Sports Agents

People have been entertained by sport since before the gladiators in the Roman Coliseum. In the 20th century, the publics' passion for sport consumes more and more of their free time. As sports figures became internationally recognized, athletes began to realize their need for professional representation. Thus, sports agents were born. The field of sports agents has grown since then into an enormous field. Agents now deal with every aspect of an athlete's life. Agents can be considered professional mangers who find the best place for their client's talent.
Sports Agents have not been around for a long time. "Until the 1970's, very few players had agents because teams would not deal with agents (Masteralexis, 244)." Many times players found that having an agent was a disadvantage to them. For example, "In 1964 Jim Ringo brought his financial advisor (agent) to help negotiate a contract with Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers. Lombardi excused himself for a minute, when he returned he told the agent that he was negotiating with the wrong team (Masteralexis, 244)." Agents had been around since prior to the 70's, but were few and far between. C. C. "cash $ carry" Pyle is though to be the first Sports Agent. The first account of negotiations came when Pyle "Negotiated a deal with the Chicago Bears for Red Grange to earn $3,000 per game and $300,000 in endorsement and movie rights (Masteralexis, 244)." A few years later Babe Ruth allegedly consulted sports cartoonist Christy Walsh to serve as his financial consultant through the depression. These early accounts are the beginning of the Sports Agent. It took years for the agent to develop however. Since the 1970's the Sports Agency business has sky rocketed. There are five main factors that account for this. The reserve system is the first factor that lead to the growth of the Sports Agent. The reserve system was a restrictive system that limited the free, or open market. This enabled owners