I recently read an article that said a former pro player has formed an agency and the business model goes something like this:
Identify future pro players and give them money up front, say 1M a year, and they must agree to pay it back, plus a lot more, from future earnings. However, they don’t owe the money back if they don’t make it in the pros or decide to sell cars for a living.
I’ll find out more.
Either Real Sports or 60 Minutes (don't remember which) did a story about this, last year I think.
The story made it sound like it was a really good deal for all parties.
Of course, as they say "the devil is in the details".