Sports Agents
People have been entertained by sport since before the gladiators in the Roman Coliseum. In the 20th century, the publics’ passion for sport consumes more and more of their free time. As sports figures became internationally recognized, athletes began to realize their need for professional representation. Thus, sports agents were born. The field of sports agents has grown since then into an enormous field. Agents now deal with every aspect of an athlete’s life. Agents can be considered professional mangers who find the best place for their client’s talent.
Sports Agents have not been around for a long time. “Until the 1970’s, very few players had agents because teams would not deal with agents (Masteralexis, 244).” Many times players found that having an agent was a disadvantage to them. For example, “In 1964 Jim Ringo brought his financial advisor (agent) to help negotiate a contract with Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers. Lombardi excused himself for a minute, when he returned he told the agent that he was negotiating with the wrong team (Masteralexis, 244).” Agents had been around since prior to the 70’s, but were few and far between. C. C. “cash $ carry” Pyle is though to be the first Sports Agent. The first account of negotiations came when Pyle “Negotiated a deal with the Chicago Bears for Red Grange to earn $3,000 per game and $300,000 in endorsement and movie rights (Masteralexis, 244).” A few years later Babe Ruth allegedly consulted sports cartoonist Christy Walsh to serve as his financial consultant through the depression. These early accounts are the beginning of the Sports Agent. It took years for the agent to develop however.
Since the 1970’s the Sports Agency business has sky rocketed. There are five main factors that account for this. The reserve system is the first factor that lead to the growth of the Sports Agent. The reserve system was a restrictive system that limited the free, or open market. This enabled owners to retain rights to players and depress their salaries. Major League Baseball had the first system, which consisted of two parts, the reserve clause and the reserve list. The reserve clause stated that each player’s contract could be renewed by the team season after season, for as long as the club wished. The reserve list was sent to each team by the league. Teams had to place the names of r...
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... sport, but is generally under five years. Therefore, it is the agent’s job to maximize earning potential during and after the athlete’s playing career. At the same time it is the agents job to protect the athlete from overexposure. “The agent must balance the need to maximize exposure with doing what is best personally and professionally for the athlete” (Masteralexis, 1998). This function also includes the agent investing time, energy, and money into the athlete’s career before the player has made it big. If the athlete’s career doesn’t take off, this results in the agent losing money.
Dispute resolution follows career and post career planning on the list of functions. Dispute resolution is somewhat self-explanatory. It includes the agent resolving disputes with the league, team, teammates, fans, referees or umpires, the media, and endorsement companies. “Renowned baseball agent Dennis Gilbert likens the role of the agent to a shield, stating that it is the agent’s task to shield the athlete from the headaches that go along with resolving disputes” (Schwarz, 1996). This so called “shield” allows players to concentrate completely on their sport, without outside distractions.
However, if the current rules remain in place and baseball continues without a salary cap, the only hope a small market team may have is to fend for themselves on the big market with financially superior teams. This becomes an exceedingly harder task when one team can afford the salary of two top players while those contracts are equal to the entire payroll of another team’s entire roster. Therefore, the question remains should baseball implement a salary cap, and if they do, how would it come into play. When asking the question regarding the salary cap, four supporting ideas arise for either the implementation of a salary cap or keeping it nonexistent.
Under the protection of Major League Baseball’s (“MLB”) longtime antitrust exemption, Minor League Baseball (“MiLB”) has continuously redefined and reshaped itself according to Baseball’s overall needs. But while MLB salaries have increased dramatically since the MLB reserve clause was broken in 1975, the salaries of minor league players have not followed suit.
Through channels of competitive balance, the leagues have put restrictions on free agency. The MLB does this by requiring players to be in the league for six years before declaring free agency, and the NFL puts a restriction on free agency for some players, done by allowing teams to match offers players have received from other teams. Determining a player’s MRP becomes an easier process than in the labor markets of other industries due to the availability of statistics of player’s and their contribution to their team’s success. The difficulty of this process lies in the determination of how revenues for a team are produced.
The focus of professional sports has evolved from one of teamwork and camaraderie to one of avarice and greed. The specific problems in recent years that have stemmed off this overwhelming greed include exorbitant salaries, lockouts (or work stoppages) in professional sports, and the growing disparity among team payrolls. Most recognize these issues as major problems; however, others overlook the greed and see validity in the financial aspect of today's sports world. They argue that professional sports are thriving and should not be modified.
Staudohar, Paul D. "Salary Caps in Professional Team Sports." Compensation and Working Conditions 3.1 (1998): 3-11. EBSCO Host Connection. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
I have choosen to use th XFL as a marketing vehicle for my energy/supplement bar. The XFL has been able to position itself as a fast paced hardcore football league. The nature of the leage would compliment the nature of my product in that people will assosiate my product with the action on the field. The league is focusing on a younger active audience and that is the same target market that I am looking to reach with my product. The high awareness and anticipation for the league makes this an ideal time for my product to be introduced to the market.
Arthurs days depend on Donnys day. For example, a busy day for Arthur would be Donny calling him to let him know that the company that he bought Bats for is late delivering. So then Arthur would have to call the company and find out why and discuss some type of deal to compensate for the delay because his client is no longer happy with that company.He deals with phone calls,drafting agreements, meeting with people for new business, calling clients and checks up on his clients family to make sure they are doing well.A major thing most people don’t think about is the family aspect that comes along with being an agent.If the clients family does not like the agent the client could possibly drop him because of that.It all depends on the client and how much time the client wants the agent included in their life.Being a sports agent comes with many rewards but has negative aspects as any job would have.Just dealing with the title of sports means there will be a lot of time you will have to commit into it.The most rewarding part of being a sports agent would be that you get to be around a sport and the lifestyle it includes.This can also be discouraging to a sports agent because this means you have to sacrifice your life to be involved in somebody else 's 24/7.Arthur expressed that
Sports transformed into a business where profit was the main concern. “As the pecuniary returns of the game increased, the value of the individual player was enhanced: the strength or weakness of one position made a difference in thousands in receipts, and this set the astute managerial mind at work” (Ward 315). This pertains to baseball, football, basketball and any other sport today. The more money a person could make off the game, the more significant the players became. The players were the ones making the money for the owners or the gamblers, and so many of these people no longer saw the person in the player, only the prowess in the player. The players soon began to be thought of as property and were often coerced into giving their permission to be traded to another club. “[T]he buying club bought not only the player’s services for the unexpired term of the contract, but the right to reserve or sell him again” ( Ward 315). Clubs claimed that this right to the player’s prowess was necessary to conserve the game and so many clubs abused this idea and ignored getting the player’s
Organized baseball began in the 1830s with the formation of the New York Knickerbockers. The Knickerbocker Baseball Club set rules of the game which are still used today. “The country’s first ‘all-professional’ baseball team emerged in 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, financed by a group of Ohio investors” (Smith, n.d., First Pro Team section). A short time later, the team was moved to Boston, and the team name was changed to the Boston Red Stockings. There, the team joined teams from eight other cities in forming the National Association of Professional Ball Players. A social world of baseball was being formed; it was made up of a community of young men who enjoyed playing baseball at the elite level. The baseball players were willing to endure the low salaries and the hardship of travel for the love of the game. The players had each other to talk to about the thrill of
These men have been contributing effectively to the financial stability of sport. However, they were under-represented though they were successful players. The study uses theories such as race relation theory. Arguments suggest for implementation of systematic processes over race-related practices. This hiring practice will adhere to the clear and concise individuals needed for the jobs throughout sport management.
Crafting the national pastime's image: The history of major league baseball public relations William B Anderson. Journalism and Communication Monographs. Columbia: Spring 2003. Vol. 5, Iss. 1; pg. 5
These are just some of the reasons why athletes are paid so much money. The controversy of athletes being overpaid dates back to 1922, when well-known baseball player George “Babe” Ruth received $50,000 within the first year of his career. Ruth’s extensive wealth was bolstered by dozens of endorsements (Saperecom). As it is shown in figure 1, in the Fortunate 50 Tiger Woods takes the number one spot for highest paid athlete.
African-American baseball players had been a part of professional baseball when it was first starting in the 1880s. Some black players had signed a contract already with their team, but the International League banned blacks from signing anymore. Blacks that were already under contract were able to finish until it was up, but they were not allowed to renew it. Ever since that, Major League Baseball was a segregated sport until the late 1940s. The major league owners had conspired together and wrote what was called a “gentlemen's agreement” to keep black players out of the game. This did not stop African-Americans from achieving their goal of playing baseball. They organized their own teams and played “pickup games” with anyone that ...
Excellent post this week! Just as with any other aspect of the sports industry, in the event of a lockout, a sports agency will begin to feel the effects of a lockout of any sport. What sort of time frame do you believe that it will take for a sports agency to begin to feel the effects of a lockout? What do you believe other benefits of having former athletes involved in a sports agency would be? Which type of agency do you believe to be best for the athlete to choose? Does it differ from athlete to athlete? Most athletes will typically wish to work with a full-service agency because they do not have to worry about having different aspects of their life split up between different agencies.
Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions a person will make in their life. Most people try to pick the career with the best financial gain and something they would like to do for the rest of their life. Foremost it is wise to see what the job entails. Sport Management is perfect for those who enjoy helping and working with people, especially when dealing with sports. The next part of the decision-making process is looking through the various schooling and training required. Lastly, take into consideration the advantages and disadvantages. Usually with great salaries comes a big responsibility with high stress. “The sports industry in the U.S. is a $200-billion-dollar-plus powerhouse, with superstar athletes, lucrative endorsement deals, and all the free press an ego can handle” (Lawyue 1). The profession of a sport management professional has a very specific work description, requires specific schooling and training, and comes with a variety of benefits and disadvantages.