David Falk

David B. Falk (born 1950) is an American sports agent who primarily works with basketball players in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He began his career representing professional tennis players for Donald Dell's ProServ and is best known for representing sports icon Michael Jordan for the entirety of Jordan's career. Besides Jordan, Falk has represented more than 100 other NBA players, and is generally considered to be the most influential NBA player agent. and in 2000 he had at least one client on all but two NBA teams. Falk was listed among the "100 Most Powerful People in Sports" for 12 straight years from 1990 to 2001 by The Sporting News, and was also named one of the Top 50 Marketers in the United States by Advertising Age in 1995.

In January 2007, Falk re-launched FAME, and today serves as its founder and CEO. He represented nine players in 2012; in the prime of his sports agent career in the 1990s he represented as many as 40 players at a time.

Personal life

Falk was born to a middle-class Jewish family on Long Island, New York the second of three children. His father never finished high school and owned two butcher shops on Long Island, while his mother, Pearl, had two master's degrees, spoke six languages, and worked as an interpreter in World War II for Nelson Rockefeller in Latin American affairs. and Jocelyn (born 1988) a graduate of Syracuse University. Falk was nicknamed The Bird of Prey by former Washington Post sportswriter Tony Kornheiser. Falk was portrayed by actor Chris Messina in the 2023 film Air.

Sports marketing, promotions, and contracts

ProServ and signing of Michael Jordan

After many attempts to establish contact with agents Bob Woolf of Boston and Larry Fleisher, Falk attempted to get Dell on the phone for "six or seven weeks." When Dell informed him that ProServ was not hiring, Falk offered to work for free. and negotiated the first million-dollar NBA shoe deal for James Worthy in 1982.

We decided to stretch the envelope", Falk said. "Instead of calling up the companies and asking them how much they would pay Michael Jordan, we called them up and asked them to make a presentation and explain what they could do to promote him. Needless to say, this got a lot of quizzical replies." Jordan had never worn or even seen a Nike shoe before the company contacted him. During FAME's seven year existence, it represented "an unprecedented six first-round draft picks in the NBA, negotiated over $400 million in contracts for its free-agent clients, and negotiated four of the five largest contracts in team sports history". Just prior to the company's sale in 1998, the contracts of Falk's players totaled almost $800 million. while remaining the group's president. In the space of a year, SFX bought 14 private sports representation companies for a combined $1.5 billion and consolidated them into SFX Sports Group in 1999, naming Falk as Chairman. One of the companies SFX acquired was ProServ, and Falk found himself in charge of the company that he had left on such bitter terms. and came to represent approximately one-third of NBA players in 2002.

1995 and 1998 NBA lockouts

1995 NBA lockout Falk was one of the key figures in the 1995 NBA lockout. The goal was to strip NBA management of antitrust protection, making the salary cap and other forms of collective bargaining violations of antitrust laws, win a settlement in court, and then immediately re-form the Players' Union.

Dikembe Mutombo was one of the many Falk clients on the NBA Players' Union Negotiating Committee during the 1998 NBA lockout.

Despite considerable support, decertification was defeated by a vote of the Players' Union, 226–134. as well as the salary structure that saw Michael Jordan make $33 million for the 1998 season alone. Some argued that the concessions Falk gained from the owners through his role in the 1995 lockout were the primary cause of another lockout that occurred just three seasons later.

1998–99 NBA lockout During the 1998–99 lockout, Falk was often described as the "invisible hand" that guided union negotiations. Though his presence in negotiations was already assumed, Falk publicly stated in an article in The New York Times, on October 31, 1998, that he would "roll up his sleeves and exert as much influence as he (could) behind the scenes... (planning) to take a more proactive role in ending the lockout." organized a charity exhibition game, with part of the proceeds going to financially pinched NBA players. The game was played on December 19, 1998 in the Atlantic City Convention Center, featuring 16 All-Stars and drawing a crowd of about 6,000 people. Falk's involvement in the 1998 lockout also led to Mike Lupica famously dubbing Falk "Rasputin off the bench" in a New York Daily News article, "the rare person who could make a writer root for a sports owner."

Influence and inspiration

Facilitating NBA trades Falk's client list, with Michael Jordan its centerpiece, made him one of the primary movers and shakers in the NBA, able to leverage teams into agreeing to his terms on contracts and trades. Some speculated that Falk engineered as many as one of every five NBA trades during the height of his power, and he was often considered the second-most powerful man in basketball behind NBA Commissioner David Stern. as well as suggesting that he would dump his stable of free agents into the lap of Chicago Bulls GM Jerry Krause if Marbury was not moved. The Timberwolves were eventually forced to send Marbury to New Jersey in a three-team trade.

A second trade which resulted from Falk's influence was the 2000 mega-deal which moved Knicks All-Star center Patrick Ewing to the Seattle SuperSonics in a four-team trade involving 12 players and 5 draft picks. which is the maximum amount allowed by the Players' Union, he made roughly $13 million for these six deals alone. He was so successful at negotiating contracts that in 1998, just before he sold FAME to SFX Entertainment, the contracts of Falk's players totaled just under $800 million. Falk himself scoffed at the venom that was frequently directed his way:

There's always something to criticize -- I have too much power or too many clients. I scoff at that. Think about it: If you lived on a block with $300,000 houses and you sold yours for $2.5 million, your neighbors would thank you. But in my business they don't. That used to make me angry. Now I'm just amused. Falk is chair of the university's Sport Management Advisory Board.

On March 24, 2011 it was announced that Falk had made a pledge of an additional $15 million to Syracuse University and "The David B. Falk Center for Sports Management" to establish the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. In 2014, Falk and Patrick Ewing announced a $3.3 million donation to the John R. Thompson Jr. Intercollegiate Athletics Center under construction at Georgetown University. The amount is a reference to Ewing's number, 33.

On Oct. 23, 2015, the Dean of the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Diane Lyden Murphy, led a dedication ceremony to commemorate the opening of the new home of the college. For the first time in the college's history—which dates back to 1917 when the School of Home Economics began as a course in the College of Agriculture and the first nutrition course was taught—Falk College's academic disciplines and administrative offices are housed in a central location.

Other ventures Falk is on the board of directors of Sapphire Brands; a founding investor in private aviation company, Marquis Jet and Golf GCX Partners; and a founder and principal in Relevad Media Group, a digital alternative advertising company. He is a frequent guest lecturer at universities across the country including Harvard, Yale, and Duke, and serves on the George Washington University National Law Center's advisory board.

My mother was a teacher, and I think that's one reason that, amidst my deal-making skills, I have a very strong pedagogical bent", he says. "I really enjoy teaching, and believe it is one of the most important professions in our society." was released on February 3, 2009.

Partial client list Falk's 2014 NBA player clients are in bold, while his non-NBA player clients are in italics. Mark Aguirre Travis Best Mike Bibby Muggsy Bogues Keith Booth Dudley Bradley Sam Cassell Rex Chapman Calbert Cheaney Antonio Daniels Johnny Dawkins Michael Doleac Chris Doleman Toney Douglas Obinna Ekezie Dale Ellis Pervis Ellison Sleepy Floyd Phil Ford Willie Gault Matt Geiger Armon Gilliam Jeff Green Desmond Howard Juwan Howard Michael Jackson Stacey King Tom LaGarde John Lucas II Roshown McLeod Xavier McDaniel Alonzo Mourning Victor Page John Paxson Otto Porter Frank Reich John Stockton Jared Sullinger Michael Sweetney Dragan Tarlać Maurice Taylor Tim Thomas Donnell Thompson Darnell Valentine Keith Van Horn Antoine Walker Wally Walker Kermit Washington Jahidi White Monty Williams Al Wood