Baseball

• The Pittsburgh Pirates have spent the most money (by far) on draft bonuses in the past 4 years [MLB Attempts Aren't Slowing Draft Spending].
• New job description: matchmaker [Phillies star seeks mermaid].

NCAA Rules/Regulations

• My friend Warren Zola looks at the issues surrounding Andre Drummond going to play at the University of Connecticut [UConn: NCAA Rules (Still) Don't Apply to Us].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (9/9/2011) 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

The Pittsburgh Pirates will have their hands full negotiating with Gerritt Cole.  In 2008, the Pirates had fun dealing with Pedro Alvarez, also a Boras client, who was selected #2 overall.  Initial reports indicated that the Pirates signed Alvarez for a $6 million bonus, but Boras claimed that Alvarez refused to sign the deal with the Pirates until 45 minutes after the signing deadline, which would have made the deal null and void.  The Major League Baseball Players Association looked into the matter and found that the rules were violated by the signing which apparently took place post-deadline.  Later, Alvarez agreed to a 4-year Major League deal with the Pirates that included a $6.355 million bonus.

Stories like this give us an idea of what it must be like to negotiate with Scott Boras, but nothing is as good as hearing it straight from someone who has a past of negotiating with the head of Boras Corp.  A few days ago, Jim Bowden provided everybody with a treat by going there – writing a breakdown of Boras’ negotiating style.  Bowden starts with the pre-draft process.

Boras will talk to all 30 scouting directors, general managers and owners (if they’ll take the phone call). He will give him his expectations for his client list — how he values them (not in terms of specific dollars but against previously signed talent) and reminds clubs that his player could re-enter the draft or go to college. If he’s talking with a small-market club whose history includes not paying over recommended slot, Boras might suggest that they pass on that player because he probably won’t sign with them and then will suggest maybe they draft one of his second-round type players in the first round because they could afford him. He also will look at an organization’s depth chart from the major leagues to the minor leagues. If a team has an All-Star catcher in the major leagues and a top catching prospect at Double-A, he might advise a team not to draft his catcher, realizing it might take his client longer to get to the major league team in that organization, thus delaying arbitration and free agency — where the real money is. He wants clubs to be prepared to pay the price if you draft one of his players.

It sounds like a very strong and effective strategy.  However, Bowden probably did not realize nor intend it when he wrote the piece for ESPN, but stating that Boras has direct communications with all 30 scouting directors, general managers and owners is the same as saying that Boras violates NCAA Bylaw 12.3.2.1 in the advising process for each of his clients.  NCAA Bylaw 12.3.2.1 reads as follows:

12.3.2.1 Presence of a Lawyer at Negotiations. A lawyer may not be present during discussions of a contract offer with a professional organization or have any direct contact (i.e., in person, by telephone or by mail) with a professional sports organization on behalf of the individual. A lawyer’s presence during such discussions is considered representation by an agent.

Boras advised former University of Kentucky baseball player James Paxton, who was suspended after he would not cooperate with NCAA investigators who wanted to question him about Boras supposedly having direct communication with a Blue Jays front office member after Paxton was drafted.  Between the Paxton controversy and Bowden’s piece, I assume the NCAA will be keeping a close eye on Boras Corp. employees.

NCAA Bylaws aside, the Bowden piece is a great read.  It includes Boras’ great leverage game, how he employs his own slotting system, and the record-breaking Boras draft deals he has negotiated.

Jim Bowden Discusses Boras’ Negotiating Power; Disregard For NCAA Rules? 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

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

Slumdog Part Deux from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Football

• Already a lawsuit being planned [Super Bowl: NFL Does Noble Job Recovering From Ticket Snafu].
• Any agent who suggest to his client that he should not attend the NFL Combine in order to “prove something to the NFL” should receive a letter in the mail saying the agent is hereby terminated [Union, agents considering boycott of combine, draft activities].
• The NFL owners cannot only lockout Brett Favre [NFL Lockout: The Legal Issues Behind the NFL-CBA Negotiations].

Baseball

• Hunter Pence wants $6.9 million; Astros provided a number of $5.15 million [Pence, Astros set for arbitration on Feb. 18].
• Swish’s new agent, Scott Boras, has to love this article [Yankees' Swisher Takes Center Stage].
• So long to what would have been the most interesting arbitration hearing of 2011 [Rangers, Josh Hamilton Agree To Two-Year Deal].

Basketball

• Whether it is called a F.A.T. clause or a B.A.T. clause, make sure to get it in your international players’ contracts [For Americans Overseas, a Referee for Paychecks].

Sports Business

• A search to find the best methods to becoming a successful agent [TSBX Special Report: So You Want To Be a Sports Agent].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (2/11/2011) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Since many people within the business of baseball have been talking up the 2011 Draft and downplaying this year’s draft talent, it appears that this year’s draft picks might have benefited a bit from teams just willing to spend more cash on their selections.  Bryce Harper received $9.9 million ($6.25 of that being a signing bonus), but he was certainly not the only bonus baby of the draft.  Overall, bonuses were up $5.5 million from last year.  If you include the guaranteed money for Bryce Harper, Yasmani Grandal, and Zach Cox, the disparity is even greater.  Players will take a total of $200.9 million from MLB teams just based on being drafted.

And it was not just the Yankees and the Red Sox spending money on their picks.  While The Red Sox were the #4 spender, they were beat out by the Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Toronto Blue Jays.  Next time those teams claim to be “small market teams”, you can remind them of their draft budgets.  You could also just bring up Deadspin’s leaked financial documents.

Even though a vast majority of teams ignored MLB’s recommended slot values, The Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins remained extremely conservative, not going over slot with any of its picks.  But even the Braves and Twins might not be able to refrain from becoming big spenders next year; a year where it should be quite nice to be advising the top players in the draft.

“If you thought we were aggressive this year, wait until you see next year,” an American League scouting director said. “It may be our last chance to sign a lot of the high school players, and we’re going to take advantage. A lot of other teams will, too.”

If that’s the case, draft spending will surge further upward in 2011.

MLB Teams = Big Spenders from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

1. Bryce Harper (Washington Nationals) – Boras Corp. – Interesting to note that Bud Selig referred to Harper as an outfielder even though he has played mostly catcher his entire life.  Get this kid on the fast track through the Minors.
2. Jameson Tallion (Pittsburgh Pirates) – Hendricks Sports Management – Big high school arm clocked as high as 99 mph.
3. Manny Machado (Baltimore Orioles) – Boras Corp. - Hard to see Machado passing up signing to go play at Florida International University.  Interesting that FIU is his college commitment.
4. Christian Colon (Kansas City Royals) – Boras Corp. – Yesterday, I had reported that the Royals wanted to sign Yasmani Grandal.  Perhaps his price tag was too high.
5. Drew Pomeranz (Cleveland Indians) - Beverly Hills Sports Council – He was drafted in the 12th round out of high school.
6. Barret Loux (Arizona Diamondbacks) – SFX – Jumped up boards a lot recently.
7. Matt Harvey (New York Mets) – Boras Corp. – 4th Boras client selected in the top 7 picks.
8. Delino Deshields Jr. (Houston Astros) – Wasserman Media Group
9. Karsten Whitson (San Diego Padres) - SFX – Committed to my alma mater, the University of Florida.
10. Michael Choice (Oakland Athletics) – Franklin-Frye Sports – Went undrafted out of high school.
11. Deck McGuire (Toronto Blue Jays) – SFX – Also undrafted out of high school.
12. Yasmani Grandal (Cincinnati Reds) – Legacy Sports Group – Slipped because of signability issues.
13. Chris Sale (Chicago White Sox) – Jet Sports Management – Didn’t play at a major school (Florida Gulf Coast University), but put up great numbers there and played very well in Cape Cod last summer.
14. Dylan Covey (Milwaukee Brewers) – Wasserman Media Group
15. Jake Skole (Texas Rangers) – Unknown – Won’t be compensated if they don’t sign this pick (most likely why Skole was taken here).
16. Hayden Simpson (Chicago Cubs) - Hendricks Sports Management – Great numbers this past year in Division II baseball.
17. Josh Sale (Tampa Bay Rays) – Creative Artists Agency – Don’t worry, different advisors than the people at CAA who have to worry about where LeBron will play.
18. Kaleb Cowart (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) – SFX – Boras Corp. has higher drafted clients, but at this point of the draft, SFX and Boras tied in number of players picked.
19. Michael Foltynewicz (Houston Astros) – Octagon
20. Kolbrin Vitek (Boston Red Sox) – Pro Star Management - Joe Bick also represents Kevin Youkilis, one of my favorite players.
21. Alex Wimmers (Minnesota Twins) – ACES – Undrafted out of high school.
22. Kellin Deglan (Texas Rangers) – Double Diamond Sports Management – Canadian catcher committed to Florida International University with Manny Machado.
23. Christian Yelich (Florida Marlins) – Creative Artists Agency – Committed to the University of Miami, so he will be in the state of Florida no matter what.
24. Gary Brown (San Francisco Giants) – Boras Corp. – And Boras re-gains the lead in clients selected with a total of 5 at this point.
25. Zack Cox (St. Louis Cardinals) – SFX – A draft-eligible sophomore.
26. Kyle Parker (Colorado Rockies) – Career Sports Entertainment – Also the quarterback for Clemson.  Will be a tough sign.
27. Jesse Biddle (Philadelphia Phillies) – Sosnick & Cobbe – Matt Sosnick represents some big time pitchers; add this stud to the list.
28. Zach Lee (Los Angeles Dodgers) – Unknown – Committed to play football at LSU. Queue the signability discussion.
29. Cam Bedrosian (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) – ACES
30. Chevez Clarke (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) – ACES – 2 ACES clients drafted in a row, and a total of 3 ACES clients taken in the first round.
31. Justin O’Connor (Tampa Bay Rays) – SFX – Committed to Arkansas.
32. Cito Culver (New York Yankees) – SFX

Comp Round A

1. Mike Kvasnicka (Houston Astros) – Sterling Sports Management
2. Aaron Sanchez (Toronto Blue Jays) – West Coast Sports
3. Matthew Lipka (Atlanta Braves) – Franklin-Frye Sports
4. Bryce Brentz (Boston Red Sox) – Jet Sports Management
5. Taylor Lindsey (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) – Unknown
6. Noah Syndergaard (Toronto Blue Jays) – Xclusive Sports Management
7. Anthony Ranaudo (Boston Red Sox) – Boras Corp.
8. Ryan Bolden (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) – ACES
9. Asher Wojciechowski (Toronto Blue Jays) - SFX
10. Drew Vettleson (Tampa Bay Rays) – Creative Artists Agency
11. Taijuan Walker (Seattle Mariners) – Reynolds Sports Management
12. Nick Castellanos (Detroit Tigers) – SportsMeter
13. Luke Jackson (Texas Rangers) – Unknown
14. Seth Blair (St. Louis Cardinals) – Boras Corp.
15. Peter Tago (Colorado Rockies) – Wasserman Media Group
16. Chance Ruffin (Detroit Tigers) – Unknown
17. Mike Olt (Texas Rangers) – Wasserman Media Group
18. Tyrell Jenkins (St. Louis Cardinals) – Select Sports Group

The MLB Draft Day 1 Broken Down from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

With the NHL playoffs underway, the League office is already planning for next season.  As far as the yearly business of the NHL goes, arguably nothing is bigger than the annual Winter Classic.  According to recent reports, the 4th annual Winter Classic will take place at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA, home of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.  It is currently slated to be a showdown between Pittsburgh’s own Penguins and the Washington Capitals.  The obvious marquee match-up the NHL is hoping for is Sidney Crosby versus Alexander Ovechkin.  However, is the League putting all of its marketing efforts into a one basket by depending on Crosby and Ovechkin to bring up ratings?

So far, all of the games have been located in the United States (with the exception of the Heritage Classic in 2003 which is technically not part of the NHL’s Winter Classic movement).  The event, to this point, has always taken place on New Year’s Day.  In the past 3 years, the Buffalo Sabres have hosted the Penguins, the Chicago Blackhawks have hosted the Detroit Red Wings, and, most recently, the Boston Bruins have hosted the Philadelphia Flyers.

However, each year the television ratings have changed drastically from the year before.  Case in point, the most recent Winter Classic between Boston and Philadelphia was down 10.3% from a 2.9 overnight Nielsen rating for the Red Wings-Blackhawks match-up from 2009.  The first year of the event in Buffalo garnered a similar 2.6 rating.  While the 2.6 rating is still the second-highest rating for a regular-season game since 1996, one has to wonder whether the NHL’s fan base is becoming uninterested in the event.  The reason for the decrease in viewership is partly attributed to the lack of marquee players in either team’s lineup.

But the NHL would be pulling out all of its wild cards if it chooses to pit Crosby against Ovechkin to improve the event.  As was shown a few weeks back, the Crosby/Ovechkin rivalry is sure to be a crowd pleaser.  However, neither player is guaranteed to be healthy or active for the game.  Over the last 2 seasons, Ovechkin has missed 13 games due to either injury or suspension.  Similarly, Crosby has missed nearly 40 games due to injury since coming into the league 5 seasons ago.  If either player is missing, the Winter Classic will almost certainly lose valuable television ratings.  Pittsburgh has shown it can sustain television ratings, but how will the rest of the United States accept this match-up?

The obvious reason the NHL is not about to completely revamp the concept is what drives every professional sports league: money.  The Winter Classic is surely the NHL’s prized possession because it is a cash-cow.  Regardless of television ratings, advertisers and fans are shelling out record dollars (by NHL standards at least) to be part of the action.  According to the New York Times, the Bruins-Flyers game generated “$8 million in ticket sales at Fenway Park and $3 million in ad revenue for NBC, triple the total of two years ago.”

Further, according to the same article, the Winter Classic is clearly part of the NHL’s long-term marketing structure.

“Thanks largely to the midseason game, the league says that its sponsorship sales are growing at a 66 percent annual pace and that its merchandise revenue, led by the throwback jerseys inspired by the first Classic, is soaring.”

Despite the increases in advertising revenue, there is no doubt that the NHL still plays second fiddle to a number of other leagues in the United States.  While the Winter Classic is no doubt a spectacle for both avid and casual fans, perhaps the NHL needs to be even more creative to make the event a true blockbuster.  Some questions for the NHL marketing/match-up committees to consider: Why not hold it in a Canadian city?  Why not change up the ever-dwindling All-Star game and make it an outdoor contest?  How long until a non-NHL city, such as Winnipeg or Quebec City, gets a Winter Classic to show that it has sufficient fans to support a full-time team?

It is clear that the Winter Classic is here for the foreseeable future.  However, many questions remain as to how the NHL can truly maximize its use to earn revenue dollars and gain fans.  What changes would you make to the Winter Classic?  Are there any teams/cities that are particularly deserving of the game?

How Can the NHL Improve the Winter Classic? from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules