Teach Your Students to Negotiate the Principal-Agent Relationship with Fie’s Agent

By — on / Teaching Negotiation

Soccer football negotation

Negotiate International Sports Contracts

In many business negotiations, especially those involving athletes, you will find an agent negotiating on behalf of the principal party. This unique principal-agent relationship can cause challenges at the negotiating table. The agent may have different preferences from their principal party. Agents may also have different incentives from the principal. Agents may have a different stake in the outcome or may receive different rewards than the principal. These types of imbalances in the negotiation may give rise to problems in the negotiation strategy. Effective principal-agent communication can be the key to a successful negotiation.

This becomes even more crucial when principals and agents are not in the same room together. One of the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center’s (TNRC) most useful simulations for teaching the principal-agent relationship is Fie’s Agent.

Fie’s Agent – Featured Negotiation Simulation

This two-party integrative e-mail negotiation is between a soccer (football) star and her long-term representative over the terms of a potential new agency contract.

It is the year 2030. Football continues to be the most popular international sport. Women’s football has surpassed men’s football as the most attended, watched, and marketed sport in the world.

Three years ago, in the 2027 Women’s World Cup, a previously unknown Ghanaian forward named Ama Ata Fie emerged as one of the most prolific goal scorers in the world. Kofi Mwenchena, a Ghanaian sports agent, has represented Fie for the past six years. Fie and Mwenchena signed an official contract six years ago, just before Fie was drafted to a Ghanaian club team. Mwenchena’s contract with Fie has now expired, and the two have not yet been able to agree on terms of a potential new contract.

International club rules state that official free agent negotiations begin in less than one week. Fie is still in Brazil completing some marketing obligations for Maccabi Wireless, while Mwenchena is back in Ghana, but he and Fie have agreed to try to finalize their contract negotiations via e-mail. Teaching lessons include:

  • This simulation is a good vehicle for discussing the dynamics of negotiating via e-mail versus face-to-face or through other media.
  • It highlights issues regarding the principal-agent relationship, contract drafting, integrative and distributive bargaining.
  • There are challenges in balancing substance, process, and relationship concerns.

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TNRC: A go-to resource for more than 25 years

In addition to offering more than 200 negotiation role-play simulations, the TNRC offers a wide range of effective teaching materials, including:

TNRC materials are designed for educational purposes. They are used in college classroom settings or corporate training settings; used by mediators and facilitators seeking to introduce their clients to a process or issue; and used by individuals who want to enhance their negotiation skills and knowledge.

Role-play simulations introduce participants to new negotiation and dispute resolution tools, techniques and strategies. Our videos, books, case studies, and periodicals are also a helpful way of introducing viewers to key concepts while addressing the theory and practice of negotiation and conflict management.

Check out all that the TNRC has in store >> 

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