7 Sports Agents

Agents are among the most misunderstood stakeholders in the sports business. The media often portray them as high-powered unethical deal makers who negotiate multimillion-dollar contracts for their clients and take large amounts of athletes’ money to live a life almost as glamorous as those they represent. Good journalists should be wary of this simplistic characterization. Although unscrupulous agents exist, it is unfair and untrue to generalize all agents this way. Most agents are not wealthy, flamboyant, or criminally suspect individuals. In fact, many struggle and have to earn a living by combining agency with other work.

Agents have a number of important roles, depending on the particular athlete, the sport, and the nature ...

Get The Business of Sports, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.