How much do MLB agents make?

Money is a major factor in determining whether a sport will be successful on a national scale. And perhaps the most important factor in professional leagues is economics. In these leagues, the owners of the ball clubs as well as the players make enormous sums of money.

"NFL and NBA sports agents are not allowed to charge more than 3% commission of players salaries. MLB doesn’t have such limits. At 5% commission, an agent would make $15 million for a $300 million contract" - joslewis

Spending $300 million on a single player in Major League Baseball is no longer a big issue for the league's owners. However, there is always a middleman — the agent — between the owners and the players. The majority of MLB players engage an agent to speak on their behalf in negotiations with club owners.

Agents make between $16,000 and $4 million in MLB, where there are no commission caps, while players make between $400,000 and $32 million.

In 2017, Scott Boras, who negotiated player contracts totaling $1.9 billion, was the MLB agent with the highest salary, earning $108.3 million in commissions. Only Boras represents athletes who have contracts worth more than $2 billion, and he represents 76 different athletes.

MLB agents take home the real riches

Finding, negotiating and obtaining endorsement contracts for a client is a significant portion of an agent's business.

Depending on the sport and type of contract, an agent often receives 10 to 20 percent of a client's endorsement deal. In exchange for which the agent normally retains between 10% and 20% of the earnings, an agent may also arrange paid consultations and appearances.

"Agents by $ in commissions: 1. Scott Boras ($161.1m)" - DarrenHeitner

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average pay for agents that work with athletes, artists and entertainers was $89,590 in 2016. However, local differences in average salaries can exist. The majority of the top earners in the sector live in California, New York and Florida.

Located in California, The Boras Corporation is an organization with 75 employees. Scott Boras has a team of people working for him, including an economist, a computer engineer, three lawyers, five personal trainers, a sports psychologist and one person who must watch all of the games for the day and report to Boras.

Even if the $20-30 million in annual spending by Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and other high-profile spenders is noteworthy, Boras' income is significantly higher.