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Black agents Black Patent Lillian 120mm compete for blue Black Patent Leather Love Me 100mm chip athletes More black agents are negotiating contracts for superstar athletes. But the real money is in cutting endorsement deals and providing financial services.Their clients read like a who’s in professional team sports. Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing. Bobby Bonilla and Dwight Gooden. Herschel Walker and Randall Cunningham. Pick a player, any player, among the 10 highest paid black athletes in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL) or Major Legue Baseball, and 29 out of 30 have an agent who is anything but black.In basketball, total rejection: not David Robinson, not even Hakeem Olajuwon. In baseball, a complete shut out: not Barry Bonds, not Cecil Fielder. Throw in football and except for 1988 Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders, black sports agents would be 0 for 30 in their bid to represent the cream of the crop.But oh, the times are changing. Just ask Los Angeles based sports agents Leigh Steinberg and Marvin Demoff, who in the past three years have lost out to black agents in the race to represent Sanders, whose estimated $700,000 in annual endorsements makes him one of the hottest properties in the NFL, and Raghib "Rocket" Ismail, the kick return specialist from Notre Dame who now pulls in a guaranteed $4.55 million per year with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Or try asking Chicago based agent Steve Zucker and Orange Country based agent Barry Axelrod, who last year received word that their services would no longer be needed by two sports star Deion Sanders of the Atlanta Braves and Falcons, the heir apparent to Bo Jackson.Go ahead and bet the bank on this one: More black sports agents are negotiating contracts and providing financial services for the superstars of sports, where the real pot of gold is in endorsement packages. But it remains an uphill battle despite the fact that team sports are dominated by black athletes. Of the roughly 3,000 athletes in professional team sports, 50% are black, but less than 15% are represented exclusively by black sports agents."Unfortunately, some of the star black players have swallowed the line that you’ve got to have a white agent and maybe a white, Jewish agent to get the very best deal," says Raymond E. Anderson of five year old Anderson Reynolds (AR) Sports Inc."For the most part, they’re indoctrinated from the time they’re in high school," adds R. David Ware, a partner with Atlanta based Thomas, Kennedy, Sampson, Edwards Patterson, who co negotiated Barry Sanders contracts with agent Charles Lamont Smith and also represents Mark Clayton of the Miami Dolphins. "They’re pretty much told it’s the white agent and white attorney who can get you the most money," he says. "Like all black business people, we not only have to be good to get a client, we have to be great."Despite these and other obstacles, the profit motive has inspired more blacks to dare to be great. "As long as the sports industry itself is thriving, the opportunity is going to be there for black sports agents," says Fort Wayne, Ind. based Eugene E. Parker, 36, whose clients include Tim Brown of the Los Angeles Raiders, Rod Woodson of the Pittsburgh Steelers and "Prime Time" himself, Deion Sanders.And boy, is the industry thriving thanks in no small part to black athletes. However, even as they excel on the courts, diamonds and gridirons of the world, African Americans continue to be largely excluded from the executive suites and boardrooms of the multi billion dollar sports industry. Thus, African Americans still do not enjoy an ownership stake that is representative of their contributions as loyal consumers and reliable, often highly specialized laborers in the industry. In this, first installment of a special report examining black progress in the business of sports, BLACK ENTERPRISE looks at the gains made by African American sports agents.Getting A Piece Of The ActionIn 1990, sports related companies, stadiums and performers produced over $60 billion in revenues, making sports the nation’s 22nd largest industry, according to Martin J. Approximately $580 million came from professional athletes’ endorsement contracts, of which agents typically get 20% to 25% as much as $145 million annually in commissions. Throw in the 3% to 5% (potentially $70 million a year) in commissions that represents the agents cut of the $1.4 billion in salaries that team sport athletes earned in 1991, and it’s easy to see why sports agents outnumber athletes virtually two to one. "It can be a lucrative field because you’re taking a piece of the player’s income, a piece of his action," Greenberg observes. "If you represent a guy who’s making $5 million over four years, that’s $200,000 in commissions. Fifty thousand dollars a year is a living for a lot of people."That fact has not gone unnoticed by African Americans. For example, C. Lamont Smith, 35, founder, CEO and president of All Pro Sports and Entertainment Inc., a black owned, full service sports management company, grossed an estimated $2 million in revenues in 1991. With a staff of nine people, the Denver based company’s client portfolio includes Denver Broncos safety Steve Atwater, Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Alfred Williams and Detroit running back Barry Sanders, whose $1.9 million a year contract and endorsement deals with Wheaties breakfast cereal and Nintendo home video games, among others, make him the firm’s crown jewel.And Alameda, California based AR Sports, which specializes solely in contract negotiations under the watchful eye of co founder and President Raymond Anderson, grossed $500,000 last year with such clients as Jose Oquendo of the St. Louis Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings head coach Dennis Green and Harold Reynolds, second baseman with the Seattle Mariners (and the brother of Anderson’s partner, Larry D. Reynolds). Strickland recently left ProServe to become president of basketball operations for Cleveland based, sports management industry king International Management Group (IMG), taking with him such prized clients as Mitch Richmond of the Sacramento Kings and Pervis Ellison of the Washington Bullets. Ellison was the first overall No. 1 draft pick in the NBA to have black representation. Fred L. Slaughter, a self employed, Santa Monica, Calif based, 22 year veteran sports agent who represents not only athletes such as the Indiana Pacers’ LaSalle Thompson, but also the 53 member National Association of Basketball Referees. Edward Abram, the Oakland based agent and 50% partner with Morcom Sports Enterprises, negotiated Raghib Ismail’s four year, $18.2 million contract, the largest first year contract in sports history.Black sports agents are beginning to get a bigger piece of the action in the wake of skyrocketing player salaries and marketing opportunities that have more than doubled during the past three years. In 1989, the average player salary was $750,000 in basketball, $497,000 in baseball and $299,000 in football. Today, it’s a whopping $1 million in basketball, $851,492 in baseball and $420,000 in football, according to the major sports leagues’ respective players associations. Also, three years ago, the top three highest paid black athletes combined raked Black Leather Lillian 120mm in less than $12 million in endorsement income. In 1991, Chicago Bulls guard Michael Jordan pulled in $13.2 million alone, making him king of the nation’s sports endorsers.Traditionally, that crown has been reserved for golfers like Arnold Palmer and Greg Norman or tennis players like Boris Becker and Steffi Graf, athletes whose professions lend themselves to more international visibility and therefore more appeal. And since golf and tennis pros are also less likely to rely on agents, given that tournament purses and appearance fees drive their markets, the majority of sports agents are forced to vie for a share of the crowded team sports market, where the competition can be tough, especially if you’re black.Of the 200 registered baseball agents at the start of the 1992 season, only 150 had active clients. And of those 150 base ball agents only five, or 3.3%, were black. Of the 675 registered NFL agents in 1991, only 320 had active clients. And of those agents, only 45, or 14%, were black. "It’s a tough field to break into," says Kenneth L. "Maybe 5% of the people that call themselves agents are doing it full time. It’s sort of like playing the lottery: If you do get that $5 million a year player, you’re on your way to a career. If not."Then you’d better not quit that day job.Actually, becoming an agent isn’t that difficult which is a major flaw with the system according to some basketball agents who find it hard to accept that boxing promoter Don King is now registered with the NBA. At last count, 24 states require agent registration. Six others are considering legislation in the wake of widespread corruption by sports agents who attempted to contract with players before their college eligibility expired. Of those 24 states with laws on the books, Oklahoma has the most stringent upfront requirements a $1,000 registration fee and a $100,000 surety bond. Indiana has the toughest penalties a maximum $50,000 fine and two years in jail. In order to represent a player on a professional team, an agent has to be certified by the repective sports’ players associations. For the NFL, compliance, which is voluntary, entails filling out an application, paying a $400 application fee and $200 in annual dues. The NBA has no application fee but charges $800 annual dues. Major League Baseball has no application fee and no dues.A few years ago, agents locked players into long term contracts and threatened to initiate costly court battles if the athlete wanted out. But the players unions now require that the player agent agreements be contractually binding for no longer than one year and that all disputes be handled by arbitration. Also, agents were once able to charge clients whatever commission they could get. The players unions now limit commissions to no more than 4% to 5%.It’s almost imperative though, to have some kind of legal or financial training. "If you’re White Leather Lillian 120mm going to deal with contract law and labor law, you’ve got to have some legal know how and ability," says Fred Slaughter, who represented Dennis Johnson and Norm Nixon during their playing days. and MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles. "If you’re not an attorney," he says, "you will limit yourself severely."That’s the advice that Clark Atlanta University graudate Charles Lamont Smith got from former Atlanta Hawks general manager Lewis Schaffel back in 1979, when Smith first considered sports representation while working as a production assistant with WATL TV in Atlanta and ushering at Hawks basketball games. Says Smith: "He said to me, "You’re bright and articulate, but there’s one problem. You’re black. And for some reason, blacks have not gravitated to or trusted black representatives. Don’t try to do it as an agent. Go back to law school and have something else to offer."No sooner had Smith graduated from Howard University Law School, when the Denver law firm of Gorsuch, Kirgis, Campbell, Walker Grover hired him at the same time it was creating a sports marketing branch. Three years later Smith started All Pro Sports and Entertainment with $10,000 of his own money and a $100,000 commitment from a white investor (a $90,000 loan at 10% and $10,000 to purchase 10% equity in the firm). Smith is calling on the next wave of black sports agents to be daring enough to take a similar path. "I learned how the business was done, how to speak the language, and I used it to my benefit," says Smith. "That has to be the mission of this next wave of blacks. Learn how to do it, start your own, and then you don’t have to have your hand out."