"Creative Artists Agency (CAA) -- a longtime superpower of actors, directors, writers, musicians and entertainment/corporate deal-making -- has built CAA Sports from concept to colossus." - USAToday, 4/6/07Turn on any sporting event these days and you're likely to see an athlete represented by CAA Sports (and if you don't during the action, you're sure to catch a few during the commercial breaks). LeBron. Manning. Jeter. Beckham. Fedorov. CAA clients all.
In two short years, CAA Sports has added a remarkable stable of high-end athletes to an already mind-boggling group of clients from the world of entertainment (where else can you see a name like Sidney Crosby sandwiched between the likes of Harry Connick, Jr. and Tom Cruise on a client roster?), and the list keeps growing daily (well, other than perhaps on the day that Matt Leinart canned the agency).
One of the latest to join up with CAA Sports is hockey phenom and presumptive first-overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, John Tavares, who signed with CAA in June in a move that has raised some eyebrows in the hockey world. Per the Toronto Sun (via Puck Daddy):
Tavares' dumping of Siskinds Sports Management and primary agent Bryan Deasley last season for the higher profile Creative Artists Agency "raised some red flags" among NHL teams.Why did the move bother folks around the League? Probably not because CAA Sports' website erroneously refers to Sidney Crosby as "the NHL's leading goal scorer" in its hockey section (the boys at Endeavor would never screw that one up), and probably not because CAA Sports' hockey shop is run by Pat Brisson (of drama queen Jaromir Jagr fame) and J.P. Barry (of drama queen Mats Sundin fame).
No, more likely the cause for concern centers on Tavares's commitment and priorities and the related assumption that a Hollywood talent agency -- and by extension their clients -- would be more interested in image and branding than some of the more traditional hockey agencies (Don Meehan's Newport Sports Management group, for example). And when CAA Sports agents proclaim among the firm's key selling points that "you want to put your athlete with the best brands possible" and that "this company understands the entertainment world more than anyone else," those concerns may not be too far-fetched.
But given the incredibly restrictive parameters related to entry level deals under the current CBA (a player selected in the 2009 Entry Draft will be subject to a maximum annual salary (plus signing and games played bonuses) of $900,000 and another couple of million dollars in performance bonuses), you can hardly blame a top kid for wanting to maximize his management off the ice. That's why players like 2007-08 Rookie of the Year finalists Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are with CAA Sports, and that's why John Tavares is as well -- it has nothing to do with on-ice commitment or priorities any more than any business decision might. The free Radiohead tickets and an easy way to get Vanessa Hudgens' phone number? That's just gravy.
