How To Be A Sports Agent

There are not many books that I would consider essential reading but Mel gives devastating detail about the pros and cons about being a sports agent. The best compliment I can give this book is to say after I had read it I had a clear picture on the realities of pursuing this line of interest and I was able to make a more well-rounded decision. Each chapter is detailed and the one on how to get clients is worth the price of the book on its own. This book focuses primarily on being a soccer/football agent, but is relevant to all sports. I recommend anyone who is interested in becoming or researching becoming a sports agent grabs a copy of this book which I know will be very helpful to you.

I found this book interesting in that it highlights a number of key points that a sports agent should think about when negotiating both an agency contract (with the player) and a playing contract (on behalf of the player). Also, Stein's jovial writing style makes it easy to read. However, sadly the book seems to have been written and published in haste. A number of the chapters are very, very short and one cannot help feeling that they represent just a token effort at addressing the issues in hand. The worst offender is the chapter entitled 'Representation of Team / League Sport Athletes versus Representation of Athletes in Individual Sports', which is a mere two sides long. Also, the book has not been proof-read, and consequently it is littered with spelling and grammatical mistakes (eg 'you're agreement' on p.145 and the lack of full-stop at the end of the chapter on p.51). One could argue that small errors like this are relatively unimportant but when a chapter ends mid-sentence (as the chapter on 'What to Charge and Who Pays' does on p.78), one starts to feel that the author has not bothered to ensure that the book is ready for publication. Furthermore, the chapter on American sports has been written in American English (eg 'recognized' instead of 'recognised') and nobody has edited it to make it consistent with the rest of the book. So overall, although 'How to be a Sports Agent' is by no means an absolute turkey, it is spoilt by sloppiness - the last thing one would expect from an experienced solicitor!

As a newly licenced FA football agent I found Mel Stein's informative, amusing and practical guide 'How to be a Sports Agent' invaluable. A great book!