Over the last decade, the marketplace for broadcast rights surrounding sports leagues and properties has flourished despite cord cutting and innovation focused on digital media. This past year, the NBA signed 11-year media rights contracts with The Walt Disney Company, Comcast and Amazon collectively worth approximately $77 billion. As the new rightsholders search for on-air talent, agents like Matt Kramer are actively presenting potential fits. While portions of the new talent rosters have been revealed, there are still openings that have yet to be determined.
Kramer, who serves as the co-head of the sports broadcasting group at Creative Artists Agency, has spoken with NBC Sports and Amazon’s Prime Video as the conglomerates prepare for NBA broadcasts next fall. While the talent market has fluctuated throughout the years, he references an analogy made by Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones in 1994. In signing John Madden to form an esteemed announcing duo with Pat Summerall, Jones emphasized that FOX had already purchased the steak, referring to NFC rights, and questioned why the company would go cheap on the accompanying sauce.
“I think the thing that we understand is that we recognize that sports media talent valuations are predicated in some way, shape or form on the sports media rights landscape,” Kramer said. “So certainly, at most of the networks or some of the networks, NFL football, college football and NBA basketball, by virtue of how large their media rights deals are, are the most important and/or impactful sports on those networks. So, when you have that, that means that the sports media talent associated with those sports demand and expect the largest salaries.”
Kramer provided an example in ESPN deciding to pay a premium for Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, both of whom are CAA Sports clients, to form its Monday Night Football broadcast booth. Discerning the paradigm shifts within sports media, he and his colleagues look to keep their clients satisfied and understand their needs and desires. Part of being successful for clients can involve taking meetings with networks to better understand what they are looking to achieve, providing insights and perspectives for the negotiation process.
“I think every network, after they acquire a right, they have to make a determination for how they want the look and feel of their product to be,” Kramer said. “Our job is to help them with our clients [and] identify which of our clients are the right people to help them hit the goals that they want.”
CAA Sports has a deep roster of experienced sports media professionals among its clientele, including Grant Hill, Doris Burke, Tony Romo, Adam Schefter, Ian Eagle and Kevin Harlan. At the same time, the company is trying to add people it considers rising stars in the business, some of whom Kramer divulged as Laura Rutledge, Noah Eagle, Ryan Ruocco and Malika Andrews. The agency possesses a roster of clients who are at different stages in their professional careers in different occupations, and Kramer remains aware of how the talent marketplace is affected by various factors.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter their age, and it doesn’t really matter how many years they’ve been in existence,” Kramer said. “We want to represent the very best of the best. It just so happens that we have a great group of established clients and a great group of young, up-and-coming stars.”
Relationships with both clients and executives at media companies is what Kramer considers sets CAA Sports apart from other media groups at talent agencies. Although he is cognizant that they work for their clients, the company wants to ink deals that both parties can feel good about, something that he affirms can only happen with strong relationships. Kramer is hopeful that networks would say the same thing pertaining to the company and its negotiations.
“We’re interested in creating a win-win situation where the client feels like he or she got the absolute best deal possible, but at the same time, the network feels very good about the deal that we did on behalf of not only our clients, but for them,” Kramer said. “These deals never work long term if one side feels like they absolutely destroyed the other side in a contract negotiation, so we’re very clear with our clients.”
Upon graduating from the University of Michigan, Kramer started his career working in public relations for the San Francisco 49ers, NFL Europe and the Atlanta Falcons. After nearly two years, he decided to join Career Sports and Entertainment, a boutique talent agency in Atlanta, where he pitched journalists stories about clients and doing other communications work. One reporter with whom Kramer was in frequent communication was Adrian Wojnarowski, who focused his coverage on basketball insights and breaking news.
“One day Adrian said to me, ‘Hey, would you introduce me to a television agent somewhere? I’m looking to be represented, and I need somebody to help me at one of the agencies,’” Kramer recalled, “and for some reason, a little bit of a lightning-bolt moment, I said to Adrian on the phone, ‘I’ll represent you.’”
Wojnarowski subsequently pointed out that Kramer did not work as a media agent but still allowed him to work on his behalf in negotiations with Yahoo Sports. On the phone, Kramer had pointed out how valuable Wojnarowski was to Yahoo Sports, articulating instances when he was breaking news about clients that those at the agency did not know about. This launched Kramer’s career in representation, and he eventually became the vice president of broadcasters and new media personalities at the firm.
“Adrian, for a number of years, was a professional and personal advocate of mine, and it opened up so many opportunities for me to be able to represent sports media personalities all across the globe, and I owe so much of that to Adrian,” Kramer said. “And obviously, Adrian retired from the journalism industry a couple of months ago, but he had such an impact on my life, and he was the reason why I became a sports media agent.”
Wojnarowski remained a client when Kramer moved to CAA in 2015 and joined the television department, and he has continued to expand his client roster within the sports media business. In his role, Kramer works alongside Tom Young, who he contends has different skillsets and understands how to collaborate to assist their clients and colleagues. Other agents within the sports media group include Kevin Belbey, David Koonin, Sydney Lipsitz and Matt Olson, all of whom contribute to fueling growth and success.
“[At] the end of the day, our clients expect and demand great service, and if each of the agents can provide great service, then becoming a manager or leading them is a lot easier,” Kramer said. “We just want to make things simple for our colleagues and for people that we manage, which is, ‘We just want you guys to be able to be the best agents that you can be.’”
More athletes have assimilated into sports media while they are still playing through starting podcasts or seasonal work with media entities. For example, New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and forward Josh Hart, both of whom are represented by CAA Sports, co-host the Roommates Show where they discuss topics pertaining to their careers, sports and pop culture. The division also maintains contact with sports agents spanning multifarious disciplines in order to position their clients to receive broadcasting opportunities should they be interested.
“Tom Young had been working with Tony Romo’s player-agent for over a decade and was ready to activate on behalf of Tony as a media personality,” Kramer said. “Or when you look at a number of other clients who have come through our list, it starts with the relationships that we’re trying to build with our colleagues at CAA Sports where they’ve trusted us that when their player’s career or coach’s career end, that we’ll help them transition into great sports media personalities.”
Content production and dissemination continues to evolve within the industry, and CAA Sports has looked to remain situated on the cutting edge. Dude Perfect, the hit sports and comedy group that started on YouTube, is represented by the agency and recently unveiled new headquarters in Frisco, Texas in a star-studded video filled with unique trick shots. Kramer perceives the group as a paragon of what the next generation of industry personalities could resemble.
“I’m super, super excited about our next generation of sports media talent and who’s going to be the next big star,” Kramer said. “I don’t know who it’s going to be yet, but we hope that it’s somebody from the CAA Sports Media stable.”
No matter the client, those working in the sports media division at CAA Sports seek to foster strong representation with the best resources. With an avidity for growth and development, the company is investing more into its international venture while maintaining its commitment to domestic clients and properties. As sports media continues to adapt to altered consumption habits and new technology, Kramer and his colleagues CAA Sports are embedded within the service business and look to keep delivering for stakeholders.
“I think no matter how long I do this job, that’s going to be the biggest concern,” Kramer said. “It’s never going to be about an individual sports media rights deal or an individual talent contract deal. The concern is always, ‘Are we making sure we’re providing the best value every day for our clients?’”
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Derek Futterman is an associate editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, email Derek@BarrettMedia.com or find him on X @derekfutterman.
