Meet Los Angeles’ Best Up-And-Coming Sports Agent, Christopher Gil

The sports industry is one of the most sought after and difficult industries to not only break into, but to succeed in. In the ever-competitive athlete representation business, where decade-long established sports agents dominate the industry, Christopher Gil CEO & Founder of Optimal Sports Management, is destined to change that. Christopher wants to become one of the brightest and youngest agents in the history of the NFL. He is quickly on his way to do just that, as he and his agency already have an elite client roster that is comprised from some of the best blue-blood programs in all of college football.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Christopher always had a passion for 2 things: USC and football. His favorite memories as a kid were watching USC football games with his father on Saturday nights and his favorite player to watch was the always electric, Reggie Bush. Admittedly, this is where his love for the University of Southern California began. Since then, he always told those around him that he would one day attend the university. This is why it was no surprise to anybody when he was admitted to the university in 2018.

While at USC, Christopher soon began to take advantage of the rich academic and networking opportunities the university afforded him. He began to study Sports Media at the prestigious Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and joined the USC Sports Business Association (SBA) club. While he was at USC, he also got to work for several different Los Angeles based professional sports teams. However, it was not until he began to intern for an NFL sports lawyer that he really developed his expertise and found his passion for working alongside athletes.

Christopher mentions how “Being around NFL players and helping them and their families with their off the field endeavors was something that I just really liked.” Although Christopher enjoyed being around NFL players, he knew it was going to take a lot of time, effort, and dedication to be an NFL agent one day. Christopher had seen first-hand what it took to not only be an agent, but what it took to be an outstanding one, especially in an industry that is known to be notoriously cutthroat. With this goal in mind, Christopher soon devised a plan to make it a reality.

Upon graduating with Magna Cum Laude Honors (3.8 GPA) from USC in the Fall of 2020, Christopher formed and launched his very own sports marketing agency, Optimal Sports Management, in July of 2021. Christopher launched Optimal Sports Management at the beginning of the new collegiate NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) era that now allowed student-athletes to financially profit off their marketing efforts.

Optimal Sports Management is a full-service sports marketing agency whose main goal is to help its clients develop, enhance, and monetize both their professional and personal branding efforts. The agency primarily focusses on football players at the high school, college, and professional levels. At Optimal Sports, Christopher works alongside Gerardo Hernandez, who is the Chief Marketing Officer of the company and Christian Medina, who is the Chief Operating Officer of the company. Both Gerardo and Christian graduated from the illustrious USC Marshall School of Business in 2021 and have years of first-hand business experience in their respective fields.

One of the remarkable aspects of Optimal Sports Management is how the company’s blend of both youth and experience has allowed them to relate to their clients, both on and off the field. This has led to an exponential growth rate for the company in the past few years alone. Christopher is very proud of this and says, “What makes us unique is that we can talk and relate to our clients about so many things, not just about sports, whether it be music, culture, or fashion.” A major selling point of the agency is that they were in the same shoes as their clients in college just a few years back. This has allowed Christopher and his team to develop strong relationships and connect with some of the best players throughout the nation.

Christopher believes Optimal Sports got to be where it is today by providing amazing services to their clients and by being genuine to everybody they interact with. By providing a good service and by being themselves, Christopher and his team strive to create a strong sense of trust with their clients. This strong sense of trust goes a long way and leads to players speaking highly of them, which allows Christopher and his team to have a great reputation within the football community. In the sports industry especially, a company’s reputation goes a long way.

Optimal Sports Management’s first client is very special to Christopher and his team, as he currently attends their alma mater, USC. 5-star running back, Raleek Brown, is a generational player, which is why Optimal Sports wanted to set the standard pretty high for their future client roster when they partnered with him. Since then, the agency has grown to represent players in various conferences throughout the nation. Early in 2022, Optimal Sports Management also signed their first professional client, Randy Satterfield, who currently plays for the New Jersey Generals in the newly established United States Football League.

Christopher is currently enrolled at Loyola Marymount University and is attaining his Master’s of Science in Business Management. “I chose to get my Master’s degree in business not only because the NFL requires it, but also because I want to be an innovative leader within my respective company and also within the sports agent industry as a whole” mentions Christopher.

He is set to graduate in May of 2023 and is also scheduled to take the NFLPA agent exam shortly after in July. Upon successfully completing both, he is eager to work with current NFL players and is even more eager to help prepare his collegiate clients to soon play in the NFL. In addition to this, Christopher wants to become the most recognized Mexican-American agent in the league and set the standard for others within the Hispanic community to follow.

Christopher adds, “Business-wise, I am very proud of what we have accomplished so far, in so little time. I don’t think anybody out there can do what we have done at our age. We are very fortunate to represent some big-time players on the field, but we are even more fortunate to help these players develop into even better young men off the field.”

With a perspective like that, it is no wonder Christopher and his team at Optimal Sports Management are quickly shooting up the agency hierarchy.

Christopher has been extremely blessed to have so many great people assist him to be where he is today, from his loving family and friends, to everybody in between. He is especially grateful to his mentors for showing him the ropes of the athlete representation industry. Lastly, he is appreciative to his staff, including all his hard-working interns at Optimal Sports who help him execute the essential day-to-day functions of the agency while he is a full-time graduate student.

As Christopher always tells those around him, “Optimal to the top.”