Duties of Sports Agents to Athletes and Statutory Regulation Thereof

I was recently published in Volume 7, Issue 3, Fall 2009 of the Dartmouth Law Journal. The title of the piece is, Duties of Sports Agents to Athletes and Statutory Regulation Thereof. I think that this will be a good read for anyone who is a regular visitor of this site.

Abstract: The Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act of 2004 (SPARTA) and the Uniform Athlete Agents Act (UAAA) have helped protect student-athletes and educational institutions against the harmful acts of unscrupulous sports agents. Statutory regulations have not adequately enforced agents’ duties to all athletes. Furthermore, while aspects of agency law, such as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, player association regulations, and various Bar Association rules have helped fill some of the gaps, there remains a need for increased supervision over the sports agent profession. This article argues that student-athletes should have a statutory right to enforce the duties of sports agents and that all sports agents should have to be licensed under a federal registration system. In addition, it describes the need for a self-regulatory commission of sports agents to help weed out the unscrupulous agents who fail to fulfill their duties in the representation and solicitation of any athlete.

Click here for the full article and be sure to leave your comments below.

Larry

Great article. I know that the contiinuous unethical behavior of some agents is a major reason why students shy away wanting to be an agent just because they don’t want to be linked to that. I liked the idea of a national registry as well. I was curious on what the UAAA regulations on Florida are

http://www.sportsagentblog.com Darren Heitner

The 2009 Florida Statutes: PART IX ATHLETE AGENTS – http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0468/PART09.HTM

http://avantla.com Jorge Monasterio

Interesting post.

“there is no recourse for student-athletes who may
lose their eligibility because of a sports agent’s actions.”

There’s always room for improvement.
Bill

Agents have lots of methods for getting around the rules and with so much money on the line in a highly competitive industry, they will continue to outright ignore them or use runners to do the dirty work in-order to sign a player. You can pass all the laws or rules you want, Bill Duffy is still going to have some young guy who thinks he’s learning the business but is really just shielding the actual agent from having to pay O.J. Mayo himself.

Getting certified as an NBPA agent is as easy as having a pulse and a check they can cash… but that doesn’t matter because the real problem is the difficultly of actually being able to sign an NBA player, which is why people will continue to break the rules.

A panel of agents will do nothing… and besides, which agents do you put on it? Nearly all of them talk about integrity but are willing to break the rules in one way or another. A small number of agents will continue to represent the majority of players by using their power, money and relationships with college & youth basketball coaches.

There is little room for honest guys to sign significant talent and make a living full time in the cesspool that is the agent business.