Luchs has been disciplined by the NFLPA in the past, which probably allowed the NFLPA to take quick action against Luchs following the publication of the SI article, under the NFLPA Regulations Governing Contract Advisors.  As stated a couple of weeks ago, the extraordinary circumstances clause in the Regulations states that when an investigation discloses that the Contract Advisor’s conduct is of such a serious nature as to justify immediately revoking or suspending his Certification, the NFLPA may immediately revoke or suspend his Certification with the filing of a Disciplinary Complaint or thereafter.  The Contract Advisor is then entitled to an expedited appeal of that action.

Will Josh Luchs appeal the revocation of his license to practice as an NFLPA Contract Advisor?

Report: Josh Luchs Will Have His NFLPA Certification Revoked from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Raymond Lee Savage Jr.

Savage Jr. was arrested and taken into custody in October 2008 for allegedly having a part in the illegal contact of former University of Alabama wide-receiver, Tyrone Prothro, while Prothro was in college.  One of his employees also failed to adhere to the state of Alabama’s athlete agent registration requirements.

Savage Jr. plead not guilty to both charges for which he was accused: 1) Not registering as an athlete-agent in Alabama (felony); and 2) Initiating contact with a student-athlete (misdemeanor).  The state of Alabama dropped the misdemeanor charge, but the felony charge remained.

However, just a couple of days ago a judge issued a writ of arrest for Savage Jr. for failure to appear in court for the a reduced charge of the felony count.  The excuse offered to the judge was that Savage Jr. could not leave his home in Virginia due to health problems.  The judge did not buy it, and Alabama’s Assistant Attorney General is very displeased.

Assistant Attorney General Don Valeska said Savage had agreed to plead to a misdemeanor with a $2,000 fine. Under the plea, Savage would have been restricted from traveling into Alabama, banned from dealing with any athletes from the state, and required not to contact Prothro or any witnesses, Valeska said.

“Now we may take that deal off the table and just try it in front of a jury as a felony,” Valeska said. “We’ll be arresting him hopefully tonight. We’re going to put him in the national computer and if he’s stopped for a traffic stop, he’s going to be arrested and transferred down here to county jail.”

If Alabama treats an agent this way for having one of his employees recruit a student-athlete without being properly licensed as an athlete-agent in the state, imagine what the the State of Alabama would do to a guy like Gary Wichard, should he be found guilty of the state’s athlete-agent laws.  And what if Marcell Dareus had contact with a sports agent who was not registered in the state of Alabama and/or accepted an illegal benefit from an agent?

“At the appropriate time, one of these agents is going to go to jail because of a felony, but this one [Savage Jr.] we didn’t feel was the case based on the facts,” Valeska said. “We want the message to go out that nobody comes to Alabama without following the law and talks to college athletes about going pro.”

Valeska’s words remind me of something I once read from Mike Trope, author of Necessary Roughness and former NFLPA agent.  He said, “[Don't] ever represent any player that is a resident or goes to school in the state of Alabama. I am not an agent anymore, but I wouldn’t do it.”

“One Of These Agents Is Going To Go To Jail Because Of A Felony” from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Football

• Think a lot has been learned in a week? [UNC's Marvin Austin giving testimony]
• Led by two former Gators football players [Local duo open sports agency].
• Finally some good news for the UFL [The first ever UFL sellout].

Baseball

• Pitchers’ strikeouts have a much greater correlation with run prevention than hitters’ strikeouts have on run scoring [The Truth about Strikeouts].

Basketball

• Will the Grizz pony up the cash next year when Arn Tellem’s client becomes a restricted FA? [Marc Gasol aims to set Grizzlies on playoff path]

Sports Agents

• The article really promotes Chad Speck and a3. Definitely staking their claim to the state of Tennessee [Local sports agent works to build business by incorporating trust, integrity].
• “If you’re looking for it, they find you.” [For college athletes, sports agents can be their pass to big leagues or bad times]
• Using Twitter as a platform to give something back [Chicago Sports Agent Starts A Kindness Revolution].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (9/24/2010) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Darren Heitner: How did you get the nickname, “Big Daddy”?

Richard “Big Daddy” Salgado: It was given to me by a college teammate at the University of Maryland where I played offensive guard (1985-89) who was a lot bigger than me.  Thinking back he was about 6’9 and well over 300 pounds.

Heitner: Tell us about your company, Coastal Advisors, and what sets it apart from the competition.

Big Daddy: I developed Coastal Advisors LLC (www.coastaladvisorsllc.com) about 15 years ago and it’s become a niche market, which is now a growing trend in locker rooms across the country. It was important for me in the early years to stress that disability and life insurance is a serious issue and needs to be handled by people who specialize in it.  In recent years through clients, networking and my reputation, my business has grown to where now 20-30% of my clients find me.  My biggest battle can be discussing these issues with agents or the players’ “money guy” because they don’t want to give up control and they don’t specialize in the industry.  As I tell them, they won’t see me negotiating any player contracts or investing players’ money in the stock market, but to leave the disability and life insurance to me. You can visit www.coastaladvisorsllc.com for additional information and see me with my clients.

Heitner: How big of a gamble is it for a professional player to perform without proper insurance?  What about an amateur athlete?

Big Daddy: It depends on where the player is at with his contract status.  If it’s a player who’s going into the last year of a contract or going to become a free agent and they were to get hurt and can’t perform to the best of their ability, a new contract will be highly unlikely.  Having disability will let the player sleep better at night knowing that if something, God forbid, were to happen, then the disability insurance is in place to compensate for the loss of income on the field.

Heitner: Many players come to you for advice outside of insurance questions. What would you tell a player to look for who asks about hiring a particular agent?

Big Daddy: In regards to the amateur athlete… it depends on the athlete and where they expect to be drafted.  If it’s a player that’s a first or second round draft pick in the NFL, then he’s a guy that should look at disability insurance.  If it’s a guy who will be a late rounder or a free agent, they’ll probably not qualify for disability insurance.  For example Willis McGahee is a guy who took out a “loss of value” policy and unfortunately was injured in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl.  So even though he was drafted late in the first round, he wasn’t a top 10 pick so the “loss of value” policy was in place to compensate for lost money.  Willis was not a client of mine, but his injury combined with the quality of player he was and that he was at a recognizable school like the University of Miami playing on National television in the Fiesta Bowl, shed light on how important my business is for future top prospects in any sport.  In fact, the following year I signed my first top college athlete in Larry Fitzgerald (3^rd pick overall for the Arizona Cardinals in 2004) while he was a senior at the University of Pittsburgh.  A few years later Chris Long out of the University of Virginia and 2^nd overall pick by the St. Louis Rams in 2008 came to me for protection for his senior year.

Heitner: How closely do you work with player agents?  Are there any, in particular, that you have worked with more than others?

Big Daddy: I work with a lot of agents who represent players in all areas of professional sports.  As the business has grown and I’ve become known as the guy when it comes to disability insurance for professional athletes, I get a lot of referrals from agents telling other agents within their agency or telling the parents of an athlete.  As far as agents I work with, I’ve worked with Octagon’s Doug Hendrickson, CAA’s Tom Condon and Ben Dogra, as well as Neil Schwartz and Jonathon Feinsod of Schwartz & Feinsod.

Heitner: Do you have any interesting stories to share from your insurance work with many players on the New York Giants club?

Big Daddy: I have several current and former New York Giants as clients.  To name a few, Michael Strahan, Jeremy Shockey, William Joseph, Shaun Williams, Justin Tuck, Chris Snee, Shaun O’Hara.  As far as interesting stories, all I can say is it was fun following my clients during their Super Bowl XLII run and knowing that I had taken care of their off-the-field business allowing them to concentrate on everything else.

Heitner: Justin Tuck says that playing without a policy is akin to “Russian Roulette.”  Is that true, and if so, why?

Big Daddy: Playing NFL football without insurance is like “Russian Roulette.”  However it depends on the situation, everything is on a case by case basis, there’s some guys who need it and some that don’t.  I’m not someone who will sell any player insurance just for the sake of selling them something.  As I mentioned earlier, a player entering the draft or about to renew a contract would be in the market for disability insurance, whereas a player nearing the end of their career may not be.

Heitner: Should sports agents look into their own insurance?  What types?  How common is it for agents to pass up on getting insurance and regret it later on?

Big Daddy: Yes, I’ve done business with some of the sports agents themselves, they’re just like everyone else.  Along the same lines, I’ve done work with coaches in the NFL and at the college level as well as members of the media.  When dealing with agents and non-athletes, it’s mostly with life insurance and future estate and financial planning, which are two other large part of my business.  Disability and life insurance is important whether you’re a school teacher, a police officer, lawyer or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.  I’ve just developed a niche where 80% of my clientele are professional athletes or elite college athletes who will be entering the pro ranks in the coming years.

Q&A With Richard “Big Daddy” Salgado from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

College sports has a handful of core problems: “One and done,” academics, commercialism, gambling and agents. When someone does something wrong or a scandal breaks, we put the klieg lights on the people and the problems. The NCAA has made agents the issue de jour. Rachel Newman Baker, NCAA’s head of agent, gambling and amateurism activities, told ESPN.com: “People are just kind of tired of it. They’re fed up, and our membership feels very strongly about agents and wants us to aggressively pursue agent issues.” Alabama football coach Nick Saban also fanned the flames when he equated unscrupulous agents to pimps.

Some believe agents and their runners are the bane of college athletics. The case many coaches and athletic administrators make against agents is impressive:

• They pay players, their families, and anyone else who might influence players to sign with them.
• They have no regard for NCAA rules.
• They don’t care about players’ welfare, especially their education.
• They influence high-school players in their recruitment.
• They operate outside the law.
• They all cheat, even the so-called super agents.
• They give bad advice when it comes to leaving school.
• They have no integrity.

(Of course, many of the same things could be said about some college coaches.)

Not surprisingly, NCAA and its members have stepped up its efforts to combat the “agent problem.” On the flipside, we should not lose sight of the fact that agents play a vital function in protecting the interests of their clients. Of course, the focus is on the bad apples, which spoil the whole batch – and give credence to those who want to demonize agents.

The mounting frustration is understandable, but the finger pointing ends up clouding the real issues. Like a lot of things in college athletics, the real world is far different than the lofty ideals and the news releases.

Athletic departments are adopting protocol about agents contacting their athletes that is far more restrictive than NCAA rules.

Here is a snippet from an athletic department regarding its agent policy:

“Athletes … will be instructed not to give out phone numbers or addresses. All mail should be directed to the athlete in care of the interview coordinator. Athlete agents shall make no phone calls to athlete until completion of final game of senior year.”

Another school goes a step further:

“All correspondence from athlete agents should be sent in duplicate. The original will be given to the student-athlete, and the other will be kept in the Compliance Office in the athlete agent’s file. (School) will not provide the addresses or telephone numbers of student-athletes. Furthermore, we request all agents and advisors to refrain from telephone contacts and face-to-face encounters with student-athletes, or their parents and relatives until the student-athlete has exhausted his or her NCAA eligibility.”

The fact is, schools cannot effectively police unethical agents. Such restrictions can have the unintended effect of driving unsavory agent activities further underground.

So, what is the solution? Solving the agent problem is similar to the pursuit of peace in the Middle East (without the actual bloodshed, of course). Factions are so entrenched that reasonable compromise becomes impossible.

There is a current proposal to ease up agent restrictions. No one is suggesting agents should be allowed to pay college athletes, but they should be allowed to provide them competent counsel.

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe agrees: “Let agents have contracts with players and the schools. Those clauses would have a liquidated damages clause, where it would cost the agent $1 million or $2 million if they did anything that made the player ineligible … The ethical guys will come out of it in better shape by putting sunshine on this. You’ll promote the agents who want to do it the right way.” There’s definite merit to Beebe’s proposal.

On the other hand, two college basketball coaches I greatly respect point out the potential downside of embracing agents. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim calls it “about as bad an idea that I can think of off the top of my head. It’s putting the wolves in the sheep’s den.” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski believes that if the NCAA goes down this path, agents will get involved “even earlier. If you open that door even a little …”

Others think the NCAA and athletic departments need to batten down the hatches. Until the NCAA membership institutes new rules, the NCAA will continue its aggressive approach, monitoring the activities of high-profile players like never before. We definitely don’t need additional NCAA agent rules, especially with the problems the NCAA has enforcing existing rules.

My suggestions:

1. Allow athletes to get the counsel they need. Elite college athletes should absolutely be allowed to consult with informed experts about their prospects. These experts are called agents. Good agents are well-positioned to properly advise amateur athletes about the market realities.
2. Improve the message to athletes. I totally support NCAA rules prohibiting athletes from accepting benefits from agents. When I speak with college athletes, I say, hypothetically, if tomorrow the NCAA said agents could pay players, I would absolutely argue that agents are the last people on earth athletes should be taking money from. Even if the NCAA never finds out that an athlete violated a rule, accepting “gifts” makes them beholden to an unethical and quite possibly incompetent agent. These arrangements always come with strings attached, which can be far more costly in the long run.
3. Improve education. College athletics needs to do a better job preparing athletes for the business of pro sports. Agent education should involve more than scaring them about the dangers of associating with unscrupulous characters. It should be about helping athletes (and their families, too) understand the roles agents and others play in helping athletes. Until we all do a better job helping athletes understand the connection between whatever rules exist and why it is in their best interest to follow the rules, we’re never going to get in front of the problem. I devoted an entire book to the topic of preparing athletes to succeed in the business. Along with my business partner, Ryan Nece, who played seven seasons in the NFL, we work with athletic departments to prepare student-athletes and their families for success in sports, business and life.

Sports Agents = The Issue de Jour from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

When: Monday, May 24, 2010 @ 3:30pm

Where: USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism (map)

Description: Join USC Annenberg “Sports, Business, Media” professor and sports entrepreneur Jeff Fellenzer in an hourlong discussion and open forum with INsight founders Marc Isenberg and Ryan Nece about the business of professional sports. INsight’s mission is to provide education and mentorship to elite college athletes in order to maximize their success in sports, school, business and life. Marc and Ryan help athletes prepare for the business side of professional sports, including agent selection, spending/saving, investing. Isenberg and Nece will also talk about their soon-to-be-released booklet, “Go Pro Like a Pro.”

Cost: Free

For more information or to RSVP, e-mail marc.isenberg@gmail.com or call: 310.567.6233.

Best parking is at Gate 6, off Vermont Avenue at 36th Place. Then just tell the attendant at the kiosk to give you a campus map. The Annenberg School is just a few steps from Heritage Hall.

Discussion: College Athlete Preparing For The Business Of Pro Sports from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Adidas and UCF discussed this matter again last week and could not find a middle ground on this situation. Before  making the decision to halt the contract extension with the University, Adidas spokeswoman Andrea Corso said, “We are in negotiations for a future relationship regarding the broader UCF athletic program. What I can say is that these relationships are based upon agreed deliverables for both parties.” Ultimately, Adidas said they were not willing to bend the rules, even for a Jordan.

If UCF did not allow Marcus to wear Nike’s, they could have lost Marcus Jordan as an athlete. Jordan was very persistent and was never seen wearing anything but Air Jordan’s. He even said that this issue was discussed on his recruiting trip to UCF. The only real option the University had was to amend the prior contract between Adidas and allow Marcus Jordan to be the exception to this sponsorship agreement. UCF athletic director Keith Tribble said Jordan could make his own choice on what shoes to wear.  He also mentioned that he wouldn’t be the first athlete at the school to get permission to wear something other than Adidas (a football player wore a different pair of shoes because of a better fit). However, the athlete in this situation was Michael Jordan’s son and the media attention and spotlight were shining bright on the athletic company.

This may seem like a silly dispute over shoes, but the effects of little Jordan’s actions are much more serious. The real issue here is a contract dispute; however the attention this story received will surely have an underlying effect on the current debate about intellectual property rights for NCAA athletes.

Are all student athletes bound by what sponsor the school has chosen or do they have any individual rights? What rights are college athletes giving away by signing with a school and playing college sports?

This is only one of the many conflicts that have arisen lately around the nation regarding college athletes and the rights they have while in school. Last year Nebraska University quarterback Sam Keller filed a lawsuit against video-game company Electronic Arts and the NCAA stating that they were illegally using the images of college football and basketball players in video games without their permission or compensation. Other related intellectual property cases are still pending and awaiting trial. The court will soon have to address the broad range of activities that athletes consent to give the universities when sign their name on the dotted line and agree to play for that school.

Jordan’s Heir Still Wears the Air Jordan from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules