Show me the money

 Under the Radar/Conor Ridge:Sitting opposite Conor Ridge, it's hard to resist shouting "Show me the money!". But then again, the Dublin-based sports agent has probably heard the line from the film Jerry Maguire umpteen times.

If anything, the film highlighted that sports management is big business. While Horizon, which is only about 2½ years in existence, may not have hit the big time yet, it is, to use a sporting analogy, certainly punching above its weight. The agency boasts Ireland's two leading athletic stars - Derval O'Rourke and David Gillick - on its books. It has also signed up some of the country's leading young golfers and acts for sports giant Puma in Ireland.

Not bad for a man who remortgaged his house to set up the company a couple of years ago. When Ridge left Drury Sports Management to strike out on his own, he had initially planned to run a full-service, professional golf-management company, as this was where his expertise lay. "I worked on a lot of big golf tournaments, the Smurfit European Open, American Express championships and planning for the Ryder Cup," he says.

"We have a habit of churning out some pretty good golfers in this country. Golf is only getting bigger here and you can only but think that we are going to keep producing players like that over the next 10 years. The idea was to try to sign up and attract most of the up-and-coming players that were coming through."

But the company soon expanded into other areas. Ridge contacted renowned athletics coach Jim Kilty to provide fitness, body strength and conditioning training for some of his golfers. Kilty was also training O'Rourke and she needed an agent, so he suggested that Ridge talk to her.

O'Rourke had just won the World Indoor Championships and Ridge was conscious that athletics was not his strongest suit. "I met her and we just clicked and got on really well. I said we would take her on with no contract and see what we can do," he says.

It proved to be a huge success and the deal led to Horizon signing up Gillick as well.

"Without setting out to have any kind of dominance in the athletics world, we now have the leading Irish male and leading Irish female athletes and, to be honest, I can't claim to have any mad vision of making it happen. But we must be doing a good job in order to be able to get them."

The big time may now be beckoning. Ridge has agreed to merge his company with UK agency JPS Sports Management, a small firm run by UK businessman and developer John McKillen, who has interests in a number of golf clubs in Britain and the US. McKillen's UK business will be renamed Horizon Sports Management UK, and he will take a stake in Ridge's business, which will move to bigger premises in Dublin. A US office is also planned for later in the year.

The company will boast four divisions: commercial golf management; elite sports management; a sports marketing and consultancy division; and an event management division. The launch of a revamped website, www.horizonsports.ie, will coincide with the merger.

Last year, Tiger Woods made $11 million (€8.27 million) on the golf course and $112 million off it, and it is in the latter area where the potential for business lies, according to Ridge. "That's where the real upside and real business opportunity is," he says.

Jerry Maguire portrayed the sports management business as a shallow and morally bereft world of backstabbing and wheeling and dealing. Ridge is aware of that image and is keen to distance Horizon from such perceptions of the industry.

"People get nervous about the sports management area and agency area," Ridge acknowledges. However, he adds: "We are straight-up people, very honest. Our record speaks for itself."

In other ways, he says the film accurately portrayed the industry, particularly the relationship between the agent and the client.

"I don't mean the 'show me the money end'," he says. "I mean how close you actually become to the sportspeople themselves. You spend so much time with them. My phone is going constantly. As long as my phone is on, I'm working."

Not that he minds too much. As a sports fan, he is getting to do something he loves every day.

"My passions are sport and business, and I have managed to marry the two of them, so happy days," he says.

If the merger goes according to plan, the days could get even happier.

ON THE RECORD:

Name:Conor Ridge

Age:30

Marital Status:single

Education:Born in Galway but moved to Dublin at 14 years of age. Educated at St Mary's College, Rathmines; studied Commerce in UCD; completed a Masters in Marketing Practice at the Smurfit Business School, Carysfort.

Hobbies/Interests:Playing golf and football and watching golf and football.

Most Likes to:Escape to Connemara. I get down there half a dozen times a year. It is the only place in the world where I can switch off, although I would still have the phone and Blackberry on intermittently.

Greatest sporting moment:Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hitting the net in the 92nd minute in the Nou Camp Stadium, May 26th, 1999. After that, Amhrán na bhFiann at Ireland v England, Croke Park, February 24th, 2007 - spine-tingling stuff.

Inspired by:My father and mother. They are everything I aspire to be.

Most Admire:Sporting genius - Tiger Woods, Ronaldinho and Muhammad Ali. In business - Seán Quinn. He is a true entrepreneur and will take on any industry where he sees an opportunity. I also really admire his understated manner and lifestyle.