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What is a sports agent ?

The life of a sport agent

By C6Published 4 years ago 3 min read
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A sports agent negotiates employment and endorsement contracts for professional athletes. Agents are responsible for communicating with team owners, coaches, and managers on behalf of their respective athletes. Agents are also responsible for making recommendations according to their athletes options. Agents handle public relation matters for their athletes as well as finding income sources. In some large sports agencies, agents deal with all aspects of a client's finances from investments to filing taxes. It is common for athletes to rely on their agent for guidance on all business aspects. Most athletes have very little experience dealing with contracts and finances, therefore they hire a sports agent to handle all of these aspects for them.

Sports agents study business contracts and are required to go to law school in order to be able to properly handle all legal aspects of contracts and such for their respective athletes. 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, financial and risk analysis, as well as sports. It is necessary for sports agents to follow trends that are happening in sports. Agents must also possess good communication and negotiation skills. Successful sports agents are highly motivated, willing to work long hours, and are capable of multitasking. Agents should be able to multitask because it is very common for them to manage several clients at once. Some agents are part of large companies while others are on their own.

The number of clients a single agent can manage varies. Sports agents may receive anywhere between three to ten percent of their respective athletes’ playing contract as well as ten to twenty percent of the athlete's endorsement contracts, though these figures may vary. NFL agents are not allowed to receive more than three percent of an athlete’s contract and NBA agents may not receive more than four percent of their athlete’s contract. To be a sports agent, one must achieve a bachelor's degree in sports management as well as complete two years of law school. Most agents begin their careers doing business with up­and­coming intercollegiate athletes who intend to play professionally. Sports agent careers have grown increasingly popular in recent years due to popular TV shows and movies portraying a positive image of the career. In the past, many sports such as soccer saw little need for sports agents. Most soccer players use their parent as a sports agent to save money, rather than paying for an external agent. It has been revealed that these athletes received much lower salaries than they thought they deserved. Therefore the demand for sports agents has increased significantly over the years.

I am not quite sure about what sport management career I will be pursuing, but I would consider sports agency as a top­five decision. I am interested in sports agency because keeping up with sports is already a hobby of mine. I also enjoy handling finances and dealing with money. If I do choose to pursue a sports agent career, I would like to work with professionals. If I had to choose a specific sport, I would choose to manage NFL players because football is my favorite sport. Though it would be interesting to be able to manage athletes in multiple sports.

Works Cited

A b r a m s , R o g e r I . “ S p o r t s J u s t i c e : T h e L a w & t h e B u s i n e s s o f S p o r t s . ” B​o s t o n , M A : N o r t h e a s t e r n UP, 2​010. Print.

Fizel, John, Elizabeth Gustafson, and Lawrence Hadley. “Sports Economics: Current Research.” Westport, CT: Praeger,​1999. Print

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About the Creator

C6

I just want everyone to know my story. I hope to bring hope into someone life !!!

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