Whether it’s due to the various sports agent movies that have donned the big screen over the years, or just the fact that sport is often associated with a lot of money, the general consensus when it comes to these agents is a life of glitz and glamour.
In some cases, this can be completely true. For example, there are some incredibly rich sports agents and if you do end up falling into this bracket, you are well and truly set for life. This is one of the reasons universities have started to offer courses which delve into the history of sports management, it is something that can offer fantastic careers to graduates.
However, in and amongst the fantastic careers are a lot of misconceptions about the profession. Through the course of today’s post we will take a look at some of these myths, and debunk them once and for all.
Myth #1 – You need to be an attorney: This is probably one of the biggest myths surrounding the profession, and the main one that puts people off from even attempting to join it.
In short, you don’t need to have been an attorney in the past to become a sports agent. Sure, there are some that may have been, but the vast majority haven’t.
However, there is a caveat with this. If we turn to the NFL for example, it’s a requirement for an agent to have both an Undergraduate AND Post-Graduate Degree (Masters or Law), or failing this, they do need to have seven years’ worth of experience. Of course, this is probably one of the reasons this myth has developed, but suggest that you must have practiced law is a complete fabrication.
Myth #2 – The 10% rule: Another common myth surrounds the cut in which agents receive when it comes to a player’s salary. Naturally, this is going to vary between sports but if we again turn to the NFL, we can categorically state that agents do not receive 10% of the salary of the player.
There is an official cap on these salaries, which states that no more than 3% can be paid to an agent. This is something that’s not new at all either; it’s been around since the 1980s. Not only that, but this 3% figure decreases for certain types of transactions as well.
Of course, there are other ways in which agents can turn a profit. For example, if they were to arrange a sponsorship deal for a player, their cut is set at whatever they deem is suitable. At the same time, there are only a limited number of players in the world who are going to have the required pulling power to net a sponsorship deal of this ilk.
Myth #3 – Players are notoriously difficult to manage and work with: Finally, let’s cut to the chase about players. There is a big misconception that all of them have huge egos and are ultimately very difficult to work with. The reason this myth has come around is because the press, and the public for that matter, only tend to know about the very worst of players’ antics. This is what reaches the newspapers.
The newspapers fail to mention that the vast majority of players are well behaved and as such, if you do delve into a sports management career, most of your clients will probably fall into this bracket as well.