On Relationship-building In Sports Agent Negotiations

The sports industry is enjoying an all-time high in prosperity and is playing a more and more important role in the national and global economy. Sports agents, acting on behalf of professional athletes, are playing an indispensable role in the sports world. An agent's main business is taking part in negotiations on behalf of his athletes. Many of Chinese agents, at the present stage, are often short-sighted and concerned only about money. Some of them act extraordinarily aggressive in negotiations, trying their best to make big deals which benefit themselves most even at the expense of reputations. Some such short-sighted negotiating styles threaten or ruin both his and his client's careers.At present, Chinese professional sports have made great progress. China has more frequent exchanges with international sports industry. Chinese sports agents are required to work in a cross-cultural context. Although some agents have realized the importance of relationships in principle, in practice they often find it very difficult to cultivate good relationships with foreign negotiators.The author of this thesis has worked with a sports agent in 2003. In working with this agent, the author realized from personal observation and first-hand experience the importance of relationships in sports agent negotiations. The author also have learned how poorly many sports agents act in intercultural negotiations. Therefore, this thesis concentrates on the significance of relationship-building in negotiations.Firstly, there is a brief introduction of sports agents, including the history of the sports agent industry and its main business. The author makes a comparison of two basic negotiation styles, win-lose negotiation and win-win negotiation, and emphasizes the significant role of relationship-building in negotiations, especially in sports agent negotiations. Then the thesis analyzes American sports agent Ronald Shapiro's cases on how to start a relationship with the other side in negotiations. The thesis also discusses cases from Wong Po, the agent I workedwith, for further study and illustrate the impact of cultural differences between Chinese and Americans and how the understanding of them help build relationships in negotiations.