Roc Nation is an affiliate of Creative Artists Agency, and Cruz recently switched to CAA's Tom Condon to represent him.
Condon is expected to represent Cruz in his contract negotiations with the New York Giants while Roc Nation will most likely help the Giants receiver with his off-the-field interests.
Darren Rovell, ESPN's sports business reporter, tweeted that Jay-Z has a preliminary agent certification for Major League Baseball but currently does not have a certification for the NFL.
That makes the second popular New York athlete to join music impresario Jay-Z in his new venture. New York Yankees Robinson Cano fired his agent Scott Boras on Tuesday and jumped over to Roc Nation. You can probably expect a lot of popular young athletes to follow suit in the coming months. Roc Nation will act as a marketing arm for both athletes.
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| Cruz flashes the Roc hand sign after scoring |
Cruz was apparently teasing fans about his relationship with Jay-Z during the season after he was caught flashing the Roc hand sign (using both hands to form a diamond) after doing his trademark salsa dances, according to ESPN. He was coy about the symbolism and politely said he couldn't talk about it when asked.
The 26-year-old Cruz is a restricted free agent at the moment and teams have until April 19 to make an offer. Highly unlikely considering that any team who wants the receiver will have to cough up a first-round draft pick.
Condon, meanwhile, already has a good relationship with the Giants organization and represents Eli Manning and Mathias Kiwanuka — so the expectations that local-boy Cruz will stay with Big Blue are pretty high.
But there's a better chance that Brooklyn native Jay-Z 's high profile name and brand will keep Cruz and Cano in New York. But if he doesn't, expect a lot of fans to tell the rapper he'll have more than 99 Problems to deal with.
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