The walls of Sports Marketing & Entertainment Inc.’s Brentwood offices are stacked with videotapes of speakers the booking agency has placed among them B.B. King, Tommy Lasorda, Jay Leno and Bill Cosby.
Chief Executive Corey Shapoff shows off those tapes to athletes, politicians and entertainers he is trying to recruit and to corporations looking to book talent. “It’s become very competitive,” he said. “Since there is a growing need, more companies have entered the marketplace.”
Booking agencies don’t hold exclusive rights to the talent, so Shapoff is looking for an edge, whether it’s drawing in new speakers or helping arrange an appropriate match.
When Starbucks Corp. wanted to emphasize the importance of teamwork at an annual leadership conference, other booking agents suggested pro athletes. But the audience wasn’t sports-oriented, said Starbucks executive Marty Fisher, who is in charge of putting together the company’s corporate events. Nor did the coffee chain want a self-help author, because they lecture on themes rather than using real-life situations.
Shapoff suggested Gene Kranz, flight director on the nearly disastrous Apollo 13 space mission, and Fred Haise, one of the astronauts.
“Internally, a lot of people said, ‘What do astronauts have to do with Starbucks?'” said Fisher, the company’s director of culture and partner engagement. “But the Apollo 13 story was really about teamwork, trust and problem-solving. Fred and Gene (had) the most impact of any outside keynotes that we’ve ever had.”
Since the company was formed 12 years ago, Sports Marketing & Entertainment has swung deals for the likes of Robin Williams (at least $500,000 per event), Cosby ($150,000 to $175,000), Leno and Lance Armstrong ($150,000 each), Rudy Giuliani ($100,000), Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Phil Jackson ($75,000 each), and James Baker ($60,000).
Shapoff has booked Leno at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and General Motors Corp. events. Jackson gave a keynote to Merck & Co. Inc. on teamwork, and CNN business anchor Lou Dobbs spoke on the global marketplace to Credit Suisse First Boston LLC.
It’s a seasonal business, with more events held during spring and fall when national and regional sales meetings typically take place. Most of the 30 to 40 bookings handled each month are in the $15,000 to $25,000 range.
Speakers pay Sports Marketing & Entertainment a commission of 10 percent to 20 percent of their fee. Entertainers work differently, collecting the full amount (from which they have to pay their regular agents and managers). In those cases, Sports Marketing tacks its commission on top of the speaker’s fee.
Even with the added cost, Shapoff says it’s better for companies to work through his firm than going directly to agents. “When it’s time to hire a speaker or entertainment, we are going to objectively look at (companies’) needs. If they go directly to an agency, the agency is going to try to sell them the talent that they exclusively represent.”
Shapoff says his firm helps oversee the proceedings. With comedians, that means ensuring the sound system and lighting are correct, the stage has no distracting props and the audience is seated close together, which increases intimacy in the room. “A lot of people just make a deal and say, ‘That’s that,'” said veteran standup comedian Richard Jeni. “They call you the next day and say, ‘How did it go?'”
Booking talent was not what Shapoff had in mind in 1987 when he graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He was aiming for law school, but on a ski trip to Mammoth Mountain Shapoff found himself on a chairlift with pop singer-guitarist Ray Parker Jr., who told him he would make a good agent. After repeatedly writing to the William Morris Agency, he finally landed a mailroom job.
Shapoff rose to junior agent in the television-packaging department, working with agents who represented clients. Those contacts came in handy when a friend introduced Shapoff to Jim Steiner, founder of St. Louis-based Sports Management Group Inc., which has represented football stars Randall Cunningham, William Perry and Jerry Rice, as well as baseball greats Ryne Sandberg and Joe Carter.
Steiner wanted a greater presence on the West Coast, so the following year the two created Sports Marketing Group Inc., which recruited college football players to the agency, and booked professional athletes for appearances and commercials. Within two years, he bought out Steiner.
“When I started out, it was just me and a phone and a 500-square-foot office,” said Shapoff. “If you ever saw (the Tom Cruise movie) ‘Jerry Maguire,’ that’s what I did.”
The company handles at least 10 events per month, Shapoff said. That includes booking the talent, arranging for all the sound and lighting equipment and hiring a caterer. Now, he is looking to produce more events, too. His most high-profile gig to date is the annual Adopt-A-Minefield fundraiser headlined in L.A. by rock legend Paul McCartney and his wife Heather.
