Marc Cornstein

But I digress.  Cornstein was recently interviewed by amNewYork about his life as an agent.  Here are some of the parts of the interview that interested me the most.

What do you do for the players?
The thing most closely associated with sports agents is contract negotiation, or finding a new team if you’re dealing with a free agent. You deal with draft eligibility too. We help with draft planning, estate planning, marketing and endorsements. We actually do anything aside from coaching — finding a pediatrician, a car, anything.

What’s the hardest thing about being an agent?
Recruiting is always tough. It is so competitive. There’s a lot of competition that will stop at nothing. You can be really good, but if you don’t have clients you can’t go anywhere.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever had to do for a client?
We’ve had to ship pretty big and potentially dangerous dogs overseas. We once had a case when a player asked us to go spread rose petals all over his girlfriend’s apartment.

Ever since I realized I would not be the ‘shining star’ on the court as I always wanted to be (rather a warm body on the bench), I have wanted to become a ‘Sports Agent.’ If Jerry Maguire taught us anything, it is that being a sports agent is cool. Well, maybe that’s only partially true.

So what’s my opinion on becoming a sports agent? Perception is sometimes different than reality.

Many people on the ‘outside,’ believe that it is all about money, fame, big-time negotiations, and guest appearances at pro sidelines, but in actuality it is more so about the core-fundamentals of both business and law. You are a business person.

It’s tough to get into this business – I’ve sent emails, letters, networked, reverse-networked, you name it, and have received a low yield of replies. For someone who has tossed around the idea of a career in sports more times than TO (Terrell Owens) has jumped teams, I have concluded one thing: You must provide some type of value to get in and stay in this business. If you can’t do something for someone, then they really don’t want you.

It’s hard to hear, but it’s true.

Some people are just not cut out for this role in the sports or even entertainment industry – you must have something driving you, a voice, a calling, a passion, compelling you to get up each and every morning and fight for your beliefs and most importantly your client. I prefer to refer to a sports agent as an Advocate – you are the voice that prevails among owners, GM’s, and a slue of bad people in this world.

It may seem ‘holistic,’ and it quite possibly could be, but I believe in strong values and a stronger proposition.

If you’re thinking about exploring the route of becoming a sports agent, just remember, you must love to network, have a passion for competition, and have a greater sense of urgency to connect with others, both at a professional and a personal level.

It’s easy to spot a fake, so stay true to who you are; don’t back down from anyone or anything – the right opportunities will arise if you are persistent and patient.

]]> http://www.sportsagentblog.com/2010/03/17/a-newcomers-perspective-part-i-how-to-break-into-the-industry-%e2%80%93-and-know-it%e2%80%99s-not-for-me/feed/ 1 http://www.sportsagentblog.com/2010/03/10/ranking-the-sports-agent-attorneys/ http://www.sportsagentblog.com/2010/03/10/ranking-the-sports-agent-attorneys/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:00:56 +0000 Darren Heitner http://www.sportsagentblog.com/?p=9390 While no state and no players’ association requires an agent to be an attorney in order to become a licensed sports agent (the NFL does require that the person have a postgraduate degree, though), many agents did go to law school, and quite a few have passed at least one state Bar Exam.  There are many benefits of having a legal education, or at least employing someone who has gone through the three years of learning things like Contracts, Negotiations, Legal Drafting, etc.

On September 4, 2008, I decided to take a look at the law schools that some of the industry’s best have attended in the past.  This week, BitterLawyer.com decided to take the task one step forward, ranking the top 11 agents who have gone to law school.  I have to thank the website for mentioning my name and this site in their article.

Ranked at the top of the list is Drew Rosenhaus, who went to Duke University School of Law.  He is followed by Scott Boras, who graduated from University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law.  Up next are the two men behind CAA Football (Tom Condon – University of Baltimore and Ben Dogra – St. Louis University Law School).  Rounding out the top 5 is Arn Tellem, who went to University of Michigan Law School.

The comments in the post make note that most of the agents listed went to a TTT.  UrbanDictionary.com sheds some light on what TTT means (I have changed it around a bit to make it appropriate for this site).

Third tier toilet. Generally used as a pejorative term for law schools that are not prestigious, aka Top 14 law schools. To certain people, a law school is either a TTT or a Top 14 school, there is no in-between.

Vanderbilt Law School is ranked #17 according the US News and World Report, but it is still a TTT because it isn’t in the Top 14; it doesn’t matter how close a school’s ranking is to the top 14, if it is not in the Top 14, it is automatically a TTT.

I wouldn’t look too far into why many successful agents did not go to a Top 14 law school.  The only thing I would say is something I have always believed in – Going to a top school may open up some doors that would not normally exist; however, going to a top school does not guarantee success.  And TTT schools have produced MANY successful people.

I make it a point in every initial conversation with a potential client, to tell them that I am not in the business of making promises.  When a current client asks me what the entity on the opposite side of the bargaining table will come back with as an offer, or if he will come to us with an offer at all, I always tell him that I am not a fortune teller.  I will do all the work necessary to put my clients in the best situations possible, but I cannot predict the future, nor can I ultimately guarantee success.  There are too many factors out of my control, including the objective talent of the athlete and subjective wants, needs, and thoughts of scouts, coaches, and executives, that making predictions or guarantees is downright stupid and unethical.

But agents do it…over and over again.  Because my profession is so competitive and cutthroat, agents, especially newcomers, find that they have to make promises to athletes just so that they can be considered in the running as someone who may be hired.  There are two major problems with this tactic: 1) The agent does not have the player’s best interests in mind.  By promising the world to a player when the world is not really available, the agent is not fulfilling his fiduciary duty to be honest to his client. 2) Short-sidedness.

In any Sport Marketing class, students will be taught the value of Relationship Marketing over Database Marketing.  Database Marketing is concerned with the simple one-time transaction while there is short-term interest in the consumer.  Relationship Marketing refers to a long-term and mutually beneficial arrangement wherein both the seller and consumer focus on value enhancement with the goal of providing a more satisfying exchange. This approach attempts to transcend the simple purchase-exchange process with the customer to make more meaningful and richer contact by providing a more holistic, personalized purchase, and use the consumption experience to create stronger ties.  It is about personal, long-term relationships.

How do those marketing terms apply?  While there is not technically a buyer and seller in the principal/agent relationship between a sports agent and an athlete, upon the agent’s recruitment of an athlete, it really does seem like the agent is selling his product (services) to the athlete (eventual buyer).  Many agents do not think long-term and will do whatever is necessary (including making promises) in order to get that one big client.  If that agent happens to follow through on those promises (often by chance), then congratulations to him.  If he doesn’t, that short-sidedness should lead him right out of the industry.  If it doesn’t, then the competition is losing out on an opportunity to hold something against another agent in the future recruitment of athletes.

Instead of that approach, agents should focus on the relationship building, which means that false promises and short-sidedness must be thrown out of the window.  With the ultimate concern being the well-being of the player and the personal relationship created, agents would focus on creating value to the player instead of primarily value to himself.

I like this particular paragraph by Abbott:

Anyone who claims to know now what will happen then is lying. An honest agent will promise to try. An honest agent will show you what they have done in the past. But an honest agent will not promise ideal results, because that’s impossible.

Steve Herz

More than three dozen suspected thieves have been cleaning out Manhattan health clubs, busting locks and snatching cash and valuables as victims work out, the NYPD says.

Victims include sports agent Steve Herz, who reps Mets GM Omar Minaya and whose $7,000 Panerai diving watch was swiped from the Reebok Sports Club on Columbus Avenue in May. [NYPost.com]

Good luck getting that watch back!  By the way, readers, IF Management has a very impressive list of News & Entertainment and Sports Broadcasting & Marketing clients.  Not all agents restrict themselves to representing professional athletes.  If you want to look into a different type of agency, I suggest taking a peek at IF Management’s website.

Sports agent Alan Nero, formerly of CSMG and currently with Octagon Baseball, had a few quotes in an MLB.com article concerning arbitration.  He stated,

“Arbitration gives us the opportunity to compare people based on statistical comparables. Free agency is free enterprise. It’s based on the sole theory of economics, which is supply and demand. If there’s not enough demand, your value goes down. So [for those players], it would be more to their benefit to be statistically compared to other players, rather than be in an economic system that’s based on demand.

Marvin Miller was a genius. He knew that if he granted free agency to the clubs, that theory of economics would crush the marketplace. But when you have players that are protected by a system in which they have to be paid like comparable players, it gives them the metrics of salary increases that create a platform when they become free agents, and it lightens the supply of free agents, so that supply and demand is in their benefit. I think Marvin will prevail.”

Nero seems like a big fan of the current system of arbitration.  And he should be!  An arbitrator may not set the arbitration eligible player’s salary below 20% under what he received the year before.  At the same time, there is no proscribed ceiling.  Thus, a team cannot propose a figure below $4 million on a player who received $5 million last year, yet the player can counter by saying he is worth $10 million or more.

Statistics-based negotiations also take a lot of subjectivity out of the equation.  That said, there is much subjectivity in putting weights on different values.  What is more important, a pitcher’s K/BB ratio or his ERA?  That same question persists in free-agency; however, there are many other variables involved that may not be as important in an arbitration setting.

A few other important notes in the MLB.com article: 1) Players and teams can invest up to $100,000+ dollars just on the preparation and actual arbitration appearance, and 2) It is awkward to make players have to sit through hearing about their flaws.  Point #2 is actually one of the reasons I, and former CFL player Doug Brown, believe agents are necessary for players.

It is difficult to deem anything involving Gilbert Arenas as a surprise anymore. However, storing guns in his locker and then being accused of drawing a weapon on teammate Javaris Crittenton during an alleged altercation over a gambling debt certainly is not only surprising, but alarming. With David Stern electing to suspend Arenas’ indefinitely without pay and criminal investigations still pending, the assumption, unfortunately, is that the worst is yet to come for Gilbert.

Suspensions regarding off the court infractions have typically been levied upon completion of criminal investigations, however this situation is extremely unique. With Arenas’ public comments, lack of any form of contrition and utter mockery of the situation with his “finger pistols” (pictured right) during introductions prior to Tuesday’s game, it is apparent that David Stern had seen enough. Wednesday Stern opted to suspend Arenas’ indefinitely pending completion of those investigations with additional sanctions likely. Stern’s statement even ominously included that the situation “will ultimately result in a substantial suspension, and perhaps worse”.

Off the court, Arenas now needs to turn his attention to the legal issues he faces. The strict gun laws of Washington DC, coupled with the fact that Arenas’ guns are not registered in DC but in Virginia where he resides, make severe fines and even jail time a legitimate possibility. While the situation is very unique, some elements are similar and will surely draw comparisons to the Plaxico Burress case, which unfortunately did end with jail time for Burress.

Gilbert Arenas does not retain the services of any agent or agency. In fact, Gilbert negotiated his own 6-year $111 million deal personally with the Wizards late owner, Abe Pollin. Surely, professional guidance in handling the situation from the start would have helped Arenas’ immensely. His initial denial, lack of any remorse, and attempt at chalking it up to a locker room prank, certainly exacerbated the situation and could have all been avoided.

Ultimately the remaining approximately $80 million of that contract may very well be in jeopardy. Depending on the duration of his suspension and potential charges he may face, the Washington Wizards would have the right to seek termination of his contract. As a dismantling of the Wizards roster, which has been underachieving this season has already been discussed, this unfortunately would be an avenue for the Wizards to eliminate their long term and immense monetary obligations to Arenas.

Arenas has long had the reputation of being a quirky, goofy guy. He said and did what he pleased seemingly not concerned with what other people thought. Sadly, those very qualities that made him an appealing athlete seem to have had a negative impact on the course of this unfortunate situation, and may have even been the cause.

Should someone who wants to be a sports agent go to law school?  Sure, if you have the time and finances to do so.  But if not, you will need a quick crash course on legal documents.  Whether or not you go to law school, Peter Carfagna’s Representing the Professional Athlete, is something that EVERYBODY looking to break into the sports agent industry should read.  It discusses all of the topics mentioned above.

Peter Carfagna is a professor at Harvard Law School.  In Spring 2010, Carfagna will teach the popular Sports and the Law: Representing the Professional Athlete class, which is really a live in-person discussion of all of the items covered in his book, Representing the Professional Athlete.  For a fraction of the cost of his Harvard course, you can gain a wealth of the knowledge that Carfagna exposes to his students during the semester.

I really enjoy Representing the Professional Athlete, because it does not only touch on negotiating skills, like many other books of this genre.  Instead, it does its due diligence in covering negotiation, but also fully explores the world of drafting and litigating agreements in the context of representation of professional athletes.  Another very helpful section deals with employment contracts between agencies and its agents.  It gives some helpful reminders about the importance of including particular clauses, like the very important non-competition paragraph.

At 146 pages (including hypotheticals for the reader to work out), Representing the Professional Athlete is an extremely easy read; however, you may find that you will be taking plenty of notes as you turn the pages.  The text is very applicable for CEOs of mega-agencies or the current intern who hopes to one day have an entry level job at one of those big name agencies.

Nick Brockmeyer also started his agency when he was a student.  In his case, he started Platinum Sports & Entertainment Management as a 3L (final year of law school) at St. Louis University School of Law.  In October 2008, Brockmeyer joined forces with Scott Casanover of MAC Sports & Entertainment.  We had interviewed Mr. Casanover as a part of our Interview with the Agent feature.  We also covered the merger on SportsAgentBlog.com.

In this edition of Ask The Expert, which we host in conjunction with AccessAthletes, Nick is very gracious to answer our ten questions, as he just got back from working the busy MLB Winter Meetings.

Questions and Answers

(1) What is the process like when one of your clients gets added to a 40-man roster? Run us through what calls and arrangements you had to make on behalf of Estarlin de los Santos when he was recently added to the 40 man roster by the Minnesota Twins.

This can happen in different ways. I have had it happen where a guy that is not on the 40 gets called up to MLB during the middle of a season and makes the 25 man and 40 man on the same day. I would say this requires a little more work than a guy simply being added to a 40 man during the off-season. Kenneth Powell (an owner and agent at Platinum Sports) handles all of our Latin American clients, so he was the main guy dealing with the Estarlin de los Santos situation. Estarlin’s addition to the 40 was kind of a surprise to us to be honest (a pleasant surprise). We also signed Juan Abreu (minor league free agent with KC Royals) to an MLB contract with the Atlanta Braves that same day. The main things you have to worry about are making sure they fill out their paperwork for pension plan, insurance, 401K, etc. If they get called up in the middle of the season then you have to help them with transitioning into the life of a MLB player in a very short time period (less than 24 hours). This may include travel, lodging, car movers, apartment rentals (on both ends), and of course the agent trying to make it to the player’s MLB debut if possible.

(2) When your minor league clients get discouraged, what sort of things do you tell them to reassure them that they have a chance of making a 40 man roster?

This is a tough one. I am not a coach, counselor, or psychiatrist. However, sometimes being an agent requires you to kind of play that role. You just have to instill positive ideas and thoughts in the player and explain to him that minor league baseball is a long process. I had that situation last month with a couple of guys that we really thought had a good shot at making a 40 did not get that call they were looking for. At that point you just reassure them that maybe they will get picked up in the Rule 5 draft in December. The bad part is that the Rule 5 draft is talked about by all minor league players hoping to someday make it to a MLB roster, but in reality I bet less than 1% of all professional baseball players are ever effected by it. I mainly try to demonstrate to them through examples I have encountered with past players that they can still make it to a 40 and the 25 the following season and tell them stories about clients I represent who went through this before them and eventually made it.

(3) How many minor league players did you have to represent before you had one make a 40-man roster?

When you are starting an agency from scratch like I did you can’t be too picky at first. You realize that many of your first clients will probably never make it to MLB. However, you need some clients in order to sell yourself and your agency to future clients. Trying to get a client and explaining to them that you represent “zero” or “one” client makes for a hard sell. So, I understood that many, if not all, of my initial clients may not ever make it to MLB. I ended up getting kind of lucky though. Of my first five clients I signed back in 2004, 2 have made it to MLB (one of them is going to be starting his 4th year in MLB in 2010). I think I kind of beat the odds on this topic.

(4) Is it possible to make a profit representing minor league players?

I would say no and yes…it depends on if you represented them through the draft and how high they were selected. If you pick up a guy who is just in the minors then the answer would be no. You may make a few dollars off endorsement deals (baseball cards, equipment, etc.) for you and your client, but you can’t take any of his salary (not that there is much to take anyway). If you advise a guy through the draft and then represent him through the minors then you could count that draft money. Kind of a tricky question because I don’t know if you can count the draft money you make as making money on a minor league player for the sake of answering this question.

(5) How do you go about recruiting players to advise for the draft?

We represent players from all over the US, Latin America, Australia, and the Netherlands. When it comes to the draft we have represented guys from coast to coast. Our main strategy is geographically based recruiting. With us being the largest baseball agency in the state of Missouri and very few competitors in bordering states we really focus on the Midwest. There is a lot of baseball talent in the Midwest. We figure if we can beat the other agencies on the Midwest players that they can have their east and west coast players and we will do just fine. We also find that we can relate to the players and their families more in the Midwest. It is easier to go see them more often from a traveling standpoint. Finally, when we get in with many of the Midwest schools it kind of creates a pipeline effect. If we have advised the past five players that came out of College “X” it is very likely we will get the next five players as well out of that same school.

(6) What services do you offer potential advising clients?  What do you offer that other agencies do not provide?

I believe that most agencies are offering the same services for the most part. Having said tha,t a client should pick an agent/advisor based on who they think they could get along with best and do business with. Agencies will phrase their “services” in different ways, but at the end of the day you are usually getting the same services. We offer the following services:

Contract Negotiation
Endorsements
Legal Counsel (4 lawyers on our staff)
Marketing
Equipment Contracts
Draft Preparation
Career Development/Guidance
Salary Arbitration
Financial Planning
Taxes
Personal Training

In addition we buy our player’s equipment for them. I would say the thing that sets us apart is the personal attention our players get from us. We tell players that they can go to a bigger agency, but they may end up being a small fish in a big pond. With Platinum Sports we give each player the personal attention they deserve.

(7) How often do you travel during the season to watch your players perform?  Do you go to Florida and Arizona to check on your players during Spring Training?

The entire company travels to Florida and Arizona for most of the month of March. I always tell people that during the off-season our players are living throughout the world. During the season they could be in any of the fifty states. During March they are all corralled in two states (FL and AZ). During March we get to see every single player in our company. In Arizona we operate out of a centrally located hotel. In Florida we spend 2-3 days in each town and then move to the next town. March involves a great amount of planning for our company. We are orchestrating fifty player meetings in two states with eight agents over a one month period.

During the season we try to see the players as much as we can. We try to make all the all star games we have players in as well as MLB debuts. We see all of our MLB players that come through St. Louis to play the Cardinals. We also go see players if the trip makes sense logistically (example would be two players playing against each other within five hour drive).

(8) Do you have any players playing in the Caribbean Winter Leagues?  How would you rank the leagues and how much involvement do you have in getting your players signed with those clubs?

We do not have any American players playing in Winter Leagues this year. We may be sending a guy down on a short contract next week, but that has not been finalized yet. This is probably the first year we don’t have an American player playing winter ball. We have placed players in the past in Dominican, Venezuela, and Mexico. We are usually very involved with that process for our American players.

On the flip side, we have probably ten of our latin players playing winter ball in their respective countries this year (and every year).

(9) Are you exclusive with a particular offseason trainer?  Do you pay for the cost of sending your players to a trainer?  Explain the process.

We are not exclusive with a particular offseason trainer. We do use Jason Rulo at Pinnacle Personal Performance Training a lot though. Jason is an old college friend of mine that has worked with the Yankees and several MLB players. Some of our players use him if they are based in St. Louis. For our non-St. Louis players Jason still generates workout plans for them if they desire. We have also worked with numerous other trainers throughout the country depending on the player’s needs and location. A big issue is the teams will often send the players home for the offseason with a generic workout for “pitchers”. The problem with this is that not all pitchers should be doing the same workout. Some need to gain weight, some need to lose weight, etc. That is where Jason comes into play. He finds out what the goals of the player are and generates a workout plan specifically for the player and his needs.

(10) Since agents are not able to charge their clients any fee on a minimum salary contract, how do you make money once your clients first make the big leagues?

Simple answer, you don’t! I remember when one of my players reached MLB. I went out to San Diego during his first week in “the bigs”. We were at dinner and he said “I’m glad I can finally start paying you for your work now”. That was in 2007 and I still cannot legally accept payment from him and he has been in MLB 2007, 2008, 2009, and will be again in 2010. You can make money off of them through endorsement contracts you negotiate for them and things along those lines, but the answer to your question is “you don’t!”.

We would like to thank Nick Brockmeyer for participating in this edition of the Ask The Expert Series. If you have any questions for Nick, you can email him at nbrockmeyer@psemagents.com. If you are a sports professional or professional athlete and would like to participate in the Ask The Expert Series, please contact Darren Heitner or Matthew Allinson for more information.

Agent Mark Stevens is in the news again. Back in 2006 he was compared to Drew Rosenhaus when he and another high profile client, Ron Artest, were in a strikingly similar situation. Well he seems to be attempting to follow the same playbook in his most recent attempt to get Stephen Jackson traded out of Golden State.

After publicly stating a desire to be traded back in August and some initial backlash with coach Don Nelson resulting in Jackson being absolved of his duties as captain, things have seemed to quiet down in Golden State. Jackson has been playing without incident and has put up numbers in line with his career averages. Jackson even had a 15 assist night just a few days ago. Golden State is said to have been in talks with up to 10 teams with interest in Jackson and has been attempting to weigh offers and find a reasonable trade. It seemed as if an amiable end is possible after this falling out.

Then Jackson’s agent, Mark Stevens, decided to publicly insult Coach Don Nelson in an obvious effort to speed up the process of getting his client traded. Whether or not Stephen Jackson had known Stevens was going to publicly insult his coach, we will never know, but this seems all too familiar territory for Stevens and seems to be a well thought out plan (or not so well thought out depending on your point of view). Could this be Stevens’ way of speeding up the trade process, while attempting to deflect some of the blame from Jackson, who already has character issues and a bit of a troubled history in the league?

Where I take issue with the strategy is that now GMs are not only concerned with dealing for a player who is going to publicly bad mouth them or the team, they are going to be dealing for a player whose agent will publicly bad mouth the organization. That is certainly not the type of thing an agent would like to develop a reputation for. Maintaining a positive dialogue with the organization would certainly increase the odds of a mutually beneficial resolution. Stevens’ strategy may result in Golden State choosing to eliminate the headache and the contract by trading Jackson for little in return, which could result in Jackson ending up with another non-contender…which is why he originally wanted out of GS.

It remains to be seen how the whole situation will play out; however, the bigger question is when, if ever, as an agent, is it beneficial to make inflammatory comments about a client’s coach, team or management? While this may be the strategy that some choose to use, in the long run respectable, private negotiations seem to be the best avenue for accomplishing the goals of all parties involved. We have seen many a case in which an unhappy player and agent try to force their way out of a situation, but they very seldom work out positively for all sides.

*Note: Ron Artest is no longer represented by Mark Stevens and Stevens does not have any other NBA clients.