Sports agent

A sports agent is a person who procures and negotiates employment and endorsement deals for an athlete. In return, the agent receives a commission that is usually between four and ten percent of the contract, although this figure varies.

Roles

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 an athlete'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.

Notable sports agents

Australian Football

*Ron Joseph Australian Football agent who signed 21 of the 22 "Immortals" that played in North Melbourne's first VFL premiership.

Baseball

*Scott Boras: American baseball agent, who has represented and negotiated deals for some of the biggest names in baseball, such as Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Barry Zito. He is regarded as one of the most powerful agents in the MLB.
*Bo McKinnis: American baseball agent, whose clients include 2007 number 1 draft pick, David Price.
*Matt Sosnick: Most notable client is Dontrelle Willis. Sosnick is subject of the book "License to Deal" by Jerry Crasnick.

Basketball

*Bill Duffy: American basketball agent whose clients include Carmelo Anthony, Yao Ming and Steve Nash
*David Falk: Basketball agent; American. His clients have included Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Allen Iverson, and Dikembe Mutombo. He is generally considered one of the most influential player agents in the NBA. [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/news/1998/12/28/news.nbaagents.html "Agents again at forefront of NBA labor dispute"] , "CNN/SI," December 28, 1998, accessed June 16, 2007.] Migala, Dan. [http://www.workinsports.com/wiscareerspotlight.asp?id=1 "Career Spotlight: David Falk"] , "WorkInSports.com," June 4, 2001, accessed June 30, 2007.]
*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.cite web|url=http://www.hoopshype.com/agents.htm|title=HoopsHype.com Agents|accessdate=2008-05-08]
*Aaron Goodwin: American basketball agent known for representing Lebron James and his record $100,000,000 Nike deal before being terminated for agent Leon Rose. Goodwin now also represents Candace Parker number one draft pick in 2008 WNBA.

European Basketball

*Craig McKenzie: American basketball agent who represents the biggest American names in European basketball. McKenzie negotiated a record contract for Marcus Brown in 2005 with PBC CSKA Moscow and a multi-million dollar contract for J.R. Bremer with Triumph Lyubertsy in 2008.

American Football

*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.
*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 McGuire. 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.Fact|date=September 2007 High-profile clients include Anquan Boldin, Plaxico Burress, Terrell Owens, 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".Fact|date=September 2007
*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.Fact|date=September 2007 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.Fact|date=September 2007

Golf

*Mark McCormack: American golf agent, and the principal originator of the modern sports agency industry.Fact|date=September 2007 First client was Arnold Palmer. Founded International Management Group.

Ice hockey

*Ritch Winter, ice hockey agent with over 70 clients. Helped bring down former National Hockey League Players Association Executive Director & ice hockey agent Alan Eagleson on fraud charges.
*Gilles Lupien, former NHL defenceman, current Canadian ice hockey agent. Clients include Roberto Luongo.

Horse race

*Camilo Marin:Clarifyme|date=September 2007 Jockeys' agent who represented notable riders Laffit Pincay, Jr., Braulio Baeza, Jorge Velasquez and Manuel Ycaza.

occer

*Paul Stretford: Disgraced English football (soccer) agent, formerly representing Wayne Rooney. He lied during a court case and was subsequently charged with misconduct.
*Pini Zahavi: Israeli football agent, widely regarded as the most powerful and successful soccer agent ever. He is famed for his deals involving the transfers of Yakubu and Rio Ferdinand.
*Milan Calasan: Montenegrin/Croatian football agent. His organisation Mondialvas represented, amongst others, French footballer Christian Karembeu and manager Arsène Wenger, Montenegrin "Peđa" Predrag Mijatović and Croatian Davor Šuker.

ee also

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References