A string of big deals gives Scott Boras up to $244 million in commissions, but the entire top 20 is swinging for the fences, with a combined $32 billion in contracts under management.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettknight/2025/07/31/the-most-powerful-sports-agents-2025/
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00:00Today on Forbes, The Most Powerful Sports Agents 2025
00:04The 15-year, $765 million contract Juan Soto signed with the New York Mets in December
00:12gave the 26-year-old slugging outfielder the all-time mark for the largest deal in professional sports.
00:19But the agent who negotiated that landmark contract didn't even need it to maintain his place atop the financial leaderboard.
00:26Scott Boras, founder and president of the Southern California-based Boras Corporation,
00:32is once again the most powerful sports agent in North American team sports,
00:36with commissions of up to $244 million on an estimated $4.89 billion in active playing contracts under management as of December 31, 2024.
00:47That record-setting commissions figure represents a 28% increase from the last time Forbes published the agent ranking back in 2022.
00:57Boras has now landed in the top spot nine times across the 10 editions of the Forbes list.
01:03The list 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.
01:11The lone exception was in 2019, when Boras dropped behind soccer super agent Jonathan Barnett.
01:17However, Forbes has confined its 2022 and 2025 rankings to North America,
01:23setting aside Europeans like Barnett, who is now retired and has been accused of rape and trafficking.
01:29Barnett has denied the claims.
01:30On this year's list, Jeff Schwartz, CEO of Accel Sports Management and a powerful NBA agent,
01:38remains number two with $113 million in maximum commissions on an estimated $2.84 billion in active contracts.
01:47Rich Paul, a fellow basketball agent and the founder of Clutch Sports Group,
01:51rounds out the top three with $111 million in maximum commissions on an estimated $2.77 billion in active contracts.
02:00The 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,
02:09together manage more than $32 billion in active deals.
02:13They include four agents from CAA, North America's most valuable sports agency,
02:19and another four from Wasserman, which came in second in the agency ranking.
02:24Accel, with baseball agent Casey Close appearing alongside Schwartz,
02:28is the only other agency with more than one representative on the 2025 list.
02:33No agent is in the same ballpark as Boras,
02:36who has 113 clients, but could have matched Schwartz's commissions total with just six of them.
02:42Juan Soto, Bryce Harper, Corey Seager, Garrett Cole, Xander Bogarts, and Anthony Rendon,
02:50who have each signed a contract for at least $245 million.
02:55The gap between Boras and the rest of the field is even starker,
02:58because agents typically charge 5% in MLB,
03:02compared with 4% in the NBA and 3% in the NFL,
03:06where fees are limited by the players' unions,
03:08and a standard rate of 4% in the NHL.
03:12That difference helps explain the breakdown of the 2025 agent ranking by sport.
03:17Eight agents from basketball, seven from baseball, three from football, and two from hockey.
03:22The entire list has seen significant growth since 2022, however,
03:27as league's record revenues have pushed up player salaries, especially in the NBA.
03:33Schwartz's estimated contract total is up 32%,
03:35and Paul's 103%, for instance,
03:39while WME basketball's Bill Duffy now ranks fourth overall among agents,
03:44with $72 million in maximum commissions,
03:47on $1.8 billion in estimated active contracts,
03:50up 77%,
03:52and five spots in the ranking, from 2022.
03:56Endorsement deals were excluded from the tabulation of this list,
03:59in recognition of the fact that, at many major agencies,
04:03separate marketing divisions handle all or much of the work around those contracts.
04:07That approach effectively rules out agents from individual sports,
04:10such as golf and tennis,
04:12where athletes generally don't collect salaries.
04:15Even so,
04:16the role of a sports agent is increasingly being stretched well beyond the boundaries of a playing contract,
04:22often in ways that don't directly lead to income.
04:25Agents now frequently orchestrate training regimens for their clients ahead of league drafts.
04:29They cultivate investment opportunities and nurture athlete-founded businesses,
04:34sometimes continuing to serve as financial advisors,
04:37well after athletes have stopped playing professionally.
04:41For full coverage, and to see the whole list,
04:43check out Brett Knight's piece on Forbes.com.
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