Athletic Appearance, a 2-year-old company that works with agents to find speaking engagements and endorsements for their clients, has changed its name to The Athletes Agency and is opening offices in New York and Los Angeles.
The Athletes Agency will continue to operate its original San Diego office, but will move its headquarters to Los Angeles, said Andrew Kline, founder and CEO.
“The truth is we want to be everywhere because there are great companies in need of great athletes everywhere,” Kline said. “But we thought the best way to span the country and reach out overseas would be to locate ourselves in the two most energetic markets.”
Kline is a former San Diego State offensive lineman who was drafted in the seventh round of the 2000 NFL draft by the St. Louis Rams but was cut after suffering an injury.
He started Athletic Appearance out of his home, but business grew so well that he started adding employees and opened a San Diego office. The company now has nine employees and seven interns.
The company first operated much like a speakers’ bureau but expanded to include endorsements and signed its first major corporate consulting client, the Senior Bowl, last month.
The Athletes Agency splits commissions with agents and has worked with celebrities such as Joe Montana, Marcus Allen, Donnie Edwards, Billy Mayfair, Rick Majerus and Rocky Bleier, Kline said. The company is averaging 12 speaking engagements or appearances a week and about two endorsements a month for athletes, he said.
LIVINGSTON GOES WITH REEBOK: Shaun Livingston, chosen by the Los Angeles Clippers as the No. 4 pick in this year’s NBA draft, has agreed to a shoe deal with Reebok.
Livingston agreed to a multiyear deal that is guaranteed in the seven figures, sources said, and could rise into the eight figures, depending on Livingston’s performance over five or six years.
Livingston is represented by NBA player agent Henry Thomas of Chicago-based CSMG.
ROSENHAUS SIGNS TWO MORE: Drew Rosenhaus, who has already signed 22 new clients this year, added Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin and Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Marcus Stroud to his client list.
Of the 24 players Rosenhaus has signed this year, 16 were formerly represented by other agents, including his two newest clients. Stroud was formerly represented by Pat Dye, who could not immediately be reached for comment. Boldin was formerly represented by Ken Sarnoff. Sarnoff said that he sent a letter to Rosenhaus and his brother and partner, Jason Rosenhaus, in July, asking them to stop soliciting Boldin, and copied the letter to the NFL Players Association. “I will be taking appropriate legal action through the NFLPA and/or the court system,” Sarnoff said.
Drew Rosenhaus responded, “I don’t recall getting the letter, and he can do whatever he wants. We have documentation that Anquan terminated this guy and contacted us well after he terminated this guy.”
For players who are looking for an agent, Rosenhaus said, “we are obviously a popular choice. We are tickled to death.”
MOORE OPENS MENTOR: Veteran motorsports marketer Todd Moore has opened Mentor, an athlete representation agency built on a different type of fee structure for agents.
Mentor, based in Charlotte, offers contract negotiation, endorsement acquisition, financial planning, business management, career planning and other services, Moore said. Mentor is in talks with four NASCAR drivers, he said, two in the Busch Series and two in Nextel Cup.
Moore said the agency will begin by signing race car driver clients. “Our plans for the future are to diversify into other professional sports,” he said.
Clients will be charged Mentor’s cost of providing the services, plus a percentage of between 10 and 15 percent, Moore said.
“Commonly what we found is … for athletes, their agents were charging them a percentage of the financial value of their racing team agreements,” Moore said, adding that the percentage ranged from 2 percent to 15 percent. “These drivers are paying a lot of money for agent services.”
Moore also owns Moore Consulting Group, which provides activation services for companies investing in sports, and QuikTik, a Web-based corporate event management software firm. Moore was formerly a partner in The Cotter Group, which was sold to SFX Sports in 2000.
Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
