Top Sports Managers, Talent Agents for Athlete Content Careers
Ryan Hayden and Jerry Silbowitz, news and broadcasting agents
UTA has divisions representing clients across TV, film, theater, music, and gaming, and has built a robust sports group bolstered by its 2019 stake in Rich Paul’s Klutch Sports Group.
Hayden is a partner and agent at UTA who has been with the agency since 2004, when the idea of an athlete participating in off-field and off-court pursuits was far less common. One of their first clients trying their hand at content creation was Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones, who filmed a Travel Channel series while actively playing in the NFL.
Silbowitz told Insider the process of figuring out what off-field content creations are right for his athletes is a “bespoke sort of experience, depending on the talent.”
The agent added: “You have to know where their interest lies — you know, what, from a commitment standpoint, they really want to digest.”
Among other clients, Hayden and Silbowitz represent sports analyst and retired NFL player Emmanuel Acho, facilitating his shift from ESPN to Fox Sports. Acho launched a YouTube series, “Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man,” after the 2020 murder of George Floyd, which garnered an “overwhelming” response, Silbowitz said.
“My sister in Maryland called me and she said, ‘Do you know this guy?’ And we actually represent him,” Hayden said. “A lot of people don’t even know he came out of the sports world … Jerry and I partnered him at that point with Oprah Winfrey’s company, and they came aboard to produce those series. Oprah’s Book imprint published the book.”
“What we’ve learned, I think, over the past 10 or 15 years is you have to learn how to put the pieces together,” Hayden continued. “It’s easy to put it together just within the sports world, but growing it into the entertainment space, it’s sort of a reintroduction [to the public], a lot of times, for that athlete.”
Relevant clients include: Emmanuel Acho (950,000 followers on Instagram), Von Miller (Buffalo Bills linebacker with 2 million Instagram followers), Rob Gronkowski (retired Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end with 4.7 million Instagram followers), Eddie Jackson (retired NFL player and Food Network host with 104,000 Instagram followers), “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (former WWE wrestler with 5.5 million Instagram followers), Charles Woodson (retired Oakland Raiders player turned Fox NFL analyst with 257,000 Instagram followers).
