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Pat Dye Jr. Discusses The Landscape Of The Sports Agency Biz

Sports Business Journal’s labor and agency beat writer, Liz Mullen, recently chatted with NFL Certified Contract Advisor, Pat Dye, Jr.  Dye is the Founder of SportsTrust Advisors, an Atlanta-based agency that represents 70-plus players in the NFL, such as the Denver Broncos’ DeMarcus Ware and the Miami Dolphins’ Ryan Tannehill.

Below are some of the main points from Mullen’s Q&A with Dye.

1)      Regarding the agency landscape shrinking in size and stature, Dye said, “We went through this same cycle it seems like back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. …We have been through this cycle before and we are going through it again.”

2)      What is the possibility of Dye selling his agency or merging with another company?  He said, “We have been approached on multiple occasions. …Some are pretty established firms.  Some of them want us to merge, some are interested in acquisition.  It is something candidly that — me and my firm have been so busy and focused on trying to build our business, it is not something that we have turned our sights on yet.”

3)      On how NFL GMs are different today in 2014, Dye said, “There has been a change in the overall dynamic of general managers.  There’s been a gravitation to more of a business bent.  You have guys who historically would not have been general managers because they were not necessarily big-time personnel evaluators. …When I came into this business, the only people who were general managers were lifelong scouts who paid their dues.”

4)      Dye commented on the new wave of NFL sports agents: “There has been a lot of what I would say are relatively inexperienced and relatively unestablished agents that are signing top clients that a lot of the top, established agencies are recruiting.  And I don’t know what is causing that, but it is just fascinating to see some of the decisions that are being made by top players, by top-15, top-20 picks, going with agents who have never had a first-round draft pick. …That’s a head-turn, because it used to be you’d look at the first round, there would be maybe a couple of players who would have picked an agent, and you are like, “Huh?”  And the rest of them would go to people who had been around a long time and had a lot of first-round picks.”

5)      What are NFL players concerned about in 2014? Dye said, “One of the biggest changes is with modern technology and social media, I think players are much more brand aware.  Creating their brand, protecting their brand, promoting their brand and looking for people who can help them leverage their brand is probably the biggest change.”