| | BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Leigh Steinberg, arguably the most
powerful sports agent in America, sold his business Wednesday to a
Canadian firm but will remain with the company.
Steinberg, whose marquee list of clients includes NFL
quarterbacks Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Drew Bledsoe, Jake Plummer
and Warren Moon, was named chief executive officer of Assante Sports Management Group.
He will continue to run the business he founded.
Assante Corp., which is based in Winnipeg and provides a variety
of investment, marketing and personal services for its clients, is
paying $120 million for Steinberg Moorad & Dunn.
The Newport Beach-based firm represents more than 150 football,
baseball and basketball players, plus boxers, Olympic champions and
retired athletes.
The acquisition of Steinberg's company continues a trend of
consolidation in the business, with the focus on marketing the
athletes.
SFX Entertainment Inc. earlier bought out agent Arn Tellem,
whose client list included Albert Belle and Nomar Garciaparra; and
bought out agent David Falk, whose clients included Michael Jordan.
"Since I started with (quarterback) Steve Bartkowski in 1975,
there have been massive changes in our industry, with 150 TV
stations on 24 hours a day, the development of the internet, and
other opportunities such as videotape and video games," Steinberg
said.
"I've talked with Warren, Drew, Steve and Troy, and they're
excited about this, about it opening new doors for them."
The move is Assante's first into the sports field, and chairman
and CEO Marty Weinberg said the acquisition is "consistent with
our approach to partnering with preeminent firms in each of our
chosen lines of business."
Assante has more than 2,500 employees in 150 offices across
North America and administers $22.3 billion in assets. | |
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