The entire event took place at the Renaissance Washington, D.C. Downtown Hotel.  It was sufficiently staffed, nicely decorated, and what is absolutely most important for this type of conference – it ran on-time.  But there were at least a couple of no-shows.  The panel titled, “Latest Development in Professional Sports Collective Bargaining” was supposed to be a discussion between Jeff Kessler (Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP) and Bob Batterman (Proskauer Rose LLP), moderated by my good friend Gabe Feldman (Associate Professor of Law and Director, Sports Law Program, Tulane University).  Understandably, Kessler and Batterman did not show for the panel, as they have to be careful about what is said with regards to the NFL Lockout.  The hole was filled well by Gary Roberts (Dean and Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law [Indianapolis]) and Mark Levinstein (Partner, Williams & Connolly LLP).  Other than that, my only problem was that I arrived to no welcome package.  I had to wait about an hour to get the conference materials, but no big deal!

Gary Roberts kicked off the event with a fantastic wrap-up of almost every type of case and issue from the past year that had/has any relation to Sports Law.  The amount of focus on the NFL Lockout in this wrap-up and future panels was unsurprising.  Following that wrap-up was a panel on Media, Publicity, Fantasy Sports & Privacy Rights for Athletes.  Among the items discussed included the huge disparity between males and females with regards to participation in fantasy sports (93% of participants are male), right of publicity vs. first amendment rights, and some thought that courts are now favoring protection of first amendment freedoms over publicity rights.  The male:female ratio at SLA was not as bad as the fantasy sports disparity; maybe closer to 80% male.

The next panel was “Legal Impact of Agent Interference in Intercollegiate Athletics.”  I paid very close attention to the discussion between Anthony Agnone (President, Eastern Athletic Services), Rachel Newman Baker (Director of Agent, Gambling & Amateurism Activities, NCAA), Michael J. Powell (Managing Attorney, Office of the Secretary of State), and Allison Rich (Sr. Associate Athletic Director, Florida State University).  It was great to have Michael Powell on the panel, since his state recently made headlines for the bill its House and Senate just passed, which will allow a Texas state court to put a sports agent in prison for 10 years based on a violation of the bill (if it becomes law).  However, Powell tacitly admitted that his state selectively enforces its athlete agent laws.  While it is technically illegal to reach out to a student-athlete in Texas without being registered as an athlete agent with the state, his office will only tell the agent that such conduct is impermissible and that the agent must be registered.  But then why make it illegal in the first place?  What exactly is the harm of communication?  Further, when I asked Mr. Powell to justify why his athlete agent law provides potential criminal and civil liability for the sports agent who provides the benefit to the student-athlete, but does not hold the student-athlete accountable civilly or criminally for accepting the benefit, he could not provide any justification.  Allison Rich suggested that student-athletes are protected by Agent Days and that they should become more common around the country.  I disagree.  We are all ignorant if we believe that any student-athlete with a glimmer of hope of being drafted will not speak to an agent prior to a scheduled school Agent Day.  And why should student-athletes wait until those Agent Days, often scheduled in Spring just prior to graduation, to start discussions with agents who will potentially hold extreme power over the athletes’ futures?

The first day of the 2011 SLA wrapped up with a Town Hall Debate on the current state & legality of the college BCS system, moderated by Gabe Feldman.  The second day started with a panel on “Ethics for Sports Lawyers,” which ended up focusing heavily on sports agent issues.  One interesting discussion was based on the ethics behind representing coaches and players, management and players, and multiple players on the same team/position, along with the proper way of notifying all clients of the potential conflicts ahead of time.  At one point in time, it felt as though I was sitting through my 1L Professional Responsibility class, learning all the Model Rules of Professional Conduct.  But it certainly was not as bad, plus I was able to use my iPad (which my Professional Responsibility professor would not have permitted).  Michael Powell was on this panel, and spoke more about his state of Texas.  In the past, Texas was one of the few states that allowed business to be certified as agents.  That will be no more with the new law that is expected to be signed soon.  A very telling statement by Powell was, “The UAAA (Uniform Athlete Agents Act) says the states are all supposed to cooperate regarding agent regulation.  We are just starting now.”  Increased communication between states investigating the same agents could turn out to be very helpful for the states involved.  Hal Biagas (Executive Vice President, Wasserman Media Group) mentioned that it is near impossible for small agents/agencies to comply with state athlete agent laws.  He said that you need clients to be successful, but that it is extremely difficult to recruit those clients if you are paying all of the fees associated with the compliance with state athlete agent laws.  Michael Powell said that he cannot understand how a lawyer with a very active practice can also find the time to be a successful agent.  Based on Powell’s and Biagas’ statements, it does not seem to be a profession with its doors wide open for new entrants!

The SLA Luncheon was probably my favorite part of the entire event.  The food was great, but the speech was even better.  Ted Leonsis (Owner, Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards) captured the audience’s attention with stories that included a recent pizza delivery where the delivery boy thanked Leonsis for a generous tip, but responded by telling Leonsis that he hopes the Capitals do not choke again next year.  I am fascinated by Leonsis, because he is probably one of the few owners who actually understands the importance of technology and making his teams’ fans feel as though they are a part of the game.  It certainly does not help that he has a storied past with AOL.

Perhaps even better than the Luncheon was the networking.  I was finally able to meet many people who I have spoken to over the years since starting this website.  I thank each and every one of you for the kind words and hope that you continue to be a part of this site.

I will not go into too much detail about the break-out sessions, but hopefully the Teaching Sports Law session will help me as I begin to teach at Indiana University Bloomington in the Fall.  I look forward to hopefully attending SLA in 2012 in San Diego, California.  Until then, be ethical, successful, and tell someone on the SLA executive committee to turn down the air.  I’m still shivering.

Wrap-Up: 2011 Sports Lawyers Association Annual Conference from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

As far as getting clients into my office, while I should have a few coming in this coming week, it’s still a work in progress. I decided to bring a co-worker from the ice rink on board to help me advertise within the Mexican community and do some translating. In addition, last week I began marketing my legal services directly to U.S. junior teams with rostered international players that are referred to as “imports.” Teams at the junior level usually don’t have anyone on staff that is qualified to handle a lot of the sticky immigration issues that may come up throughout the year, so I’ve spoken with a few clubs about doing some work for them. So far it looks like I already have one potential client that needs help getting back into the States, and that’s what I should be working on for most of today.

One thing I should point out is that the Immigration legal assistance I’ve offered is in no way related to my work as a player representative. While I can certainly provide this kind of help to any players I represent, under attorney ethical rules, I can’t make my legal services dependant on entering into another representation agreement (e.g. a player representation contract) or vice-versa. This illustrates one “obstacle” for licensed attorneys who also act as sports agents but also shows why athletes hiring attorneys to handle their representation is a smart move. As a licensed attorney, I’m required to follow rules of professional conduct (the Model Rules of Professional Conduct in their entirety can be found on the American Bar Association webpage at www.abanet.org although states vary on which specific sections they’ve adopted). On the other hand, sports agents who don’t also practice law aren’t subject to these same rules. The ability on the part of non-lawyer agents to “conduct business” in a way that attorneys can’t, certainly can give the non-lawyers an advantage. But for an athlete deciding on with whom to trust with their future, wouldn’t you think the professional subject to more ethical regulation (and not to mention more educated) would be the preferred option? I know that I certainly would.

As you know, over the past couple of weeks I’ve been calling a lot of coaches trying to get Matt a look from teams in some of the better Minor pro leagues. He’s playing very well, which obviously makes my job easier, but we still haven’t been having much luck so far. Most coaches I’ve spoken with seem to be focusing their energy on evaluating talent falling from leagues above instead of looking for someone to rise from a level below. It’s definitely been a little frustrating at times, but for the most part the interest in Matt is still there. I’ve been asked a few times to keep teams current with his progress throughout the season and hopefully some of that attention will start turning into contract offers.

To hit my quick personal note for the week, over the weekend I spoke with Bridget’s mother on the phone. I had sent her parents a little note trying to better explain who I am as a person and what my intentions are. I’m not going to get into the details of the conversation but fortunately we were able to clear up a few misunderstandings that I think had been causing some of the issues. Overall, I think it went very well and I’m really glad she called. Bridget’s still in Kenya for another nine days, but she’s enjoying her work and most importantly she’s still safe. We’ll see what happens after that.

Well it’s time for me to get back to work. As I said, I’ve got some Immigration issues to take care of and I still have some details of my Toronto trip to iron out (although it looks like I found a place to stay). I’m going to keep plugging away with some leads for Matt and if we catch any breaks I’ll be sure to post them to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. Until next week, it’s time to hit the showers.

Rookie Duties: The Circus Continues from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

One of the real flaws of traditional agentry is that there is no collegiality to it. Agents are so hyper-critical of each other that they don’t advance it as a profession, because they are so competitive that they are unable to acknowledge that other agents negotiate well or do a good job. They rejoice in the failure or difficulties of each other, and without understanding that it is a profession and the more successful every agent is, the better it is. Too often it’s crabs in a barrel.

-Leigh Steinberg (4/27/08)

I have read that section of my interview with Leigh countless times, and every time I look it over, I feel more passionate about giving up some of my time to try to change the landscape of this profession. Leigh and I share many things in common, one of which is the idea that life is not all about money. Happiness is not gained solely through the accumulation of dollars. There is more to it. Enjoying your daily job is one factor, and I believe that we can do something to turn around the sports agent profession to improve the quality of life for all that call athlete representation their occupation.

As I have stated on numerous equations, I created SportsAgentBlog.com for three purposes: 1) It was a vehicle to get my name out there in an industry that has a high barrier of entry, 2) I would be forced to stay up to date with news in the agent world along and continue to read up on relevant information concerning the industry, and 3) I was upset with the terrible stigma that surrounded the sports agent world and wanted to try to root out some of the false assumptions and bad behavior circulating the profession. I believe that I have done a decent job with the first two elements and would like to start focusing a bit more on the third.

In my interview with Mr. Steinberg, he mentioned an organization that once existed called ARPA. He described it as a large group of supportive agents that did things like giving awards for agent of the year and involved many agents sharing negotiating tips and calling each other for advice on negotiations. I decided to do some research to learn a bit more about the organization.

ARPA stands for Association of Representatives of Professional Athletes. It was created in 1978 as a vehicle to introduce self-regulation into the profession. Much like the American Bar Association (ABA) has created its code of ethics for lawyers in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, ARPA had its own code. The problem is that while the ABA tends to enforce its code from time to time through courts of law, ARPA had no regulatory agency; sanctions were ineffective. Before ARPA was extinguished in 1988, the organization reached up to four hundred members. Since 1988, there has not been any formal group to unify agents under a common code or credo. The only exception may be in the Sports Lawyers Association (SLA), which is catered towards the attorney-agent, which makes up only a fraction of the entire athlete agent profession.

I truly believe that we can bring ARPA back. My goal is to reintroduce ARPA at some point in 2009. With the help from some of the older guard of agents who truly want to see a change and ensure the advancement of sports agentry, I feel that it is possible that we can once again create an organization that encourages the peaceful coexistence between all of us who aim to represent professional athletes.

The idea is to bring sports agents together in a common venue every year. At that point, we will collect membership dues and get the ball rolling once again with ARPA. I believe that ARPA’s purpose should be slightly altered, however. The end goal may remain as self-regulation; however, a lower aim would be just to get the entire sports agent community in one room at least once a year to open up communication lines and put a human story behind each person in the room. Awards may be handed out, but more importantly than making it a competition, it should be an annual gathering of people who truly wish to advance the sports agent profession. It will make us all more cordial toward one another and only yield promising results.

Darren Deloatche’s recent comment just gives all of us agents more of a reason to plan a yearly get-together.  Collective efforts can lead to lower insurance premiums along with a plethora of other advancements for our profession.

If you are currently an agent and would like to help with the implementation of this program, please contact me and let me know how you may be of assistance.

Bringing Back ARPA from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Disbarring Jerry Maguire is actually the second law review article that I have read and reviewed for this site that has Jerry Maguire in the title. The other one, Maybe Jerry Maguire Should Have Stuck With Law School: How The Sports Agent Responsibility And Trust Act Implements Lawyer-Like Rules For Sports Agents, discussed the potential advantages of being an attorney-agent in lieu of the disadvantages due to being constrained by the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (MRPC). The article hypothesized that SPARTA would become a relevant piece of legislation and be enforced level the playing field between attorney-agents and non-attorney-agents. The article I just read, Disbarring Jerry Maguire, says otherwise. The author contends that SPARTA has been been unable to break the competitive disparity between attorney-agents and non-attorney agents. This is because lawyers are considered to be lawyers at all times, even when performing an activity that has no connection to being an attorney. Thus, an attorney-agent is held to a higher standard of care in a negligence lawsuit.

But the main concern of the author in Disbarring Jerry Maguire is the potential for a lawsuit against an attorney-agent based on unauthorized practice of law (UPL). The author’s (Jeremy J. Geisel) argument revolved around his contention that an attorney is considered an attorney in all aspects of life and can not wear a different hat in another type of employment. If we are to take that statement as fact, then it is true that all attorney-agents are guilty of UPL when they represent a player outside of the jurisdiction where they passed the bar. For those of you with an MRPC book in front of you, flip to Rule 5.5. For those of you not lucky enough to be absorbed in law material, here is the wording of the rule: Rule 5.5 Unauthorized Practice Of Law; Multijurisdictional Practice Of Law

Review of Disbarring Jerry Maguire from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules