BELLA AIMS TO ENSURE CLIENTS WIN
Bella Freeman is breaking barriers as a talent manager and has plans to expand
BIG money, big emotions.
On the surface, athlete management is about getting clients the biggest contracts they can at professional clubs. In reality, it’s just one facet of a complex environment that’s as competitive as the one on-field but with even more at stake off it.
One of the newest to the ranks is Bella Freeman, a 24-year-old Gold Coaster with AFLW players on her books at Eximm Sport, a desire to bring in athletes from the men’s game and Olympic swimmer Alex Graham.
Freeman is breaking new ground in the AFL world as one of just three female managers in Queensland and one of just a handful around Australia while she has ambitions to move into other sports like rugby league.
The ex-gold Coast Suns football operations manager and former state Aussie rules representative has lifted the lid on what goes on behind closed doors where the careers of players are decided.
“There is a lot that goes on. Before I became an agent I just thought they were someone who checks off a contract and makes sure everyone is happy,” Freeman said. “We at Eximm Sport have six categories of services that we give our players access to.
“Contract negotiation, marketing and ambassador deals, personal brand development, athlete wellbeing, financial guidance and legal advice. We outsource the last two.”
Incredibly, Freeman said only 60 per cent of AFLW players, whose salaries span from about $40,000 to $70,000 in a four-tier system, had managers.
“Meanwhile 99.9 per cent of males have agents. The AFLW is growing. List sizes are growing, more teams have come in and they will become full-time athletes in the future so there will be a demand for more managers,” she said.
Freeman said there could be a reluctance for players earning much lower salaries then the men to spend it on managers but believed they were at risk of signing lesser contracts while missing out on other revenue streams. Those streams come under the marketing and ambassador deals category where Freeman’s job is to secure financial benefits for her players.
“It’s about how we tell a semi-professional athlete’s story to local or national brands,” Freeman said.
“The influencer world continues to grow so if we can get some product allowances for our athletes we can try and help them with things like boots, nutrition, recovery measures and sportswear.
“The athlete’s profile is important. There is a lot of money being funnelled into female athletes. Businesses want to be aligned with them. The key messaging from us is they have to be playing a consistently high level of football to access these things.”
Freeman’s phone doesn’t stop throughout the day, taking and making calls on all aspects of the athlete’s professional life while providing a support network around them to ensure their welfare is at the centre of everything they do.
“Sport is a brutal industry,” she said. “It is a high-paced environment and things don’t always go your way. Checking in regularly with players, partners, family members. You need to know everything and they need to have enough trust in you to tell it to you.”