Sports agents have to comply with many different regulations. There are state statutes, a federal statute (SPARTA), players’ association regulations, and NCAA regulations. There is not an overwhelming amount of information pushed towards incoming agents to advise them about all of the necessary rules and certifications. The easiest rules to violate without knowing it concerns the contacting of student-athletes. The NCAA and its member institutions (colleges) oftentimes do little to help guide agents. They all set up basic compliance websites, but who actually bookmarks those and visits them on a regular basis?
The University of Central Florida (UCF) is an exception from the norm. Not too long ago, I received mail (yes, it still exists separate from email) from Lisa K. Danner, UCF’s Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance. While my heart skipped a beat when I first saw who the mail was from, I was happy to find out that I had not violated any rules and that Ms. Danner was simply sending a message about the proper way to register with her school. A school actually taking a preventative measure instead of a reactionary stance…imagine that. This is how the first two paragraphs of Ms. Danner’s message reads:
Institutional control of athletics is a fundamental requirement of NCAA legislation. Specifically, the NCAA Constitution provides that each institution monitor its program to insure compliance with NCAA rules and regulations.
The University of Central Florida (UCF) requests that all athlete agents who are interested in representing its student-athletes provide a copy of their State of Florida agent license, along with copies of professional league players’ association applications for those associations in which they are members to Lisa K. Danner, Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance.
The most important line of the letter: “UCF does this to insure agents are in compliance with the state statute.” Well, I for one, appreciate it! Obviously, UCF has its own interests in mind (if an agent violates the statute, it could mean unfortunate financial consequences for UCF), but it is nice to know that at least on the surface, UCF seems to also be concerned about our well-being.
Any agent who wishes to contact a student-athlete at UCF must register by filling out this application:
UCF offers the letter and the registration form on its compliance website, and also provides some other great information, including a Football Agent Calendar, Baseball Agent Calendar, NCAA Rules Concerning Agents, and Florida Statues Regarding Athlete Agents.
More schools need to follow UCF’s lead and take a proactive stance in registering athlete agents with their compliance offices.
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