Sports agent

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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.

Contents 1 Roles 2 Notable sports agents 2.1 Australian Football 2.2 Baseball 2.3 Basketball 2.4 European Basketball 2.5 American Football 2.6 Golf 2.7 Ice hockey 2.8 Poker 2.9 Horse race 2.10 Soccer 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Roles

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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.

[edit] Notable sports agents

[edit] Australian Football

• Ron Joseph Agent who signed 21 of the 22 "Immortals" that played in North Melbourne's first VFL premiership.

[edit] 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 Licensed to Deal by Jerry Crasnick.

[edit] 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.^[1][2]
• 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.^[3]
• 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.

[edit] 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 CSKA Moscow.

[edit] 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 highest signing bonus in NFL history for Deion Sanders and Emmit Smith and 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 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.^{[citation needed]}
• 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Golf

• Mark McCormack: American golf agent, and the principal originator of the modern sports agency industry.^{[citation needed]} First client was Arnold Palmer. Founded International Management Group.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Poker

Brian Balsbaugh, professional poker agent, founder of Poker Royalty. Clients include Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, among others.
Matt Palmer, professional poker agent, founder of 11Management. Clients include Jamie Gold, Justin Bonomo, Joe Sebok, among others.
Beth Fischman, professional poker agent. Clients include Scott Fischman, Scott Clements, among others

[edit] Horse race

• Camilo Marin:^[clarify] Jockeys' agent who represented notable riders Laffit Pincay, Jr., Braulio Baeza, Jorge Velasquez and Manuel Ycaza.

[edit] Soccer

• Josey Rowan: Scottish football (soccer) agent, founder of Gola Football Agency.
• 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.

[edit] See also

• Category:Sports agents

[edit] References

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