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Sports Agents

Insight From A South African Sports Agent

Less than a week ago, The Times (a South African paper) published a question/answer article between its readers and Craig Livingstone, an influential sports agent in the region [Leading SA sports agent Craig Livingstone answers your questions]. I encourage you to take a look at the fairly short article in its entirety. It will allow you to compare and contrast how sports agents survive and act across the ocean with those in the United States.

Some notes from the article:

  • Even in South Africa, being a sports agent is nothing like how it is portrayed in Jerry Maguire.
  • Clubs don’t like agents in other continents…at least we are not alone.
  • Tiger Woods is the dream client here and abroad. I guess it is hard to complain about taking a rake on his huge endorsement salary.
  • In South Africa, agents take a 10% cut on player contracts!

-Darren Heitner

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.