Athlete Management in 2023

Hey everyone,

I hope you enjoyed your week! Firstly, congratulations to any readers who are West Ham fans on the victory in the Europa Conference League Final, well played and well deserved, and all before a Spurs trophy (sorry I had to)!

Last week we touched on the growing trends in the sporting event landscape, and how ABSG is going to utilize these trends within our own original events going forward. If you’d like to check out that post, it can be found on the newsletter dashboard. This week however, we are going to take a look at some of the developments that I’ve noticed and experienced in the athlete management/representation space, and how we are positioning ABSG as a company to integrate these into our daily operations surrounding our current and future client athletes.

I’ve been working in the athlete management/representation space since 2019, first starting out as a football intermediary and now acting as a fully licensed FIFA football agent. I’ve made countless mistakes along the way working with athletes, clubs, managers, scouts, etc. but that really is just the best way to learn in this industry. At the risk of sounding cringe, those mistakes really do turn into lessons learned, and each one has helped me develop what ABSG is building.

Know your sh*t

I can honestly say I’ve never been in a situation regarding athlete management where I didn’t know what I was talking about. But I can definitely say there have been times where I should have been better prepared, and taken the time to ensure I knew everything I could about the situation I was walking into. While there have been a few I could share, there is one that will always stick out and will be the reason why I always ensure to prepare myself properly:

During my first few months of working as an intermediary I was studying abroad in Madrid as part of my MSc at UCFB. In addition to my school work, I was networking with clubs across various levels and reaching out to athletes in the hopes of onboarding my first client, and subsequently placing them at a club. At the time, I was speaking to the head of recruitment at a League One club about a particular player who I thought would be a good fit for the club and level based on their previous experience. The player wanted to move to England and we both thought this could be a good option.

I didn’t have the head of recruitment’s number, so this conversation was taking place solely over LinkedIn, so I drafted up a professional message, pitched the player and waited for a response. When I finally heard back from the HoR a few hours later, I was actually quite surprised it wasn’t an outright “no”! Instead, they had asked me why I thought this particular player would suit the club, what information did I have to assume that this position was something they were looking to fill? Larger agencies usually employ some kind of scouting/analytics team who can cover this side of the work on their own, but that isn’t always the case for smaller agencies.

Instead of trying to make something up on the spot, I spent the next two hours doing a deep dive into the club and their current players in the position in question. I pulled together a report on their ages, goals/assists, minutes, and contract expiration dates. I then used these findings as my rationale with the HoR as to why I was pitching this player, and they really appreciated the work and level of detail! Ultimately, they didn’t end up signing the player, but for me professionally it was a great lesson on being prepared and knowing what you’re talking about going into that kind of setting or conversation.

Strategize!

This one is pretty broad, but after each registration/recruiting period it just gets more and more clear, having a solid, go-to strategy as an agent is crucial for success in this part of the industry. The reason I consider this one to be quite broad is that it encompasses different knowledge points to build on, all of which help you to formulate a strategy to develop and execute.

Without touching on all of them, one of the more crucial aspects is understanding the make-up and competitiveness of the various levels you’re working in as an agent. This isn’t as black and white as it sounds, you need to be open and honest about the options you have for your clients, and understanding that there are numerous avenues you and they can take in their playing career. In England for example, a lot of casual fans would think the professional level stops at League Two. That might be true to an extent, but with the money being pumped into the English game, the National League system is becoming a great option for players to explore the semi-pro/pro game without being in the EFL.

This is something I caught onto pretty quickly, there are careers to be made in the non-league set-up, but from my experience there are players out there who let their egos get the best of them. Explaining your plan to a player is vital for their trust in you, and having that plan backed by industry knowledge and as part of a reliable strategy can go a long way in marketing yourself as an agent. Knowing the landscape of various countries and leagues is becoming more common for the average agent, and with FIFA opening up the industry through their licensing system, I only expect the role of the agent to be more competitive and experienced on that front.

What makes you different?

Like all businesses regardless of industry, there’s competition, and everyone is going to try to distinguish themselves from the competition. There are many ways of doing this as an agent; strong network, high-profile clientele, experience, etc. One method that has become popular over the last decade or so has been the transformation of agencies into one-stop shops for athletes, sometimes referred to as 360-degree management agencies. The reason for this is in the name, they offer all the services you could think that a professional athlete might need; in-house legal team, financial advisors, concierge, commercial management, you name it! This has become typical of some of the larger agencies, who naturally will have the resources to properly execute this kind of business model.

For smaller agencies like ABSG, it’s tough to wear so many hats for a few clients who may not be generating the revenue needed to re-invest in these other services. We’ve been able to scale out a few additional services for our clients however, which I think has made us an attractive option for local Bermudian athletes, and some who reside abroad. We offer in-house season/highlight footage for all clients, create curated sporting CVs, and work with our athletes to secure commercial opportunities. Recently, we’ve begun to collaborate with Bermudian companies to offer jobs/internships to some of our younger clients who are home for the off-season. This not only gives them a bit of money for the rest of the season, but also gives them some experience that isn’t football related, which is crucial for the life after the game which every athlete will go through regardless of status.

I think this is one of the more exciting parts of the industry, with so many advancements in technology and a mix use of practices from other sectors, it’ll be interesting to see how the sports landscape, particularly the agency space, adapts and takes advantage.

Thanks for reading this week’s edition of Learning The Venture, and if this is your first time reading I welcome you to subscribe and join the roster!

Until next time, enjoy the weekend!

Cheers,

Jason