Next year, fans of the bottom feeders of the NHL will be rooting for their teams to lose enough games to have a shot at John Tavares, the 17 year old star of the Ontario Hockey League. Much like a Crosby or Ovechkin, Tavares has the hype behind him to capture interest from local fans and the skills to keep them watching. However, one person he will not be bringing with him is Bryan Deasley. John Tavares has fired his agent and will be represented by his mother. Demonstrating that she is ready for the challenge, Mrs. Tavares told Toronto newspaper, The Star, “ I worked in a number of different departments in the banking system. I have pretty good experience in that area and when you run your own business, you do whatever’s necessary.”
I believe that it was a bad decision for Tavares to fire his agent and sign his mom. John, if you are reading this, you should hire me because not only have I worked in the banking system (well, I deposited money once so I guess that counts), but I can also act as a lifeguard if your mom lets you have a pool party, or give you extremely basic knowledge on criminal or constitutional law. No? Well, it was worth a shot. No word on if in addition to helping him prepare for the NHL and finding sponsorship, she will continue to cook dinners and make brownies for him. All the best to John and his mom, I’ve missed having a strong mothering presence at sporting events since Vince Carter and his mom went to New Jersey.
6 replies on “Phenom Fires His Agent”
More and more athletes seem to be choosing this familial route. Roger Federer and Lorena Ochoa are prime examples of players who handed their business affairs off to close, loved ones.
That said, the opportunity cost of not being with an IMG or CAA type conglomerate, especially when you’re big time, may prevent this from becoming an actual trend. So she has bankintg experience. That’s great. But does she have the connections and networks to fully enhance and market her son’s brand? Will she tire of the growing time and stress such management endeavors will demand? Let’s see if in fact she’s bitten off more than she can chew.
I will be interested to see how this plays out. It was only a year ago that Pat Kane was drafted number one overall without the aid of an agent. The true test of his support network will come when they actually sit down with the NHL club and start throwing around numbers. The process is a little more complex than a lot of these people think… Kane found that out and smartly signed on with CAA to negotiate his deal.
I smell the work of Tasha Mack behind this.
It seems to be working for Mike Conley, Jr and Sr. But it didn’t work so well for Drew Brees and his mom…
https://sportsagentblog.com/?p=551
Thought the end of that post was extremely tacky. 1 joke, fine. But a running joke that takes up half the post? Pointless cheap shots at his mother after you read an article and formed an opinion? Classless.
Give us the reasons why you disagree sure, but no need for the cheap shots.
Nothing wrong with adding some humor to the blog. Lighten up.