The Sports Show
Complete Show Length in Minutes: 6 min 15 sec
Episode 1: Topic: The new age of sports agents.
Intro Music Clip: Title: “Remember the Name” by Fort Miner Time: 30 sec
Intro: What does a sports agent do? : Time: 1min
Welcome to the sports show! Thanks for tuning in! I’m Nick Lopez and today we’re going to be talking about the interesting career of a sports agent. Now most of you sports fans have heard of these agents, but may not know exactly what they do. Well basically, a sports agent is someone that represents any professional athlete in terms of contract negotiations and dealing with the media. They also help out in endorsement deals for the player and sometimes can handle all finical material such as taxes. For this reason, some agents have business degrees and law backgrounds. The agent usually gets around four to ten percent commission of the player’s contract. Some agents are part of a large company, such as IMG headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Others are independent agents.
Segment Music Clip: Title: “Heart of a Champion” by Nelly Time: 20 sec
Segment: Difficulty of a sports agent job: 2 1/2 min
It is easy to overlook the difficulty of a career as a sports agent, in particular, getting your foot in the door. This is a huge business that has many people competing for the best clients. The pressure to get the most talented clients is so high, that often times agents break the rules and try to bribe these athletes with expensive gifts such as cars, and even brand new homes, in the hopes of that athlete signing with the agent. One incident that made quite a stir, was former University of Southern California running back, Reggie Bush, who accepted bribes, which included a brand new home in San Diego, from an agent that he later signed with. Per NCAA rules, a player cannot accept any type of gift whatsoever from any agent or outside person. Since Bush was still in college at the time, his national championship that he won at USC, could become void, like it never happened, if the court rules so. This is very similar to the University of Michigan “Fab Five” basketball players back in the early 1990’s. Some of the players on the team accepted money from an outside source. As punishment, the team’s final four tournament appearances were ruled void, and the banners that once hung from the rafters in the Chrysler Arena, were taken down. So as you can see, there is plenty of pressure that comes with this job. Another thing to consider is honesty and sincerity. An agent’s reputation can get easily ruined for years by word of mouth from the players. A lot of agents only want to make a buck. They negotiate a multiyear deal, and you don't hear from them again for months. And with so many clients, sometimes it can be hard for an agent to be fully dedicated to every single player, although it is expected from them. Of course with anything, there is always luck involved. The key is to be able to pick out the talent early on, before other agents spot the player’s true talent. It’s a skill very few have completely mastered. My interviewee, who wished to remain anonymous, idolized Drew Rosenhaus, one of the most popular NFL agents. Rosenhaus, a University of Miami graduate, used his college connections to sign some of the most talented and popular players in the league right now. Kellen Winslow Jr., Frank Gore, and Willis McGahee, all Miami graduates, are some of Rosenhaus’s clients. He was fortunate enough to have early connections and get jumpstarted in his career. He now owns his own Agency Company in Florida. This just shows that having any edge over other agents can be tremendously beneficial.
End Segment Music Clip: Title: “I get Money” by 50 Cent Time: 25 sec
Ending: Increase in pay? : 1min
Some people have the conception that sports agents are just rolling around in money, when a survey done by ESPN.com found that fewer than 5 percent of all agents net more than $100,000 a year. My interviewee said about agent’s wages that, “I believe that as athletes become bigger, faster, and stronger, there will be higher paid contracts, and as a result, agents will demand a higher commission percentage.” I agree with some of this statement, the part I disagree on, is that with the exception of the MLB, every other major sport league has a salary cap. A salary cap is a fixed amount by the league that a team can not go over, when paying players. This is to keep the league competitive and not have the most talented team, the team that has the most money to spend. An example of no salary cap can be illustrated clearly by the New York Yankees. They had a payroll close to $225 million during the 2008 season. They are always in the playoffs because of this, and in my opinion, this is not fair to other teams who do not have such rich owners. Professional athletes are only going to get more talented and hopefully for my interviewee, that will result in more money. That does it for this weeks episode, thanks for tuning in! See you next time!
Ending Music Clip: Title: “Remember the Name” by Fort Miner Time: 30 sec
