Arn Tellem

Tellem was born to a Jewish family{{Cite web|last= Heisler |first=Mark |authorlink= |title= Super-Agent Arn Tellem--'A Gefilte Fish In Sea of White Sharks'--Shows You Can Swim Home Again |work=Forbes|date=May 14, 2015 |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/markheisler/2015/05/14/super-agent-arn-tellem-a-gefilte-fish-in-sea-of-white-sharks-shows-you-can-swim-home-again/#dc3698d5c707 |accessdate=}} and is a native of Philadelphia.[https://www.si.com/vault/2014/08/11/106623799/there-and-back Steve Rushin "There AND Back"], Sports Illustrated, August 11, 2014 His mother named him after a brave knight in the Prince Valiant comic strip.[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arn-tellem/arn-on-arne_b_433138.html Arn Tellem, "Arn on Arne"], Huffington Post, January 22, 2010 He grew up on the Main Line[http://www.phillymag.com/news/2015/05/17/arn-tellem-franz-lidz-hall-fame/ Dan McQuade, "Arn Tellem and Franz Lidz Are Going to the Hall of Fame"], Philadelphia Magazine, May 17, 2015 and became a sports junkie at age eight by playing APBA Baseball, a mail-order board game. Years later, for luck on his wedding night, he propped his treasured 1938 Hank Greenberg APBA card on the nightstand next to the conjugal bed.[https://www.si.com/vault/1980/12/08/825223/sideline-apba-is-the-name-baseball-is-the-game-and-obsession-is-the-result Franz Lidz, "Apba Is The Name, Baseball Is The Game, And Obsession Is The Result"], Sports Illustrated, December 8, 1980 At 12, he found career inspiration from legendary Temple University basketball coach Harry Litwack, who answered a question -- "What's your favorite food?"—that young Arn had phoned in to a local radio station.

He graduated from Haverford College in 1976 and from the University of Michigan Law School in 1979. He began his career as an attorney in the law firm then known as Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg & Tunney, where his mentors were sports attorneys Alan Rothenberg and Stephen Greenberg (son of Hank Greenberg).[http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.feature&featureId=1210 Daniel Kaplan, "The dealmaker: Steve Greenberg works his connections to become a major player in sports finance"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624235553/http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.feature&featureId=1210 |date=June 24, 2008 }}, Sports Business Journal, March 22, 2004[https://money.cnn.com/2010/05/10/news/companies/greenberg_sports_deal_king.fortune/ David Whitford, "The King of the Sports Deal"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522034442/https://money.cnn.com/2010/05/10/news/companies/greenberg_sports_deal_king.fortune/ |date=May 22, 2010 }}, Fortune, June 2, 2010 Tellem specialized in sports law and commercial litigation and became a partner in the firm. He began representing baseball players and also served six seasons (1982–1989) as general counsel of the San Diego Clippers, and was instrumental in the franchise's move to Los Angeles in 1984.[http://www.allbusiness.com/north-america/united-states-california-metro-areas/260012-1.html David Greenberg, "Power Player"], Los Angeles Business Journal, July 1, 2002

In 1989, he launched his own sports agency, Tellem and Associates. In 1999, SFX Entertainment purchased the agency and later named Tellem chief executive of SFX Sports. In 2006, Wasserman Media Group acquired his NBA and Major League Baseball (MLB) player representation practices. Tellem became the President of WMG Management as part of the deal.[http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2006/01/Issue-90/Sports-Industrialists/Wasserman-Acquires-Tellem-Business-SFX-Promotes-Pelinka.aspx Liz Mullen, "Wasserman Acquires Tellem Business"] Sports Business Journal, January 27, 2006 He brought along a client base of about 50 NBA and 50 MLB clients, including Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O'Neal, Pau Gasol, Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, Nomar Garciaparra and Mike Mussina.

Tellem is certified as an agent by the Major League Baseball Players Association and the National Basketball Players Association, and is a member of the American Bar Association and the State Bar of California. He was an adjunct professor of law at the University of Southern California School of Law, and is on the board of directors of Peace Players International and Seeds of Peace, organizations that bring together kids from conflict regions around the world to promote tolerance and understanding among the youth in those hot spots.[http://seedsofpeace.org/story/2009/12/huffington_post_peace_of_my_heart_by_arn_tellem Arn Tellem, "Peace of My Heart"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130014735/http://seedsofpeace.org/story/2009/12/huffington_post_peace_of_my_heart_by_arn_tellem |date=November 30, 2010 }}, Huffington Post, December 23, 2009

As a player agent, Tellem negotiated numerous high-profile contracts for NBA and MLB players. He oversaw WMG's athlete representation businesses and was involved in the strategic direction of the company.[http://www.wmgllc.com Wasserman Media Group company website]

In 2006, Sports Business Journal named Tellem the Most Influential Agent in Sports[http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2006/08/14/daily5.html "Dogra ranks among most influential sports agents"] St. Louis Business Journal, August 15, 2006 and The Sporting News named Tellem "Most Influential Sports Agent."[http://www.askmen.com/top_10/sports/top-10-sports-agents_2.html Dave Golokhov, "Top 10: Sports Agents"], AskMen June 29, 2008 In 2004 and 2005, Tellem was the only NBA player agent named to The Sporting News "50 Most Influential People in Sports Business" and was recognized as the industry's top agent by the magazine in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2008, Sports Business Journal ranked him second among sports agents.[http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2008/08/20080818/SBJ-In-Depth/The-20-Most-Influential-Sports-Agents.aspx?hl=Most%20Influential%20Sports%20Agents%20and%20Tellem&sc=0 "The 20 Most Influential Sports Agents"] Sports Business Journal, August 18, 2008 Two years later Business Insider named Tellem one of the world's four "best" sports agents.[http://www.businessinsider.com/most-powerful-sports-agents-2011-11?op=1 "The 12 Best Sports Agents In The World"] Business Insider, November 29, 2010 In 2013, Forbes ranked Tellem the third most powerful agent in sports; and first in basketball.[https://www.forbes.com/pictures/fiei45fdil/3-arn-tellem/ "The World's Most Powerful Sports Agents"] Forbes, September 24, 2013

In 1981, Tellem signed his first athlete, pitcher Mark Langston. The following year he helped reliever Ed Farmer beat the Chicago White Sox in a landmark salary arbitration case.[https://www.si.com/vault/1982/02/01/540954/making-a-most-important-pitch Franz Lidz, "Making A Most Important Pitch"], Sports Illustrated, February 1, 1982 After Langston turned free agent in 1989, Tellem engineered a record five-year, $16 million deal with the California Angels.[https://www.si.com/vault/1989/12/11/121210/richest-of-the-rich-mark-langston-hauled-in-the-games-top-salary----for-the-moment----when-gene-autry-corralled-him-for-the-angels Franz Lidz, "Richest of the Rich"], Sports Illustrated, December 11, 1989 In 1994, he convinced the Angels to sign journeyman Rex Hudler for the league minimum, inserting an innovative incentive clause into the contract: $1,000 for every plate appearance. In 1995, he found the "voluntary retirement" loophole in Hideo Nomo's contract that allowed the veteran pitcher to leave Japan and sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.[https://books.google.com/books?id=nQd8MHuaXysC&dq=arn+tellem+and+hideo+nomo+and+loophole&pg=PA200 Elliott Kalb, Mark Weinstein, "The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All Time"], 2009 In 1997, the five-year, $55 million deal Tellem made with the White Sox for Albert Belle changed the salary structure in baseball. When Belle opted out of the contract in 1999, Tellem orchestrated a new five-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles worth $65 million. He also cobbled together contracts of six years and $88.5 million for Mussina in 2001; seven years and $120 million for Giambi in 2002; four years and $52 million for Matsui in 2004; and, in 2007, Chase Utley's seven-year, $85 million arbitration contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Utley's pact was then the largest and longest ever given to a second baseman, and the most lucrative in Phillies history. In 2012, following an around-the-clock negotiating session, he and the Texas Rangers agreed to a six-year, $60 million deadline deal with Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish.[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/sports/baseball/yu-darvish-signs-with-the-rangers.html David Waldstein, "Yu Darvish Signs With the Rangers"], The New York Times, January 18, 2012

In December 2011, hedge-fund manager Steven A. Cohen enlisted Tellem as a partner in a bid to buy the Dodgers.[https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-xpm-2011-dec-27-la-sp-1228-dodgers-steve-cohen-20111228-story.html Bill Shaikin, "Hedge-fund executive Steven Cohen is bidding for the Dodgers"], Los Angeles Times, December 27, 2011 In March 2012, a group fronted by Magic Johnson outbid them.[https://www.espn.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/41174/mets-minority-owner-loses-dodgers-bid Adam Rubin, "Mets minority owner loses Dodgers bid"], ESPN, March 28, 2012

In 1996, Tellem made his mark as an NBA agent by circumventing that year's pro draft to maneuver 18-year-old Kobe Bryant to the Los Angeles Lakers. "Basically, I kept teams from picking Kobe by not giving their coaches access to him," Tellem told Sports Illustrated in 2003. "I knew teams would be reluctant to take a chance on a high schooler without first talking to him and working him out." From 2000 to 2001, he represented 14 of the NBA's first-round draft picks and worked for 13% of the players in the league—42, in all. His basketball roster included Bryant, Reggie Miller, Baron Davis, McGrady, O'Neal and Brent Barry. As of the 2006 NBA draft, Tellem's firm had represented the most first-round draft picks of any sports marketing and management company for seven straight years. Tellem and his team repped four lottery selections and six first-round picks overall. At the 2008 draft, they had six lottery picks and seven of the first 15 players selected, including Russell Westbrook, Danilo Gallinari and Derrick Rose, the No. 1 overall pick.[http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/casey-wassermans-slam-dunk-at-nba-draft/ Nikki Finke, "Casey Wasserman's Slam Dunk at NBA Draft"], Deadline Hollywood, June 26, 2008 Tellem negotiated contracts of four years and $60 million for Ben Wallace; and maximum salary deals of five years and $67.4 million for Joe Johnson; six years and $86.4 million for Gasol; seven years and $126 million for O'Neal; four years and $50 million for Antawn Jamison; five years and $87.8 million for Brandon Roy; five years and $65 million for LaMarcus Aldridge; five years and $60 million for Al Horford; and seven years and $93 million for McGrady.{{Cite web |url=http://www.hoopshype.com/agents/arn_tellem.htm |title=HoopsHype client list |access-date=May 24, 2007 |archive-date=May 28, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070528054937/http://www.hoopshype.com/agents/arn_tellem.htm |url-status=dead }} In 2009, Gasol reupped with the Lakers for three years and $57 million;[https://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/11712/11712 Marc Stein, "Gasol's extension worth $57 million"], ESPN, December 23, 2009 a year later Tellem hammered out Johnson's six-year, $123.6 million extension with the Atlanta Hawks;[https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=5354426 "Agent: Johnson to stay in Atlanta"], ESPN, July 6, 2010 and, in 2011, Rose agreed to a new five-year, $94.8 million deal with the Chicago Bulls.[https://www.espn.com/chicago/nba/story/_/id/7374147/source-chicago-bulls-derrick-rose-agrees-five-year-extension "Source: New deal for Derrick Rose"], ESPN, December 21, 2011 When Tellem's client Anthony Davis was picked first overall in the 2012 NBA Draft, the onetime University of Kentucky power forward became the first player selected by an NBA team to play in a full-length season since a 10-year collective bargaining agreement was ratified by the NBA Board of Governors in December 2011.[https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2012/06/27/anthony-davis-will-not-become-the-richest-rookie-in-the-nba/ Darren Heitner, "Anthony Davis Will Not Become The Richest Rookie In The NBA"], Forbes, June 27, 2012

On April 29, 2013, his NBA client Jason Collins became the first active male in one of the four major North American team sports to announce he was gay.

On July 12, 2013, Tellem became part-owner of Israel's Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. basketball team.[http://www.businessinsider.com/ori-allon-amare-stoudemire-and-arn-tellem-own-hapoel-jerusalem-basketball-2013-7 Alyson Shontell, "Startup Stud Ori Allon And Knicks Star Amare Stoudemire Buy Israel Basketball Team"], Business Insider, July 13, 2013 He sold his interest in the franchise in 2016.

On June 5, 2015, Tellem resigned from WMG and joined the front office of Palace Sports & Entertainment. At the time, he ranked first among NBA player agents in players repped (42), All-Stars (12), maxed-out contracts (six) and clients' salaries ($324,980,992).[http://hoopshype.com/agents/arn_tellem.htm "Basketball Agent Rankings"], USA Today, June 5, 2015

Tellem is married to Nancy Tellem, former entertainment and digital media president of Microsoft.[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nancy-tellem-at-microsoft-as-744887 Natalie Jarvey, "Nancy Tellem Out at Microsoft as Xbox Entertainment Studios Shuts Down"], The Hollywood Reporter, October 29, 2014 They met in 1974 while both were summer interns in Washington, D.C. Nancy, a Cal junior from San Francisco, worked for Oakland congressman Ron Dellums. Arn, a sophomore at Haverford, had been hired by another California representative, Jerome Waldie, a member of the House Judiciary Committee. The couple has three sons: Michael, Matty and Eric. His son Matty, previously worked in multiple stations for the Brooklyn Nets for 13 years (including their last season when they went by the New Jersey Nets) and held a front office role for their G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets.{{cite web | url=https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2024/5/19/24159926/james-jones-no-longer-has-his-brooklyn-nets-connection-matt-tellem | title=James Jones no longer has his Brooklyn connection | date=May 19, 2024 }} Matty was recently hired as the newest Assistant General Manager of the Phoenix Suns on June 10, 2024, alongside former University of South Florida head coach Brian Gregory's hiring for vice president of player programming.{{cite web | url=https://www.nba.com/suns/news/suns-add-matt-tellem-and-brian-gregory-to-basketball-operations-staff | title=Suns Add Matt Tellem and Brian Gregory to Basketball Operations Staff | website=NBA.com }}

The fictional agent Arliss Michaels of the HBO sitcom Arli$$ was partly based on Tellem.

In the Japanese press, he is known by the oxymoron omoiyari no aru dairinin, "the compassionate agent." "We feel he understands the needs of the Japanese people," says sportswriter Chiho Yamashita.[https://www.si.com/vault/2003/12/01/8100094/here-comes-little-matsui-diminutive-shortstop-kazuo-matsuijapans-arodis-bringing-his-superb-allaround-game-to-the-us-and-teams-are-lining-up-to-sign-him Franz Lidz, "Here Comes Little Matsui"], Sports Illustrated, December 1, 2003

In 2008, Tellem was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[https://scjewishsportshof.com/tellem.html "Arn Tellem"], May 2008 - So Cal Jewish Sports Hall of Fame

In 2015, he was elected to the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/05/27/franz-lidz-and-arn-tellem-head-jewish-sports-hall-of-fame-class Joe Santoliquito "Franz Lidz And Arn Tellem Head Jewish Sports Hall Of Fame Class"], 05.27.15 - CBS Sports

In 2018, he was elected to the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[https://www.crainsdetroit.com/sports/arn-tellem-ken-daniels-among-inductees-tonight-michigan-jewish-sports-hall-fame Kurt Nagl "Arn Tellem, Ken Daniels among inductees tonight to Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame"], 10.19.18 - Crain's Detroit Business

In 2021, he was named the 2022 Mackinac Policy Conference Chairman by the Detroit Regional Chamber.[https://www.detroitchamber.com/detroit-regional-chamber-announces-arn-tellem-as-the-2022-mackinac-policy-conference-chair/ "Detroit Regional Chamber Announces Arn Tellem As The 2022 Mackinac Policy Conference Chairman"], 06.16.21 - Detroit Regional Chamber

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Category:1954 births

Category:Living people

Category:American sports agents

Category:Haverford College alumni

Category:University of Michigan Law School alumni

Category:Jewish American sports executives and administrators

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:Detroit Pistons executives

Category:American lawyers

Category:Lawyers from Philadelphia

Category:Jewish American baseball people

Category:Jewish American basketball people

Category:Jewish American sportswriters