The Most Powerful Sports Agents 2025

Forbes

2 days ago

T he 15-year, $765 million contract Juan Soto signed with the New York Mets in December gave the 26-year-old slugging outfielder the all-time mark for the largest deal in professional sports. But the agent who negotiated that landmark contract didn't even need it to maintain his place atop the financial leaderboard.
Scott Boras, founder and president of the Southern California-based Boras Corporation, is once again the most powerful sports agent in North American team sports, with commissions of up to $244 million on an estimated $4.89 billion in active playing contracts under management as of December 31, 2024. That record-setting commissions figure represents a 28% increase from the last time Forbes published the agent ranking, in 2022.
Boras has now landed in the top spot nine times across the 10 editions of the Forbes list, which made its debut in 2013 and is sorted by the maximum commissions that agents can earn based on the standard fee percentage in each league. The lone exception was in 2019, when Boras dropped behind soccer super-agent Jonathan Barnett; however, Forbes has confined its 2022 and 2025 rankings to North America, setting aside Europeans like Barnett, who is now retired and has been accused of rape and trafficking. (Barnett has denied the claims.)
On this year's list, Jeff Schwartz, CEO of Excel Sports Management and a powerful NBA agent, remains No. 2 with $113 million in maximum commissions on an estimated $2.84 billion in active contracts. Rich Paul, a fellow basketball agent and the founder of Klutch Sports Group, rounds out the top three with $111 million in maximum commissions on an estimated $2.77 billion in active contracts.
The top 20 agents, who are each set to collect at least $32 million in maximum commissions across the life of the playing contracts they have negotiated, together manage more than $32 billion in active deals. They include four agents from CAA—North America's most valuable sports agency—and another four from Wasserman, which came in second in the agency ranking. Excel, with baseball agent Casey Close appearing alongside Schwartz, is the only other agency with more than one representative on the 2025 list.
No agent is in the same ballpark as Boras, who has 113 clients but could have matched Schwartz's commissions total with just six of them: Soto, Bryce Harper, Corey Seager, Gerrit Cole, Xander Bogaerts and Anthony Rendon, who have each signed a contract for at least $245 million. The gap between Boras and the rest of the field is even starker because agents typically charge 5% in MLB, compared with 4% in the NBA and 3% in the NFL, where fees are limited by the players' unions, and a standard rate of 4% in the NHL. That difference helps explain the breakdown of the 2025 agent ranking by sport: eight agents from basketball, seven from baseball, three from football and two from hockey.
The entire list has seen significant growth since 2022, however, as leagues' record revenues have pushed up player salaries, especially in the NBA. Schwartz's estimated contract total is up 32%, and Paul's 103%, for instance, while WME Basketball's Bill Duffy now ranks fourth overall among agents with $72 million in maximum commissions on $1.8 billion in estimated active contracts—up 77%, and five spots in the ranking, from 2022.
Endorsement deals were excluded from the tabulation of this list in recognition of the fact that, at many major agencies, separate marketing divisions handle all or much of the work around those contracts. (That approach effectively rules out agents from individual sports, such as golf and tennis, where athletes generally don't collect salaries.)
Even so, the role of a sports agent is increasingly being stretched well beyond the boundaries of a playing contract, often in ways that don't directly lead to income. Agents now frequently orchestrate training regimens for their clients ahead of league drafts. They cultivate investment opportunities and nurture athlete-founded businesses, sometimes continuing to serve as financial advisors well after athletes have stopped playing professionally. They might also be asked to coordinate media appearances, or secure box seats for a marquee event. And at CAA, for instance, Pat Brisson (No. 6 on the agent list with $62 million in maximum commissions) takes special pride in his hockey group's ability to guide players through medical decisions, tapping a network of experts independent of team-employed doctors.
'You have to think about athletes in a different way now,' Excel's Schwartz says. 'The more complicated the world gets, the more hats you're wearing as an agent.'
Most Powerful Sports Agents 2025 #1. Scott Boras
Adam Hunger/Associated Press Agency: Boras Corporation Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Bryce Harper, Corey Seager, Juan Soto Estimated Clients: 113 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $4.89 billion Maximum Commissions: $244 million #2. Jeff Schwartz Agency: Excel Sports Management Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Cade Cunningham, Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray Estimated Clients: 45 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $2.84 billion Maximum Commissions: $113 million #3. Rich Paul
Marcio Jose/Associated Press Agency: Klutch Sports Group/UTA Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Anthony Davis, Darius Garland, LeBron James Estimated Clients: 40 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $2.77 billion Maximum Commissions: $111 million #4. Bill Duffy
Jeff Chiu/Associated Press Agency: WME Basketball Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Chet Holmgren Estimated Clients: 76 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.8 billion Maximum Commissions: $72 million #5. Joel Wolfe Agency: Wasserman Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Trevor Story, Tyler Glasnow Estimated Clients: 17 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.26 billion Maximum Commissions: $63 million #6. Pat BrissonAgency: CAA Sport: Hockey Key Clients: Sidney Crosby, Jack Hughes, Nathan MacKinnon Estimated Clients: 93 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.56 billion Maximum Commissions: $62 million #7. David Mulugheta Agency: Athletes First Sport: Football Key Clients: Jordan Love, Micah Parsons, Jalen Ramsey Estimated Clients: 55 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.93 billion Maximum Commissions: $58 million #8. Dan Lozano Agency: MVP Sports Group Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Yordan Alvarez, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. Estimated Clients: 46 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.14 billion Maximum Commissions: $57 million #9. Casey Close
Kathy Willens/Associated Press Agency: Excel Sports Management Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Clayton Kershaw, Cal Raleigh, Kyle Tucker Estimated Clients: 38 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.12 billion Maximum Commissions: $56 million #10. Craig Oster
Newport Sports Management Agency: Newport Sports Management Sport: Hockey Key Clients: Rasmus Dahlin, Mark Stone, Matthew Tkachuk Estimated Clients: 77 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.32 billion Maximum Commissions: $53 million #11. Austin Brown Agency: CAA Sport: Basketball Key Clients: OG Anunoby, Jaren Jackson Jr., Donovan Mitchell Estimated Clients: 29 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.32 billion Maximum Commissions: $53 million #12. Mark Bartelstein
Priority Sports & Entertainment Agency: Priority Sports & Entertainment Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Bradley Beal, Kon Knueppel, Michael Porter Jr. Estimated Clients: 60 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.31 billion Maximum Commissions: $53 million #13. Aaron Mintz Agency: CAA Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Paul George, Tyrese Haliburton, Trae Young Estimated Clients: 28 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.29 billion Maximum Commissions: $52 million #14. Joel Segal Agency: WIN Sports Group Sport: Football Key Clients: Brock Bowers, Christian McCaffrey, Jared Verse Estimated Clients: 60 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.69 billion Maximum Commissions: $51 million
#15. Jason Glushon Agency: Glushon Sports Management Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Franz Wagner Estimated Clients: 18 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.14 billion Maximum Commissions: $46 million #16. Thad Foucher
Donato Sardella/SaksAgency: Wasserman Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Stephon Castle, Luguentz Dort, Evan Mobley Estimated Clients: 23 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.13 billion Maximum Commissions: $45 million #17. Drew Rosenhaus
Chris Szagola/Associated Press Agency: Rosenhaus Sports Representation Sport: Football Key Clients: Christian Darrisaw, Tyreek Hill, D.J. Moore Estimated Clients: 114 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.5 billion Maximum Commissions: $45 million #18. Nez Balelo
Brian Rothmuller/Agency: CAA Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Sandy Alcantara, Shohei Ohtani, Marcell Ozuna Estimated Clients: 4 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $790 million Maximum Commissions: $39 million #19. Nick Chanock Agency: Wasserman Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Javier Baez, Jose Berrios, Ryan Helsley Estimated Clients: 10 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $770 million Maximum Commissions: $39 million #20. B.B. Abbott Agency: Wasserman Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Matt Olson, Chris Sale, Zack Wheeler Estimated Clients: 16 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $630 million Maximum Commissions: $32 million Methodology
Forbes' 2025 list of the most powerful sports agents includes agents focused on North American team sports, ranked by an estimate of the maximum commissions they can generate from the contracts they manage. Unlike some previous editions of the list, the 2025 ranking does not include European soccer agents. And unlike Forbes' list of the most valuable sports agencies, this ranking does not consider endorsement deals—only playing contracts. Thus, the ranking excludes agents in individual sports such as golf and tennis, who traditionally do not collect commissions on their clients' prize money and focus instead on marketing contracts.
Contract figures represent estimates of the total value of all active deals under management as of December 31, 2024, including both money that had already been paid out and money that had yet to be paid. To calculate commissions, Forbes multiplied the contract value either by the maximum agent fee allowed by that league's players' union or by the standard market rate (3% in the NFL, 4% in the NBA and the NHL, 5% in MLB).
Agents often work in teams or with support from junior agents; for this ranking, contract values are assigned to the lead agent for each client. In cases where an athlete is co-represented by multiple agents and there is no discernible lead, a portion of the contract value is assigned to each agent. In recognition of the particularly high degree of collaboration among agents within CAA's football division, its agents were excluded from this year's list; however, CAA's agents were considered in baseball, basketball and hockey.
Forbes' contract total estimates are rounded to the nearest $10 million. Maximum commission estimates are rounded to the nearest $1 million. Figures were compiled through conversations with industry insiders and with the help of public reports and databases such as Spotrac, Inside the League, PuckPedia and Capology. Some clients and contract figures that could not be independently corroborated were not included. More From Forbes Forbes Talent Agency Wasserman Expands NHL Division With Deal For KO Sports By Brett Knight Forbes Private Equity Firm Velocity Capital Is Investing More Than $100 Million In A European Soccer Agency By Justin Birnbaum Forbes As The NHL Grows, A Dominant Sports Agency Thinks Hockey Marketing Is No Longer On Thin Ice By Brett Knight Forbes The World's 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2025 By Brett Knight