It makes sense that major West Coast agencies continue to grow.  Creative Artists Agency was a player in the entertainment world well before it started buying out the largest sports agents/agencies.  It figured that its existing model and connections could bring in more revenue than those entities had been receiving in the past.  It seems to be doing quite well with that business plan.  Another company with broad entertainment connections for its clients is Wasserman Media Group.  I don’t know when agent Arn Tellem finds time to sleep, with his enormous list of clients in professional basketball and football.  He probably receives over one-hundred calls per day from GMs, reporters, and clients, and still finds time to go on the recruiting trail and find new business.  He also keeps his current clients happy, and seems to have a strong connection to the entertainment world through his wife, Nancy Tellem.  Nancy is the President of CBS and is in charge of all of its television programming.

Quite the power couple, and it definitely benefits Arn’s clients.  Recently, Pau Gasol made an appearance on CSI: Miami.  Last year, Gasol and Jordan Farmar appeared on NUMB3RS.  Both shows are on CBS, both players are clients of Arn Tellem and WMG.  Gasol and Farmar are not the biggest names in the game of basketball, but both of them are playing in Los Angeles, so it is natural for them to want a piece of the limelight.

Want to be a MAJOR player in this industry?  Better start cultivating those connections in the entertainment industry, as well.

Football

• The St. Louis experiment is failing while the Cowboys investment in their big boys is working well [Under the Cap: Top Ten Guards and Centers].
• A look at just how competitive recruiting college football players is for agencies of various sizes [The race to sign college prospects].

Baseball

• Could they have found a worse picture of Hendry? [Unloading Milton Bradley without paying steep price won't be easy for Chicago Cubs GM Jim Hendry]
• NY Yankees GM taking a hard-line approach to impending contract discussions with Matsui and Damon [Yanks’ Cashman Won’t Be Swayed].
• Clocked as high as 98.75 mph, but he is 30-years-old (due to Japan’s rules regarding free agency) [Hard-throwing reliever aims to leave Japan].
• Arn Tellem gets in on the blogging action [Hideki Matsui: An Ageless Talent].
• A lot more young players about to get cut? [The Changing Landscape of Salary Arbitration-Eligible Players and Free Agents in Baseball]

Sports Agent

• Some great advice for agents who might not be as involved as they need to be [The Proverbial, I Don’t Know].

Basketball

• 5 games in 3 continents, and a total of 40 sponsors. NBA office in India opening soon [NBA Int'l Games Reach New Levels With Record Number Of Sponsors].
• Casey Jacobson with a great look into the world of AAU basketball [(Too Much?) Power to Influence].
• Trading gym bags for backpacks [N.B.A. Players Make Their Way Back to College].
• The Chinese REALLY love them some Kobe Bryant [Kobe Bryant’s jersey still top seller in China; D Wade's moves up to fifth].

Baseball

• “This is the business we chose.” [Last Week].
• Dennis Gilbert’s chances at becoming a part owner of the Rangers may be increased due to his access to liquid cash [Notes from a press conference: Wrapping up the Texas Rangers 2009 wrap-up get together].

Entertainment

• Did you know that Arn Tellem (President at WMG), has a pretty powerful wife who works at CBS? [CBS' Nancy Tellem is in talks to step down from post].

Sports Agents

• SMWW may want to do a better job on its background checks in the future [ONLY IN AMERICA: From Corrupt SEIU Boss to Sports Agent].

Football

• Adrian Peterson’s next contract is going to shatter Larry Johnson’s current deal.  Poor Pierre Thomas…for now. [Under the Cap: Top Ten Running Backs].

Basketball

• Shabbat Shalom to this high school stand-out who may be joining Maccabi Haifa [San Diego teen negotiating with Israeli hoops team].
• NBA teams don’t care about NCAA violations involving payments or recruiting (example: O.J. Mayo) [Foul play: the charade in college basketball].
• Arn Tellem hooked one of his clients up with dinner in the company of President Obama [Westbrook Meets Obama, Visits China].

Football

• Looks like Rosenhaus had it coming for a while [Boldin Had Met With Other Agents Last Year].

Baseball

• Please tell me that I am not the only person reading this who used to love playing APBA [APBA, Strat-O-Matic endure in era of high-tech games].
• Here’s another game to play…and it involves signing bonuses [B3 Draft Top 10 Signing Game!].
• That Ryan Braun is so hot right now [WisBusiness: Brewers becoming marketing winners, too].

Sports Business

• Get your Phelps endorsed water-proof headphones [Phelps gains endorsement deal].
• Even athlete relocation specialists are jumping on the Twitter bandwagon [The pro sports world is getting smaller by the minute.]

This year’s draft class has seen many non-senior talents withdraw themselves from the draft, which has led many analysts to claim that this year’s pool is mediocre at best.  Writers are already frothing at the mouth in anticipation of next year’s class, which is supposed to be extremely deep.  Don’t forget your life preservers!

The most recent players to bow out of this year’s draft are: Tasmin Mitchell (LSU), Nic Wise (Arizona), and Dwayne Collins (Miami).

Here is the most updated list of agent signings that I have:

• Aaron Goodwin – Terrence Williams, Demar DeRozan
• Aaron Mintz (Priority) – Tyrese Rice, Jeff Adrien
• Andre Buck (CAA) – Dionte Christmas
• Andrew Vye (ASM Sports) – A.D. Vassallo
• Andy Miller (ASM Sports) – B.J. Mullens, Daniel Hackett, Eric Maynor, Alonzo Gee, Rudy Mbemba, Robert Vaden
• Arn Tellem – Wayne Ellington, Gerald Henderson, Tyreke Evans
• Austin Walton (Dynasty) – Terrance Woodbury
• Bernie Lee (Lee Basketball Services) – Patrick Beverly, Dmitris Verginis
• Bill Duffy (BDA Sports) – Brandon Jennings, Hasheem Thabeet, Darren Collison, Jordan Hill, Josh Akognon
• Bill Strickland (BEST) – Kevin Rogers, Curtis Jerrells
• Bob McClaren – Josh Carter
• Brad Ames (Priority) – Ben Woodside, Joe Ingles
• Brian Elfus (Elfus & Siegel Management) – Connor Atchley, Marcus Thornton, BJ Raymond, Kyle Spain
• Charles Grantham (Ceruzzi Sports) - Jeff Pendergraph
• Chris Emens (Octagon) – Lee Cummard
• Chris Luchey (CGL Sports) – Eric Devendorf, Dar Tucker
• Dan Fegan (BEST) – Earl Clark, Ricky Rubio
• Dan Tobin (WMG) – K.C. Rivers, Aaron Jackson, James Johnson
• David Bauman (DB Hoops Management) – Josh Heytvelt
• David Falk – Toney Douglas, Alade Aminu
• Doug Neustadt (The Neustadt Group) – Jerel McNeal
• Eric Fleisher – Chris Johnson
• Happy Walters (Immortal Sports) – DeJuan Blair, Kevin Rogers, Curtis Jerrells, Tasheed Carr, Tyrell Biggs, Robert Dozier
• Herb Rudoy (Interperformances) – Stefon Jackson
• Jamie Knox (Strategic Sports Management) – Courtney Fells
• Jeff Schwartz (Excel Sports Management) – A.J. Price
• Jeffrey Fried (Peake Management Group) – Ty Lawson
• John Hamilton (Performance Sports Management) – Garrett Temple
• Justin Zanik (ASM Sports) – Sergio Llull
• Keith Glass – Luke Nevill, A.J. Abrams
• Kevin Bradbury (BDA Sports) – Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill, Dominic James
• Lance Young (Octagon) – Lester Hudson, Jack McClinton, Wes Matthews, Sam Young, Stephen Curry, Brandon Costner
• Leon Rose (CAA) – Nando De Colo, Paul Harris, Jonny Flynn
• Mark Bartelstein (Priority) – Jeremy Pargo, Micah Downs, Leo Lyons, DeMarre Carroll, A.J. Abrams
• Marc Fleisher – Brandon Ewing
• Merle Scott – Nate Miles
• Michael Hodges (Rice Sports Management) – David Holston, Lawrence Kinnard, Courtney Pigram
• Michael Siegel (Elfus & Siegel Management) – Ahmad Nivins
• Michael Whitaker (REID Entertainment) – Jermaine Taylor
• Mike Naiditch (Naiditch EntertainmenT) – Joe Krabbenhoft
• Rob Pelinka (Landmark Sports Agency) – James Harden
• Sam Goldfeder (Excel Sports Management) – Blake Griffin, Taylor Griffin
• Sam Porter (Sportstars, Inc.) – Russell Hicks, Tony Gaffney, Marc Egerson, Chavis Holmes, Travis Holmes
• Thad Foucher (WMG) – DaJuan Summers

Have anything to add or information about a change? Email me.

Falk later said that he has never had a runner and never will, Georgetown U is not going to be re-named Falk U anytime soon, and that a lot needs to be done to clean up the agent business.

The interview is rather long, but very interesting.  Falk is often quoted in papers regarding many of his thoughts, but his voice is rarely recorded for the public to hear his statements straight from the source.  There was one small bit of humor in an otherwise very serious discussion, when Falk said,

“I’m a dinosaur, and I want to be a dinosaur, but I don’t want to be extinct.”

I wish Falk and his client, Toney Douglas, luck in the upcoming draft.  I saw Toney play this past season, and I agree, he will probably not be that high of a pick, but Toney should have a very successful NBA career.

You may hear the interview in its entirety, below.

Have anything to add or information about a change? Email me.

Bill Neff

Neff recently stated that Jonny Flynn would be signing with Leon Rose of CAA after being told to do so by Lebron James (a Rose client).  In fact, Neff said that Arn Tellem of WMG was hot on Flynn, but that Lebron’s testimonial would be enough to persuade Flynn to sign Rose.  His statement was true.  Yesterday, Flynn announced that he is signing with Rose and CAA.

Neff was not done talking, though.  He also said that Eric Devendorf will sign with Chris Luchey of CGL Sports, who represents Wilson Chandler.  The article says that the agent is Chris Grier-Lukie and that he represents Tyson Chandler.  I believe that those names were an error.  Correct me if I am wrong.

Draft Express has done a great job of compiling information thus far, and will continue to provide valuable nuggets of knowledge leading up to the 2009 NBA Draft.  I have extracted the confirmed underclassmen and senior agent signings from the web site:

• Andy Miller (ASM Sports) – B.J. Mullens, Daniel Hackett
• Brad Ames (Priority) – Ben Woodside (good write-up on Woodside here)
• Brian Elfus (Elfus & Siegel Management) – Connor Atchley
• Chris Emens (Octagon) – Lee Cummard
• Dan Fegan (BEST) – Earl Clark
• Dan Tobin (WMG) – K.C. Rivers, Aaron Jackson, James Johnson
• David Bauman (DB Hoops Management) – Josh Heytvelt
• Keith Glass – Luke Nevill, A.J. Abrams
• Lance Young (Octagon) – Lester Hudson
• Leon Rose (CAA) – Nando De Colo
• Mark Bartelstein (Priority) – Jeremy Pargo, Micah Downs
• Michael Siegel (Elfus & Siegel Management) – Ahmad Nivins

Right off the bat, it looks like WMG is racking it up again.  Interesting to note that it is Dan Tobin making big moves with the underclassmen instead of Arn Tellem or B.J. Armstrong.  Priority has some nice names, as does Octagon.

“Scott Boras was dynamic. He came, flew halfway across the world – LA to Philly – and … gave like a four, five hour presentation in my dorm room. He came up, and very compellingly, he made the argument that I was an Ivy League engineer, and the teams need to compensate me for the lost wages.

He added all these other bells and whistles. Basically, the number he came up with was about three times the value of my draft slot, outside all these other calculations. So I thought it was a great argument, and I thought it was fascinating, but my personality was more geared to sort of an Arn Tellem, who was brilliant and very positive. … He still has that bulldog side to him, he can get it done. But he has a lot of respect and he doesn’t really burn any bridges.

Tellem came to Philly, and the thing that was so cool about him is he took me to Lee’s Hoagie House. That’s where he took me. He didn’t take me to some fancy Italian spot.”

For some reason, I don’t believe that John Schuerholz holds the same feelings for Tellem.