Dynasty has three clients who will be starting their 2009 campaigns in various independent leagues. Gerard Haran will start the season with the Atlantic League’s Newark Bears, Brendan Murphy will be with the Frontier League’s Kalamazoo Kings, and Paul Rutgers will be with the Golden Baseball League‘s Tucson Toros.

Independent Leagues are respected by MLB scouts.  Many players have been able to come out of various indy leagues to have successful careers in Major League Baseball.  One league that is getting some good press is where Rutgers will be starting the 2009 season: The Golden Baseball league.

The GBL is only going into its 5th season of existence, and is seeing nice revenue growth year-to-year.  Interestingly, two Stanford students dreampt up the league and started it with $5 million from outside investors.  While mainstream leagues are being stunned by the economic downturn, losing sponsor after sponsor, the GBL has mostly been unaffected.  In fact, two years ago, the GBL fielded 6 teams; this year it will start with 10 teams.

Many of the independent leagues have not started their seasons or are just beginning this week.  The GBL does not start until the middle of May.

If you want information about Dynasty’s Professional Baseball Placement Service, please click here to email us.

Independent Baseball Outlook from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

When the last Dynasty Notes was published, I was going through a very hectic period, juggling all of the legalities involved in the buyout of my ex-partner, Matthew Vuckovich along with determining what course Dynasty Athlete Representation, LLC would take in the future. It would be a true test of my determination, drive, and passion to succeed in this extremely tough industry. I am 100% confident when I say that Dynasty weathered the storm and came out stronger than it was prior to the buyout.

As previously mentioned, all Independently Contracted employees at the time of the buyout decided to stay on with Dynasty. Grant Zhou and Bruce Falcon showed their allegiance in a time of strife. Additionally, Dynasty’s sole intern, Austin Walton, remained strong and actually increased his efforts to contribute to Dynasty’s success. Kyle Monroe-Dison had never actually signed any type of employment agreement with Dynasty (only a Standard Representation Agreement as a former Independent League Baseball Player), so technically, Dynasty went unscathed after the Articles of Incorporation were amended to reflect a change in management. Since the change, we have been lucky enough to add the services of Frank Zaino, who has been busting his butt to make Dynasty’s Baseball Division a strength of the company.

On the client front, Dynasty has been extremely active in trying to expand. Let me remind everyone that Dynasty is less than a year old, so before the haters come out of the closet to try to ruin our parade, I want to remind them that starting a business takes a lot of time alone. I am extremely proud of what we have been able to accomplish thus far, even if that includes ONLY signing some of THE BEST bowlers in the country. That being said, we have been hard at work to build our other divisions along with continuing to grow in the sport of bowling.

So let’s first start off with baseball. Dynasty took a short-lived heavy blow when the buyout occurred. Kyle Monroe-Dison was doing a lot of the scouting of young talents and Matthew was making most of the personal visits to families out in California. Part of the buyout agreement included an oral promise that I would not actively recruit any of the guys that we had been recruiting to advise in the upcoming MLB draft. At that point, we had about 6 or so verbal commits, that Dynasty had to part ways with. I still wish those players that I had personal contact with all the best in their future endeavors. Anyway, two days ago, Dynasty had some major news. We signed our first baseball client since the reorganization of the company. I am proud to announce that Gerard Haran will be the first of many talented new additions to Dynasty’s Baseball Division. The story of how Gerard landed with Dynasty displays yet one more reason to never count out any opportunity, especially in this digital age. Gerard found Dynasty through our MySpace page (go ahead and friend us!) and wanted to know how Dynasty would be of any benefit to him. I sent Gerard some information about the company, but then did not hear back from him for a while. A few weeks ago, I heard back from Gerard and we once again started talking about the possibility of Dynasty representation. Even after putting up solid numbers this Spring Training for a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate, Gerard was released. We are now in conversation with various Independent League, European, and Asian teams to see where Gerard will land.

The baseball news does not stop there. Frank Zaino later called me to inform that we had just signed our second baseball player in the span of one day. The whole team is very excited to add Dan Leatherman to Dynasty’s Baseball Division’s client list. We will be hard at work trying to find the perfect fit for Gerard and Dan while Frank Zaino continues to add more beef to our stable of baseball clients.

And how about our bowlers? All of them have been having a successful year on tour. I have recently reached out to a bowling industry corporation that has expressed interest in our clients in the past. Right about this time of the year is when that particular company establishes its budget for the next fiscal year. Let’s hope for the best! Bruce Falcon has been working hard to bring some more top notch bowling clients aboard. We may package all of our bowling clients together in an innovative marketing idea in the near future.

Basketball is not an easy sport to break into. I have had many leads in the past, but let them pass by because I want to break into the sport by getting a client who is a potential draft pick. Before Spring Break, I visited a guy who is listed on draft boards to be picked anywhere between the middle and end of the second round of the 2008 NBA Draft. He is a senior, and I visited him after his final game of the regular season, so no worries about violating any NCAA regulations. Anyway, myself and Dynasty’s intern, Austin Walton, had been hard at work for weeks, trying to develop a brochure that would blow away the recruit. We got our 5 minutes of face time with the player, but that proved to be not enough. He ended up signing with an agent that has represented some of his former teammates, and Dynasty is left looking again for its first NBA client. I have recently considered bringing on additional help to develop the Basketball Division with some lower level talent.

And then there is football. Dynasty’s Football Division will not be established until 2009. The plan is to hire an NFLPA Certified Agent (I already have been in discussions with one such person) and have him represent some potential prospects that we have had our eyes on. If all goes according to plan, 2009 could be a breakout year in Dynasty’s first attempt to maintain a football division.

The last and latest project I have been working on is Dynasty’s Philanthropy. One of Dynasty’s main tenets is charity and philanthropy. We will encourage all of our clients to perform in philanthropic events and adopt a charity that they will give back to after success in their individual sports. As a company, Dynasty will also do its part to give back to the community. With that in mind, I have been doing a little brainstorming lately, and have come up with an idea. The plan is to have the event take place in Summer of 2009. I have already created a sample flyer and have put a lot of time into the event’s logistics. If you have experience in working with charities, have connections to athletes/celebrities, or just want to get some inside information and be part of an excellent event, feel free to email me and we can discuss this further.

Thanks for reading. I cannot wait for the next update!

Dynasty Notes – Part 10 from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules