Preface to the Second Edition The Business of Sports Agents seriously examines one of the most intriguing professions to develop as sport has become big business entertainment. The sports agent industry has been glamorized by motion picture, television, and journalistic accounts. Who would not want to be the businessperson behind the all-star athlete? This text is focused on the business and legal aspects that impact sports agents. This book is the third iteration of a work originally published by one of the current authors, Kenneth Shropshire, in 1990. In the decade and a half that has passed since the publication of that work, Agents of Opportunity: Sports Agents and Corruption in Collegiate Sports , much has occurred. This third work reflects that evolution. The first three chapters of this book describe what is currently taking place in the sports agent industry. Chapters 1 and 2 examine the history of the sports agent industry, its legal foundations, and what it is that agents do.
Chapter 3 considers the status of consolidation occurring among firms in the industry. Chapter 4 begins the book''s examination of the problems affecting the sports agent. Focusing on client recruitment, Chapters 5 through 8 examine criminal, ethical, and agent qualification issues. There, particularly in the ethical discussion, many questions yet to be answered by the courts are raised. Chapter 9 looks at long-standing amateurism principles and how they contribute to many of the unethical activities of agents and student athletes. Chapter 10, "Knights of Columbus Rules? Private Sports Agent Regulations," sets forth agent regulations that have been put in place by private organizations such as the National Football League (NFL). Chapter 11, "The Laws," presents an overview of state laws aimed at regulating agents. This chapter also explores legal actions that may be asserted against agents without the aid of these statutes.
Chapter 12 addresses the uniform law that regulates agents. The final chapter evaluates where we currently stand and where the industry is headed. Many of the relevant statutes may be found at www.NCAA.org and elsewhere on the Internet. That site and others have the capability of regular updates that are truly valuable in this field. It should be noted that the book focuses largely, although not exclusively, on United States-based team sports. This is not intended to suggest that the athlete agent industry does not have international dimensions; it certainly does.
With the emphasis on U.S. team sports, we focus on the four major sports leagues and often list them without reference to others, including, for example, the Women''s National Basketball Association (WNBA). As competition for clients in the non-major leagues increases, many of the issues impacting the major leagues will impact these emerging leagues as well. A point of style should be noted. The legally correct name for the individual who represents the athlete is "athlete agent," not "sports agent." The individual is the agent for the athlete, not the sport. The term "sports agent," however, has developed as probably the most commonly recognized and accepted label, so the terms "athlete agent," "sports agent," and "agent" are used liberally and interchangeably throughout.
* * * * * Introduction "It didn''t seem so wrong. It seemed as though I worked my whole life to get where I am, and at the same time, when it was presented to me, it was like this was the time I could start to get back some of the fruits of my labor." --Paul Palmer, former star college football running back, regarding cash payments of more than $5,000 he received from sports agent Norby Walters while a college seniorMany variables impact the still-maturing sports agent business. This book focuses on this evolving industry, the issues affecting it, and how to improve and regulate it. In recent years the key issues and problems associated with sports agents have been visible more at the professional than collegiate level. But no matter the concerns that lie at the center of the sports agent storm, it is a business that captures the attention of many. In the past, the dominant sports agent images were the imaginary Jerry Maguire and Arli$$. The sports agent image of the new millennium is more likely to be sports agent Drew Rosenhaus speaking on behalf of his client Terrell Owens as he sought to get a better deal for his client.
The most vivid moment in that saga was a press conference with Owens in the background and Rosenhaus at the microphones responding to seemingly every query with the response "Next question?" Many observers expressed concern about the strategy the agent employed and its impact on the already tarnished image of his client. Although it generated considerable attention, the Rosenhaus microphone event should be of modest concern to those who want this business to work as it should. At the extremes, agent misconduct and malfeasance, ranging from mismanagement and misappropriation of athlete clients'' assets to disparagement of other agents in order to gain a competitive advantage, fuel perceptions of an industry composed of individuals too willing to compromise ethics and competent representation for financial gain. Agent impropriety overlaps with the reality of largely newly or prospectively rich individuals not receiving the counseling they require to duplicate success on the field with success off the field. Even with the industry focus shifting to the professional level, concerns involving the athlete representation business remain at the collegiate level as well. It is at that level where, no matter how mature we give them credit for being, young men often succumb to the sometimes corrupt actions of mature professionals. Paul Palmer''s 1980s dilemma, noted in the epigraph of this chapter, remains with us in this millennium. He is not alone in having received payments that violate National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) no-agent rules and now state and federal laws.
Other student athletes have allegedly received inducements such as interest-free loans, automobiles, clothes, concert tickets, airline tickets, insurance policies, and dates with models. In 2000, an Auburn University basketball star admitted to taking $2,500 from Nate Cebrun, a "runner" for a sports agent. The student athlete, Chris Porter, said that he used the money to pay his mother''s mortgage. The interaction with Porter was not Cebrun''s first controversial contact with student athletes. In 1994, Cebrun, acting on behalf of certain agents, arranged a shopping spree for Florida State student athletes. A recent illustration of alleged improper student athlete/agent interaction involved the benefits allegedly bestowed upon Reggie Bush during his collegiate career. In 2006, allegations surfaced that New Orleans Saints running back and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush and his family had accepted payments and benefits from marketing agents attempting to entice Bush to sign a representation agreement with them. According to media reports, Bush and his family accepted gifts, money, and other benefits totaling more than $100,000 from two marketing firms while Bush was still playing football for the University of Southern California (USC).
Bush''s family allegedly failed to pay rent of $54,000 during a year in which they lived in a house owned by the agent, Michael Michaels, with whom Bush did not sign a representation agreement. Bush''s family allegedly agreed to repay Michaels after Bush turned professional. Media reports also alleged that Mike Ornstein, head of the agency selected by Bush to provide marketing services, provided the athlete and his family with gifts that included money for hotel expenses, airfare, and car-related expenses. If proved, the allegations could result in the NCAA sanctioning USC. Amid these allegations, it was also revealed that Bush had a summer internship with Mike Ornstein''s marketing firm. The incidents involving Palmer, Cebrun, student athletes from Florida State, and Bush are points along a continuum. In 1979, after receiving $1,000 from agent Mike Trope, former University of Maryland football player Steve Atkins told Sports Illustrated : "I knew I did something wrong. I didn''t want the NCAA to do something to Maryland, but I just needed some money to pay some bills.
I didn''t want to sign with him [Trope], but I just needed some money to pay some bills." An illustration from the mid-1990s involving former NFL running back Greg Hill reveals why some athletes take benefits from agents. In responding to the controversy involving agents, Hill stated: "The guys accepting pay or the guys who want to take pay, that mainly falls on you guys--the NCAA. I think that''s your fault because of the strict restrictions on how long guys work and how much [financial aid] guys get. Many families are too poor to give that child money. My mom couldn''t give me any money. Sometimes your team has functions where you have to dress up. Some guys don''t have suits.
I didn''t have a suit. I had to wear jeans all of the time." The views expressed by Hill are not unique. From the student athletes'' perspective, rules perceived as unfair and irrelevant to their life circumstances fail to deter problematic or possibly illegal involvement within the underground economy of college sport. As reflected in Hill''s comments, athletes point to what they perceive as fundamental inequities in intercollegiate athletics in explaining why collegiate athletes should be paid by the colleges and universities for which they play sports. National Basketball Association (NBA) and former Georgia Tech star Stephon Marbury told the New York Times , "When I signed to go to Georgia Tech, we were on ESPN twenty times, instantly. When you make the tournament they just give.