1. David Falk 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.
51 Facts About David Falk
1. 2.
Besides Jordan, Falk has represented more than 100 other NBA players, and is generally considered to be the most influential player agent the NBA has seen.
3.
David 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 named one of the Top 50 Marketers in the United States by Advertising Age in 1995.
4.
David Falk negotiated the then-highest contracts in NBA history for Patrick Ewing and Danny Ferry.
5.
David Falk negotiated professional sports' first US$100 million contract for Alonzo Mourning as part of an unprecedented free agency period, during which his company, FAME, changed the entire salary structure of the NBA, negotiating more than $400 million in contracts for its free agent clients in a six-day period.
6.
In January 2007, David Falk re-launched FAME, and today serves as its founder and CEO.
7.
David Falk 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.
8.
David Falk was born to a middle-class Jewish family on Long Island, New York, the second of three children.
9.
David Falk's father had never finished high school and owned two butcher shops on Long Island, while his mother, Pearl David Falk, had two master's degrees, spoke six languages, and had worked as an interpreter in World War II for Nelson Rockefeller in Latin American affairs.
10.
David Falk described his mother, a teacher and inspirational force as "a perfectionist", and called her "the biggest influence in my life", the one who drove him to achieve great heights.
11.
David Falk didn't understand how I could do so poorly.
12.
David Falk used to have an expression that I would say is the guiding principle of my life: Always shoot for the stars and never settle for second best.
13.
David Falk's mother was an avid New York Knicks fan, a fact which influenced David Falk's career decision upon his career path.
14.
Longtime childhood friend and colleague, Attorney Reid Kahn, remembers David Falk proclaiming that he wanted to represent professional athletes in the fourth grade.
15.
David Falk graduated from Syracuse University in 1972, with a degree in economics, and subsequently, George Washington University Law School, where he earned a JD with honors in 1975.
16.
David Falk maintained minimal contact with his father, but remained very close with his mother until her death in 1988.
17.
David Falk serves on the board of directors of Woodmont Country Club.
18.
David Falk has been nicknamed The Bird of Prey by former Washington Post sportswriter Tony Kornheiser.
19.
David Falk was portrayed by actor Chris Messina in the 2023 film Air.
20.
When Dell informed him that ProServ was not hiring, David Falk offered to work for free.
21.
Dell was a former pro tennis player and primarily represented tennis players, so he allowed David Falk to handle a large portion of ProServ's NBA dealings.
22.
Jordan already had a standing offer from Adidas for $500,000, and David Falk demanded that Nike match the figure in addition to the revenue percentage.
23.
David Falk allowed Nike to establish Jordan's primary image, then began splitting it up among other advertisers, including Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Gatorade, McDonald's, Ball Park Franks, Wilson Sporting Goods, Rayovac, Wheaties, Hanes, and MCI.
24.
David Falk's ideas stretched to all areas of the marketplace, including a fragrance made by the Beverly Hills designer Bijan, which was cited as the best-marketed product of 1996 by the American Marketing Association.
25.
David Falk even came up with the idea of teaming Bugs Bunny and Jordan together in a feature film, and then sold the concept to Warner Bros.
26.
The ensuing film, Space Jam, was executive produced by David Falk and released in 1996.
27.
In 1992, after great early success, David Falk considered himself underpaid and underappreciated.
28.
In 1998, David Falk sold FAME to the entertainment group SFX for $100 million, while remaining the group's president.
29.
One of the companies SFX acquired was ProServ, and David Falk found himself in charge of the company that he had left on such bitter terms.
30.
David Falk was one of the key figures in the 1995 NBA lockout.
31.
David Falk led a rebellion on the National Basketball Players Association by establishing a dissident faction of 16 players and a number of agents that began advocating for NBPA decertification.
32.
Some argued that the concessions David 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.
33.
David Falk was the agent of "nearly half" of the union's 19-member negotiating committee, including Alonzo Mourning, Juwan Howard, and Dikembe Mutombo.
34.
Meanwhile, David Falk was being criticized on multiple fronts for his role in lockout negotiations.
35.
NBA Commissioner David Stern accused Falk and Arn Tellem specifically of "holding the deal hostage" to reap benefits for their high-end clients.
36.
Isiah Thomas, who was President of the Players' Union from 1988 to 1994, blasted David Falk by saying that "he's been trying to take over the union for years," and many saw David Falk as the controlling influence in the union's negotiations.
37.
David Falk threatened the Timberwolves by telling them that Marbury would walk away in free agency at the end of the season if he was not traded, 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.
38.
David Falk apparently made threats to the Knicks that he would move Glen Rice to the Miami Heat if they did not consent to trade Ewing, who supposedly wanted out of New York.
39.
David Falk was frequently blasted for making use of threats and side-deals to move his clients around and maximize their earnings, but he remained unapologetic, arguing that he was simply looking after the best interests of his clients.
40.
David Falk 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.
41.
David Falk negotiated notable shoe endorsements for James Worthy, Boomer Esiason and Allen Iverson.
42.
David Falk was not well-liked around the league, with even NBA executives acknowledging that they felt he held a disproportionate amount of power.
43.
David Falk himself scoffed at the venom that was frequently directed his way:.
44.
David Falk's enduring legacy can best be described as the NBA's new star-centered focus.
45.
David Falk's idea was that since most people bought Chicago Bulls tickets to see Michael Jordan, Jordan himself should get a large proportion of the benefit.
46.
Michael Jordan and David Falk helped make each other, and each profited to a remarkable degree from their special collaboration.
47.
The David Falk Center's inaugural event was a panel discussion on issues in contemporary sports at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
48.
David Falk is chair of the university's Sport Management Advisory Board.
49.
David 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.
50.
David Falk 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.
51.
David Falk executive produced a number of sports-related films, including Space Jam, which teamed Jordan with a number of Looney Tunes characters, Michael Jordan to the Max, the critically acclaimed large-format feature, and the Sports Emmy Award-winning On Hallowed Ground, a documentary on the history of the Rucker Park Basketball League.