Employment Agreement President Sports

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Employment Agreement President Sports document sample

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							                   BUSINESS FIRST
                       Blue Equity buys leading NFL agency
                                               Liz Mullen
                                              May 20, 2007

Blue Equity, which launched a sports agency            "Football's popularity in this country, in the
business last year by buying the former SFX            last five years, has exploded," Blue said. "We
tennis, events and television divisions, has           just have to be there. It's the No. 1 dominant
acquired the firm of top NFL player agent Joel         sport in the country, based on fan support and
Segal, who counts Reggie Bush and Michael              economics, and we think we found the perfect
Vick among his clients.                                person to be added to our platform in that
                                                       sport."
The acquisition will bring 50 NFL player clients
to Louisville-based Blue Equity and will               'Right fit at the right time'
instantly mark the firm as a major player in
representing athletes in the most popular              Segal said he has met with other companies
sport in America, according to Sports Business         interested in acquiring his firm in the last few
Journal, a sister publication to Business First.       years.

Segal's other clients include NFL quarterbacks         "You go with your gut and what you think is a
Jason Campbell and Tarvaris Jackson, rookie            perfect fit," Segal said. "I think that when I
standout Marques Colston, and Pro Bowlers              met Jonathan, his plan, his credibility in the
DeAngelo Hall, Muhsin Muhammad, Darren                 business world and his enthusiasm, all
Sharper and Will Smith.                                combined, seemed like the right fit at the right
                                                       time."
In last month's NFL draft, Segal represented
three first-round selections -- Levi Brown (No.        Last year, Blue Equity jumped into the agency
5), LaRon Landry (No. 6) and Craig Davis (No.          business by acquiring the SFX tennis, media
30) -- and was the only agent to represent             and events businesses, led by sports pioneer
two top-10 picks.                                      Donald Dell and tennis agent Ken Meyerson.

Segal to lead Blue's football division                 Shortly after that, the company hired veteran
                                                       basketball and football agent Bill Strickland.
Jonathan Blue, chairman and managing                   Strickland said he was part of the review
director of Blue Equity, would not provide             process for the acquisition of Segal's business
financial terms of the deal, except to say that        and that it will allow him to concentrate on his
it was an acquisition of Segal's company, New          preferred sport of basketball.
York-based Worldwide Football, and that Segal
has a long-term employment agreement. He               Blue said he is in discussions about additional
will become president of Blue Equity's football        acquisitions and could announce another deal
division.                                              as soon as this week.

Segal is considered one of the most powerful           Blue said he is interested in acquiring sports
football agents in the country, along with CAA         properties, including events, as well as agents,
Sports agents Tom Condon and Ben Dogra and             and that Blue Equity could expand into
independent agent Drew Rosenhaus.                      baseball, hockey and golf.

"Joel is one of the premier agents in the entire       The deal to acquire Segal's company signals
sport," said Blue, adding that he is "not buying       that the run on agent firms, which began last
client lists," but rather is adding people who         year with major acquisitions by Wasserman
are "the right fit" to build Blue Equity's sports      Media Group and Creative Artists Agency, is
division into a multisport marketing company           not over.
that can take advantage of what Blue predicts
to be enormous growth in the sports business.          Blue Equity becoming known as a player
                   BUSINESS FIRST
And Blue Equity, which has not received the         business and that both       liked   Segal   and
same industrywide attention as WMG and CAA          approved of the deal.
Sports, might very well be a serious player.
                                                    Segal "is an experienced veteran but a
In addition to the purchase of Segal's              relatively young guy," Dell said. "I think that
business, there has been a buzz about Blue          Jonathan Blue is really quite determined to
Equity in agent circles of late, as the fledgling   build this thing into major proportions. I think
firm has had a surprisingly strong recruiting       what he is trying to build is a multipurpose,
season prior to next month's NBA draft,             multisport marketing company. He wants to
signing University of Florida and NCAA              be competitive with all of them, from IMG to
Championship star players Joakim Noah and           Octagon to Wasserman Media Group."
Corey Brewer.
                                                    In addition to sports, Blue Equity has holdings
Blue Equity now represents stars in multiple        in publishing, real estate and financial
sports, including top American tennis players       services.
Andy Roddick and brothers Bob and Mike
Bryan, top women's tennis player Justine            Last year, Blue Equity sold an 80 percent
Henin, NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace and now         stake in its Spanish language telephone
NFL stars Vick and Bush.                            directory business, which publishes the Enlace
                                                    Spanish Yellow Pages, to Telmex, a telephone
Dell, who serves as president of tennis, media      company owned by billionaire Carlos Slim
and events, said he and Strickland both were        Helú, one of the richest men in the world.
consulted on the acquisition of Segal's

						
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