They’ve got a reputation as shameless deal-makers who are more concerned with their beefy commission than their clients’ well-being and future, but is that a fair assessment of the role agents play in the broader sporting eco-system? Dylan Rogers takes a look.
They call them ‘super agents’ – football’s biggest power-brokers and the representatives of some of the biggest stars in the world.
The names Jorge Mendes, Pini Zahavi and (the late) Mino Raiola roll off the tongue, when it comes to discussing the sport’s most influential agents, and the fact that these are household names is just further proof of their influence and standing in the game.
And it comes down to money.
As the Rod Tidwell character screams over the phone to his agent Jerry Maguire, in the movie of the same name, “show me the money!”
Like many things in life, with money comes power, and the money in football, for example, has become ridiculous.
Quite simply, if your client is on a couple of hundred thousand pounds a week or moves between clubs for £50m-£100m, then you’re in line to earn serious money – the famous ‘agent’s comm’ ensuring a lucrative living, if you can land the right clients.
I mean, how about this 2016 tweet from an Andrew Gaffney?: “Mino Raiola quickly turning into the new Jorge Mendes. £18.4m due to him once the Pogba deal goes through. Madness.”
I think I agree with Andrew, with his reference, of course, to Paul Pogba’s £89m move from Juventus to Manchester United.
And what about this tweet two days after Gaffney’s, from newspaper The Sun?: “Super-agent Mino Raiola earns MORE than Lionel Messi.”
Agents, of course, play an integral part in negotiating both playing contracts and commercial deals on behalf of their clients, so do they deserve the money they make and do they deserve their ‘blood-sucking’ reputation?
“I think this is a rather outdated statement and originated from when money was first introduced into sport in the early years,” says Lee-Roy Newton, former athlete and now Managing Director of the Newton Sports Agency, which manages the likes of athlete Clarence Munyai and cricketer Khaya Zondo. “What is sometimes misunderstood is that agents are only paid when athletes are paid, so we only make money when an athlete does. Of course, as in any industry, there are those who don’t have clients’ best interests at heart and some athletes have been burnt by this.”
On that note, and according to agents Donne Commins and Craig Livingstone, agents in the cricket and rugby space earn between 7.5% and 10% of the value of a playing contract and between 15% and 20% of the value of a commercial endorsement.
“While these numbers can be directly linked to the value of a deal, the real value to the player is the work which is done around those deals,” says Commins, who has represented cricketers Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, JP Duminy, Kagiso Rabada and David Miller, and is now working with the upcoming SA20 league. “So, 10% of an IPL deal may seem a lot, but there is loads of work that is done, particularly in ensuring that the financial and legal aspects of a player’s life are in order, which is not directly compensated for.”
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I would imagine that ‘additional’ work probably includes going above and beyond the call of duty, particularly when the client in question finds themself in a sticky situation – a bit like the unnamed former Springbok who had a big night on the town with his mates and crashed the sponsored car, leaving a questionable substance splashed all over the vehicle!
His first call? To the agent, of course, whose job it was to clean up the car, remove said substance, and then call the police!
Now, that may seem worth the hefty commission the player pays the agent, but what about that player-agent dynamic beyond the playing field?
In particular, just how much of a ‘bigger picture’ do these agents have – or want to have – when it comes to advising their clients and managing their affairs? Are they prepared to look beyond playing careers to set their clients up for retirement, or is it a case of bleeding them for as much money as possible, whilst they are still able to play?
One former national captain I spoke with, off the record, said he’d never met an agent interested in his or her client’s life beyond sport – in particular, helping set that client up for a prosperous post-playing chapter.
This line of thinking was backed up by a former agent I spoke with – on condition of anonymity – who confirmed that the priority was always “securing the best financial deal”, with little or no focus on what the player might need to start preparing for life beyond the playing field.
“Life after sport is also something we discuss, but more needs to be done in this area,” admits Livingstone, who has managed some of the biggest names in South African rugby, including John Smit, Jake White and Bryan Habana.
Hats off then to the Sharks rugby franchise, which seemed quite forward-thinking when it announced the launch of its ‘Players First Programme’ in November last year, with the Sharks pledging their commitment to managing their players through their careers and helping them “navigate uncharted waters once their rugby careers are complete”.
But that’s the employer, not the agent.
“Our true value lies in creating a sustainable career performance pathway and retirement strategy,” says Newton.
“Management always looks to the future – what is the player going to do once he/she has finished playing their chosen sport,” says Commins. “There has to be a seamless transition, otherwise a professional athlete can quite easily dip into depression – from being on top of the world, to a ‘nobody’. There has to be something meaningful planned for the player for the day he/she retires from his/her chosen sport.”
Commins has some experience in this space, with her involvement in the management of Boucher’s ‘The Boucher Legacy’, which is a project focused on the preservation of rhino, wild dog, pangolin, elephant, lion and cheetah, and drives fundraising to support relevant projects.
Now that sounds like a bit of a legacy and something sustainable, but is that the norm, and what’s it really like for sports stars once they give up the game?
“When the time came, it was this massive brick that hit me,” says Duminy. “As much as I prepared for that, it was still a mental battle and it was important to have good people around me to navigate my way through that.”
Good people, like a good agent.
