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

Not everyone bought what Bell/Boras was selling.  Cameron Smith of Yahoo! Sports believes that it was a negotiating ploy developed by Boras to drive up the price for Bell’s services.  While Bell did fall out of the first round, he was still selected rather early, and is likely to command first round money (if he ends up signing with the Pirates).  But maybe Boras’ master plan did not work so well after all.  If he was trying to dissuade small budget teams from taking him, he did not do a great job; I do not think anyone would consider the Pirates to be a team looking to create a robust payroll.

Senior Vice President & General Counsel for the Pirates, Larry Silverman, is going to have a fun couple of months dealing with Mr. Boras.

2011 MLB Draft: Pittsburgh Pirates Bargaining With Boras from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Football

• In case you missed the good Outside the Lines feature last Sunday, here is a good wrap-up of the discussion [7-on-7: A touch-and-go situation].
• Dynasty Football will definitely be sending its drafted player to the event [NFL rookie symposium back on; NFLPA to host in Washington D.C.].
• Is the bonus worth fighting for in court? [Jets lineman D'Brickashaw Ferguson may have $750K workout bonus in jeopardy due to NFL lockout].

Baseball

• The NCAA is currently forcing players to lie [College baseball striking out on agent issue].
• Cousins’ agent Matt Sosnick responds [SF Giants' Brian Sabean blasts Cousins].

Basketball

• “A spontaneous, combustible entertainment vehicle” [Shaq's Agents Recall Marketing Tales].
• Allocation of revenue is currently 57% to 43% in favor of the players [Trouble ahead? Looming labor battle could blunt NBA's boom].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (6/3/2011) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Proformance is the company run by one of the best names in the business – Bean Stringfellow.  The company represents guys like Billy Wagner, Ervin Santana, Duaner Sanchez, and Jose Bautista.  Their hope is that Enright can start showing the skill that he displayed when he was selected as a 2nd round pick by the Diamondbacks in the 2007 MLB Draft.

On To The Next One: Barry Enright from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

College baseball season officially began this month, which means it is not too early to start talking about who current college baseball players have chosen as their advisors for the upcoming 2011 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

Most MLB Mock Drafts (there are not nearly as many on the internet as what exists for the NFL, followed by the NBA) have the Pittsburgh Pirates selecting Rice University third baseman Anthony Rendon.  Scouts are obsessed with his plate presence more than his skill on defense, although it is not as if he is a below average third baseman.  Rendon has also caught the eye of super-agent Scott Boras, who Rendon has tapped to be his advisor leading up to the 2011 Draft.  If Rendon is selected #1 overall, it will be the third consecutive year that Boras advises the 1st selection of the Draft.

The last time the Pirates negotiated with a top Boras advised MLB Draft pick was in 2008 when the Pirates selected Pedro Alvarez 2nd overall.  Alvarez negotiated (with Boras’ help) a $6 million bonus, but Boras, apparently upset with the deal, notified the MLB Players Association that the $6 million deal was actually signed 45 minutes after the signing deadline, thus violating the rule and voiding the Alvarez contract.  Alvarez ended up sitting out the remainder of his Rookie Ball campaign once the MLBPA filed a grievance against Major League Baseball.  The Pirates folded under pressure and ended up signing Alvarez to a 4-year, major league contract with a $6.355 million bonus.

That incident might be in the back of the Pirates executives minds come draft day.

Scott Boras Is Advising Future Potential #1 Overall Draft Pick, Anthony Rendon from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Prior to August 16, this year’s deadline day, only 15 players selected in the first round had signed a contract.  That left a whopping 17 players still negotiating deals at some point yesterday.  In 2007, the first year that the signing deadline was moved up to August 15, changing the previous deadline of a week prior to the following draft, only 7 players had not signed when deadline day began.  It is safe to assume that players and their savvy advisors have adapted to the nature of the beast and learned how to most effectively find the best agreement possible.

If you are interested in seeing which picks have signed and which ones have not, round by round, MLB.com has done a fantastic job organizing it and providing the date of when the player signed.  Unfortunately, the site does not include signing bonuses, but that information, at least for the top 10 rounds, is available elsewhere.

An interesting point that has been raised by various agents and sports law scholars is based on the strong possibility that baseball’s new collective bargaining agreement, likely to begin after the 2011 championship season, will include a mandatory (instead of the current “recommended”) slotting system, similar to what is used in the NBA and is currently being considered by the NFL.  That point is that some of the big spending teams (i.e. Red Sox, Yankees) will be more willing to dish out cash to its top picks now and take chances later in the draft on players passed up by the smaller market/more stingy teams, while they still have the opportunity to pay the best players the money they deserve (or claim they deserve).  This can be a nice short term gain for the players’ advisors, but in the long run, advisors representing top picks under a slotting system have a lot to lose if you take into consideration their large compensation under the status quo.

Sports Law Blog’s Michael McCann gives some good insight as to how an advisor’s role may change in a world where baseball is bound by a slotting system:

In that setting, the goal of the agent would clearly be to have his or her player drafted as high as possible. So agents could still play a role — they could tell teams that unless a represented player who has remaining college eligibility is drafted in the first round (or by whatever threshold), teams would be better off drafting other players since the represented player will attend college or in some cases continue to play college baseball. The slotted money has to be good enough to turn pro.

And perhaps there will be a lot of advisors, who oftentimes are also attorneys, charging a flat fee or by the hour for their services instead of invoicing a player for a particular commission of the signing bonus.  This would seem like almost a must for a college senior looking to have assistance in a draft bound by a slotting system.

The 2010 MLB Draft And Possible Future Changes from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

I’m just reporting the facts on this one, so if you are a party involved in this matter, don’t get upset (there is no malice involved in my write-up).  Anyway, in my MLB Draft Day 1 breakdown, I listed the advisors next to the players who were fortunate to be early draftees.  With pick #22 overall, the Texas Rangers selected Kellin Deglan, a Canadian catcher committed to Florida International University who was being advised by Double Diamond Sports Management.  Deglan ended up being the 1st player selected in the 1st round to sign with a team, albeit for a below-slot deal ($1 million).  No matter what Deglan signed for, it is likely that Double Diamond expected its advising commission of whatever was agreed to by the advisor and advisee prior to the draft.  It is not uncommon for that commission to be set at 5% of the player’s signing bonus.

In a post titled, You don’t say: Player in Scott Rothstein Ponzi scheme ripped off!, Jose Lambiet wrote (I did not change a single word or add emphasis on any phrases),

One of the alleged players in the Scott Rothstein Ponzi scheme is going to spend what could be his last few months of freedom chasing a professional baseball player who, he said, ripped him off!

Howard Kusnick, a partner in Rothstein’s now-defunct Fort Lauderdale-Boca Raton lawfirm expected to be indicted for his role in the $1.4 billion scam, last week filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit in a Palm Beach County court.

The lawsuit alleges that Kusnick’s Double Diamond Sports Management represented Major League baseball first-round draftee Kellin Deglan, a catcher prospect of the Texas Rangers. Kusnick supposedly babysat Deglan through the pre-draft weeks — and now Deglan won’t pay the $50,000 he allegedly owes Double Diamond for the work.

That amount of money, according to the lawsuit, represents five percent of the 18-year-old Deglan’s $1 million-signing bonus.

In the lawsuit, Kusnick is also kvetching about the fact he had to buy all kinds of baseball equipment for Deglan, including a $110-Oakley glasses.

When a 1st round draft pick does not pay his advising fee, it is probably worth it to go after that kind of money in court.  I do not see the suit as being bad publicity, instead, I commend the filing of the suit because it may serve to let players understand that advisors provide a time-consuming and research-intensive service that deserves just compensation.  One can argue about whether 5% is fair compensation, but since it is fairly solid custom in the industry to charge that amount, that defense probably won’t have strong legs.

I assume that Deglan and Kusnick will settle prior to a hearing for something slightly less than $50,000, but if Deglan decides to see this through, I would be very interested to follow the case and see what the outcome will be.

Kellin Deglan Being Sued For Advising Fees from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Interestingly, Michael Weiner, the MLBPA Executive Director, has stated that the MLBPA will consider the possibility of allowing the trading of picks when the Association is bargaining with the owners regarding the next collective bargaining agreement.  Weiner also said that the MLBPA has been behind such an initiative in the past (2002 and 2006).  At the same time, Weiner states that he is not sure that the players will gain any leverage and that if anything, the teams will have more leverage with more options on what to do with the player/pick.

So why would the MLBPA be behind this change unless they were expecting a concession from the owners in return?

A Step Closer To The Trading Of MLB Draft Picks? from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Basketball

• “Once, during his [Rick Rickert's] first season of professional basketball in Europe, fans of a team in Belgrade, Serbia, chucked darts at his head”…what?!?! [GLOBETROTTIN': It can still have its quirks, but playing pro basketball abroad is no longer considered a last resort.]
• So much for taking that memo seriously [UConn memo dealt with Nochimson].

Football

• Not surprised that he cares so much about character [Ask the Expert: NFL Agent Mark Slough].
• Yeah, about representing yourself in major contractual negotiations.. [Self-representation backfires on Johnson].
• “Of the 65 players who took part in the Broadcast Boot Camp from 2007-2009, 28 have already earned broadcasting jobs” [NFL offers fourth annual “Broadcast Boot Camp”].

Sports Agents

• I’m upset that I’m not in this tournament!…then again, I’m not from Dallas [Sports Agent Trennis Jones Doesn’t Want to Let Down Mom in Words With Friends Tournament].
• Some notable athletes on this list [LEEINKS LIST: ATHLETES WITHOUT AGENTS].
• Hating on Rosenhaus for his initial interest rate [Sports Agent Rosenhaus Scores Mortgage].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (6/11/2010) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules