So you want to work at a sports agency?

9 min readMay 26, 2021

Sports! Success!! Cultural references!!!

Working in sports is often viewed as a dream job since you can combine your love of sports with your career aspirations. Even Jim Halpert left Dunder Mifflin to found Athleap! (formerly Athlead). And it’s true — any time you’re passionate about your career you will do a better job and go much further.

Why am I writing this?

I’ve been fortunate enough to work in the sports space for over 10+ years at great places like Catalyst Sports, CAA, Wasserman, IMG College, the Golden State Warriors, Cal Athletics, UMCA, and more (see my full background here). I am often asked if I have any advice for someone trying to break into the agency world. Rather than just sharing with people who crack the LinkedIn DM code (more on that later), I wanted to put my thoughts and experience out publicly in order to help as many people as possible (a la YC). My hope is that by providing a sliver of transparency into this opaque industry it can open the space to a more diverse pool of candidates with a clearer understanding of how to best position themselves to get a job at a sports agency.

Sports is a small industry and the agency world is an even smaller subset of that. Getting any job in sports is a tall task and agency jobs are even harder to come by. Additionally, people really enjoy these jobs so there isn’t much turnover. I’d estimate that there are less than 2,000 people in total working at a sports agency in the US.

Please note: I work at an NBA agency doing player marketing (not a player agent) so my below advice is coming from that lens. Also the below advice is assuming, like myself when I started, that you currently don’t know anyone in the sports industry. If you have an existing relationship with a player, you could have a markedly different path than below. I hope this helps!

Why should you work at an agency?

There are numerous sectors of the sports industry to work in: teams, leagues, brands, agencies, player unions, technology platforms, media partners, etc.

At the crux of every league’s success are the players. Agencies are directly aligned with the players and handle their contracts as well as their off the court/field businesses. When you work at an agency you get to represent a player and interact with all the above sectors. Your day could consist of speaking to the NBPA, Chipotle, TikTok, and Dapper Labs — a wide array of companies with vastly different businesses. The possibilities are truly endless at an agency and that’s what makes them so exciting to work at.

Why shouldn’t you work at an agency?

Stability. Although you may have a great relationship and rapport with a brand, at the end of the day they talk to you for who you represent. If that player fires you then that partner isn’t going to keep reaching out to you (assuming you have no other clients).

In summation, agencies have very high ceilings but very low floors.

Have a clear passion and reason why you want to work at an agency.

When you start getting interviews and talking to potential employers, one of the first questions you’ll get is “Why do you want to work at a sports agency?” The answer I get nearly 95% of the time is “because I love sports, I have played sports all my life, sports are my passion”. Over 70% of the US likes sports. This isn’t unique. If you say something along these lines there’s no chance I remember your answer and you’re wasting an opportunity to distinguish yourself.

You need to go deeper and think ‘why do I actually want to work at a sports agency?’ If it’s because you think it’d be cool to tell your friends you text with professional athletes or “guess who stopped by the office today” you should find another career or order a Cameo. That gets old fast and if your motivation is something extrinsic like that you won’t last through the slog of being someone’s assistant and memorizing their Starbucks order.

This question is a great opportunity to differentiate yourself from other candidates repeating the canned answer above. For me, I love seeing a guy grow from being a 19 year old kid in the league to leading a team to starting a family and helping make the most of their playing days and life after basketball. Find your why.

Have a clear value add

Another way to differentiate yourself is to have a clear value add you can bring to the agency on Day 1, regardless of your position. You become a much more attractive candidate if you can fill multiple needs or contribute to the company’s bottom line.

These tasks might be outside of your official job duties but it’ll show that you’re eager and willing to help any way you can. You’ll also be laying the groundwork for your next role and future promotion while getting great exposure across the company. Some examples of potential value adds:

A connection to a brand you previously worked at. If you’re able to make that introduction and the player gets a deal, you’re helping generate revenue for the company.
Proficiency in Powerpoint/Photoshop/Canva to help with agency recruiting presentations. It’s time consuming and no one else wants to do it but you will get great company wide exposure (and know who the company is recruiting) and make yourself invaluable.
A deep understanding of a leagues’ CBA and how the salary cap works.

Diversify your experience

You may feel that if you want to work at a sports agency the best strategy is to work at as many sports agencies as possible. I made this mistake. From my personal experience and from working with our company’s interns, I’ve found that it’s much better to get a diverse array of experiences in and outside of sports.

You definitely should work at 1–2 agencies if possible but you don’t need to exceed this. These internships are generally similar experiences and it’s much more beneficial to diversify your experience. Check out our former intern Ben Messinger. He not only worked at two sports companies (our agency Catalyst Sports and Fox Sports) but he also worked at Universal Music Group and in politics for the California Secretary of State (who is now a US senator- what a connection!). Now if he applies to work at an agency he can not only offer similar agency experience but also has experience/connections for clients who want to get into music or even politics. If he’d worked exclusively at agencies, his connections at other agencies wouldn’t be useful since these are their competitors and there are minimal chances to work together.

The most important skills to have

For initial roles, you must have the ability to get things done. There will always be issues and reasons not to do things but you’ll be defined by whether you decide to give up or whether you find a way to make it work. If you’re an assistant and your boss is coming to you to solve a problem, don’t create more problems for them by presenting issues/excuses for why it can’t be done. Problem solvers succeed.

For later roles, perseverance and networking are two invaluable skills. You might think your client is the greatest athlete ever, and hey, they might be — but many partners or brands could see things differently, or not have budget, or your client may not align with an existing campaign. It happens, which is why perseverance and the ability to not get disgruntled is key in player marketing and recruiting. You’ll get rejected a lot but remember: you’ll be defined by your wins, not your losses.

Additionally your ability to network and sustain/build relationships is crucial. As I stated above, sports is a small industry and everyone knows one another. You’ll work with the same people over and over (if things initially go well) and it’s imperative that you sustain these relationships so that the next time they need an athlete, they come to you. Specifically for player marketing, networking is key as you’re judged by how many companies you have relationships at and you often have to get creative to make these connections.

No one will create a job for you

I graduated from a top undergraduate business school while also double majoring in Media Studies and by the time I finished school, I had experience at over 10 jobs/internships across sports and business development. Low and behold, it didn’t matter. I still had to wait over 6 months for the right opportunity to emerge.

Unlike accounting, banking, and consulting which can give you an offer almost a year before your start date, sports agencies in general run lean and even the larger agencies hire on an as needed basis. No matter your experience it’s extremely rare for an agency to create a position just for you.

Some final thoughts

The interview process:

Do whatever you can to differentiate yourself during the interview process. Everyone will have a resume but if you can point to some side project you did on your own (maybe starting a sports business related Instagram, a podcast, etc.) it’ll not only show initiative but also show you can take things from start to finish.

Write a handwritten thank you note for each person you speak to throughout the interview process. CAA made us interns write handwritten notes to everyone that spoke to us and it was an invaluable lesson. Especially in this digital age, having something tangible that will end up on their desk will really help you stand out.

Lastly, make sure you ask insightful questions during the interview. Don’t just ask “What is your day to day like?” Questions are another great way to show your knowledge by frontloading the first half of the question:

“I know that technology platforms like Amazon and Facebook have been acquiring more sports media rights like NFL Thursday Night Football in recent years, do you see a future where sports are consumed entirely on digitally native platforms instead of linear TV?”

Networking:

Unfortunately, emailing the general ‘info@soandsoagency.com’ will likely go nowhere — but knowing someone at that agency will greatly increase your odds of getting an interview. Even if you don’t know anyone there are several ways to expand your network:

Search the company you want to work for on LinkedIn.
You likely don’t know anyone directly there (1st degree connection) but you may have a 2nd degree connection through a friend of a friend.
Reach out and see if they are close enough to provide an introduction. If they are, great!
If not, message them directly and say you would love to do an informational interview and learn more about their journey and background. Try to also include something personal about them so they feel you didn’t just copy the same message to 30 people. Do not ask about a job- their guard will immediatley go up. People love talking about themselves (*cough* me writing this) and generally like helping out younger people. If you went to the same school, include that- people love nostalgia and reminscing of their younger years!!
Send this person a thank you note and keep in touch every 4–6 months (don’t exceed this) with updates on your end or a congratulations on a recent deal of theirs. This will keep you top of mind if there’s an opening.
Then when you see a job opportunity you like, reach back out to them and ask to learn more about the role. Usually if this goes well they’ll offer to send your resume directly to HR. This will help you skip the abyss of blindly submitting an application in the online portal.

Additional reading:

Below are some publications and newsletters I’d recommend subscribing to to get a holistic understanding of the sports industry and beyond. This will give you topics to discuss during phone interviews and familarize yourself with industry terminology:

To hear deeper dives about my career:

About Me: By day I do player marketing for NBA players. By night I work on my own iOS app Socialchair which helps you make and share plans with your friends. In between, I bike around LA.