Comments on: He Works Hard For The Money

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By: SportsAgentBlog.com - I Want to be a Sports Agent » Blog Archive » Model Rule 1.5 - Fees

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:58:01 +0000

[...] persons have raised the issue of whether an agent should be paid a contingency fee or hourly rate [He Works Hard For The Money]. If you click on the article, you will quickly understand that I am a firm believer in charging a [...]

By: SportsAgentBlog.com - I Want to be a Sports Agent » Blog Archive » Sports Business Carnival #5

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 02:29:14 +0000

[...] Head over to Take a Peck and check out the newest edition of Sports Business Carnival. [Sports Business Carnival #5]. I Want to be a Sports Agent made it into the carnival with our recent post arguing that athletes should continue to have full-time agents and that an hourly fee based relationship should only be used in rare circumstances [He Works Hard For The Money]. [...]

By: Sports Business Carnival Number 5 by Jason Peck - Sports Business Blogger at Take A Peck

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:39:03 +0000

[...] With A-Rod going around his agent, Scott Boras, to negotiate his contract with the Yankees, many people have wondered what happened. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that all agents are money-grubbers and are unnecessary in today’s world. Darren Heitner from Sports Agent Blog still believes many athletes should have full-time agents and discusses his thoughts for going/not going to an hourly fee system. [...]

By: Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:26:10 +0000

I have come across it and have archives it in case I wish to hit it sometime this week. Thanks for the heads up!

By: sugarshane024

sugarshane024 — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 05:42:47 +0000

I don't know if you've come across this or not, but Sports Law Blog takes the opposite stance, focusing solely on the recent negotiations between ARod and the Yankees as an example.

By: Emmett Jones

Emmett Jones — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:03:58 +0000

“A trial takes a lot longer to settle than does a one off contract. Those same lawyers many times are only working on one trial for several years. Whereas an agent normally has multiple clients they are working for.”
@JM — I dont know who the lawyers are that you hang around, but I will tell you right now that I’m working on about 4 personal injury cases at the same time. As a lawyer you can’t just work on one case because (1. from day-to-day you might not have something to do and 2. you never know how much money you’ll make off a case, or if you’ll make anything at all)

As for the fee arrangement, I think I agree with Darren’s point as well. Hourly fees only work if the athlete is with a full-service agency (i.e. contract negotiation/financial planning/estate planning/marketing). Otherwise, its not beneficial to the athlete for that setup.

Furthermore, I’d argue just the opposite regarding who needs an agent. It is those players who are not top-tier that need agents. Everybody knows Alex Rodriguez is good, and deserves a bunch of money. How many people are as willing to pay a lot of money to a cliff floyd, or somebody like that? The agent is that person who is using that aforementioned creativity to explain to a team why cliff floyd deserves to get a decent contract as well.

By: Paul Schackman

Paul Schackman — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 21:31:08 +0000

I agree with Darren on the fee situation. An agent not only negoiates deals for you but he can also be the backbone for all of your needs in regards to legal, financial, business and PR situations. It would be a pain in the ass for athletes to deal with all these issues on his own. He is paid to play a sport and that should be the only thing on his mind.

Plus in regards to the overall perception of agents, lets keep in mind that only a handful make the news. Most of the big-time successful agents in the business never make the news nor do they draw attention to themselves. Thats the way its supposed to be.

By: Jason Peck

Jason Peck — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:02:01 +0000

I think this statement is debatable:

“The other 95% of the athletes don’t need agents as many times they can handle their own business activities via consultants and service providers (i.e. administrative assistants, accountants, financial managers, etc.) at a much lower cost than agents.”

I would wager that most athletes in the major sports leagues know hardly anything (or nothing) about business or even hiring people to run these types of things for them. They are paid to be athletes not business people, so it makes more sense for them to pay someone to handle these things than for them to take time to learn how to do them, if they want to maximize their athletic success.

I’m sure there are some athletes out there who don’t fit this bill but for the majority, I think it’d be easier for them to just have one person (an agent) take care of everything, rather than hire various service providers and consultants.

By: Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:42:58 +0000

First of all, I agree that you should be able to change your fee billing depending on the case. Some cases you will charge a higher contingent fee than others. In others, you may agree with your client that an hourly fee is more beneficial. Sometimes, you have a combination. There is no reason that as an agent, you have to stick to one type of fee billing.

Agents often do get around the league imposed caps. Sometimes legally and sometimes illegally, as you stated. You may think that the lawyer comparison is off, but I can tell you from first hand experience that working on a client’s marketing campaign can take just as long as representing a client in a trial. I see your point, though.