“The sports agent business has become so corrupt — I would not encourage anyone to try to become an agent right now.”
— Legendary NBA agent David Falk (WSJ.com, 4/22).
Is Falk jealous of the new crop of agents’ successes? Or does he present a realistic view of the current climate of athlete representation?
12 replies on “Short and Sweet”
Jealous? He both left the game and returned to it (he only has a few clients now, by choice) on his own terms, and his net worth would make any other agent in the world blush. He speaks the truth.
After speaking at length with Leigh Steinberg tonight, Falk’s view sounds pretty on-point. Still no turning back, though!
I agree with Falk, and I’m not even in the business. Things seem to be a whole lot more cutthroat now…agents are willing to do ANYTHING, and it at least seems like there was a little more morality 10 years ago
Darren, hey how are you? Are you going to put the interview with Leigh Steinburg up on the website…??
Doing much better, thanks. You better believe I will be putting it up on the website! A 120 minute conversation is hard to log and then edit, so I will be working on doing that over this weekend along with studying for finals and much more. It will definitely be the best Interview With The Agent this site has ever seen.
I think that what Falk says is an honest opinion, but people who are at the mountaintop ALWAYS say they’d never have climbed it if they’d known how high it was.
Obviously, the agent business (or at least the NFL agent business, which is the one I’m most familiar with) is incredibly competitive and people get betrayed every day. At the same time, it’s the only way to go from a comparable nobody to, in a period of about 8-9 months, having a guy get drafted and make a team, and suddenly being a viable NFL contract advisor with a ‘client list.’ It’s a very short curve, generally speaking.
It takes a lot of resources to be able to play that game, as well as talent and effort and will, but still it’s a hell of a lot easier road ‘into’ the league than spending years in internships/menial jobs, hoping you can climb the ladder to NFL relevance with absolutely no guarantees. That’s why I think, especially when it comes to the NFL, the attraction of being an agent won’t soon die.
This is obviously a valid point but doesnt it just add to an aspiring agents interest? The challenges and obstacles increase my drive to pursue a career in the industry. The sweet isnt as sweet without the sour
[…] and Sweet” I dropped a post featuring athlete representation legend David Falk. Peep the post HERE If you want a more in depth post on the Mayo saga, Jason Wulterkens has it covered HERE This […]
[…] his name is also Darren. Darren Rovell has a great interview with the man who recently spoke to the Wall Street Journal and said, “The sports agent business has become so corrupt — I would not encourage anyone to […]
[…] David Falk donated $5 million to Syracuse Univ. to establish the David B. Falk Center for Sport Management [Names in the Game]. […]
[…] That’s right, the guy who has made few (if any) NBA-related headlines since he signed Elton Brand back in 1999 is once again having his name appear in the body of many articles…again because of Elton Brand. Rumor is that William Wesley still likes him, but Donald Dell will always hate him and I believe that he does not have many friends who are fans of or executives at, the Los Angeles Clippers organization. Falk was behind the Sam Cassell buyout, which allowed Cassell to finish this past season with the Celtics, but more importantly, David Falk may be the main reason that Elton Brand will be wearing a 76ers jersey next year. Before we get into the Elton Brand story, let’s look at a couple memorable Falk quotes of recent past: “The sports agent business has become so corrupt — I would not encourage anyone to try to become an agent right now.” – 4/22/08 [Short and Sweet] […]
[…] has become so corrupt — I would not encourage anyone to try to become an agent right now.” [Short and Sweet] – […]