Meyerson began his career as a tennis agent at ProServ in 1987 alongside Donald Dell (who is now a part of Lagardère Unlimited).  Early in his career, Meyerson represented some of the best in the game of tennis.  Stefan Edberg, Jimmy Connors, and Yannick Noah were all represented by the team of Meyerson and Dell.  After ProServ, Meyerson worked at MBD and MS Consulting prior to founding Sports Advisor Services in Miami, Florida in 1997.  He then became President of SFX’s tennis division in 1999.  In 2006, Meyerson became a part of Blue Equity, LLC (BEST) and was named President of Lagardère Unlimited Tennis when BEST was acquired by the conglomerate.

Meyerson’s clients loved him, which is the best sign of a great agent.  This is what Andy Roddick tweeted earlier today:

Ken. I love you and miss you I will be forever grateful for your faith&loyalty You will forever be my brother.. As always “thanks meyerson”

RIP Ken Meyerson, President of Lagardère Unlimited Tennis from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

It is noted that operating a sports agency the likes of what CAA maintains along with paying its heavyweight agents costs a lot of money, but the investment is supposedly about an exit strategy for CAA’s current owners.

Lourd has always said he wanted to move to NYC as soon as his daughter with Carrie Fisher turns age 18, which she does this year, and to leave the agency biz for the corporate world. Huvane has always talked about wanting to put his own life before his clients’ in the not-so-distant future, and the ever-partying agent thinks that time is near. O’Connor has been complaining about how tired he is of the agency business and its constant demands. Lovett, whom many have thought might be a lifer in the tenpercent biz, has pressing financial needs because of his still-not-final divorce and is blamed by his partners for over-spending and thus over-extending CAA’s financial resources. (Expanding into the sports biz was his idea because he hero-worshipped IMG founder Mark McCormack.)

Not too long ago, I reported that big time CAA baseball agent, Casey Close, might be leaving CAA at the end of his current contract with the company in order to start his own practice or work alongside NBA agent, David Falk.  If the major owners end up leaving the company, how will it affect the rest of the CAA landscape?  Will there be a vacuum for power?  Will Casey Close leave?  May other big name agents leave?

$200 Million Investment In Creative Artists Agency? from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

IMG is not alone in this area.  In fact, Blue Entertainment Sports Television (the company that was recently sold to Lagardere) also does a lot of business outside of the representation of professional athletes.  Blue Entertainment Sports Television, also known as BEST, was owned by a private investment firm, Blue Equity.  The chairman and managing partner of that company is Jonathan Blue.  And one thing Blue wants the world to know is that he is not a sports agent.

In a presentation given to the Association for Corporate Growth in Kentucky, Blue opened with the following statement:

“I’m not a sports agent. I never was.”

It is not just Blue that is trying to shed that limiting phrase from what is associated with his name.  When I talk to executives at some of the largest “agencies”, a majority of them want to emphasize to me that when I report on their companies, I should talk about not only what they do in the athlete representation world, but their other areas of business as well.  And then there are those who also can’t stand the “sports agent” phrase to begin with.  As you may already know, I am one of those people.

But did you know that before BEST was sold, only one-third of its revenues came from the representation of athletes?  The majority of its revenues come from a combination of selling rights to events, managing events, and marketing opportunities.  And that makes sense.  Think about the small percentages that agents take on the contracts negotiated for their clients.  Some leagues limit the commission (NFL, NBA), but others like the MLB and NHL will force you out of being competitive if you charge any more than 5%.  If you don’t have a very successful client, the small percentage on their contracts won’t allow you to stay alive.  So many agencies generate revenues in other fashions.

Agencies Not Only Representing Athletes from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

It was not all that long ago that IMG was known for its Client Management division, which included many talented athletes not named Tiger Woods.  Jonathan Blue was focused on investing in non-sports businesses and Creative Artists Agency (CAA) was known as one of the best Entertainment agencies in the world.  Today, IMG only manages athletes in individual sports (i.e. tennis and golf), while Blue Entertainment Sports Television (BEST) and CAA are two of the largest athlete representation firms in existence.  CAA represents LeBron James, Peyton Manning, and Ryan Howard. BEST represents John Wall, Reggie Bush, and Chris Johnson.  While CAA has a slightly better roster of talent at the moment, BEST may make a push to take over the top spot.  Lagardere Unlimited, a large French talent-management company, is expected to buy BEST in the near future, which may create a new World War between mega worldwide sports and entertainment agencies.

Meanwhile, Casey Wasserman’s Wasserman Media Group (WMG), is taking notice, but it is doubtful that the company fears the change in the sports agency landscape.  Year after year, WMG’s Arn Tellem defies all odds by continuing to manage clients in the double digits in both basketball and baseball, while finding the time to serve on the Board of Directors for a couple of basketball-related philanthropic events and also write a weekly column for the Huffington Post.

WMG does not represent football players.  CAA, through Tom Condon and Ben Dogra have the most successful football agency, and it is only a division of a larger agency.  It is very rare for an agency to involve itself in another sport in conjunction with a practice in football.  CAA does it, as does BEST, Octagon, and Mark Bartelstein’s Priority Sports, but Drew Rosenhaus and David Dunn of Athletes First are not venturing outside of football any time soon (although Dunn does represent some coaches).

What can be concluded?

1. It is very difficult to manage athletes in more than one sport, especially when the agency has a football division.
2. WMG and Arn Tellem will survive no matter how much other companies grow through acquisitions.
3. CAA’s utter dominance may be threatened.

Roughly a year ago, I suggested that CAA’s dominance may be threatened by a merger.  At that point in time, I made that assumption based on the merger of Endeavor and William Morris Agency.  I presumed that the new mega-agency would develop a sports practice to rival CAA.  Fortunately for CAA and the rest of the industry, that new practice never took shape.  Instead of WME, CAA needs to take note of the potential buy out of BEST by Lagardere.

State Of The Sports Agent Industry from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Odell McCants is representing Cousins’ former teammate at Kentucky, Patrick Patterson.  While Odell doesn’t have a huge Twitter presence, at least he is following myself and SportsAgentBlog.com (the small things that put a smile on my face).  McCants also doesn’t have much of a website.  McCants Sports Management looks like it will be powered by WordPress, but thats all I can gather from the blank page.  Patterson is McCants’ first NBA client – it’s not bad when your first professional client is a projected lottery pick.  McCants has Patterson working out at St. Vincent Sports Performance in Indianapolis.  Hopefully, for McCants’ sake, he keeps Patterson as far away from other hawking agents as possible.  I find it very interesting how Coach Cal’s boys have all gone in different directions with agents, and that none of them signed with Leon Rose (Daniel Orton signed with Raymond Brothers).

Kim Grillier works for a large company in Blue Equity Sports Television.  It’s easy to find yourself hidden when you are working with Dan Fegan, Donald Dell, and Bill Strickland.  That said, Grillier is about to make a name for himself.  Along with serving as the secondary agent for Corey Brewer, Grillier will now be the primary agent for Willie Warren, who is a player that would have been a sure-fire lottery pick had he left Oklahoma last year, after his freshman season.  I still believe that Willie will be a first round pick, but probably not in the lottery selections.  Jonathan Blue (Chairman and Managing Director of Blue Equity) has been quoted in the past saying that Kim Grillier is one of the great young up-and-coming agents.  Prior to joining BEST, Grillier had plenty of experience working for Fred Slaughter Management Group and the former powerhouse named CSMG Sports.  With Henry Thomas (who is now at CAA) at CSMG, Grillier was instrumental in recruiting decent players named Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.  Grillier did not easily part ways with Thomas, however.  In 2008, Grillier  filed a lawsuit against Henry Thomas, claiming that he was never paid commissions for helping Thomas recruit players like Wade and Bosh.  In June 2009, the judge in the case ordered that the case go to arbitration.  That order, which is an interesting read in itself, is embedded below.

Grillier v. CSMG Sports

NBA Draft Virgins: Odell McCants & Kim Grillier from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Since the end of this past college basketball season, the biggest draft question did not focus on whether someone would keep his name in the draft pool.  Instead, it was on who the future #1 overall pick, John Wall, would select as his representation leading up to the draft.  That person will pick up the obligation of trying to sign Wall to a team over the assigned slot value ($4,286,900 for the #1 overall pick this year) and find Wall endorsement deals, including the always popular shoe deal.  I had heard many rumors about who John Wall would sign with.  I heard that CAA and Leon Rose had the best chance at locking him up (Leon’s close connection to Coach Cal wasn’t enough), but that Happy Walters was a darkhorse, who might have had an inside track at Wall.  Neither ended up signing him.  Instead, it was announced yesterday that Wall has chosen Dan Fegan, who recently joined the basketball team at BEST (Blue Equity Sports Television), which has been rumored to be in the process of being bought out by a French company called Lagardère.  Fegan and BEST will handle Wall’s team contract and also co-represent him with another agency for marketing purposes.

Fegan already has quite a list of clients.  His clients include, Nene, Nick Calathes, Matt Carroll, Earl Clark, Juan Dixon, Melvin Ely, Reggie Evans, Drew Gooden, Zendon Hamilton, Al Harrington, Jarvis Hayes, Jrue Holiday, Kris Humphries, Yi Jianlian, Dermarr Johnson, Coby Karl, Matthew Knight, Shawn Marion, Troy Murphy, Eduardo Najera, Ruben Patterson, Jason Richardson, Ricky Rubio, Joe Smith, Jason Terry, Anderson Varejao, Von Wafer, Earl Watson, and now, John Wall.  A Fegan celebration would be a fun gathering to attend.

When you think of the current most prominent basketball agents, you probably think of Arn Tellem, Leon Rose, Dan Fegan, Bill Duffy, Jeff Schwartz, and Rob Pelinka.  But in what order?  Does the signing of John Wall change where Fegan ranks?

John Wall Signs With Dan Fegan And BEST from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Yesterday, I received word that Joel Segal of Blue Equity Sports Television (BEST) has signed Brandon Graham and Brandon Minor.

Both players just finished their senior seasons with the University of Michigan football team.  A 5-7 win/loss record is no flashy way to exit college football, but at least it was a better record than they boasted in 2008 (3-9).  The Rich Rod era is not off to the best of starts.

Anyway, with Michigan not headed to a bowl game, Graham and Minor are permitted to officially select their agents, and apparently they decided to stay blue, signing with Blue Equity and Joel Segal.

Graham (who has already committed to playing in the Senior Bowl) has recorded 29.5 career sacks and 56 career tackles for a loss as a Wolverine, and impressively had 10.5 sacks in 12 games played in 2009.  Minor (currently committed to play in the Shrine Game) led Michigan in rushing in 2008 and 2009.  This year he racked up 502 yards on 96 attempts.  Minor scores 8 touchdowns out of those 96 touches.  NFLDraftScout.com ranks Graham as the best outside linebacker in the country, and a future first round pick.  The site claims that Minor is the 7th best running back available and that he will be taken off the board in the 4th or 5th round.  Any agency would be ecstatic about having the chance to represent either of the former Wolverines.

So how did Joel Segal land both of the future draft picks?  That is actually a very interesting story.  Segal had to survive a vetting process handed by a couple of Jewish Michigan undergrad students: Jordan Klein and a kid with the last name Sillman.  Graham and Minor spend the Jewish Holidays with the two Jewish students.  Maybe they would enjoy reading my Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up column.

Neil Stratton of InsideTheLeague.com received a much lengthier explanation than I did on how it all went down.  Here are is my synopsis:

• The players asked Klein and Sillman to find them the agents who would be the best fit.  Criteria = track record, previous contracts, their reputations around the league, and their chemistry with the player.
• Klein and Sillman did not get paid to help out the players.
• Agencies contacted included Athletes First, Priority Sports, BEST and the Tollners.  Agencies researched = Rosenhaus Sports and CAA.
• The players themselves only met with 3 agencies – Joel Segal of BEST, Jeremiah Donati of Steinberg Sports, and Lamont Smith of All-Pro Sports (which was essentially done as a favor to Graham’s father).
• Why BEST and Joel Segal won out – It was small enough where the players would not get overlooked, but had the same resources as the biggest firms.
• Klein and Sillman are now interviewing financial planners for the players.

Brandon Graham And Brandon Minor Put Their Trust In A Couple Of Friends from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

• Aaron Curry, LB, Seattle Seahawks (4th overall pick) – Octagon
• Andre Smith, T, Cincinnati Bengals (6th overall pick) – GMG Sports (Alvin Keels)
• Eugene Monroe, T, Jacksonville Jaguars (8th overall pick) – 320 Sports
• B.J. Raji, DL, Green Bay Packers (9th overall pick) – Athletes First
• Michael Crabtree, WR, San Francisco 49ers (10th overall pick) – Maximum Sports (Eugene Parker)
• Aaron Maybin, DE, Buffalo Bills (11th overall pick) – BEST (Blue Equity)

Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the company with the most amount of first-round selections (9), has all of its clients in camp with Malcolm Jenkins putting pen to paper on a 5-year, $19 million deal.  While the rest of the agencies listed are hoping to get exorbitant contracts for their clients, to use the figures in their recruitment packages for the 2010 class of draft-eligible players, CAA can boast that not only did the company have the highest number of first-round picks, but got them all signed before other big companies like Athletes First and Octagon, small companies with 1 first-round pick like 320 Sports, and signed their boys for good money.  You better believe that Todd France of FAAM will be using the same strategy on the recruitment trail over the next year.

Which method will win out?  The agents who have their clients holdout/threaten to sit out a year well into training camp, or those who get their boys signed for good money and get their boys into camp before the middle of August?

NFL Agent Recruitment Strategy from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Lon Rosen

One of the best (pun intended) at gobbling up superstar employees/agencies in order to expand its own operations is BEST (Blue Entertainment Sports Television).  And BEST, an entity of Blue Equity, has hired Rosen and given him the position of Executive Vice President.

Rosen will bring along with him many extremely popular retired athletes, current announcers, and other celebrities from sports and entertainment that he managed at WMA.  BEST is obviously not content with being in CAA’s, WMG’s, or Octagon’s shadows.  The company continues to grow.

BEST Acquires The Services Of Lon Rosen from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

When people think about agents, they often think: football (Rosenhaus), baseball (Boras), basketball (Falk/Tellem), hockey (who cares?).  Meanwhile, CAA, with its prominent agents (Condon, Dogra, Close, Brisson, Barry, Rose…) really run the sports agent industry.  Funny thing is, CAA is an entertainment agency that only recently entered into the space of sports.  Hold onto that thought.

On July 16, 2007 (almost 2 years ago), I wrote a piece titled, An Industry Of Conglomerates.  Since then, IMG has completely removed itself from representing athletes other than the world’s best tennis and golf players.  The New Guard consists of CAA, WMG, and BEST (the sports and entertainment wing of Blue Equity).  It does seem as though the door has been closed for a while on potential conglomerates.

What will the future hold?  Will two major entities like a Rosenhaus and Boras ever team up to battle against the New Guard?  Or will other competitors of CAA in the entertainment space pick up on CAA’s business model and join forces to compete with Creative Artists Agency?  Could we ever see a company like Endeavor enter the world of sports.  May it possibly come about after a potential merger between Endeavor and another massive entertainment agency?

Over the past few months, I have heard many rumors about the potential merger of Endeavor and William Morris Agency (WMA).  The two companies are rivals (CAA is also a rival), but their merger would put over $300 million in under one entity (fun for its accountants!).  This new company, if created, would have all of the television and entertainment connections as CAA (if not more), and would be in a situation to take a huge chunk of the money out there in the world of sports.

If this new merged company were to create an athlete representation division, who would run it?  Would they hire the best, brightest, and most ambitious young minds who have shown a proclivity for success or would they model the division after CAA’s, prying some of the most respected names in the industry from other companies and paying top dollar salaries for their services?  Maybe it will be a mixture of the two.

The character Ari Gold on Entourage is based on Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel.  Might we see Emanuel/Gold representing sports clients in the future?

Could CAA’s Dominance Be Threatened By A Merger? from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules