Data: Forbes; Table: Axios Visuals
The pandemic may have upended the sports world, but business is booming for its top agencies.
By the numbers: The 40 most valuable sports agencies in the world negotiated deals worth over $56 billion in 2020 and brought in commissions worth $2.9 billion — a 10% rise from 2019 and a 55% gain since 2015, per Forbes.
- Creative Artists Agency tops the rankings for 2020 and was the top agency by commissions in the NFL and NBA, second in the NHL and fourth in MLB.
- Klutch Sports Group — founded by LeBron James’ agent Rich Paul — had the best year, jumping all the way to No. 8 in terms of contracts negotiated.
Top agents: MLB superagent Scott Boras sits atop the list after negotiating $3.2 billion worth of contracts and bringing in $161.1 million in commissions.
- Rounding out the top five are three soccer agents — Jonathan Barnett, Jorge Mendes and Mino Raiola — and NBA agent Jeff Schwartz.
- The rest of the top 10 features three MLB agents — Casey Close, Joel Wolfe, and Sam and Seth Levinson — plus Paul and NFL agent David Mulugheta.
