A revealing guide to a career as a sports agent written by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Gary Rivlin and based on the real-life experiences of several top agents—required reading for anyone considering this profession. Becoming a Sports Agent takes you behind the scenes to find out what it’s really like, and what it really takes, to become a sports agent. Bestselling and Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Gary Rivlin shadows some of the best agents in sports to show how this dream job becomes reality. Behind every high-profile athlete—in football, baseball, basketball, and more—is an agent. Learn the ins and outs of scouting, contract negotiation, licensing, brand building, and more. Takeaway invaluable lessons as you follow the paths of top-tier agents, from legendary pioneers like Leigh Steinberg, who represents star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, to Don Yee, who represents Tom Brady, to Matt Sosnick, whose client list includes baseball rookie sensation Pete Alonso. Rivlin uncovers the realities of this cut-throat business, from discovering unknown talent to securing multi-million-dollar deals.

The legendary Charles C. "Cash and Carry" Pyle, considered by most to be the first sports agent, negotiated a $3,000-per-game contract for Red Grange to play professional football for the Chicago Bears in 1933. Today, salaries in the tens of millions of dollars are commonplace, and instead of theatrical promoters and impresarios, professionally trained businessmen and lawyers dominate the business. But whereas rules and penalties govern the playing field, there are far fewer restrictions on agents. Incidents of agents' manipulating athletes, ranging from investment scams to outright theft of a player's money, are far too frequent, and there is growing consensus for reform In The Business of Sports Agents, Kenneth L. Shropshire and Timothy Davis, experts in the fields of sports business and law, examine the history of the sports agent business and the rules and laws developed to regulate the profession. They also consider recommendations for reform, including uniform laws that would apply to all agents, redefining amateurism in college sports, and stiffening requirements for licensing agents. This revised and expanded second edition brings the volume up-to-date on recent changes in the industry, including: - the closing of one of the largest agencies - high-profile personnel moves - passage of the federal Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act - the National Football League's aggressive and high-profile efforts to regulate agents

A candid behind-the-scenes look at the business of sports from the athlete-turned-agent and author of Back from the Edge. A lot of mystery surrounds sports agents and their roles in the lives of their high profile clients. Many imagine a glamorous existence of spending time with celebrities and earning lots of money for doing easy or very little work. The Life of a Sports Agent reveals how very wrong this perception is. Having been a top sports agent for nearly a decade, with clients such as James Anderson, Sam Quek, Nile Wilson, James Taylor, and Simon Mignolet, Luke Sutton has an incredible insight into the world of sports management across a number of areas. In his new book, Luke reveals stories and personal experiences about the sporting stars he has encountered, both the good and bad, and his very honest opinions about them, and offers a true look into how this mysterious industry works.

Readers who wish for a career in professional sports, but lack the athletic ability to go pro can consider a role as a sports agent. This extensive overview of this occupation includes dramatic examples of what sports agents do, as well as the personal skills and education required for the job. Readers also get tips on how to begin to prepare through classes and extracurricular activities they can participate in before they graduate from high school. This captivating guide gives readers a look at a potential career on the business side of spectator sports.

For fifteen years, sports agent Josh Luchs made illegal deals with numerous college athletes, from top-tier, nationally recognized phenoms to late-round draft picks. Flagrantly flaunting NCAA and NFL Players Association rules, he made no-interest loans to players in exchange for the promise of representation on their lucrative pro contracts. After cleaning up his act in 2003, he moved to a new agency, only to be targeted and pushed out of the business for a new violation-one he arguably did not commit. Then, in October 2010, Luchs wrote a confessional article in Sports Illustrated, telling the truth about what he did and didn't do. Since then he has taken on a new role: whistle-blowing, truth-telling reformer. And in telling his own story, Luchs pulls back the curtain on the real economy of college football: how agents win players legally and otherwise, the staggering sums colleges make from an unpaid workforce, the shortfalls of supposed full-ride scholarships, and the myth of a college education given to scholarship jocks. Including new information about major players and scandalized programs such as USC, Auburn, and Ohio State, this book pulls no punches. It's a stunning and necessary read for anyone who loves the game, and the first step toward fixing a broken system. Praise for Josh Luchs' Sports Illustrated story: "There are no innocents in all this-including Luchs. The difference now is Luchs isn't claiming to be innocent." -John Feinstein, Washington Post "[Luchs pulls] the inner workings of an oily business out of the shadows."-Pat Forde, ESPN "A must-read."-New York Times

This book is a culmination of my three decades (wow, that sounds like a long time) of being a sports agent. It's not that I woke up one day and decided to become a sports agent. My entire life has been encased in football, and I'm happy it turned out that way. I feel like I've actually lived three lives; one as a coach's kid, one as a coach's wife, and one as a sports agent, but, really, all three have been and continue to be a massive part of who I am as a human being. Representation without taxation must remain central in the ever-changing and evolving world of athletics, both amateur and pro. Sports professionals need fair representation without it costing ridiculous sums of money and that's why I stand for protection, advocacy, and trust.

Super Agent. Maverick. Reformer. Iconoclast. Dealmaker. Dentist? Jerry Argovitz has worn many hats in his remarkable life, both inside and outside of the world of sports. As a player agent representing and advising some of the biggest names in the game, Argovitz challenged the NFL both at the negotiating table and in the courtroom, earning a reputation as one of the most powerful men in professional sports. He successfully negotiated the first milliondollar guaranteed contract in NFL history, wrote the language for career-ending insurance policy underwriting for Lloyds of London, and brokered the deal that brought Heisman Trophy–winner Herschel Walker to the upstart USFL as a junior, which opened the floodgates for all underclassmen to follow. As the owner of the Houston Gamblers of the USFL, Argovitz helped to implement several rules which were subsequently adopted by the NFL, and served as a principal figure in a lawsuit against the NFL that proved the league was guilty of Sherman Antitrust violations. Now, Argovitz has a plan to reform the corrupt world of college sports, a plan he will share in this eye-opening book.