When: February 10, 2012 (12 p.m.)

Where: Villanova Room of The Connelly Center

Villanova University School of Law (VSL) convenes an all-star roster of leading experts from sports and television for its 2012 Villanova Sports and Entertainment Law Journal Symposium, “Moneyball’s Impact on Business and Sports.” Jeffrey S. Moorad VSL ’81, vice chairman and CEO of the San Diego Padres, headlines the panel alongside Billy Beane, vice president and general manager of the Oakland A’s; Omar Minaya, senior vice president of baseball operations for the Padres; and Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC. Former Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell VSL ’68, a guest sports commentator for Comcast SportsNet and the Philadelphia Daily News, serves as moderator. A question-and-answer session follows the panel discussion.

Beane’s distinctive analytical approach to making personnel decisions, allowing his team to remain competitive while managing payroll, has changed the business-side of sports for franchise executives, players and agents alike. Other Major League franchises—including the San Diego Padres, New York Mets, and Boston Red Sox—soon began ‘playing Moneyball,’ adopting sabermetrics as a predictive tool and in turn impacting the landscape of America’s pastime. Symposium panelists Moorad, Beane, Minaya and Griffin will analyze the impact of Moneyball and the variety of ways it has changed the face of sports from player contracts to media markets and competitive balance.

Cost: Free for registered attendees.  Register here.  The Symposium will also be simulcast live at www.law.villanova.edu.

Villanova Symposium: Examining Moneyball’s Impact on Business and Sports from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Baseball

• The White Sox were the only team to not have a single player file for salary arbitration [Details For the 142 Players That Filed for Salary Arbitration in MLB for 2012].
• It is certainly fun to watch as these players settle prior to scheduled arbitration hearings [Arbitration Filing Numbers].
• Sad to see what has happened to the Puerto Rican Baseball League [Puerto Rico Traces Baseball’s Slide to the Draft].
• Who is going to be next? [Fausto Carmona arrested in Dominican Republic for using false identity]

Olympics

• A former subject on this site, and ranked pretty high on this list [Sports Marketing with Evan Morgenstein of PMG Sports].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (1/20/2012) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Baseball

• Scott Boras loves creating books [After hearing Garza price, Yankees eye E-Jax].
• Magic Johnson, Peter O’Malley, Steve Garvey, Orel Hershiser, Fred Claire, Arn Tellem, Dennis Gilbert, Mark Cuban… [Torre brings credibility to Dodger ownership bid].

Football

• Usually 40-45 underclassmen get invited [Q & A on NFL Scouting Combine invites].
• Nick Saban and Les Miles will make a cool $200,000 bonus each just for having their teams play in the national championship game [From the Sideline to the Bottom Line].

Sports Law

• Show me the the “highly sensitive” ESPN and BCS agreements [Ex-players seek ESPN, BCS contracts from SEC].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (1/6/2012) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Several baseball legends were invited and contracted to attend, but Rosquete alleges that the poor organization by Gelvis led to many of the players backing out.  Former players anticipated to attend included Gaylord Perry, Pete Rose, Ken Griffey Sr, Ferguson Jenkins and several others.  Rosquete says that unfortunately, several players stayed true to their word and went to the event only to be subjected to continual lies, deception, and eventually nonpayment of their appearance fees and costs associated with flying to Venezuela.  These players include Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers, and Juan Marichal.

As a result of these events and aside from the mental stress that was caused, the aforementioned Dan Rosquete has been retained to represent these players against Hablemos de Beisbol in hopes of recouping some of the players’ losses and appearance fees.  Rosquete has also retained the help of a local attorney in Venezuela to aid him in the civil breach of contract case, which Rosquete believes may in turn become a criminal case as well.

Former Baseball Players Including Goose Gossage Want Money From Venezuelan Baseball Fan Fest from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Last weekend in Memphis, Tennessee was a great success.  We put together a tremendous Professional Sports Counseling Panel at the University of Memphis and received fantastic feedback from athletes, parents, agents, and administrators with regards to Memphis’ first Agent Day.  I have to really thank my partner Jason Belzer; he is the reason that Collegiate Sports Advisors is going to be a successful venture.  Lots of big deals being brokered in the NBA and MLB.  Any readers spend some time in Dallas during the Baseball Winter Meetings?  Here are some stories I missed over the past week:

Football

• A few good questions for athletes and their parents to ask agents [Inside the player-agent interviews].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (12/9/11) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Hey Kobe Bryant.  Here is your official, public invitation to come ball at my local Jewish Community Center (JCC).  You know, in case you get tired of the one in Irvine, California.  I am heading to Memphis, Tennessee tonight to host the University of Memphis’ first Agent Day with Jason Belzer tomorrow.  We will also be organizing the school’s first Professional Sports Counseling Panel.  University of Memphis is a client of start-up Collegiate Sports Advisors, which I strongly suggest you pass on to your colleagues at various university athletic departments.  With so much talk about all the things that universities could be doing to better inform and protect their student-athletes, out-of-house Collegiate Sports Advisors is an excellent choice for schools to take a step in the right direction.  Okay, I’m off my soapbox.  Here are some stories I missed from the past week:

College Sports

• About that need for Professional Sports Counseling Panels.. [Time for Transformative Change in Intercollegiate Athletics].
• Class action Complaint alleges that the NCAA has engaged in a long-established pattern of negligence [College Athletes Move Concussions Into the Courtroom].

Baseball

• I provide an in-depth look into how and when MLB players compensate their representatives (unfortunately it is behind a pay wall) [Darren Heitner on MLB Player-Agent Comp].
• The new collective bargaining agreement supposedly reduces the number of rounds in the Rule 4 Draft from 50 to 40 [CBA Links: Michael Weiner, Draft].
• I have a feeling this fight is not yet over [Checking In With Albert Pujols’s Agent, Who Threatened To Sue Us Before He Knew What We Were Going To Write].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (12/2/11) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Let’s start things off simple. It is great news that the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the MLB owners and the MLBPA was agreed upon, and that baseball will continue without a gap for at least five more years. After the NBA and NFL lockouts, this is no small accomplishment. However, the good news coming from the CBA doesn’t extend far beyond the fact that it will prevent a labor dispute.

The owners have been blinded by their short-sightedness to save money in the short term, and the players are simply relishing in the fact that the minimum salary will increase by about 16% to 480,000, with a few other small free agency advantages as well. However, the people most hurt by the new CBA were the ones with no representation at the table, the amateurs.

I’m not complaining for the Strasburg’s and Harper’s of the world that will now be making a few million dollars less than before. I am talking about the majority of high school prospects that aren’t selected in the first few rounds. Due to the new slotting system with a soft cap, teams would be nonsensical to spend more than the 5% grace zone, having to pay a 75% luxury tax as well as forfeit a future first round pick, with even greater penalties if they spend more. Thus, all discussion must continue on the assumption that teams follow the new slotting system.

The new CBA rules state that any bonus of more than $100k provided to players drafted outside the top 10 rounds, will have that amount go against the team’s Signing Bonus Pool. These high school prospects, as well as the ones drafted in rounds 6-10 that will most likely only be offered less than $200k, are put into a very difficult situation. Unlike college basketball and football, even the top recruits are only offered partial collegiate scholarships, forcing the families to make up the remaining tuition. For many families, coming up with that tens of thousands of dollars for the next three years or four years is not an option; they are rather left with the decision to take that small signing bonus or attend a community college.

While $100-200k may sound like a goldmine to an 18 year old, this allure of instant money may only worsen the situation. However, the opportunity cost for accepting that money must be noted. That 18 year old will now be spending the next however many years making less than $2,000 a month. And what happens when the baseball dream dies as it does for 95% of all draftees? They are left with no college education, no real world skill set, and very little to fall back on. For families that cannot afford to pay for their child’s college education, the MLB is merely setting them up for a life of poverty.

There was an easy solution to this. Allow the teams to guarantee future college tuition to the draftees they choose, while not having it go against their Signing Bonus Pool. Honestly, who would this hurt? The owners would only have to provide those educations to the draftees as they choose. The leverage and signability effect by including future tuition is minimal and clearly outweighed. But rather, with no one at the table negotiating on behalf of the amateurs (the future of the game) they merely get overlooked and ignored. What do the current high school baseball players have to say about this? And their parents? Unfortunately, it does not matter.

The New MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement’s Negative Effect On High School Draftees from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

When I was contacted over the weekend by Brian Walton of TheCardinalNation.com and Scout.com with about six questions related to the baseball agent profession, I had no idea just why he was asking me those specific questions.  Now, after Walton published his piece titled, Dan Lozano and Albert Pujols’ 2004 Contract, it all makes sense.

Walton’s piece stemmed from an accusation embedded within the Deadspin story about Pujols’ agent Dan Lozano, which has attracted the eyes of everybody in the sports agent industry.  The accusation was that Lozano’s unfortunate financial situation led him to negotiate an unfavorable, below-market value contract for Pujols in 2004.  Walton’s article digs deep to try to determine whether that was actually the case.  Based on his findings, it appears that even if Lozano was truly interested in making a quick buck to save himself from financial straits, he certainly did not display such through his negotiation of Pujols’ contract.

Go ahead and read Walton’s article, because he does a fantastic job of looking into the 2004 Pujols deal, and he provides some nice space for my contributions.

Looking Back At Albert Pujols’ 2004 Contract from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

In less than a month, Minor League Baseball will host its annual Winter Meetings.  This year, the four day event will be held at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas.  As always, not all activities are open to the general public.  The PBEO Job Fair and the Baseball Trade Show tend to be the main attractions for the majority of attendees.  This is the 18th year that the Job Fair is occurring, and it appears to be an excellent venue for those looking to break into the baseball industry.  Roughly 300 companies will be in attendance at the Baseball Trade Show, including manufacturers and distributors of apparel, caps, gift items, on-field suppliers, and player equipment.

December 5, 2011:

• Bob Freitas Business Seminar (8:15 a.m. – 4:15 p.m.)
• PBEO Job Fair (9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)
• Opening Session (11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.)
• Awards Luncheon (12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.)
• Last time for MLB clubs to outright a player prior to the Rule 5 Draft (5:00 p.m.)
• Opening Night at the Baseball Trade Show (5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.)

December 7, 2011:

• PBEO Job Fair (9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)
• Baseball Trade Show (10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.)
• Presidential Election (4:00 p.m. – 5 p.m.)
• Gala (7:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.)
• Last day for a player who declared for free agency to accept an arbitration offer from his former club (midnight deadline)

December 8, 2011:

• Closing Session (3:00 p.m. – 4 p.m.)
• Banquet (6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.)
• Major League Rule 5 Draft.

110th Annual Baseball Winter Meetings In Dallas, Texas from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Yesterday, I spoke to the Union Internationale des Avocats’ (UIA – International Association of Lawyers) 55th Congress on the current issues in Sports Law, with a specific focus on what is going on in the world of athlete agent regulation and discipline.  More than 1,200 lawyers from more than 70 countries around the world have attended the entire event.  Luckily for me, the Congress was held in Miami, Florida.  However, today I am doing quite the traveling.  I am in New York for the New York Law School Sports Law Symposium, and I am flying out of New York tonight to go to Arizona, where I will be speaking at Arizona State University’s 2nd Annual Conference on Sports and Entertainment Law.  Here are some stories I’ve missed over the past week:

Basketball

• Let “the hurt” commence [Why Is NBA Labor Deal Closer? Players Get Last Check On Monday].
• Mark Bartelstein sheds some light on the fact that owners are not asking for a true 50/50 BRI split [Analysis: Sides get closer, but NBA lockout keeps rolling on].
• Amazing how the labor battle has recently focused on Billy Hunter vs. Derek Fisher [Hunter’s actions in NBA labor talks weaken union].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (11/4/2011) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules