S. Samuel
Roc Nation Sports CEO Jay Z wants his clients to gain every last penny and then some from their teams as reports claim his company's introductory signee Robinson Cano is seeking a $300 million-plus deal from the New York Yankees.
According to reports, the Roc Nation Sports stud wants a mega ten-year offer from interested clubs including the Bronx Bombers.
The New York Yankees’ playoff hopes came to an end on Wednesday, which means they will be sitting at home in October for just the second time in 19 years. The focus now shifts to the status of free-agent-to-be Robinson Cano, and it should come as no surprise that the Yankees ownership will have to empty its pockets in order to keep him. According to SportsCenter on Twitter, ESPN’s Buster Olney is reporting that the All-Star second baseman is looking for a 10-year contract that will pay him a total of $305 million. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal confirmed Olney’s report, saying he’d heard similar figures being tossed around. (Bleacher Report)
Some sports writers cite Cano’s relationship with Jay Z and their new business arrangement as giving him leverage to get a deal done.
As for those convinced Cano won’t see as much money because he’s Jay-Z’s first baseball client with Roc Nation Sports: C’mon. Jay-Z is an expert at making money, for one thing. For another, do you really think Jay-Z is going to just go in and sign whatever idiotic contract some team puts in front of him without running it by an army of advisers and lawyers? Cano plays every day at a premium defensive position and is one of the Top 10 or so best hitters in the game. He’s an extremely valuable player and he’s about to be an extremely rich one. Maybe he won’t get the full $305 million he’s reportedly seeking, but he’ll get paid. (USA Today)
Over the summer, Cano’s former sports agent Scott Boras took a jab at Jigga about his role as a real agent.
Whether the tandem of Jay Z and Creative Artists proves as effective at landing Robinson Cano a megadeal in free agency this winter remains to be seen. Boras shrugged off the lyrics about him, but in discussing the prospect of Jay Z negotiating with teams, he made indirect reference to the rapper’s famous line about making a Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can. “When your agent wears a Yankee hat,” he said, “how seriously are they going to take you?” (Wall Street Journal)
The rap mogul takes aim at Cano’s former partner on his Magna Carta Holy Grail album.
Grammy-winning rapper Jay-Z, who can now represent MLB and NBA players as an agent, took the time out of his busy schedule to rap about Scott Boras. Yes, the same Scott Boras that used to represent New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano. Now, Cano is signed with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports. Jay-Z will release his highly-anticipated album “Magna Carta Holy Grail” on Thursday and name-checked Boras on the song, “Crown.” “Scott Boras, you over baby. Robinson Cano, you coming with me,” Jay-Z raps on the song. (Sports Illustrated)
Young Hov recently said the creation of Roc Nation Sports would break old habits and lazy traditions set by management agencies for years.
“Within two months we had Robinson Cano and Kevin Durant,” Jay said in an interview referring to the New York Yankees and Oklahoma City Thunder superstars. “[The other companies,] they’re fighting it. They’re fighting it because it means you have to work now. You have to work now and they’re not comfortable with that. They’ve been spending 15, 20 years just sitting back and collecting the check and now they have to get out, get up and they have to work and they have to care about these clients because they’re going to see the work we’re doing and say, ‘Hold on, wait a second. Why am I not getting this sort of service? What are you doing? What have you been doing this week?’ Those questions are going to start coming so they’re intimidated by that. The fact that they have to work and they’re intimidated by the fact their clients are going to want to come to us. But if they’re doing a great job, there’s no reason for any client to switch.” (BBC Radio 1)
