The following guest contribution is provided by Hardik Sanghavi, who graduated from DePaul University in 2016 with a major in finance and minor in accounting. During his time at DePaul, Hardik interned with ESPN Chicago and Priority Sports & Entertainment. He now works as a Commercial Underwriter in the Insurance Industry and writes for Overthecap.com. You can follow him on twitter at @hardiks94.
As we enter the fourth week of preseason, roster cut-downs are quickly approaching. With approximately 1,200 players being released next week, the number of active agents in the industry will certainly shrink as well. Maybe if you want to grow your client list you should be aware of innovations like a video business card. Hopefully, this hasn’t come too late for these agents. However, one agent who doesn’t have to worry about being clientless next week is Octagon’s new Director of Football, Casey Muir. Muir’s name will certainly be worth keeping any eye on, especially during recruiting season. Making the jump from a boutique firm, where Muir spent 7 years as President, to joining an entity with a powerful brand name and resources of a publicly traded subsidiary, Muir could be competing to sign some of the top prospects entering the 2018 NFL Draft. If Muir can deliver, Octagon could finally move past its struggles over the last few years from agent turnover and the shrinkage of their NFL client list.
In other news, Paramount Sports & Entertainment, a Virginia based agency led by Alvin Keels, had a huge month in new deals as Kam Chancellor and Xavier Rhodes signed a $36M and $70.1M extension respectively. This brings the agency’s Contract Under Management figure to approximately $172M. Below are some other notable deals over the last month:
I’ve also started to track agent movement and player-agent changes. The first two tables below illustrate agents who have recently become active (minimum of 1 client on active roster) and inactive (0 clients on an active roster). The 3rd table below illustrates notable player-agent changes. All 3 tables reflect month over month changes.
Notable Player-Agent Changes
Lastly, to cap off this month’s Agent Client Report, below is an updated snapshot of the Agent Industry:
Industry Snapshot (8.26.17)
- Players Under Contract with Representation: 2926 (includes players on NFI/PUP)
- Active Agents: 545 (minimum of 1 active client)
- Active Agencies: 358
Top Ten Agencies by Contracts Under Management
- CAA: $2.98B Contracts Under Management; 175 Clients
- Top Agents:
- Todd France: 69 clients (40 co-repped)
- Tom Condon: 48 clients (22 co-repped)
- James Sexton: 47 clients (28 co-repped)
- Top Agents:
- Athletes First: $1.99B Contracts Under Management; 135 Clients
- Top Agents:
- David Mulugheta: 26 clients (7 co-repped)
- Joe Panos: 24 clients (3 co-repped)
- Andrew Kessler: 22 clients (9 co-repped)
- David Dunn: 22 clients (5 co-repped)
- Top Agents:
- Rosenhaus Sports: $1.18B Contracts Under Management; 112 Clients
- Top Agent:
- Drew Rosenhaus: 111 clients (6 co-repped)
- Top Agent:
- Lagardere Unlimited: $1.03B Contracts Under Management; 65 Clients
- Top Agent:
- Joel Segal: 64 clients (22 co-repped)
- Top Agent:
- Sportstars: $984.34M Contracts Under Management; 156 Clients
- Top Agents:
- Brian Mackler: 49 clients (49 co-repped)
- Jared Fox: 46 clients (38 co-repped)
- Jonathan Perzley: 42 clients (39 co-repped)
- David Butz: 37 clients (9 co-repped)
- Alan Herman: 34 clients (31 co-repped)
- James Ivler: 30 clients (27 co-repped)
- Top Agents:
- Select Sports Group: $606.97M Contracts Under Management; 93 Clients
- Top Agents:
- Jeffrey Nalley: 34 clients (16-co-repped)
- Erik Burkhardt: 30 clients (10 co-repped)
- Top Agents:
- Rep 1 Sports Group: $569.65M Contracts Under Management; 60 Clients
- Top Agents:
- Chase Callahan: 26 clients (2 co-repped)
- Ryan Tollner: 24 clients (3 co-repped)
- Top Agents:
- Independent Sports & Entertainment: $569.63M Contracts Under Management; 54 Clients
- Top Agents:
- Doug Hendrickson: 35 clients (17 co-repped)
- C.J. Laboy: 22 clients (17 co-repped)
- Top Agents:
- SportsTrust Advisors: $521.63M Contracts Under Management; 47 Clients
- Top Agents:
- Patrick Dye: 27 clients (2 co-repped)
- William Johnson: 20 clients (2 co-repped)
- Top Agents:
- Priority Sports & Entertainment: $394.84M Contracts Under Management; 76 Clients
- Top Agents:
- Mike McCartney: 34 Clients
- Kenny Zuckerman: 17 Clients
- Top Agents:
Just Missed
- BC Sports: $355.42M Contracts Under Management; 48 Clients
- Top Agents:
- Bus Cook: 48 clients (42 co-repped)
- Donald Weatherell: 41 clients (41 co-repped)
- Top Agents:
- PlayersRep Sports Management: $267.36M Contracts Under Management; 52 Clients
- Top Agents:
- Andy Simms: 32 clients (25-co-repped)
- Ken Sarnoff: 21 clients (5 co-repped)
- Top Agents: