All agents who are interested in meeting with any student-athlete will be required to show proof of certification with the National Football League Player’s Association (NFLPA) and/or National Basketball Player’s Association (NBPA), as well as The Athlete Agent Reform Act of 2011, Tennessee.

The University of Memphis will utilize the services of Collegiate Sports Advisors to facilitate registration and procedures for the Agent-Day. Agents interested in participating in Memphis’ Agent-Day are asked to visit: http://collegiatesportsadvisors.com/memphis-agent-day-registration/

Collegiate Sports Advisors (CSA) was founded in 2011 as a non-profit aimed at helping to protect the integrity of amateur athletics. CSA is dedicated to providing amateurism protection education and professional agent selection counseling to college athletes bound for the NFL, NBA, MLB and overseas leagues. CSA utilizes its expertise in the intricacies of the agent selection process to protect not only the student-athletes, but also the institutions and coaches they represent.

For more information, please contact Heather Brittany Shafer at Heather@CollegiateSportsAdvisors.com.

University Of Memphis To Host Agent Day On December 3, 2011 from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

The NCAA requires that a player selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft pay his advisor at his or her normal rate for such services if the player hopes to maintain his eligibility at an NCAA school.  Thus, if Troy Caradonna of SFX was to follow that rule, which many people say goes ignored by quite a few baseball advisors, Caradonna could have expected to earn quite a bit of money based on Karsten Whitson’s signing bonus.  Whitson was selected #9 overall in the 2010 Draft by the San Diego Padres.  An offer of $2.1 million was not enough to convince Whitson to go pro out of high school instead of attend my alma mater, the University of Florida.

Soon after the signing deadline passed, Padres owner, Jeff Moorad, stated that he was disappointed that Caradonna first gave the team a number concerning what was needed to sign Whitson only 15 minutes prior to the deadline.  Moorad said that he felt sorry for Whitson and felt that he was misled by Caradonna.  But maybe Moorad should not feel that bad for Whitson.  Apparently, Whitson’s decision is working out for the best (although maybe not the best from the Padres standpoint).

Baseball advisors have the very difficult task of advising their clients whether they should take the offer presented by the drafting team or forgo the offer and go to college.  It is very rare to see a high pick like Whitson decline an offer in excess of $1 million, but no two players are the same.  Players come from different socio-economic backgrounds, have different levels of physical and psychological development, and have different needs and desires.  As reported by Yahoo!’s Kendall Rogers, Whitson flat out did not think he was ready for pro ball and wanted to play baseball for the Florida Gators.  I’ll take a stab at it and assume that his family is not hurting for money.

Whitson might not make $2.1 million again in 2013, which is the first year that he will once again be eligible to be selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, but maybe that is not such a big concern to him.  Three years from now, he will hopefully have received a good education, excellent training, and had the chance to mature and become a great professional athlete.  His arm could blow out before then, but maybe he is the type of man who thinks there will be other opportunities out there for him should the unfortunate occur.

None of us can comment on whether it was a good or bad decision, because it was a personal decision that was unique to Karsten Whitson.  These decisions must be made on a case-by-case basis; there is no objective answer based on money and slot alone.  That is why having a competent advisor to help out is so very important.  I hope that Whitson is happy with his decision; he is the only person that he has to please.

Case Study: Karsten Whitson’s Decision Not To Sign With The Padres from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

The participants in the most recent meeting included (agent names in bold):

• Ray Anderson, NFL, Executive Vice President of Football Operations
• Ron Hill, NFL, Vice President of Football Operations
• Merton Hanks, NFL, Director of Football Operations
• Rich McKay, President, Atlanta Falcons
• Bill Polian, President, Indianapolis Colts
• Arthur McAfee, NFL Players Association, Counsel
• James Guidry, NFL Players Association, Collegiate Affairs Manager
• Grant Teaff, American Football Coaches Association, Executive Director
• Jim Delany, Commissioner, Big Ten Conference
• Mike Slive, Commissioner, Southeastern Conference
• Greg Sankey, Associate Commissioner, Southeastern Conference
• Jeff Hawkins, University of Oregon, Director of Football Operations
• Mike Powell, Texas Secretary of State Office, Managing Attorney
• James Sexton, agent, Athletic Resource Management
• Fletcher Smith, agent, Blueprint Sports Group
• Rick Smith, agent, Priority Sports & Entertainment
• Rachel Newman Baker, NCAA, Director of Agent, Gambling and Amateurism
• Scott Bearby, NCAA, Interim Vice President of Legal Affairs/General Counsel
• David Berst, NCAA, Vice President for Division I Governance
• Dennis Poppe, NCAA, Vice President for Baseball and Football
• David Price, NCAA, Vice President of Enforcement
• Naima Stevenson, NCAA, Director of Legal Affairs/Assistant General Counsel

Smart agent selections.  After doing some research, I was not able to find a single NFLPA disciplinary action against any of the three agents.  I like the fact that it is not all white agents, either (Fletcher Smith is black).  And the three agents have quite a bit of experience as Contract Advisors.  Fletcher Smith currently represents Kelvin Hayden, Darryl Tapp, Antwaan Randle-El, Lofa Tatupu, and Donovan McNabb.  Rick Smith currently represents 18 clients including Alan Faneca, Jake Delhomme, and Nate Kaeding.  Sexton has over 30 clients (and quite a few coaches) including Michael Oher, DeAngelo Williams, Peyton Hillis, and Tim Tebow.

Joe Schad of ESPN.com reports that this group has discussed the possibility of post-NCAA financial penalties against college players who accept money or other benefits from agents.  This would be an interesting and needed shift away from focusing solely on reprimanding agents for providing illegal gifts.  With proper education for student-athletes in place, they have no “ignorance excuse” and should also suffer the consequences of possibly tarnishing their collegiate institutions.

Among the penalties being considered are suspensions of up to 8 games in length and financial penalties (fines).

Jimmy Sexton, Fletcher Smith, And Rick Smith Amongst Leaders Looking To Fix Football Agent Issues from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

The report, in its entirety, is embedded below.  Here are a few bullet points:

• The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) was the only D1 football conference to have a positive score (+6).  This means that the conference’s football players actually graduated at a rate 6% points higher than the full-time male student body at the conference’s member institutions.
• The PAC-10 fared the worst in the study, with a -30.  Yes, that means that its football players graduate at a rate 30% points lower than the full-time male students at its member institutions.
• The SEC, a conference that many people would say is the most dominant football conference (at least over the past few years), was not at the PAC-10′s level, but still put up a score of -19.

CSRI_2010 Adjusted Graduation Gap_NCAA_D-I FB_CopyReadyFinal_2 0

Adjusted Graduation Gap (AGG) Report Released from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

We got lost in the craziness.  Every day, there was news of another school under the magnifying glass, but we forgot to ask a few questions in each circumstance:

1. Why are the rules there in the first place?
2. Why are these particular players and schools unreasonably being singled out when this type of activity is commonplace across collegiate athletics?
3. Why are we only focusing on the sport of football?

Let’s focus on #3 in this post.  Many of my colleagues would agree that football has its problems.  The barrier to entry is high, especially if you want to play against the people who have financial backing and are willing to spend.  But many of those same people would also say that recruiting in basketball is just as dirty, if not worse.  Here are Pat Forde’s words:

It’s not just a football epidemic. It’s even worse — a pandemic, really — in men’s basketball.

Part of the problem is that in basketball, there are less players who truly stand out from the pack and are NBA ready (even though every person who has picked up a basketball thinks he can go toe-to-toe with Carmello Anthony).  The other factor is that there are less spots on an NBA team and more wealth accumulated by those who actually make it on the roster.  Usually, when the reward increases, people will take more risks.  Sometimes that means ignoring NCAA, state, and federal rules and regulations.

Instead of waiting for the media to start truly inspecting the sport of basketball the way it recently did with football, my hope is that the NCAA and other regulatory bodies will be proactive and begin to start looking into college basketball programs without any unnecessary prodding.  The writing is already on the wall.  Dana O’Neil of ESPN.com recently asked aloud – What’s wrong with college basketball? When she asked 20 high-profile head coaches, What is the biggest problem facing college basketball?, with 100% consensus the answer was: agents and runners.  And I don’t think it’s because coaches naturally hate agents.  In fact, most of them hire a non-agent attorney, at a minimum, to negotiate and structure their contracts.

When there is no paper trail, the agents who are violating rules are hard to catch.  And just because some might be violating the rules/laws, doesn’t make them stupid.  Here’s the kicker:

All but three coaches thought the NCAA was at least trying to get a handle on the problems of college basketball. The catch? No one thought it could succeed.

The coaches pointed to a variety of reasons, including too few NCAA investigators, conflicts of interest, and the need to hire more competent men investigators.  Not many people have faith that the current NCAA’s Agent, Gambling and Amateurism Activities staff has what it takes to enforce the rules that the body has created and modified over the years.  And I put almost no trust that there is any chance that the NCAA allows student-athletes to sign agency contracts with athlete agents.  Dan Beebe would like those contracts to have mandatory liquidated damages clauses where it would cost the agent $1 million or $2 million if they did anything that made the player ineligible.  Slight problem – the NCAA would have to first have all states and the federal government alter their laws to allow any type of student-athlete agency contract, because while the NCAA rules may permit those contracts in the future, most states and the federal government still have laws that deem such activity illegal and punishable.  And how exactly will the liquidated damages clauses become mandatory?  The NCAA doesn’t have subpoena power.  Now all of a sudden it has the power to tell two contracting parties that they must include a $1 million+ liquidated damages clause?

The answer is not getting rid of the NCAA’s rules.  The answer is to continue educating athletes, ramp up enforcement of existing rules and laws, and modify the current state/federal/nothing hybrid into a comprehensive federal program.  Believe me, most agents will be happy with stronger penalties that are actually slapped on the agents who ignore the law if it means that they will only have to submit one licensing filing fee instead of having to navigate the disgustingly unstructured system of state licensing that currently exists.

Athlete Agent Enforcement Thus Far, And Where To Go From Here from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Originally scheduled for July 26, the court will meet again on August 5 to decide the more puzzling part of the case – the damages to be awarded to Marist.  According to Gabe Feldman of Sports Law Blog, this is the first time a school has successfully sued another school for violating a “no recruitment” clause in a coach’s contract.  In addition, the ruling does not look good for Matt Brady, who awaits his own decision in Marist’s lawsuit against him for breach of contract.  Marist finished with a pitiful 1-29 during the 2009-2010 season after Brady left, only one of two teams in all of Division I basketball that only had one win all season (the other team was Bryant University).  One of the recruits that signed with James Madison, Julius Wells, averaged 16.3 points-per-game and 5.1 rebounds-per-game, second on the team in both of those categories.  Will the success of these lost players have any effect on the damages awarded to Marist?  It is unknown exactly how Judge Wood will determine the damages award to Marist.  This decision will not automatically help Marist revive its basketball program, but it may have a drastic effect on Marist’s and other teams’ future recruiting.

I’m assuming the court’s decision will go up on appeal if it hasn’t already.  But what will be the effect it has on coaching contracts in college sports?  This case was decided under New York contract law, and other state and federal courts will not be bound by the ruling.  However, one can likely speculate that more schools will begin to include recruitment restriction clauses in their coach contracts, especially if lawsuits are brought and ruled in the same manner in other state courts.  I’ll be back to report on the case when the court hands down its damages on James Madison University.

Don’t Touch My Recruits…or I’ll Sue from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

In the recent week since the downfall of the Kentucky Wildcats in the NCAA Tourney, speculation has arisen about the status of John Wall, the Kentucky point guard, who by most analysts is expected to be the number one overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.

There are reports that Wall is having second thoughts about an early entry into the NBA, which is understandable – he is nineteen years old, where most like he, are enjoying some of the greatest years of their lives, in college.

So, what is more important — another year in college or a fast break into one of the most unforgiving leagues in professional sports? One route almost guarantees lifelong success, while the other only dazzles dollars in exchange for a shortcut, which could inevitably be fateful in the worst possible way.

I could cite ridiculous examples of failures and successes until I’m blue in the face, but the fact is – getting to the league early only guarantees one thing – money.

David Stern had a plan when he conceived the ‘one-in-done’ rule. After all, John Wall is quoted saying that college has been more fun than he could have ever imagined.

So if you’re that agent looking at him as merely a business proposition, I challenge you to forget about your cut of the monetary gain and think about the person before the player. I challenge you to become an advisor before a business partner (for lack of a better word, an agent).

I expect Mr. Wall will have heard and will see nearly every voice and face in the sports industry. For him I would advise three things:

1. Ask yourself; what do you want your legacy to be in the next 10, 15, or 20 years?
2. How important is money to your short-term and long-term happiness?
3. What would it mean to win an NCAA National Title and share this with your friends, family, and peers?

The glitz and excitement of what lies ahead will always be there – cheap and opportunitistic people will come and go, the draft will be there next year (if not, then in 2012), but your image and more importantly your legacy will live forever.

John Wall – I challenge you to define yourself before others define you.

Why John Wall Should Not Go Pro…This Year from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Besides the competition, I also worked on numerous tasks for Dynasty this week. Darren has been putting in work to sign a top NFL prospect for marketing purposes. Along with the other interns, our task was to design a marketing plan in order to show the prospect exactly what Dynasty had to offer him in terms of marketing. My part involved a lot of research relating to competition and why, despite competition, Dynasty was the best option for the player.

In addition to the marketing plan, I contacted several companies regarding sponsorships for our clients. I also contacted other companies specifically to work out endorsement deals for three of our bigger baseball clients. I received responses back from a few of these companies. The response I received was quite normal, the standard “we’ll take a look at what you have given us, make a decision and get back to you as soon as we can.” Other companies have not responded yet. For some of these companies, they had no contact information for individuals that would be helpful to me, so I had to send emails to their generic email accounts. For those that don’t respond to me, my next step is to call the phone number listed and ask for someone in the marketing department.

The best advice I can give on this matter is to keep pressing to find the correct contact person and then just made an honest proposal. The worst they can do is say “no.” The best is that you get a great deal for your client. At the very least, maybe you make a contact that you can use in the future. With the economy still recovering from recession, it won’t be easy to find sponsorship deals for clients. However, if you at least make contact, when the time is right for the company to start spending money on sponsorships again, you might be at the top of their list.

In addition to these tasks, I did my regular tracking of college baseball players. There are a few guys on the list having stellar seasons and hopefully they make the right decision to go with Dynasty. One note on this assignment, I have one or two high school players to track as well as college players and I find it is incredibly hard sometimes to find stats for these kids. This week I did manage to contact one of the player’s coaches. He was very receptive and quick to respond with stats. He had no problem with me contacting him weekly to get stats on the player. If all coaches were this receptive to agent interns, it would be great.

I am ending this week working on two other side projects. I am researching a few prospects that were passed along to Darren as referrals to see if any have draft potential. I am also putting together a compilation of stats, highlights and a biography for one of our players to be sent to someone with ties to Japan. Hopefully it works out and our player can start a new chapter to his career.

So until next week, Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone.

An Intern(al) Look At Becoming A Sports Agent from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

What could possibly be better than learning Sports Law during the day and having five course meals at night?  A few days ago, NFL agent and attorney, Ralph Cindrich, passed on some information about a Sports Law program he is participating in (as an instructor), which will be held in Florence, Italy this upcoming Summer.  It is being hosted by his law school alma mater, South Texas College of Law and will take place between June 27 and July 16.

A total of four credits are being offered, broken up into two classes: International Amateur Sports Law and International Professional Sports Law. These courses are an effective complement to the first year of law school study because they build on concepts learned in constitutional law, tort law, and contract law. They expose students to key differences between the European and North American models of professional and amateur sports, as well as the international legal environment of Olympic sports. These comparisons and contrasts allow students to gain a more nuanced understanding of the “globalization” of law.

Mr. Cindrich and Catherine Greene Burnett, Associate Dean and Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law, will serve as the faculty. The courses have been approved by the American Bar Association. You must have completed at least one year of law school to be eligible for the program, which anticipates a student body of about 25 total.

More information, including the cost and the actual application for enrollment is provided in the embedded attachment below.

2010 Sports Law Study Abroad Program in Florence, Italy from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules