2011.
  42. Jay-Z Launches Roc Nation Sports Teams With CAA to Co-Represent Robinson Cano . . April 2, 2013 . April 2, 2013.
  43. Web site: Our Mission and Values. 2020-12-07. smwwagency.com. en.
  44. Web site: Good, profitable sports. 2020-12-07. bizjournals.com.
  45. Web site: Wasserman Acquires Tellem Business; SFX Promotes Pelinka . Sports Business Daily . January 27, 2006 . 2017-08-07.
  46. http://www.dhakatribune.com/magazine/2016/11/07/the-business-of-sports/ The business of sports | Dhaka Tribune
  47. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/26/sports/pro-football-these-drafts-come-and-go-and-so-do-agents-fortunes.html?scp=14&sq=assante%20sports&st=cse "These Drafts Come and Go, and So Do Agents' Fortunes"
  48. News: Steinberg Sells Sports Firm. The New York Times. October 28, 1999. October 6, 2011.
  49. https://www.espn.com/magazine/vol5no07steinberg.html "Crash Landing"