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Business Daily: Business Daily meets: Leigh Steinberg

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Leigh Steinberg.jpg

22/03/2024 GMT

Business Daily meets: Leigh Steinberg

BBC World Service - Business Daily, Business Daily meets: Leigh Steinberg

The sports agent known as the real Jerry Maguire

The life of the sports agent known as the real Jerry Maguire.

Lawyer Leigh Steinberg had no big dream to become a sports agent. He was a huge sports fan, but the job was not something he was aspiring to – more something that he stumbled across. 

Today, he's built up a career representing more than 300 professional athletes across a range of disciplines: from big money-making sports like football and basketball, to Olympic gymnastics; building sporting careers worth billions of dollars. 

His influence in sport is so influential that he's often credited as the real-life inspiration for the sports agent in the film Jerry Maguire, starring Tom Cruise.

We speak to Leigh Steinberg about how he started his career as an agent, how he builds a brand around a sports star, and how he's succeeded in such a competitive environment - overcoming some personal struggles along the way. And - how he responds when members of the public approach him with the famous phrase, "Show me the money".

(Picture: Leigh Steinberg. Credit: Getty Images)

Presenter: Roger Hearing
Producers: Matt Lines and Hannah Mullane

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