A sports agent is a person authorized to act for a professional athlete or sports organisation when dealing with third parties. In theory, a sports agent is merely an intermediary tasked with ensuring that the supply and demand for labour within sport and in allied industries is met. A sports agent has many functions, such as negotiating player contracts, providing advice and investment management, legal and tax counselling, sponsorship and endorsement sourcing and servicing and in the case of young athletes, guidance on education and health as well.