July 29, 2009

Though we can only touch on a few of the many areas of interest to the Sports Lawyer that David Falk went into in great detail in his book, the changing dynamics of the agent industry is something that concerns Falk. In fact, from approximately 1998 for the better part of ten years, Falk curtailed his recruiting of college basketball players. Falk saw the influence of AAU coaches in the recruiting process, and commented “As we got into the 1990’s, some of the younger agents, who weren’t at all established, started to sign players capable of becoming first round picks. There were already indications of financial inducements floating around when this new group of agents started making serious inroads, signing some of the highest -profile rookies.” Falk had depended a great deal on the good will he had built up with college coaches over the years to help send players his way, but now AAU coaches were having greater influence on the player than the college coach.

READERS: Use our Message Board to discuss the dynamics of recruiting, the role of the coach in steering a player towards an agent, etc.

Falk left ProServ to start his own company, FAME. Like many other top agents when mega-companies came calling with millions of dollars, Falk was happy to sell his firm to SFX Entertainment. We do not have the space to go into all the details of this tumultuous period, but one of the interesting side notes to this was that Falk found himself as Chairman of the SFX Sports operation, with Donald Dell working for him. Falk stated that no one was happy about that.

If you are interested in negotiations, outside-the-box thinking, and long-term career development, The Bald Truth delivers on these and many other facets of the sports and entertainment business. Whether you’re a David Falk fan or not, this book is worth your time.



It’s THE BALD TRUTH: Secrets of Success from the Locker Room to the Board Room by David Falk with a forward by Michael Jordan, published in 2009 by Pocket Books, A Division of Simon & Schuster New York

Some opinions about the O'Bannon suit: