Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Jay-Z, Sports Agents, & Coben's Deal Breaker


From yesterday's New York Times article "With New Move, Jay-Z Enters a Sports Agent State of Mind:"
Jay-Z has long been in the inner circle of A-listers like Alex Rodriguez and LeBron James, using their names in his lyrics and their star wattage to enhance his own. Now, he is making a move to turn those relationships into big business in a more formal way. 
With a double-barreled announcement Tuesday that he was opening his own sports agency, and that he was stealing the Yankees star Robinson Cano from the most powerful agent in baseball, Jay-Z stands poised to shake up the sports world by offering athletes something they cannot find anywhere else: himself. 
Roc Nation Sports is the newest arm of Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s “full-service entertainment company” that has quickly built a strong reputation representing artists like Rihanna, Shakira and M.I.A.
For a book with a sports agent protagonist, try Harlan Coben's crime novel Deal Breaker:
Sports agent Myron Bolitar is poised on the edge of the big time. So is Christian Steele, a rookie quarterback and Myron's prized client. But when Christian gets a phone call from a former girlfriend, a woman who everyone, including the police, believes is dead, the deal starts to go sour. Trying to unravel the truth about a family's tragedy, a woman's secret, and a man's lies, Myron is up against the dark side of his business--where image and talent make you rich, but the truth can get you killed.

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