During this past year’s All-Star Break, Pete and I were discussing his options regarding where he would play this Winter.  As a rising star within the St. Louis Cardinals organization, Pete had offers from teams in Venezuela and Puerto Rico.  We determined that while Venezuelan teams were offering Pete more money, Puerto Rico was a better fit.  He latched on to Ponce’s manager, Eduardo Perez, and signed a contract to play for Ponce.  Everybody was happy, and Pete continued to perform amazingly down the final stretch for the AAA Memphis Redbirds.  He was named Reliever of the Year for the Redbirds, where he had a record breaking postseason as the team’s closer.

During the All-Star break, Pete signed with Ponce as a free-agent.  But apparently, there was a discrepancy with the contract’s date or something along the lines that Ponce never turned it into the league office in time (we still do not know the actual problem and probably never will).  Then, on October 8, we get word that Arecibo drafted Pete Parise.  This was news to me, Pete, and everyone in Ponce’s organization.  How could Arecibo, Ponce’s rival for the top spot in the PRBL, draft Pete when Ponce had already secured the rights to my client?

This occurred on October 8.  Not until this past Tuesday was the matter finally resolved.  And to tell you the truth, the battle may not be over.  From October 8 to now, I have talked to the manager of Ponce and Arecibo at least five times every week, and even more often through text.  I have come to have a great relationship with people like Eduardo Perez and Pachy Rodriguez, and wish that all parties involved could leave this dilemma as winners.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.

In the beginning, I had to turn in an allegation letter, stipulating the facts of the matter at hand and outlining everything that happened from Day 1 of Pete’s conversations with Ponce.  Arecibo played by the PRBL’s mandate, which was to place Pete in the draft.  But unfortunately, that mandate did not follow the PRBL’s own rules.  Since Pete had already signed with Ponce, his name should have never been in the draft pool, in the first place.  It took many weeks, but the PRBL finally had a hearing regarding the matter, and earlier this week ruled that Pete had actually officially signed with Ponce.

So Pete is off to Puerto Rico to play for Ponce…for now.  Pete is pumped to give Ponce his all, and has been training non-stop since the close of the Memphis Redbirds’ season.  At least it is nice to know that my client is a wanted man!

IMG does not have a specific division for hockey, but it is experienced in marketing hockey players; it handled the marketing of Wayne Gretzky and Jaromir Jagr when they were in the NHL. IMG will look to expand on Ovechkin’s current endorsement portfolio which includes CCM, Energizer, Hair Cuttery, and Hockey Ink.

Ovechkin’s style of play on the ice and personality off the ice provide the foundation for incredible potential in product endorsements. On the ice, Ovechkin has scored some of the most impressive highlight-reel goals in the history of the game and still has energy to make the huge hits that hockey fans love to see. Off the ice, his personality is on display in interviews showcasing his contagious smile (interview starts at 2:00), love for the fun of the game, and pre-game antics which include racing a utility cart around the arena. The city of Washington D.C. fell in love with Ovechkin over the past couple years and it shows in ticket sales- the Capitals sold out all 12,000 season tickets this year.

What role did Ovechkin’s agent play in acquiring this marketing deal with IMG? Ovechkin’s representation is a roundtable that consists of his father, mother, financial adviser George Landa, and attorney Stephen Screnci. All decisions involving Ovechkin’s career are made collectively by that group. It would definitely be interesting to sit in on a negotiation involving all those parties, and they are obviously doing something right.

For a little insight on the negotiation of his $124 million contract which Alex and his mother conducted without an agent, watch this video at the 2:40 mark. You’ll notice the language barrier makes it hard for Alex to express in English exactly what he means, but IMG said it isn’t worried about that.

You’ve landed a talented athlete as a new client. A professional contract is fast-approaching. When the contract is signed, will the athlete’s online presence be ready?

In sports, the athlete’s name is the brand. So it should come as no surprise the bad guys on the internet, known as cyber-squatters, may try to take advantage of your athlete’s name and brand.

An example: In California, a single cyber-squatter was recently convicted of registering the domain names of nearly 800 basketball players. Domain names are Web browser addresses, like SteveNash.com and ChrisBosh.com. The affected players ranged from NBA pros to top high school and college players. Because of this one squatter, hundred’s of athletes were unable to take the first step into online branding. This was just one squatter — there are thousands of squatters on the NET trying to make money from athletes’ brands.

As an agent, you need to start managing your client’s online brand early —before fame and success attract the cyber-squatters. It’s critical for agents to help athletes create a comprehensive online branding strategy.

Here are 5 simple tips to help agents prepare and protect a player’s online brand:

1. Register a Dot-Com Domain Name

Domain names are Web addresses, so they are the focus of your online branding plan. Having a domain name with your player’s first and/or last name in it, like RogerFederer.COM, is the Grand Slam of Internet branding. The domain is also part of the player’s main email address.

But, web domains are a scarce resource, and are registered on a first-come-first-serve basis —  so even RogerFederer.COM doesn’t own Federer.COM

Once you start searching for an available domain name, you’ll be surprised how hard it is to find an available domain name. If your client has an uncommon name, you may be lucky and still be able to acquire CLIENTNAME.COM. Other good domains to register are nicknames. Shorter domain names are usually better, dashes and digits in a domain name are not as easily remembered by site visitors.

The Dot-Com domain is the most memorable and upscale—it’s far better than the other top-level domains (.NET, .ORG, .INFO, .BIZ, .US, etc.).

To register a domain, visit a Domain Registrar like Godaddy.com (http://GoDaddy.com). If the client’s name is available, you can register it for about $8 a year – you’ll need to renew every year or you lose the name. There are also many websites, such as Afternic.com and Sedo.com, that help you buy and acquire domains that are already registered — though auction prices can be exorbitant.

As long as you’re able to get the athlete’s main domain, it’s not worth going overboard speculating on a bunch of domains when an athlete is just starting out. However, keep in mind that the squatters will try to take advantage of typos in web addresses, so you may consider acquiring common misspellings of your client’s name (for Tennis, think Nadall.com, Nedal.com).

Later in this article I have some tips for what to do if you can’t get the name you want.

2. Create Social Networking Accounts

When fans want to find out about an athlete, they’ll go to the social networking sites; MySpace and Facebook are the biggest. With MySpace, you’ve always been able to get a page like http://Myspace.com/CLIENTNAME, so, you’ll want to grab that. Facebook now has that feature, too. And you’ll want to start and take ownership of a Facebook Fan Club for your client.

What content do you put on all these social media sites? It doesn’t matter—you can leave them blank to start with. The main point is that you control the real estate for your brand.

If you or your client does create some content on a social media page, keep the site very professional. Don’t let the athlete use these accounts for gossiping with friends, uploading photos or video of last Saturday night’s party, or other unprofessional uses. Future sponsors and advertisers will be watching, so you need to keep the client’s content squeaky clean and  presentable. Once something is on the Internet, it’s nearly impossible to take it down.

But remember: The main point is to acquire these online properties, even if you don’t use them at first. It’s far better to have nothing on a Web pages than to have cyber-squatters fill the page with advertisements.

3. Create a Twitter Account

Twitter, an online Short Message Service (SMS) site, is extremely popular and growing so quickly that it gets a checklist item all to itself. When fame first strikes, Twitter is where the trendsetters will talk about your client. Beware: Twitter squatters are already grabbing up all the famous Twitter account names.

Signing up for a Twitter account is free, so sign-up for an account name that matches the client’s real name. You may want to update the Twitter status occasionally with things like recent victories and upcoming games. But again, the key is to own the Twitter account for later use and to prevent someone else from controlling the Twitter account.

4. Setup Email and Instant Messaging

Fans, sponsors, advertisers and other vendors will want to communicate with an athlete. When your client owns a COM domain, you can automatically receive all email sent to any address at @CLIENTNAME.COM.

But, as part of a comprehensive branding plan, create free accounts at Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and HotMail: CLIENTNAME@gmail.com, CLIENTNAME@yahoo.com, and CLIENTNAME@msn.com. Setup the accounts so that they invisibly forward email to a single address.

Additionally, try to get brandable accounts for AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger.

5. Setup Voicemail

For a business phone number, you can set up a free GoogleVoice (http://voice.google.com) account, which comes with a free phone number in almost any area code. Configure GoogleVoice to automatically forward voice-mail to your email accounts as an audio/text attachment. Or you can forward all GoogleVoice calls to your cell phone (the forwarding will be invisible to the caller).

If your client needs to speak with the press by phone, he or she can easily make phone calls through the GoogleVoice account using their existing cell phone. Have the client use the GoogleVoice as a business phone number for all sports-related activities to prevent the athlete’s personal phone information from becoming mixed with the athlete’s career info. Keeping an athlete’s professional life and personal life separate will also help protect the athlete’s privacy.

Troubleshooting Your Brand

What do you do if you can’t get all of the above items? Well, if your athlete’s name is very common like Joe Smith, then he’s a little late to the Internet party. But you can still try for domains like “JoeSmithHockey.com”.

What if fame has already struck and the athlete’s brand is already cyber-squatted? There are laws to protect an athlete’s name and brand. Contact an intellectual property attorney who specializes in trademarks. If the athlete’s name is fairly unique, having a lawyer send a letter to the various social media sites can often get them transferred to the player. Gaining control of a squatted domain is a little more complicated, but an attorney can definitely help to acquire it. Solving cyber-squatting problems through the legal system will cost you a lot more time and effort than doing it right the first time.

Be Ready for Fame…

Most importantly, it’s critical to be a few steps ahead of the cyber-squatters. With the first whiff of fame, squatters will notice an up-and-coming player and grab up all the prime Internet real estate related to that player. You can reduce future legal costs by keeping up with online trends and by beating the squatters to the prime Internet real estate. Your client’s future sponsors will appreciate a clean online-brand that isn’t full of Internet spam.

Remember: Your job as an agent is to help plan for the athlete’s entire career. It’s never too early to get a player’s brand ready. By spending a little effort up front, you can make future success that much sweeter.

Last year, I had the opportunity to attend the 2008 Princeton Sports Symposium as a general attendee.  I covered the event prior to attending and then wrote a short wrap-up.  Overall, I was extremely impressed with the event, and came home with many ideas concerning how to improve our own symposium hosted at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

This year, I have the honor of actually participating on one of the 2009 Princeton Sports Symposium panels.  It is actually one of the first panels of the day, titled, “Partnership Activation Rising Stars.”  The entire agenda may be viewed here.  As was the case last year, Leverage Agency is the title sponsor of the event.  I cannot wait to see many of the people that I was introduced to last year, and meet plenty of new faces.  The important facts are as follows:

What: 2009 Princeton Sports Symposium Sponsored by Leverage Agency

When: Friday, December 4, 2009 (starts at 9:00 a.m. with Continental Breakfast)

Where: Friend Center, Princeton University (pictured to the right, map)

As a side note, I asked my girlfriend to date me a day before I left for last year’s symposium.  We are still together to this day.  Unfortunately, I will miss our actual one-year anniversary, but I will make it up to her (as if any of you care about that).

Rajon Rondo, the six-foot point guard for the Boston Celtics, has captured the worlds attention. The publicity he is getting is both positive and negative. The positive side being his performance with the Celts. In four seasons with Boston, Rondo has played in 239 games and has a .481 FG%, .271 3PT%, and a .635 FT%. However, he has recently been the target of criticism for being late to practice and for his overly physical play.

Whether troubled or not, the Celtics have decided that they want Rondo in their future and have signed him to a 5-year, $55 million extension. Rondo is often compared to San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker. Here is how Rondo stacks up to Parker:

Rajon Rondo (2006-Present) – 239 G, .481 FG%, .271 3P%, .635 FT%, 1396 Assists, 416 Steals, 32 Blocks, and 2294 Points

Tony Parker (2006-Present) - 221 Games, .519 FG%, .315  3P%, .795 FT%, 1343 Assists, 206 Steals, 19 Blocks, and 4354 Points

Parker is slated to make $12.6 million this season and $13.5 million next season.

The young Celtics PG has improved his regular season averages significantly each year in the NBA and in his third year averaged 11.9ppg, 5.3rpg and 8.2apg. However, Rondo truly proved his worth when it counts most, in the playoffs. With Kevin Garnett sidelined, Rondo stepped up and almost averaged a triple double in the Celtics series with the Bulls and Magic, by posting 17.6 points per game, 9.7 rebounds per game and 9.8 assists per game, and adding 2.5 steals per game.

After such a stellar playoff performance, Rondo seemed to be a cornerstone of the Celtics franchise, however some in the organization questioned his leadership as well as his attitude. It was then rumored that Rondo was being shopped around in potential off-season trades by Celtics GM Danny Ainge. Without the extension, Rondo would have became a restricted free agent this summer.

As the deadline approached, it looked as if there was a chance that the extension would not get done in time. The Celtics and Rondo’s agent, Bill Duffy, were afforded an extra few days to hash out this deal due to the fact that the Oct. 31st deadline fell on a Saturday, and therefore was moved to midnight of the next business day. Fortunately for Celtics fans, the organization improved their offer and Rondo signed hours before the deadline on Monday.

Matt gave his coach my office fax number and I let my partner know that the contract would be coming in at any time. I was going to need my co-worker to scan the fax and email me a PDF version of it – unfortunately for me, all this news came while I was working at the ice rink and the fax machine in our building wasn’t working. I waited an hour or so and we still had nothing. I called Matt up but he didn’t have much information for me either – apparently the coach hadn’t even talked numbers with him. I pulled the coach’s number up on my phone and hit “send.” Just then it struck me – if I get the coach on the line, I’m going to be handling my first contract negotiation. As the anxiety started to build, a part of me hoped to get his voicemail. I quickly calmed myself down by realizing that in a year or two, coaches at this level will be hoping I’m answering their phone calls – I’ve used this tactic before and it does actually help.

Right when I thought I was about to get his outgoing message, he answered. After a few moments of small talk, it’s time to talk numbers. When I was told how much they were willing to offer Matt, I was caught off guard big time – and not in a good way. I knew that Matt wouldn’t be making much in the AAHL, but the figure I was given was almost half as much as some players I know on other teams in the league earn. Quickly following the meager offer was the coach’s attempted justification – “You know this league is more about the opportunities that will come, not the money that’s earned.” I explained that I understood how the league works but that I was hoping he would be a little flexible with the figure. Matt plans to live at home during his time with the club so the team wouldn’t have to worry about housing costs. On top of that, Matt and I grew up only an hour away from the team’s home rink so each game he will have a handful of family members and friends paying the $8 admission. I tried to use both these factors to get Matt a little more, but I wasn’t getting much movement. Instead, I could sense some agitation on the other end of the phone.

After a few more minutes of pushing, I realized that this number wasn’t going anywhere. “I realize that you’re just doing your job as an agent and I respect that, but you need to tell Matt that we’re willing to offer him this amount of money per week…he can take it or leave it.” At that point I started to worry that I might have been a little too aggressive. I explained to the coach that I would pass the offer onto Matt and see how he feels. As I thought about the situation more and more, I began to realize that we needed this contract a lot more than the coach needed Matt. While having Matt on the team would surely help elevate the team’s level of play, if the deal wasn’t done, it’s not as if the coach was going to lose his job. On the other hand, if we didn’t get Matt signed, it could make it that much harder landing him on another team mid-season.

I called Matt up and we talked it over for a bit. I tried to explain all our options and suggested that maybe we just have him push the signing back one more day. The frustration of being released twice over the last few weeks had taken an emotional toll on the both of us and I could tell that Matt just wanted this suspense to be over, regardless of how much he’d be making. At the end of the day it really was his decision and so I told him that if he wanted to sign that night, just make sure he’s not stuck if a team in a higher league wants him later in the season. After we finally received the contract, I looked it over and it was pretty straightforward. Once I gave him the green light, Matt went in to meet with the coach. Just under an hour later, Matt was officially a pro hockey player. It might not have been as flashy as either of us expected, but it’s still another step in the right direction.

I figured that after I got Matt signed to his first deal, I’d be free from much of the stress that hung over me day after day. Twenty-four hours later, however, I was tossing and turning in bed  – my Bar Exam results were being released the next morning. Four months of studying, two-and-a-half days of testing, and three months of waiting had finally come down to this. By the time 5:50am central rolled around, I’d gotten about three hours of sleep. While I was completely exhausted, rest was the last thing on my mind – it was time to get up, load the Ohio Office of Bar Admissions website, and start hitting the refresh button until the names of those passing the July exam got posted. At exactly 6:00am, just as the bar examiners promised, there they were. But now I couldn’t decide if looking was such a good idea. I mean what if my name wasn’t up there? What would I do for money? Would I have to lie to my girlfriend? Shut up Scott, just look. I could feel my heart pounding through my chest as I scrolled down the list of names. My name wasn’t there!!! Then I realize that “Deady” comes after “Davis.” What an idiot. Keep going, keep going. Holy crap…I passed! Never had I felt such a weight being lifted off my shoulders. Within seconds, I got a call from my girlfriend, Bridget. I talked to her briefly and then texted some buddies who also passed the exam and anyone else I could think of.

But the excitement of my day didn’t end there – later that night, Matt had his first professional game not far from where I live. After a nice celebration dinner with my family, I drove up to the rink and it was pretty much what I expected – about 75 people in the stands and an acoustic guitar rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Regardless, this was a special day for both Matt and myself. In the end, Matt’s team lost the game 4-3. Matt ended up with a minus one +/- rating, but he did have a couple of solid plays and nice hits. While the outcome may have been less than what we had hoped for, this was only the first of many games in what will hopefully be a long, successful career.

After the game, I went out with Matt and his family to grab some food and a few drinks. While there may have been a few jokes about the presentation of the game itself, I could tell that deep down everyone at the table was truly proud of Matt…myself included. And to be honest, that feeling is a big reason why I love doing this, despite all the frustration that comes along with it.

This Thursday, the annual Nike/Bauer International Invite will begin in rinks throughout the Chicagoland area. Much of the top young talent in the world will be in attendance – some of the age brackets there are as many as 80 teams competing. Years ago, when I was playing in a similar tournament, you could find future NHL talent including Zach Parise, Alexander Radulov, and Enver Lisin. Trust me when I tell you that the level of play hasn’t diminished since then. Needless to say, there’s going to be hordes of scouts and other agents floating around and the atmosphere should be incredible. I’m still working on getting in touch with the two Russian teams flying in and I’m hoping a client of mine playing professionally in Moscow can help me out. I’ll actually be giving him a call in just about an hour so hopefully that gets me somewhere.

By this time next week, I’d like to be explaining how I successfully pitched my firm to my next potential client. Until then, I’ll be sure to keep weekend updates posted on my Twitter account so follow along if interested. You can also find tournament details on their website at www.invitebauer.com.

Last week, the single game penalty turned into a year-long ban.  The NCAA suspended Bryant for the rest of the 2009 season and any bowl game that OK State might play in.  Oklahoma State appealed the suspension, which seems rather harsh based on the situation (unless there are facts that have been withheld to the public).  We may find out the result of that appeal as early as tomorrow.

It sure seems as if OK State gets picked on a lot by the NCAA.  Remember Andy Oliver?  He played at the same institution before signing with a professional team in the 2009 draft.

The NCAA flexes its muscle again.  Are you impressed?  If Bryant would have solicited advice of an attorney, would the NCAA have pulled an Andy Oliver and tried to say that he was ineligible for that too?

Shouldn’t the NCAA be the advocate for its student-athletes above everything else?  I perceive the institution in a different light.  Its actions lead me to question its purpose at times.  With Brandon Jennings performing at a high level in the NBA (yes, it is a very small sample to look at) after saying no to college and playing a year overseas, shouldn’t the NCAA try to do more to show that it cares about its players.  Suspending them for a season without giving solid justification, makes me think that athletes will want to get in and out (or never in) of college as fast as possible.

Again, if the penalty is merely in response to Dez lying to NCAA officials, then I think it is excessive.  If there are facts unknown to me and the rest of the general public, then that is another story.  OK State was 4-0 without Bryant…until last weekend.  41-14.  Season over.  Reminiscent of last year’s College World Series.

What: 2010 Tulane Law School National Baseball Arbitration Competition

When: January 22-24, 2010

Where: Tulane University Law School. Map.

The Tulane Law School Sports Law Society has been busy inviting law schools to compete in the 2010 Tulane Law School National Baseball Arbitration Competition. I received an email invite last week, asking if my school (University of Florida Levin College of Law) would be interested in attending.

The Baseball Arbitration Competition is a simulated salary arbitration competition modeled closely on the salary arbitration procedures used by Major League Baseball.  Each team will represent either the assigned player for that round or the team for which that player plays. The goal of each round is to determine the salary for that player for the upcoming season by persuading the arbitrator(s) that the position advocated for is more appropriate.

The competition assumes that each party has previously submitted their final offer, and that good faith negotiations have concluded.  Each problem will include these final offers; the competitors’ objective is to persuade the independent arbitrator, through both a written submission and through oral arguments, that the offer tendered by their client is the most appropriate compensation for that player.  Players used for this competition will, barring unforeseen circumstances, be actual Major League Baseball players eligible for salary arbitration in that year.

The deadline for registration is 5:00 p.m. on December 15.

Cost: $150 per team (2-3 people per team. Only 2 people may participate in any single round).  Schools may bring up to 2 teams.  Click here to register.

Competition Website | Competition Rules