Donald Dell became the first sports agent in
tennis when he founded the Law Offices of Donald Dell in 1970. His first clients were
Arthur Ashe and
Stan Smith, his former teammates on the undefeated 1968 and 1969 U.S.
Davis Cup teams. After adding partners, the name of the firm became Dell, Craighill, Fentress, and Benton. In 1976, the firm started ProServ to handle athlete recruiting and marketing. At its peak, ProServ had 16 offices around the world with 300 employees and represented more than 200 professional athletes and coaches, ProServ Television created and produced thirty pre- and post- Olympic shows in 1984 as well as many sporting events. ProServ Television created the Emmy Award-winning documentary
A Hard Road to Glory, with Arthur Ashe, about the history of black athletes in America. ProServ represented the
USTA in the sale and distribution of the international television rights to the U.S. Open for many years, and represented the French Federation of Tennis for the American television rights for the
French Open. Through the 1990s, ProServ expanded into football, golf, baseball, figure skating, gymnastics, and also became heavily involved with beach volleyball and the original AVP Tour. ProServ was one of the first agencies to negotiate the naming rights for stadiums such as
FedEx Field,
M&T Bank, and
Philips Arena.
Acquisition ProServ was acquired in 1997 by The Marquee Group, which in turn was acquired in 1999 by SFX Sports Group (itself now a subsidiary of
Clear Channel Entertainment). ==See also==