Welcome to the 411. Here we will provide for you thoughts and opinions of various experts to assist you in your game, on and off the court.

Michael Siegel is a Professional Sports Agent. His column will appear regularly on www.gameovernyc.com. His first column discusses his background and how he got started in the business. If you have questions that you would like to have Michael answer in his column, please address your questions to MSiegel@gameovernyc.com.



Greetings, fellow Ballers. I hope that the new year has seen you, your family (the one at home and the one on the court), and your friends off to a good start. My name is Michael Siegel, I am a sports agent, and this is the first of a series of columns I have been asked to write by the good people at Game Over.

The purpose of my column is to provide sound advice regarding the role of agents and how that applies to you. Some of you may have had an agent, some of you may soon need an agent, and some of you may want to be an agent. Regardless of who you are and how my column applies to you, it is hard to ignore the role of agents in today’s growing world of sports, which is why Game Over was insightful enough to have me write this column.

Aware of the troubles amateur and professional athletes get into by dealing with agents who do not follow the rules, Game Over wants to provide you with a free education as to the “dos and don’ts” when it comes to interacting with, hiring, and working with an agent. Naturally, I will use this column to provide you with information that I feel you should know, however, I also want to address the things that are important to you. Therefore, I invite you to send me questions about the things you specifically want to know.

For this, my first entry, I want to keep things short and simple by telling you about myself. After all, if you are going to read my column and ask me questions, you should probably know more than my name. I began my basketball career at Bala Cynwyd Middle School in suburban Philly, where, as a highly uncoordinated seventh-grader, I needed some serious help. Solid coaches and great teammates nurtured my skills and love for the game, which I continued to play at Lower Merion and Friends’ Central High Schools and finally at Colgate University. You may recognize the names of those schools and I assure you that my game was not nearly as nice as some of their alumni (the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant from Lower Merion, Syracuse’s Hakim Warrick from Friends’ Central, and Golden State’s Adonal Foyle from Colgate, to name a few). The last of my organized basketball was played in the intramural leagues of Villanova University, where I received my law degree.

Professionally, I have worked with SportsPro Management, International Management Group (IMG), and Steinberg & Moorad, all sports agencies that specialize in athlete representation. Today, I am the founder and President of my own agency, SiegelSports, Inc., which is based in Philadelphia. I am also a certified contract advisor with the NBA Players Association and the NFL Players Association.

When I graduated from Colgate, two things were clear to me: (1) I was not a pro prospect and (2) I wanted to help those who were. I became an agent for the same reason I played ball – I love it. I am sure you feel the same way about the game, however, the difference between you and me is that your game may still be on the rise. That is why I am here - to answer your questions, to give you advice, to share information.

Game Over and I thank you for sharing your time and we hope that you find your way back to my next column.