LINCOLN, Neb.—As scores of college players queue up to become instant millionaires in April’s NFL draft, football-crazy Nebraska is set to become the latest state to pass legislation aimed at reining in unscrupulous sports agents.
There is big money at stake for athletes and their agents, who generally get a 3 percent cut of contracts.
For example, last year the Miami Dolphins signed Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long, the top pick in the NFL draft, to a five-year, $57.75 million contract with a $30 million guarantee. And it made Long’s agent, Tom Condon, a happy—and richer—man.
But agents who do things within the rules are tarnished by those who don’t. And some experts say that laws in 40 states meant to regulate agents are seldom used and often toothless.
“Agents are viewed as the scum of the earth,” said former agent Rick Karcher, director of the Florida Coastal School of Law’s Center for Sports Law. “This is basically the states’ way of telling the world that we’re trying to address the scum of the earth.”
An agent jeopardizes an athlete’s eligibility and puts the athlete’s school at risk of NCAA sanctions when the agent offers inducements to secure that athlete as a client.
The problem, some say, is that coaches often don’t want to turn in agents because that suggests they had knowledge of something amiss. And student-athletes don’t want to turn in agents because that could signal that they were complicit in something nefarious.
Usually, it’s an agent who blows the whistle on a rival agent, and then only if he can produce hard evidence of cheating.
“This business operates as its own animal,” Karcher said. “It’s like the wild West. There are norms in this business that I’m not sure a state agency or statute can regulate. It’s almost like it’s bigger than them because of the way it operates.”
Nebraska would join 36 other states in using the Uniform Athlete Agent Act of 2000 as the template for its agent law. The act is crafted to punish agents who offer meals, cash and other goodies to get athletes to sign with them.
The legislation (LB292) would give universities an avenue for pursuing damages from agents whose enticement results in an athlete’s becoming ineligible.
Critics, though, point out that enforcement is spotty and that state laws don’t protect student-athletes from incompetent agents who charge exorbitant fees and otherwise don’t look out for the athletes’ best interests.
Nebraska defensive end Zach Potter, who is projected as a middle-round pick in the upcoming NFL draft, said he was solicited by about 15 agents who began calling and texting him last fall.
A couple even sent messages to his Facebook account. No one offered him inducements or asked him to enter into a contract before his eligibility expired after the Jan. 1 Gator Bowl, he said.
“I had three or four guys who were legit. The other ones? I guess I didn’t give them a chance,” Potter said.
Potter had his dad vet agents for him. He decided in mid-January to sign with Ethan Lock of LMM Sports Management.
Potter said a state law regulating agents would be a good thing.
“As I found out through the process, there are some good guys in the business who know how to go about it the right way,” he said. “There also are some guys who are getting into the game who are younger and don’t have the information of the rules down that might try to break a rule here and there to get their first client.
“Registration would be a good thing,” Potter said. “If they’re a good agent, it won’t bother them, because all they have to do is sign a few papers.”
The activities of the infamous Norby Walters and Lloyd Bloom in the 1980s brought shady agents into the light. The two signed more than 40 athletes to representation contracts before the athletes’ collegiate eligibility expired. The case prompted states to begin enacting laws that make it a crime for agents to sign players who still have college eligibility.
Contact with agents is permissible under NCAA rules as long as an eligible athlete doesn’t sign a representation contract or accepts anything of value from an agent in exchange for signing with the agent later.
The Uniform Athlete Agent Act requires an agent to register with the state before initiating contact with a prospective client.
The law also prohibits eligible athletes from signing with agents. Once an athlete does sign, after his eligibility ends, the law allows him or her to cancel the contract within a certain time, usually 14 days.
Nebraska’s proposed law would make a violation a misdemeanor, but Alabama and a few other states make it a felony.
Alabama has prosecuted only a handful of agent cases, but it is considered one of the toughest for cracking down on bad ones, said Joshua Golka, a Sacramento, Calif., attorney who counsels agents on state regulations.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office is now looking into Crimson Tide football star Andre Smith’s involvement with an agent.
Otherwise, there hasn’t been a high-profile state-level case since Florida went after William “Tank” Black nine years ago, and that was only after the federal government prosecuted him.
Said Karcher: “The reality is that there are many good agents.”
“There are a few bad apples that have essentially led to the coining of the phrase ‘unscrupulous agent,’ he said. “It looks good to have an agent act.”
Since the 1980s, former Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne has been lamenting what he sees as a free-for-all atmosphere surrounding the agents’ recruitment of college athletes.
“I’m sure there are some we would classify as good, ethical agents,” said Osborne, now the University of Nebraska’s athletic director. “Usually, those people are not flying into Lincoln, knocking on players’ doors at midnight or shadowing them at hotels.”
Osborne, Nebraska’s coach, 1973-97, said he knew—after the fact—that some of his players had dealt with naughty agents. One of those players, first-round draft pick Lawrence Phillips, was ordered by the NCAA to reimburse an agent who bought him a meal in 1995. Osborne said other players were taken advantage of financially by agents.
States generally pursue lawbreaking agents on a complaint basis, Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said.
“We’re not going to be able to catch everybody,” Bruning said. “We’re going to have to prioritize, and I would say rogue sports agents aren’t going to outrank murder and rape.”
Reputable agents pick up many of their clients through referrals, said Bob Lattinville, a St. Louis agent whose firm represents about two dozen NFL players.
When aboveboard agents do recruit, Lattinville said, they do so by sending information packets explaining their services and establishing contact with a parent or coach. Lattinville said he wouldn’t discuss a possible representation contract until after the athlete’s eligibility ends.
The unscrupulous agent often will use a third party, known as a “runner,” to befriend a prospective client. The runner will offer gifts on behalf of the agent. If the athlete accepts, he or she is beholden to the agent.
As a congressman, 2001-2007, Osborne co-sponsored a bill resulting in the Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act in 2004. That law is similar to the state laws—though it doesn’t require agent registration—and authorizes civil action by state attorneys general.
Osborne said the federal law is a backstop for states that don’t have agent laws. He said state laws have more teeth because they criminalize agent misbehavior.
The cumbersome registration process, along with state fees ranging from $200 to $1,000, can tempt new or wannabe agents to circumvent the process.
Lattinville, the St. Louis agent, estimates that only about half the agents actually register in states that require it.
“Usually, no one ever knows the difference,” Lattinville said.
