Sports Business

• Big power move for Wasserman [Brody leaving MLB to head sales at WMG].

Baseball

• The Dominican Republic has an education problem, a cheating/PED problem, and many other issues to deal with…but at least some teams are enhancing their D.R. facilities  [Struck Out by Béisbol].

Basketball

• Perhaps an unfair advantage for LRMR [LeBron James' basketball camps push the line in regard to recruiting amateurs for sports agency].
• At least now we know that William Wesley carries a BlackBerry [Agency Role Could Limit Basketball Broker’s Power].
• Athletes, wake up! Learn how to use social networking sites to your benefit not your detriment [“ALCOHOL ON US” – 20-Year-Old Cashmere Wright].

Sports Agents

• Paul Doyle is a track & field agent [Marietta sports agent, wife walk away from plane crash].
• Drew Rosenhaus owns Southwest Florida [Agent knows the area well].
• This is really what makes Arn Tellem one of the best in the biz [Nomar, Mia visit Seeds of Peace: 'You see the joy'].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (8/6/2010) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

In reality, many athlete and agency profiles across various social media platforms are not run by the athletes or top executives themselves.  What too often is the case is that an intern will be given the responsibility of updating Twitter, Facebook, and blog accounts to make it seem like the words are coming straight from the mouth of the athlete or the company CEO, when it could not be further from the truth.  Does this make sense?  In my opinion, no, and if fans/followers/friends catch on (which should not be a hard task), it could be damaging.  Athletes and CEOs, with proper training, can handle the “chore” of posting regularly on these networks, and may even enjoy it.  The one exception for me, is that I will often post updates on my clients’ Facebook Fan Pages just to keep fans updated on achievements of the players and their stats.

It will be much tougher to convince an agency’s CEO to be a regular on social networks than convincing athlete clients (they will probably be on there whether you teach them best practices or not).  After all, why should a CEO bother with the mundane task of sending Tweets containing 140 characters or less, writing lengthy blog posts, or posting updates on Facebook, a site originally created for college students to hookup with and poke each other?

Mashable.com recently talked with Forrester Research CEO George Colony in an effort to understand why so few CEOs are personally using social media and whether or not they should be involved, anyway.

• Fears and issues preventing adoption: Age (most are still trying to switch from the typewriter to the computer), possible regulatory restraints (especially for public companies), risks (of offending customers, partners, BoD and of increased litigation), time.

Casey Wasserman of WMG is tweeting, but he is a young CEO.  Ted Forstmann of IMG and Jonathan Blue of BEST have no Twitter presence.

• Reasons to tweet: Desire (to communicate and to take risks) and audience (will employees and targeted customers listen, participate, comment, criticize?).

If a CEO has absolutely no interest in Tweeting or posting updates to his Facebook page, then there is no reason that the CEO should be forced or encouraged to do so by anybody.  And the CEO also may be someone who is very risk averse.  More importantly, who is the audience for a sports agency CEO?  Is it only the players?  If so, it will be hard to use updates on social media sites to reach those players.  If current clients follow the CEO, they may enjoy reading the updates.  Potential clients will most likely never read them.  But beyond athlete clients, a CEO’s partners, business acquaintances, friends in the media, employees, etc. may appreciate receiving updates, and this granted information may open up doors for opportunities for the CEO’s business.

There is no mandatory number of Tweets or updates for the CEO.  I know that time is a concern, but how often will a CEO be stuck at an airport staring at his Blackberry waiting for the next incoming email to appear?  In that time, why not send out a Tweet updating the world on something that is going on in your or your company’s life?  It makes the CEO seem more like a human being (isn’t that what he is?), which is something employees and clients appreciate.

And it’s not only about posting content.  CEO’s should be keeping up with what is written about them and their companies, and also what others are writing about other companies (including material written by the competition, themselves).  Truthfully, this site should be a bookmark, and CEO’s should also be watching The Master Twitter list of sports agents/agencies.

Should A Sports Agency CEO Be Social Networking? from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

The Giving Back Fund is a national nonprofit organization that was established in 1997 to provide professional philanthropic management, consulting, and mentoring to athletes, entertainers and others.  The organization will be holding its annual Summit in at the Omni Hotel & Resorts in San Diego, CA on April 21st and 22nd, featuring presentations and panels on the use of technology and social media in philanthropy, how to successfully host a fundraising event, a Q&A session, and a presentation by former sports agent, Jeff Moorad.

Speakers include:

• KURT ASCHERMANN, President, Charity Partners Foundation. In 2006, Aschermann packaged and helped produce Denzel Washington’s first book A Hand to Guide Me, which has raised close to $1 million for Boys and Girls Club of America.
• CLAUDIA CAPLAN, As Chief Marketing Officer at Mendelsohn Zien Advertising, Claudia led the new business efforts and worked on strategy for clients. Carls, Jr. CEO Andy Puzder was quoted as saying, “The chain’s turnaround is attributable in large part to a marketing strategy engineered by the Los Angeles advertising agency, Mendelsohn Zien.”
• CAROL CONE, Chairman and Founder, Cone, Inc. Carol is a pioneer in cause-branding. Her signature cause programs have raised more than $1.2 billion for various social causes.
• SHARON GELMAN, Executive Director, Artists for a New South Africa. Founded in 1989 by Alfre Woodard, Danny Glover, Mary Steenburgen, and other members of the creative community, ANSA works in the US and South Africa to combat HIV/AIDS. ANSA has raised and granted more than $9 million with the help of their supporters who include Samuel L. Jackson and Carlos Santana.
• STACIE MANN, Vice President of Partnerships, Network for Good. Stacie is responsible for the website Six Degrees, which features and was started by Kevin Bacon. The site brings a social conscience to social networking.
• DAN MIGALA, Vice President of Partnership Solutions, San Diego Padres. Dan was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame for a sponsorship program he conceived and implemented.
• JEFFREY MOORAD, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, San Diego Padres. One of the most recognizable names in professional sports, Jeff Moorad brings more than 25 years of sports industry experience to San Diego and the Padres. Moorad was involved in more than $3 billion in athlete contracts, including representing Pro Football Hall of Famers Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Warren Moon and Thurman Thomas. Moorad was the negotiator on a number of landmark contracts for a baseball client base that included Manny Ramirez, Eric Karros, Ivan Rodriguez, Mo Vaughn, Shawn Green and Raul Mondesi.
• JAISON MORGAN, Founder, Common Pool. Jaison is an expert on incentive driven models. While Senior Director of Prize Development at the X PRIZE Foundation, Jason built a pipeline of over $300 million in philanthropic competitions.
• KIM NOVICK, Development Director, Tony Hawk Foundation. Over the past seven years, Kim has put the Tony Hawk Foundation on the charitable map, raising funds through corporate sponsorship, private donations, special events, and foundation grants.

Attendees must confirm pre-existing athlete and celebrity associations before attending. The Giving Back Fund reserves the right to refuse admission to the Summit.

Registration (click here):

• General Registration – $499
• Group Registration (two or more) – $449

For questions please call The Giving Back Fund at 310.649.5222

The Giving Back Fund’s 2nd Annual Best Practices Fundraising Summit from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

I don’t think that Twitter is a temporary fad.  It has expanded beyond the early adopters and reached the mainstream adoption.  In fact, sports fans seem to have taken to Twitter more than most.  Maybe it is the ability to get updates instantly.  Perhaps it is to connect with the players they are never able to converse with through a television.

Since I do not read a lot about tennis or cover it much on this site, I enjoyed receiving a story from a reader about how Twitter has affected that particular sport.  Apparently, Twitter has become enormously popular amongst the sport’s participants.  Even tennis reporters, who once stayed as far away as possible, are now trying to type messages that are 140 characters or less.  Having access to athletes is fantastic, and when athletes take the time to reply to their fans who ask questions on Twitter, the power of the service truly takes shape.

I asked the writer of the tennis piece, Aaress Lawless, to chime in about what Twitter might mean for agents.  This was the reply:

For the sports agent, Twitter is a whole new playing field to monitor. Instead of being able to carefully track and enhance a client’s image through crafted press statements, Twitter gives the athlete, not the agent, the power to conduct public relations. Case in point: Serena Williams. Serena is a one-woman marketing machine on Twitter and has learned how to effectively use the service to promote her brand. For an agent, this is a boon as it keeps the client constantly on the public radar.

But the unfiltered messages from an athlete can occasionally give a sports agent cause for chagrin as well. Athletes today need to maintain personal access to their fans—-and smart agents will recognize this and work with their clients by offering direction, not filtering when it comes to their online tweeting. A few handy tips on what to say and more importantly, what not to say can ensure that the use of Twitter is mutually beneficial for both sides.

I think that an agent can guide his clients in the formulation of creative ways to engage fans – contests, promotions, surveys, etc.  Best practices training is a must.  After teaching the athlete what is permissible and what is not, though, the phone and its Twitter application is in the athlete’s hands.

Twitter Isn’t A Fad, But What Exactly Is It? from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

An interesting part of the Woods discussion centered on whether he was instructed by his advisors to take the course of action that he followed or if he was advised to act differently, but did what he thought was best.  I believe that his advisors most likely told him accept responsibility and apologize at an early stage (which would be the appropriate thing to do), but that he ignored is because he believed that he was truly invincible.  What we saw last week, which was hardly a press conference, was Woods’ realization that he could not escape the media and slightly gave in to the public’s desire to hear him speak.

As advisors, all we can do is suggest the way we believe our clients should act.  At the end of the day, we are employed by the athletes (the principals); if they don’t want to listen, they do not have to.  But if they are not going to listen to us, then why pay us in the first place?  That’s what Gilbert Arenas figured.  The guy negotiated his own 6-year, $111 million contract.  Would an agent have done any better?  Maybe not.  But would an agent possibly helped Arenas after Arenas was found storing guns in his locker and drawing a weapon on his teammate?  Quite possibly.  Arenas acted very stupidly thereafter, but eventually came to his senses, hired an attorney from Washington D.C. and accepted full responsibility and apologized.

That’s the key: Accept responsibility and apologize as soon as possible (unless you are being charged with killing somebody – Stallworth).  The problem comes when an athlete is employing all of these different “advisors” who are pulling the athlete in different directions.  Another thing I think is important is that even though social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter allow instantaneous communication between an athlete and the entire world, the 4th Estate (traditional media) cannot be forgotten.  Tiger Woods basically gave the media the middle finger throughout his career, so why would they do him any favors at this point.  Make the media your best friend, or else they will look for any opportunity to pin you and your clients.

Since speaking on the panel, I have read one article that makes me shake my head sideways and one that makes me shake my head up and down.  The sideways: Elijah Fields Got Paid, Kicked Off Pitt Football Team. The up and down: Anything Worth Doing.

The post about Fields shows the potential harm that sites like Twitter can cause for athletes.  One act of stupidity can kill a career.  The other post is about the damage control used by Jeremy Jeffress’s agent after he received a 100-day suspension for substance abuse.  While Joshua Kusnick and I have had our differences in the past, this particular post on his blog is brilliant.  Here are some parts of his piece:

The first step in repairing a damaged image is to apologize but only if its sincere. The second step in this process was finding a place for this player to get help for his problem.

And that’s the game plan when something goes awry. 1.Get everyone calm. 2.Contact the media and apologize 3. Get help. 4. Apologize more. 5. Live up to all the promises you have made. It doesn’t take dangerous gypsy magic to rehabilitate an image, just genuine contrition and the desire to right your life.

No one is perfect.  Apologize, be sincere, mean it, and act on it.  For the most part, the public will not forget, but they will forgive.

Athletes Overcoming Their Indiscretions from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

On Monday, I talked with Michael Fertik, CEO of ReputationDefender and the genius behind a brand new creation: NameGrab.  Michael is an entrepreneur, so we clicked right away.  He started creating businesses straight out of law school, and has been very successful in his previous pursuits (when you get an endorsement from Dr. Phil, you’ve officially “made it”).  He founded ReputationDefender in 2006, but only recently started marketing it after putting countless time and energy into its development.  Today, there is roughly ninety people in his company with customers in spanning forty countries.  His existing products allow a person to monitor his/her reputation on deep web contente that is not even visible through Google searches, remove unwanted contact information from websites, and publish information that one wants to come up through Google searches.

But what is NameGrab all about?  Interestingly, it puts into motion an idea that I had been discussing with a colleague of mine a couple of weeks ago.  As Monasterio stated in his excellent post,

The main point is to acquire these online properties, even if you don’t use them at first. It’s far better to have nothing on a Web page than to have cyber-squatters fill the page with advertisements.

The problem is that athletes and their agents do not want to spent the 10-30 minutes it takes to sign up for the hundreds of websites.  And new social networking sites sprout up from the ground every day.  How do you know which one will be the next Twitter?  The safest bet is to at least reserve a piece of property on each one of them.  The only property you can own is a user name.

Fertik, through NameGrab, has automated that system.  For $100, he promises that an athlete or agent will be able to reserve three user names.  Those user names will be confirmed by NameGrab and then the athlete/agent will have the opportunity to claim the email addresses associated with those names, if he/she so chooses.  NameGrab has plans to include the purchasing of domain names with those user names and also may feature deals for sports agents who have more than three clients that they want to reserve names for.

It seems like a really cheap option that could save athletes and their agents a lot of drama and money in the future.  Cybersquatting is becoming a big issue.  Even college freshmen and first year medical students are finding their names taken by the time they want to register for many social networking sites.

I am currently giving NameGrab a test with the user names DarrenHeitner, Kyle McPherson (a baseball client of mine), and sportsagent.  I will report back on my findings.

Grab Your Name Before Someone Else Does from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

You’ve landed a talented athlete as a new client. A professional contract is fast-approaching. When the contract is signed, will the athlete’s online presence be ready?

In sports, the athlete’s name is the brand. So it should come as no surprise the bad guys on the internet, known as cyber-squatters, may try to take advantage of your athlete’s name and brand.

An example: In California, a single cyber-squatter was recently convicted of registering the domain names of nearly 800 basketball players. Domain names are Web browser addresses, like SteveNash.com and ChrisBosh.com. The affected players ranged from NBA pros to top high school and college players. Because of this one squatter, hundred’s of athletes were unable to take the first step into online branding. This was just one squatter — there are thousands of squatters on the NET trying to make money from athletes’ brands.

As an agent, you need to start managing your client’s online brand early —before fame and success attract the cyber-squatters. It’s critical for agents to help athletes create a comprehensive online branding strategy.

Here are 5 simple tips to help agents prepare and protect a player’s online brand:

1. Register a Dot-Com Domain Name

Domain names are Web addresses, so they are the focus of your online branding plan. Having a domain name with your player’s first and/or last name in it, like RogerFederer.COM, is the Grand Slam of Internet branding. The domain is also part of the player’s main email address.

But, web domains are a scarce resource, and are registered on a first-come-first-serve basis —  so even RogerFederer.COM doesn’t own Federer.COM

Once you start searching for an available domain name, you’ll be surprised how hard it is to find an available domain name. If your client has an uncommon name, you may be lucky and still be able to acquire CLIENTNAME.COM. Other good domains to register are nicknames. Shorter domain names are usually better, dashes and digits in a domain name are not as easily remembered by site visitors.

The Dot-Com domain is the most memorable and upscale—it’s far better than the other top-level domains (.NET, .ORG, .INFO, .BIZ, .US, etc.).

To register a domain, visit a Domain Registrar like Godaddy.com (http://GoDaddy.com). If the client’s name is available, you can register it for about $8 a year – you’ll need to renew every year or you lose the name. There are also many websites, such as Afternic.com and Sedo.com, that help you buy and acquire domains that are already registered — though auction prices can be exorbitant.

As long as you’re able to get the athlete’s main domain, it’s not worth going overboard speculating on a bunch of domains when an athlete is just starting out. However, keep in mind that the squatters will try to take advantage of typos in web addresses, so you may consider acquiring common misspellings of your client’s name (for Tennis, think Nadall.com, Nedal.com).

Later in this article I have some tips for what to do if you can’t get the name you want.

2. Create Social Networking Accounts

When fans want to find out about an athlete, they’ll go to the social networking sites; MySpace and Facebook are the biggest. With MySpace, you’ve always been able to get a page like http://Myspace.com/CLIENTNAME, so, you’ll want to grab that. Facebook now has that feature, too. And you’ll want to start and take ownership of a Facebook Fan Club for your client.

What content do you put on all these social media sites? It doesn’t matter—you can leave them blank to start with. The main point is that you control the real estate for your brand.

If you or your client does create some content on a social media page, keep the site very professional. Don’t let the athlete use these accounts for gossiping with friends, uploading photos or video of last Saturday night’s party, or other unprofessional uses. Future sponsors and advertisers will be watching, so you need to keep the client’s content squeaky clean and  presentable. Once something is on the Internet, it’s nearly impossible to take it down.

But remember: The main point is to acquire these online properties, even if you don’t use them at first. It’s far better to have nothing on a Web pages than to have cyber-squatters fill the page with advertisements.

3. Create a Twitter Account

Twitter, an online Short Message Service (SMS) site, is extremely popular and growing so quickly that it gets a checklist item all to itself. When fame first strikes, Twitter is where the trendsetters will talk about your client. Beware: Twitter squatters are already grabbing up all the famous Twitter account names.

Signing up for a Twitter account is free, so sign-up for an account name that matches the client’s real name. You may want to update the Twitter status occasionally with things like recent victories and upcoming games. But again, the key is to own the Twitter account for later use and to prevent someone else from controlling the Twitter account.

4. Setup Email and Instant Messaging

Fans, sponsors, advertisers and other vendors will want to communicate with an athlete. When your client owns a COM domain, you can automatically receive all email sent to any address at @CLIENTNAME.COM.

But, as part of a comprehensive branding plan, create free accounts at Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and HotMail: CLIENTNAME@gmail.com, CLIENTNAME@yahoo.com, and CLIENTNAME@msn.com. Setup the accounts so that they invisibly forward email to a single address.

Additionally, try to get brandable accounts for AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger.

5. Setup Voicemail

For a business phone number, you can set up a free GoogleVoice (http://voice.google.com) account, which comes with a free phone number in almost any area code. Configure GoogleVoice to automatically forward voice-mail to your email accounts as an audio/text attachment. Or you can forward all GoogleVoice calls to your cell phone (the forwarding will be invisible to the caller).

If your client needs to speak with the press by phone, he or she can easily make phone calls through the GoogleVoice account using their existing cell phone. Have the client use the GoogleVoice as a business phone number for all sports-related activities to prevent the athlete’s personal phone information from becoming mixed with the athlete’s career info. Keeping an athlete’s professional life and personal life separate will also help protect the athlete’s privacy.

Troubleshooting Your Brand

What do you do if you can’t get all of the above items? Well, if your athlete’s name is very common like Joe Smith, then he’s a little late to the Internet party. But you can still try for domains like “JoeSmithHockey.com”.

What if fame has already struck and the athlete’s brand is already cyber-squatted? There are laws to protect an athlete’s name and brand. Contact an intellectual property attorney who specializes in trademarks. If the athlete’s name is fairly unique, having a lawyer send a letter to the various social media sites can often get them transferred to the player. Gaining control of a squatted domain is a little more complicated, but an attorney can definitely help to acquire it. Solving cyber-squatting problems through the legal system will cost you a lot more time and effort than doing it right the first time.

Be Ready for Fame…

Most importantly, it’s critical to be a few steps ahead of the cyber-squatters. With the first whiff of fame, squatters will notice an up-and-coming player and grab up all the prime Internet real estate related to that player. You can reduce future legal costs by keeping up with online trends and by beating the squatters to the prime Internet real estate. Your client’s future sponsors will appreciate a clean online-brand that isn’t full of Internet spam.

Remember: Your job as an agent is to help plan for the athlete’s entire career. It’s never too early to get a player’s brand ready. By spending a little effort up front, you can make future success that much sweeter.

Managing An Athlete’s Online Brand: A 5-Step Getting Started Guide For Agents from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

What: Panel: The Impact of Social Networking on the Sports World, Presented by the New York State Bar Association’s Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section

When: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.)

Where: Herrick, Feinstein, LLP, 2 Park Ave., New York, NY (14th floor amphitheater) / map

Moderator: Matthew D. Pace, Herrick, Feinstein LLP

Panelists:

• Lawrence Epstein, EVP and General Counsel, Ultimate Fighting Championship
• Jeffrey Gewirtz, SVP & General Counsel, NETS Basketball/Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment
• Steven Herz, Founder and President, If Management
• Elizabeth Matthews, EVP & Deputy General Counsel of MTV Networks

Discussion: How social networking is impacting the business of sports today from the perspective of copyright owners, distribution partners and athletes.

• How are Leagues, Teams and Athletes using social networking to promote themselves and their products?
• What are the risks associated with use of social networking platforms?
• Who controls the ownership of content — the League, the Team or the individual?
• Is this strictly promotional or is there a business model to monetize this?
• Does this impact the League news policies? Does this impact on the exclusivity of television agreements?
• Does this fall within a news exception or other fair use category? How would that affect copyright owners?
• How does the DMCA operate in this area, and how does it affect copyright owners? Is there law comparable to the DMCA in international markets?
• Can the fan in the stands capture photos or video and distribute them electronically to those outside the stadium?
• Does this, or real-time scores and blogs pose a threat to the content owners’ rights?
• Relevant cases – Mark Cuban’s position against bloggers, Olympics blogging policy, Viacom v. YouTube and Google, New York Rangers vs. NHL

Cost: Students can attend for free.  New York State Bar members pay $25.  Nonmembers have to front $35.  Click here for more information and to register.

The Impact of Social Networking on the Sports World from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

My colleague Douglas Sanders with The Sports Link introduced me to the new service, which strives to make it easier for athletes to connect with their fans by providing “text only once, but update fans everywhere” convenience.  If an athlete sends a text message to MogoTXT, MogoTXT can automatically forward that message to the athlete’s fans on MogoTXT, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and all other websites.

Terrell Owens, Shane Battier, Chris “Beanie” Wells, Santonio Holmes, Jordan Farmar, and even Mr. Holdout, Michael Crabtree, are on board, along with many more athletes and rising journalists.  Some entities use the service more than others.  T.O. is updating the world on his life almost every second of the day…Beanie Wells, not so much.

In addition to providing ease and convenience to athletes, MogoTXT is able to aggregate the fans of an athlete that are located on several different websites into a single large audience to enable the athlete to achieve critical mass much faster for purposes of fan relations, marketing, advertising, etc.  The theory is that the service will empower athletes and their agents to strike better endorsement deals by enhancing athletes’ reach and providing marketing data.

MogoTXT can also facilitate revenue generation for athletes and their selected charities by working with athletes and their agents to feature desirable ads and clickable links to additional content and ads at the bottom of the athletes’ text messages before these messages are displayed on MogoTXT and also distributed to fans on all of the major social networks.

And for the Yao Mings and Kobe Bryants with huge international appeal, MogoTXT can also translate the messages into foreign languages on a near real-time basis.

Best of all, the service is free for its clients and their fans.

Reach Everybody With One Text from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

The agent-related article of last week that generated a lot of buzz in the sports agent community was a very long piece written by ESPN.com’s Andy Katz.  While I was not able to put aside the time to give it a thorough read until several days after it was written, I am glad that I kept that tab hanging around and finally read it.  So if you have not yet read the piece, Agents and coaches battle for prospects, go ahead and give it a try.

Adding a player as a friend on Facebook is an interesting tactic for an agent to employ.  As Cameron Schuh, the Associate Director for Public and Media Relations for the NCAA, once told me, there are no restrictions between agents and student-athletes in the NCAA rules/bylaws as far as communicating through social networking … AS LONG AS no oral and/or written agreement has been made.  Katz basically echos that statement in his piece.

Additionally, SPARTA and other laws are not particularly well-suited for online communication.  So it seems as though an agent is not violating any particular rule by communicating with a student-athlete over a site like Facebook.  And if an athlete is so bothered by agents contacting him on a social networking site, that athlete always has the option of not adding the agent as one of his contacts, or not having a profile on that site at all.

Coaches do hate it when agents have contact with their players, even if the agents are taking actions that are 100% legal.  I will not mention any names, but I have already had an experience with a college coach leaving me a 3 minute phone message, screaming expletives at me and basically telling me that he would make sure I never sign another college basketball player again in the future.  Was he out of line?  Of course.  Especially because he did not know that his player actually contacted me and asked that he be the one to break the news to his coach that he would be leaving early to play ball professionally.  It was not my fault when the player did not tell the coach until a couple of days before leaving school.

That’s why I am not surprised at all when Katz writes that Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said to him, “Anybody that I find who goes behind my back to get my kids, I’ll do everything in my power to see that they’re not involved in the process.”

But is it any better if an agent goes through a coach instead of going directly to the player?  Coaches might refer a particular agent to their players even if that agent is not necessarily the right fit for the particular player.  Then we have to worry about shady coach/agent relationships…is the coach getting a cut of the action?

And yes, AAU coaches have taken the spot of college coaches as the emphasis for agents in building relationships for all the reasons mentioned by Katz.  But many college coaches still have very tight relationships with various agents.

The moral of the story is that basketball is pretty dirty.  There are a lot of different actors looking to benefit from an athlete’s talent.  There is a lot of money in the game of basketball, so the fact that there is so much shadiness behind the scenes should not surprise anybody.

Agents And Coaches: Friends and Foes from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules