Sports Agent

Sports Agency Industry In today’s world, the subject of sport has become highly discussed and more popular when compared to the past. With the increase in obesity rates in America, a greater number of individuals are taking part in physical activities to help improve their health. Media coverage on sports has also increased dramatically throughout the years which may also have been a contributor to the increase in popularity. This increase in the popularity of sports has opened many doors to new career opportunities such as sport broadcasting, sport photography, health club management, or professional scouting. With all of these sport-related career opportunities available, this paper will concentrate on one particular profession that is very important to an individual’s athletic career: sport agents. In order to understand what a sport agent is, we must first understand the concept of an agent. An agent is defined as “a person authorized by another to act for him, one entrusted with another’s business” (Staudohar, 2006); thus, a sport agent represents most individuals involved in the sport industry, including athletes in sports such as football, baseball, or figure skating, and also coaches and sport broadcasters. A sport agent has many responsibilities and their main goal is to do what is best for their client. Firstly, there are two generic categories that sport agents are able to represent: individual sport athletes, such as golf or tennis, and team sport athletes, such as baseball, football, or basketball. Their main objective is to provide services to the athlete to promote his or her athletic career and to engage in business transactions on the athlete’s behalf. When promoting the athlete, the sport agent is responsible for soliciting and arranging product endorsements, speaking engagements, and other uses of the athlete’s name and image for commercial purposes. He or she should also promote the athlete’s career through public relations, media coverage,

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