Lu Ke was driving his car slowly through the Wednesday morning traffic in San Francisco. Leigh, who was in the passenger seat, was chatting with Lu Ke on and off.
The so-called chatting was truly a casual chat.
The two of them talked about Lu Ke's boring training life, especially his strength and weight training, which Lu Ke was currently focusing on. They also talked about Lu Ke's surprisingly brilliant practice squad life, the hustle and bustle between his studies and practice, which was both busy and fulfilling. They also talked about Lu Ke's original intention of choosing a journalism major and even the interesting stories he had from his internship interviews.
The two of them talked about Leigh's terrible experiences handling athletes' troublesome situations. Even in the midst of chaos, he was able to find humor. An agent's life was also colorful. They also talked about Leigh's longing and yearning for retirement, and Leigh honestly admitted that he was a little reluctant to quit his job. They also talked about the embarrassing moments of Leigh's early career, those moments that made you burst out laughing and showed a glimpse of history.
There was a lot of talk about football, but there was even more talk about Lu Ke and Leigh's personal life experiences.
Although these topics could be called casual conversations, from another perspective, they could also be called a way of getting to know each other, truly getting to know each other on an equal footing as friends. Through their back-and-forth, they went from strangers to being familiar with each other. This was a necessary process for an agent and a player and a rare start.
Everyone knows about the existence of professional sports agents, but very few people truly understand what they do.
An agent's daily work is very complicated. They need to help athletes with marketing and handling daily affairs. They also need to help athletes negotiate contracts, manage assets, arrange transfers, start investments, and handle all other sports-related and even personal life matters.
First and foremost, an agent's most important job is undoubtedly contract negotiation and commercial value management.
It is well known that professional teams are ruthless beasts that will never give in easily when it comes to salary management, contract details, core interests, and so on.
A good agent will evaluate a player based on a comprehensive index of their age, stats, injuries, and trends. They will set an accurate goal and negotiate with the team. At the same time, they will use other players of a similar level as their clients for comparison to get a high-paying contract for their player within a reasonable range.
But a terrible agent might ask for an exorbitant price and make wrong judgments and decisions. The most terrifying thing is that they might completely ruin the career prospects of a promising rookie.
In addition, a top agent's career planning for a player is also extremely important. They will make arrangements based on their client's style and characteristics, such as choosing endorsements, media interviews, and sponsors, to truly maximize the player's commercial value. David Beckham was able to become one of the highest-paid football players in the world not just because of his performance on the field.
A simple example is Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, two lifelong rivals in the league, who are also neck and neck in endorsements.
Manning's annual endorsement income reached $12 million, while Brady's was only $7 million.
But if you look at the details, all of Manning's endorsements are related to the sports industry and are short-term contracts. Once Manning retires, these contracts will become invalid. But Brady's endorsements are for fashion products like watches and clothing, and almost all of them are long-term contracts. In other words, advertisers are more willing to invest in the handsome Brady for the long term.
These details are all a result of an agent's work. They are irreplaceable and crucial. Because their work involves a lot of legal negotiation and calculation, many law school graduates choose to become agents as one of their career paths.
Second, an agent also needs to arrange for a player's financial management and private life. In other words, they are in charge of all aspects of a player's life.
For professional players, after entering the league, on the one hand, they have to face fierce competition and maintain a regular training routine, which requires strong self-discipline. On the other hand, they are also in the spotlight, becoming the focus of attention. It is easy to lose themselves in the glitz and glamor of the fame and fortune.
At this point, the role of an agent becomes evident.
For example, William Moore was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round, 55th overall, in the 2009 draft. After he reached the sky and signed a substantial contract, he was ecstatic and began to squander his money.
He bought a mansion, a Cadillac, and countless sound systems and game consoles. It was only when the credit card bill was due that he realized he had accumulated a huge amount of credit card debt, and the income from his rookie contract was far less than he had imagined. In the end, he had to rely on his friends' help to get by, and his agent had to start managing William Moore's daily expenses.
Another example is Michael Vick, the quarterback who entered the league in 2001 with the Atlanta Falcons—yes, the Falcons again. He was a pioneer of the running quarterback and completely changed the league's tactical structure, but he fell into a crisis in the spring of 2007.
That year, Vick was involved in a dogfighting case. It was later proven that Vick was involved in a series of core issues, from betting on fights to animal cruelty and missing animals, which could be traced back to 2001. The case progressed quickly. Animal rights organizations protested continuously, and the media exposed Vick's past of being a habitual gambler. The NFL announced that Vick would be suspended indefinitely.
After the incident was exposed, Vick issued an apology, but it was useless. Later, he first got into legal trouble and then fell into bankruptcy. Even the owner of the Atlanta Falcons demanded that he pay back his signing bonus.
The end of the story was that Vick missed the best time to plead guilty and was sentenced to 23 months in prison. He also lost the support of his fans and was shunned by the league, truly losing his reputation.
After that, professional agents also began to increase their management and supervision of players, even extending it to players' daily training. They would urge players to be disciplined and regular in their daily training and to stay away from bad habits.
A good, top-tier agent can even extend a top player's career, while a terrible agent can very likely ruin the prospects of a promising rookie early on.
Of course, can a player do all the above work themselves? Of course, they can!
Players can negotiate with the team themselves, contact sponsors themselves, do their own training, manage their own finances, and arrange their own schedules. They can handle, supervise, and complete everything themselves. If they can do it themselves, why would they pay a fee to hire an agent?
The commission for a football agent is 3%. In other words, 3% of a player's total income must be used to pay the agent's commission. This is not a small amount of money. So, there are indeed many players in the league who refuse to use an agent and handle things themselves.
Lu Ke's rookie contract was negotiated by himself.
However, as the saying goes, "every profession has its own specialty." The reason why agents exist and play such an important role is that they can plan a player's career and tap into more commercial value and future potential.
More importantly, entrusting trivial matters to an agent can save a lot of trouble and allow players to focus more on the field. Even when they are not on the field, they can enjoy their vacation moments more relaxed instead of having to get into a dispute with the team or sponsors over a small amount of money.
In a commercial era where entertainment and profit are king, agents are often portrayed as vampires.
Admittedly, they want their clients to perform better so that they can get more benefits. But truly great agents know one thing: a player is not just a cash cow but also a partner who accompanies them through an important stage of their life.
The draft, the training field, home games, press conferences, injuries, team transfers, and so on.
Only when a private and close connection is established can an agent and a player maximize each other's effectiveness. For example, Peyton Manning's agent, Tom Condon.
In the NFL, top agents have close ties to Hollywood. Among the five major Hollywood agencies, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and International Management Group (IMG) are two behemoths that are also the most powerful sports agencies in the league.
Condon is a powerful figure at Creative Artists Agency.
When Manning was a college player, Condon, who was still unknown at the time, became his agent. This became the starting point for Condon to build his dynasty. He accompanied Manning through his 13-year career. When Manning was struggling with injuries this year, he still stood by his partner's side and accompanied him through the darkest period of his life.
Now, top quarterbacks like Eli Manning, Tony Romo, Philip Rivers, and Drew Brees are all clients of Condon. He alone is responsible for contracts worth up to $1.3 billion, making him the undisputed leader in the entire industry.
The players made Condon, and Condon made the players.
It is because of this special bond between agents and players that the basis for long-term cooperation is understanding, comprehension, and support. It is a work relationship and a cooperative relationship. Both sides must make an effort and try. In a sense, they can be considered family members without a blood relation.
Today was the first meeting between Lu Ke and Leigh. They were not yet partners and did not know each other. They were just chatting, and the first step was to get rid of the awkwardness of being strangers and become friends. It seemed that after an hour of conversation, they had a very pleasant chat.
From a distance, Candlestick Park came into view, and their conversation came to an end.
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