Rick Horrow, also known as “The Sports Professor”, recently interviewed Tom Condon for Fox Sports. He asked Condon if he thought that the agent business regulates itself adequately. The response: “No, not really.” The big problem is the enforcement of the rules, not that the rules don’t exist. If Condon could change one thing, it would be rookie recruiting, and the competition involved. Condon’s two keys to success: Leverage and preparation, and the preparation comes first, because you will find the leverage based on a myriad of factors.
I thought that the discussion became very interesting when they started talking about a rookie wage scale. Condon mentioned that it will play a big role in the way that he recruits rookies at CAA Football. They currently spend about $40,000 per player in training leading up to the draft. If a rookie wage scale is implemented, agents may not be able to justify the payment of a contingency fee, but then why would they front the money for training? You may see the big boys either drop the amount of money they spend on training or focus less on the recruitment of rookies, altogether.
Think that I had a lot to juggle between law school and running Dynasty? Condon balanced law school and playing in the NFL. Catch the full interview, below.
4 replies on “Tom Condon Talks Rookie Wage Scale And Recruiting”
How do you think agents do research on their “negotiating opponent” from a team’s front office? Word of mouth?
A rookie wage scale will truly make the rich richer as far as agents go. Think about it, CAA is a wealthy firm (i’m guessing) so they will have the cash to put these rookies through training. If a rookie interviews with 5 agencies and 4 of them won’t pay for training, he’s most likely going to sign with the one that can.
True, but the number of players who get all of their training paid for at a top of the line facility will dwindle. Remember that this is a business and the objective is to make money.
Thanks for posting the Condon interview.
You are very welcome.