A sports agent is a professional athlete’s agent who negotiates contracts. This agent is in charge of obtaining contracts from professional sports teams, negotiating the terms of those contracts, and determining the player’s salary. Sports agent jobs range from top agents who perform these functions to assistants who assist the agent in ensuring that all aspects of contract negotiation and procurement are completed correctly. Some sports agent jobs are specific to a single sport, while others are more broad, allowing the agent to represent athletes of all types.
For example, a hockey sports agent will work exclusively with hockey players to secure contracts with professional teams in various leagues. Such sports agent jobs will necessitate adherence to specific contract rules and regulations established by a league, and the agent must be familiar with these rules and able to effectively negotiate within them. A hockey agent’s rules may differ from those of a football agent, a baseball agent, and so on.
Because money management is such an important aspect of being a sports agent, some positions focus solely on financial planning and management. An agent might, for example, hire an accountant to manage money for players or run the financial aspects of the sports agent’s business as part of the agent team. Because of the nature of the job, many sports agents are lawyers with experience in contract law; however, if the agent is not a lawyer, some sports agent jobs will be primarily focused on the law; a lawyer may be on staff with a representation firm to ensure that all contracts are written correctly and within the constraints of all applicable laws.
Sports agents can either work for a representation firm or work on their own. If the agent works for a firm, he or she will almost certainly be part of a team that includes other agents, assistants, lawyers (especially when contract negotiations reach arbitration), and accountants. If the agent works alone, he or she may have to do many of these tasks themselves rather than hiring others to do them. A successful agent will most likely grow his business quickly, making delegation of more difficult tasks much easier. An agent will typically represent several athletes at once, which can be difficult and time-consuming; assistants and office managers can assist in ensuring that each athlete receives the attention required for effective contract negotiations.