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A talent management company started earlier this year by singer Marc Anthony announced Monday it was getting into the sports representation business, having already signed Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman. Magnus Sports will be the sports arm of Magnus Media, a firm based in Florida, which was launched in April. "Baseball, like music, is an ingrained, cultural passion for many Latinos throughout the world, and there's no shortage of amazing stars of Hispanic origin," Anthony said in a statement. Despite that, until now, there hasn't been an enterprise designed to meet their needs." Magnus will represent Chapman in marketing, and the firm of Praver Shapiro will represent the 22-year-old reliever for his contract, as he is set to test the free-agent market next year.  The joint venture is similar to what Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports did with CAA when it first got into the business. Despite doubters, Roc Nation Sports has developed an impressive list of athletes in its two and a half years in business. They work for some of the biggest names in the business, including Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant, Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano, New York Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia, Miami Dolphins defensive end Ndamukong Suh and Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant. Nearly 30 percent of players on Major League Baseball teams are Hispanic, including Albert Pujols, David Ortiz and Robinson Cano from the Dominican Republic, Miguel Cabrera and Felix Hernandez from Venezuela, Chapman, Yasiel Puig and Jose Abreu from Cuba, and Carlos Beltran and Yadier Molina from Puerto Rico. The CEO of Anthony's new firm, Michel Vega, worked for 15 years at William Morris, where he was the head of Latin music for the agency. It is not known if Anthony's firm will stick to just baseball, but if it decides to represent players in football, Anthony will have to sell his small, but undisclosed, interest in the Dolphins, which he has owned for more than six years. In 2013, as Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports got into the business of representing NBA players, he sold his 0.16 percent stake in the Brooklyn Nets to Jason Kidd and another investor to avoid a conflict of interest.
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