English Premier Leauge

In Australia, sports agents have recently been on the receiving end of some bad press. There have been stories of indiscretions in both AFL (Australian Rules Football), involving Ricky Nixon, and NRL (Rugby League), with Sam Ayoub. The reports have tainted both the respective sports as well as the reputation of sports agents. I won’t dwell on the alleged abuses of power, but will take this opportunity to explore some of the more ground breaking sports agent-player relationships.

Agents have played an increasingly prominent role in professional sport since the 1970s. In Australia, according to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, the sports of Rugby Union, Rugby League and Australian Rules Football have 65, 89 and 61 agents, respectively, while soccer has 39. On a global scale, soccer has over 5,482 agents accredited by FIFA (the governing body). In America, football has almost 700 NFL accredited agents.

Sports agents are imperative to any athlete and their role is diverse and varied. A good sports agent will essentially manage any activity that boosts the value of the athlete’s career. The most important aspect is negotiating contracts, but agents will also handle public relations, legal issues, investments (creating an income stream for the athlete post-retirement) and public appearances. [click to continue…]

About Chris Conway

Chris is a strategic programs analyst at the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) focusing on, amongst other things, sponsorship research, analytics and acquisition. He holds a MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Business (AGSM). Chris took part in the school’s exchange program by completing a semester at Stern business school, NYU where he studied sports marketing and sports economics. Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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(This is a guest article by Ryan Knapp)

On Tuesday January 26th, Dan Magness set the world record for juggling a soccer ball for just about 36 miles, visiting five different English Premier League club stadia in the process.

Yes, 36 miles, that is not a typo.

This is not Magness’s first time in the spotlight for an act of soccer jugging mastery. In May 2009 he beat the world record for juggling a soccer ball for 24 hours without letting it touch the ground.

If you are able to watch video of Magness’ travel around London’s soccer stadiums, you can see that he is not simply juggling the ball from point A to B. At every turn, he is interacting with fans and strangers along the route, performing tricks that go beyond a simple keep-up. I hope a film crew or at least someone with a flip-cam was following him getting fans reaction on tape.

While sponsors are busy looking at numbers and ROI to justify sponsorship dollars, they are simultaneously searching out the next viral marketing idea or creative sponsorship activation. A freestyle soccer event such as this could generate quite the buzz surrounding your club and your sponsors.

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