Introduction
It all started forty years ago between one of the greatest golfers of all time and a successful international entrepreneur (1). Mark Hume McCormick and golf great Arnold Palmer sealed a deal with a gentleman's agreement, a handshake, and never looked back. Mark McCormick has single handedly developed the sports management industry into the industry we know today. His company, IMG, is now one of the leaders in the sports management industry and controls the careers of many top professional athletes.
Today the life of a professional athlete holds second to none. The lavish life styles consisting of expensive cars, elegant homes, over priced vacations, and yes the Gatorade contract are just a few of the perks. Much of this has to do with the athlete's ability, but how much? Today athletes are getting agents at younger and younger ages. One has a hard time ignoring this when fourteen years old boys are being signed to multi-year soccer contracts, but it didn't just start. This trend of signing young athletes has been around since the time of Bobby Oar and Bobby Hull (2), arguable two the greatest hockey players ever. At young ages these two future superstars were flagged by professional hockey teams. But a lot has changed in professional sports over the past fifty years. Contracts are becoming more and more exorbitant and players are being marketed in so many different ways. Company's such as IMG, Octagon, Assente and AKT have played major rolls in the marketing of such athletes.
Today contracts have become more and more complex and it is imperative to have an agent that knows the process. Companies such as IMG offer well known and respected agents that can aid an athlete t ...