Do you want a level playing field? Or a free market system?

In the wake of this week’s statement by the NCAA that it intends to explore ways for athletes to be compensated for their name, image and likeness, it appears that we have only two options left for the direction college sports is going to go.

Option 1:             Free Market

Option 2:             Level Playing Field

We are going to explore these two options and I am very interested to hear what you think will ultimately be the choice.  I have my opinions but I will save them for the end of this article.  With California passing its law and other powerhouse states like New York, Florida and Illinois being well on their way to implement similar laws, it was only a matter of time until the NCAA fell in-line with the economic realities and public sentiment about allowing athletes to receive compensation.  Unfortunately, the NCAA’s own statement fell far short of coming up with a viable framework which would let student-athletes really understand how the NCAA would interpret the concepts in its statement.  You can read more details here in terms of the gaping holes left by the NCAA’s position.   Even after you read their statement and understand this holes, you have to take a step away from the anger, hostility and frustration which have long been a part of this discussion.  Catch your breath, open your mind and ask yourself what an ideal world of college sports looks like.  Most of us can agree we are not there right now, but the question is whether there is even a pathway to get there.

In my opinion, there are only two options.  There is no slippery slope, because there is really no place to stop.  Or even try to stop.  This looks more like a cliff.  You are either at the top, or you are at the bottom.

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

The entire purpose of the NCAA regulating competition in college sports was to preserve some degree of a level playing field.  Recruiting restrictions, scholarship limits, admission requirements and virtually everything else that the NCAA governs were put into place to preserve that level playing field.  Why are the restrictions virtually limitless and the penalties so draconian?  Because Michigan and Ohio State do not trust each other to compete fairly.   Alabama, Auburn and LSU believe that its competitors would do everything in their power to win. While the NCAA is an easy target, the reality is that the rules are implemented by the schools.  The schools are the ones that want help to protect themselves against other “rogue” schools that would implement a win at all costs arms race.  If one elite school in a conference wanted to pull out all of the stops, then other schools would be forced to do the same thing in order to compete.

Many people would argue that the playing field is already unlevel.  If you look at the revenue generated in the Power 5 conferences, there are great disparities between the top schools in the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, ACC and Pac 12, especially when you compare them to the lower level schools in each conference.  The challenge in front of the college sports community, is how the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) conversations are going to change college sports. 

IF (and that is a big if), you desire to retain a level (or more level) playing field, you will need to grant the NCAA potentially even more power to regulate the actions of the schools, limit the ways that athletes can earn money and monitor how and when that money is paid to the student-athlete. 

If that concept sounds repugnant to you, then you are probably a proponent of the FREE MARKET below, but just be careful, because you might get what you wished for.

FREE MARKET

The Free Market solution means exactly what it sounds like.  ALL bets are off.  The rules are no longer in existence.  Colleges can recruit athletes in any way that they choose.  Just like colleges can recruit students today.   Nobody monitors whether the students Michigan chooses to admit are following the same requirements as the students Ohio State admits.   Alabama can currently admit its choice of students and provide them as much financial support as it chooses as an institution, without any regard to what Auburn or LSU might offer that same student.  So why is this a bad thing?  It might not be.  Let the institutions make their own admission decisions just as they currently do for non-student-athletes. Goodbye NCAA Clearinghouse.  Goodbye to regulations about core requirements, minimum GPAs, non-qualifiers or any other form of regulation.

QUESTION:         Will this change college sports?

ANSWER: Absolutely. 1000%.   Schools will now be free to recruit, pay, provide financial support or do ANYTHING else that they want to attract talent.  Just as they currently do for regular students.  College sports has changed and it is going to continue to change. The current model is not sustainable and expecting the NCAA to solve the problem is naïve.  Olympic sports have easily survived the transition from the amateurism model to one that allows all forms of compensation.  So what? Don’t we want to identify the best athletes? 

QUESTION:         Will this concentrate the power in some of the elite schools. 

ANSWER:  Yes.  It is highly likely that many of the elite Power 5 schools will get the first choice of talent.  But so what?  If they have the incentive to field a competitive team, the school now has the obligation to make its institution attractive to student-athletes.  Shouldn’t we want the student-athletes to make the decision for a reason that makes sense relative to their future goals?  If some school is willing to pay more for you to come to their university, might that not be a good thing for the student-athlete?  Would some of them consider schools that they would not have considered if they were able to be paid more?

QUESTION:         Doesn’t that cheapen the process?

ANSWER:  No.  It actually makes the school selection process more appropriate to the individual athlete.  A player could decide if a smaller payment from Alabama was more worthwhile relative to his professional football prospects, as opposed to cashing in a lower level Power 5 school or even a non-Power 5 school that would give him a greater compensation package.

QUESTION:         How are student-atheltes supposed to be able to navigate this process?

ANSWER:            Like people in all other aspects of the business world—they would have to hire an attorney and/or agent.  Open up this type of consultation and representation, would mean that the student-athletes would have someone helping them navigate the process and negotiate the best deal possible.

So now that you have read some of the options, tell us what you think?  Do you really feel that there is another way?  Is there any room to compromise and implement some reasonable regulations?  I don’t see it.  I think we are headed towards the free market system, and heading there quickly.  We will not ever see a truly level playing field (or even one approaching what we have now).   The universities will have to use their own judgments, morals, endowments and other factors to decide who they want to admit.  What type of students? What type of athletes?  Spending how much money?  Now the athletic department will have to make some economically rational decisions as to who it brings in.  Currently, a football program will bring in 85 scholarship players.  They can only have 85.  So if they are full, they have to find a way to reduce that number (also known as running off a player).  If someone is not performing, they can be recruited over, meaning the school does not have to continue to honor their scholarship.

Let’s be clear, the free market system is not without problems.  Without a governing body it could be like the Wild West.  Players could be bought each year. Players at one school could be recruited to transfer to another school the following year (even if the contracts provided differently).  An entirely new body of law would develop around this area because none of us have any idea whether courts would enforce a restrictive covenant in the scope of a college athlete who signed with a university for financial aid or other compensation to play football there.  In this free market system, we would almost certainly see the development of a players union.  Someone would need to representing the players and their long-term interest.

Regardless of which side of the issue you are on, one thing is guaranteed.  This next 5 years are going to contain some of the most radical changes college sports have seen.  If you look back at this past week, you will see that this was when the change in the landscape became irreversible.

VOTE NOW:    WHAT DO YOU PREFER? LEVEL PLAYING FIELD?  OR FREE MARKET?

Take the poll here!!

If you didn’t have a chance to read our earlier post: NCAA Position Leaves Gaping Loopholes, here is your chance

Yesterday the NCAA released a statement proclaiming that it was starting the process to allow student-athletes to be compensated for their name, image and likeness.

Sadly, though it is at least a step in the right direction, it leaves loopholes that are big enough to drive a football equipment truck through.

While it is nice to see the NCAA finally taking any type of action, its own statement raises many of the exact issues that I predicted as trouble spots in my October 4, 2019 posting: California’s Name, Image, Likeness Law Won’t Solve All Problems with NCAA.

Since that time, New York, Florida and Illinois have also proposed legislation that addresses these areas.

• New York
• Florida
• Illinois

A peek at the headlines that littered Twitter and the sports journalism landscape yesterday included the following headlines from high profile and reputable sources:

• CNBC: NCAA to permit athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness
• USA TODAY: NCAA Board of Governors opens door to athletes benefiting from name, image and likeness
• CNN: NCAA says athletes may profit from name, image and likeness
• ESPN: NCAA clears way for athletes to profit from names, images and likenesses
• CBS: Inside the NCAA’s move to allow athletes to profit from name, image and likeness rights

None of those headlines seem to accurate capture what the NCAA actually said in its statement. The NCAA did not set any clear timeline nor clear guidelines nor an indication that it was going to do anything other than “examine” the process and find a way to make some change. In my opinion, when you look at the words: “in a manner consistent with the collegiate model” you start to see the problem?

You have visions of enforcement nightmares and the bureaucratic inefficiencies of the NCAA coming to mind. Most people in sports (and elsewhere) agree that the collegiate sports model is broken. So now you have the leading organization telling us that the Name, Image and Likeness issues need to be handled in a manner consistent with a broken model? Obviously, that makes little sense.

The NCAA is hardly perceived as a bastion of fairness when you see how much trouble it has enforcing relatively simple regulations like transfer waivers. Some players like Ohio State’s Justin Fields are granted immediate eligibility. Others like Wisconsin basketball player Micah Potter are now told to sit out what amounts to three semesters of basketball despite having the support of the school he was leaving in his the petition for immediate eligibility (which isn’t even really immediate eligibility because it is already after having sat out a full season).

Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for them), the NCAA even lays out the manner in which it intends to treat this initiative. You can see in its own language, how difficult it is going to be to enforce these guidelines:

Take a look at all of the wiggle room that is identify in each of these guiding principles

NCAA GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON NAME, IMAGE, LIKENESS COMPENSATION

►Assuring student-athletes are treated similarly to non-athlete students unless a compelling reason exists to differentiate.

Wiggle room: “treated similarly” and “compelling reasons” Who is going to make these evaluations?

►Maintaining the priorities of education and the collegiate experience to provide opportunities for student-athlete success. 

Wiggle room: “priorities of education”–Whose priorities? “opportunities for success”–What type of success? Defined by who?

►Ensuring rules are transparent, focused and enforceable and facilitate fair and balanced competition.

Wiggle room: “transparent, focused and enforceable” and also “fair and balanced” These are virtually impossible to enforce fairly.

►Making clear the distinction between collegiate and professional opportunities. 

Wiggle room: What exactly is that distinction in the current world?

►Making clear that compensation for athletics performance or participation is impermissible.

Wiggle room: Of course you are getting paid for performance or participation. You only have value if you are on the field and being seen by the consumer! So the better you play and the more you play the higher your market value.

►Reaffirming that student-athletes are students first and not employees of the university.

Wiggle room: This is a pure CYA (cover your ass) move by the NCAA and the universities. They don’t want student-athletes positioned as employees because that causes all kinds of tax issues, liability issues and potential health-care issues.

► Enhance principles of diversity, inclusion and gender equity. 

Wiggle room: How is any of the name, image and likeness going to address these larger issues? Nice as a theory, not practical as a way to determine what is permissible.

► Protect the recruiting environment and prohibit inducements to select, remain at, or transfer to a specific institution.

Wiggle room: Recruiting environment already a problem and played on an uneven landscape. This will only make it worse. Virtually no way to distinguish what is a payment to select, remain at or transfer to a particular institution compared to what is a payment for “name, image and likeness” while you are at that institution (i.e. an athlete has no value to a business in Columbus, Ohio unless they are playing in Columbus and not in Tuscaloosa).

Can you honestly imagine the NCAA finding a reasonable way to enforce these issues? I could literally come up with 100 problems with these guidelines but let me just share a few of them to highlight the difficulties the athletes, schools, conferences, NCAA and businesses are going to have with this process:

PROBLEM #1

Problem #1: Do you trust the NCAA to handle the intricacies and nuances of regulating this process?

Answer: No chance. The NCAA has not proven itself to be transparent and explain its rulings. I believe that the hidden nature of the NCAA proceedings has been an enormous detriment to the organization and more importantly to the goals of the organization. It seems to be against its own interests to keep the rationale secret because that uncertainty undermines the process. If you really look at the multitude of issues that will arise under any potential legislation, you are now asking multiple parties to be part of the process, further complicating an already complex set of issues. The student-athlete, his/her university, the conference, the NCAA, the state laws and the business desiring to contract with the athlete all have their own interests. Toss in sports agents, attorneys, marketing agents, financial advisors and many other and you will quickly see how implausible it will be for the NCAA to properly govern these issues.

You don’t believe me? How about NCAA President Mark Emmert? The USA Today article above quote him as saying that threading those general principles into meaningful rules changes for for Division I schools will be challenging.

PROBLEM #2

Problem #2: When are the players going to get paid?

Answer: There is no guidance on this issue. Some people suggest that the NCAA’s solution is going to be that the funds go into some form of trust until the player either graduates or leaves school. That somewhat defeats the purpose of allowing an athlete to have a stream of income that they might need for their survival or to help support their family members (or even–GASP–for them to be able to enjoy the fruits of their own labor). Paying them immediately does not necessarily remove the problems because now you have teammates competing together, only some of whom are getting paid (see below). What happens when the star QB, WR, RB are getting some lucrative endorsement deals, but their offensive linemen are not? Does this internal jealously create rifts on the team? Are the stars allowed to “share” their compensation with teammates? In the NFL, QBs and other stars are more highly paid than their teammates. But the teammates are still pulling in mid-6-figure incomes (or more). Additionally, there is no restriction on the QB buying dinners, vacations, watches or other luxuries for the guys who help them succeed. Leaving this in the NCAA’s hands to monitor this process is just going to create a mess.

PROBLEM #3

Problem #3: Who is representing the players?

Answer: Historically, the NCAA has prohibited (with a few exceptions), college athletes from having proper representation. The NCAA’s perspective has been that the representation of the athletes makes them a professional and therefore, no longer eligible for college sports.

With the array of regulations and drama that is going to accompany a change of this magnitude, it only seems fair for us to allow the student-athletes to retain an agent or an attorney to help understand and manage this process. If we are moving towards a free-market solution, then why not go all of the way to the free market. Asking student-athletes to navigate these murky waters alone is entirely unreasonable, especially given that everyone else in the process has extensive representation.

PROBLEM #4

Problem #4: How many players really merit compensation on the open market?

Answer: It depends on how you define “merit”. If you truly use the concept of “name, image and likeness” then only a few college athletes would reap benefits. Take out QBs, RBs, WRs and a few high profile defenders, and the estimate is that fewer than 10 players on a Power 5 football team would have “true marketability.” Others that are paid compensation would be getting it in order to attract them (or retain them) at a university. These payments may be disguised as Name, Image and Likeness payments, but they would violate the NCAA’s own guideline language.

PROBLEM #5

Problem #5: What happens when some players on a team get paid and others do not?

Answer: What happens when the star QB, WR, RB are getting some lucrative endorsement deals, but their offensive linemen are not? Does this internal jealously create rifts on the team? Are the stars allowed to “share” their compensation with teammates? In the NFL, QBs and other stars are more highly paid than their teammates. But the teammates are still pulling in mid-6-figure incomes (or more). Additionally, there is no restriction on the QB buying dinners, vacations, watches or other luxuries for the guys who help them succeed. Leaving this in the NCAA’s hands to monitor this process is just going to create a mess.

PROBLEM #6

Problem #6: This process will not help protect the athletes or the universities

Answer: Correct. Athletes can still be taken advantage of. Unscrupulous boosters and agents will still have ways to get at the athletes. Unrepresented athletes will be susceptible to entering into contracts which are not in their short or long term interest.

From the university side, the competitive landscape will become more ruthless. Instead of negative recruiting or recruiting players previously committed to other schools, the universities will have to contend with a whole array of compliaance issues, booster issues and competitive issues. The recruiting process will start looking like a bidding war, only it will be diguised to fit within whatever parameters the NCAA establishes.

The bottom line, is that I could keep going and going and going. There are more problems in this NCAA statement than what possibly is solved. We are going to be in for huge changes ahead in the college sports system. Many people will not like them because there is really no middle ground.

Tune in tomorrow to read our next article when we look at the reality of the landscape in college sports. Truly, there are only two options: 1) Try to maintain a level playing field; 2) Completely open up college sports to the free market.

Neither solution is perfect and each has its own pitfalls. Check back and read our analysis tomorrow and then tell us which side you choose. Remember, there is no middle ground and you are forced to choose one side of the other! It will be interesting to see how you all vote!

Inadvertent Side-effect of NCAA Redshirting Rule.           People rarely feel that the NCAA has an athlete’s best interests in mind. Yet, when the 4 game participation rule was passed last year for football, it seemed like a good way to balance the interests of the players and the universities by allowing athletes to get a bit of experience without losing an entire year of eligibility.  Unfortunately, from what you are seeing this year, the inadvertent side effects appear to be reaching epidemic proportions.  In the past few weeks, we have had players at Houston and players at Rutgers decide to sit out starting in the middle of the season.  Players are deciding after a “poor” start to the season, a mid-season coaching change or a potential coaching change, that they should “stop” playing until the following year so as not to “waste” a year of eligibility.  This leaves the team and interim coaches in a really difficult situation where players they were relying on now have the ability to decide not to be part of the team.  I am sure that this problem will only grow and ultimately coaches and universities will have to figure out a reasonable (and legal) way to prevent this from happening in the future.  UPDATE OCTOBER 8, 2019: NOW EVEN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED IS COVERING THIS SAME ISSUE!!

While almost all of us agree that there are some exploitations in the way college athletes are compensated, you have to wonder whether the “solution” is the proposed Name, Image and Likeness  (NIL) law that was passed in California and is now being proposed in many other states. 

The concept of the law itself is superficially appealing because it appears to create an avenue for athletes to get compensated for their Name, Image and Likeness, something that has been prohibited up to this point. The challenge in this situation is going to be how the NCAA attempts to regulate the manner in which the athletes can be compensated.  Up to this point, the NCAA has struggled to consistently apply its regulations.  While the attempts by states to influence the NCAA to change are noble, let’s take a look at whether they will really achieve the articulated goals.

Reading through the California law, the proposed New York law and the proposed Florida law, none of them account for the very real challenges and potential for abuse.  While the pressure from the states will ultimately force the NCAA’s hand and require it to allow NIL compensation, what the state laws do not address is what “other” ways the NCAA can regulate compensation for athletes and influence athlete eligibility.

The goal of most fans, most college athletes, as well as the critics of the NCAA, is to find a mechanism to allow the athletes to be compensated during their athletic careers. Some people want to call their scholarships compensation, which in and of itself would cause problems with workers compensation, insurance and much more.  While people often say that the scholarship is “not enough”, at many schools, the total cost of attendance is in the range of $40,000 to $50,000.  In addition, nobody can deny that the athletes (for all sports), get an array of services that is far beyond what the typical student would receive (food, supplements, tutoring, academic support, athletic training, medical treatments, strength and conditioning, use of facilities and more).   At the recent Chicago Sports Summit, DePaul University Athletic Director Jean Lenti Ponsetto estimated the total allocated cost for supporting an athlete at $250,000 to $300,000.  Included in this total was an allocation of all of the support services for the athletes, other than the out of proportion salaries for head coaches for football and men’s basketball.  So essentially, her number includes salaries for assistant coaches, athletic trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, academic support services, nutrition, sports information directors, team managers and more. 

When we hear athletes complain that they are not getting “enough”, one question that is frequently raised is what type of compensation these athletes would get if they walked out of high school and tried to get a “normal job.”   In today’s world, I think we would all be hard pressed to find a situation where a high school grad would be able to get a job paying $50,000 per year absent some special skills.

So while we applaud the state’s for pushing this issue and forcing the NCAA’s hand, we have to remember that there is going to be a lot of work to handle this enormous change in college sports, one which neither the NCAA nor the states are equipped to handle.

THE PROBLEMS

Some of the problems with these laws include the following:

• No restriction on how the athletes can be paid
• No restriction on when they can be paid (i.e. before enrolling or playing in actual games)
• No requirement of reasonableness or market rate (see below)

WHERE THE ABUSE WILL COME INTO PLAY

The state laws simple make it illegal to invalidate the eligibility for players who are compensated for their name, image and likeness.  However, without a mechanism to handle the anticipated abuses, we are simply going to see some “legitimate” compensation to high profile athletes and a lot of underground payments to athletes who truly have no marketability.

For example, look at the NFL.  Very few players have actual endorsement deals.  VERY FEW.  On a national level, the number is probably lower than 25.  On a local level on each NFL team, with a few exceptions, you might have a dozen players that are actually being paid for endorsements and perhaps another dozen that are getting something in trade (restaurants, car dealerships, bars, etc.). 

Under the proposed state regulations, any “payment” to an athlete can be disguised as a NIL payment.  Hey, you are a good looking kid, if you are here in Columbus playing for Ohio State, we could put you on our car dealership calendar or give you the use of a vehicle.

How would that be regulated?  Should it be regulated at all or should we let the free market forces take over entirely in this space?  The challenge is how we are going to make this an allegedly level playing field.  If you were to take “true market value” of college athletes, there would be less than a dozen players on any college team that merit consideration for NIL compensation.  It is easy for us to earmark payments to an athlete when they are a Heisman contender or star player.  We can take a percentage of their jersey sales or we can figure out the media value of them being used on a billboard or in a promotional advertising campaign.  But going into to college, how many athletes have that power?  I would hate to see a restriction on when a player can get paid because they will create too much subjectivity. 

My skeptical side says cheating will still go on.  Underground payments will still occur.  They will just be disguised differently.

It will be interesting to watch the NCAA’s reaction.  With other states jumping on board with California, the NCAA is definitely running out of time and I would anticipate seeing some response from them before the end of 2019.

One of the things that has always mystified me on the concussion front is how the NFLPA has been virtually ignored.  As the entity charged with representing the players and protecting their health and safety, the NFLPA has essentially been given a free pass on the issue.

Currently, there are lawsuits pending against the NFL, Pop Warner, the NCAA and many other entities.  The basic allegations in each complaint rely on the fact that the sponsoring organization had a duty to the athletes and failed to protect them, and in many cases, hid the dangers of concussions away from them.

The NFL in particular has been accused of downplaying the dangers of concussions and using a committee of highly unqualified individuals to make the decisions for the league.  The problem the league faces is that, until recently, their actions are quite clearly against the weight of medical science.  Their Head, Neck and Spine committee consisted of people who were not neurologists and did not have the credentials to advise on these issues, much less lead the way.

But the question I don’t see anyone asking is Where was the NFLPA while this fiasco was going on.”  It is reasonable to be in the camp of believing that the NFL acted inappropriately and that the league hid dangers and used unqualified people to distort the research (or at minimum, minimize the impact of the research).  Yet I see no groups taking on the NFLPA or even questioning where their leadership was while the concussion crisis started to take shape. 

The group in the best position to take on the powerhouse of the NFL is the NFLPA.  The players alone have little power.  The agents have virtually no power on these issues. Long time agent Leigh Steinberg has said that he was presenting concussion issues to the league in the early 1990’s with no success.

So while the NFLPA may not have been in a position to take the lead role, surely it had the obligation and the right to question how the NFL examined this issue. It seems to me that this was a failure of leadership on the part of the NFLPA and the NFLPA may have been more concerned with other financial issues for the players and with long term health benefits, both worthwhile causes.  You may read this and say, hey, Roy Kessel, who are you to question the NFLPA.  Having been certified as an NFL Contract Advisor (i.e. agent), and having attended numerous NFLPA seminars, Sports Lawyers Association Seminars and having taught at Northwestern, this is an issue that I have examined on many occasions.

While I agree that the NFLPA should not have primary liability on this issue, I do not see how the media has failed to question the union as it relates to their actions.  I have asked this question to former players, media members and even many involved in the concussion” industry.  I am still waiting for an answer.  If you have one, I would love to hear it below.

Players get cut all the time for egregious mistakes all of the time. We rarely advocate for taking away someone’s livelihood, but you have to question how to handle a situation in professional sports where the official (or multiple officials) miss the play that is right in front of their face.

When they have one responsibility on that play and they miss a call by a large margin. We are not talking about a bang-bang play or one where reasonable (or even irrational fan) minds could differ. We are talking about one of the worst calls all time in sports.  One where the league apologized immediately after the game and one where the offending player joked with the media and acknowledged that it really was not a close call.

As I said at the outset, I don’t advocate for people to be fired for single instances of poor performance, but if you look around the world of sports, it is happening more and more at all levels of the sport. Coaches, Athletic Directors, front office personnel, media personalities and many others are terminated and/or suspended, in a very public forum. They are held up to open ridicule and made a target of late night talk shows.

So why do we seem very reluctant to hold officials to the same standard. They are human we are told. And they are. I believe officiating is an extremely difficult profession and certainly one that is not appreciated and never given credit for good performance. You almost never hear someone walk away saying that was a well officiated game.” The best officials can hope for is to be ignored and not the center of attention.

So where does that leave us? What is the remedy for an outrageously bad call?  There is none for the team. None for the players. You can’t go back and replay a game from the point of the call.  The human element is not something that I want to see decide a game unless it is the human element of the players, not the officials.  

It seems to me that the officials deserve the same public attention that any player would get.  They do NOT deserve physical attacks, death threats or abuse of their families. But in today’s world, accountability is the mantra and that occurs primarily from a public disclosure of the failure.  Officials are rated for every game and for every call within every game. While one call does not determine the full scale of their evaluation, it is hard to see how such a high profile mistake would still allow the league to put that individual (or individuals) in playoff games next season.

How do you think that the league should handle the discipline of officials for mistakes, especially game changing mistakes.  We would love to hear your ideas.

Wow.  I rarely say that in response to anything on TV these days (unless it was the replacement officials’ absurd call in the Packers-Seahawks game).

But after watching ESPN’s outstanding 30 for 30 Broke” there is not much else to say.  I guess you could say it is sad, scary, disturbing or any of another dozen negative thoughts.  I did not expect to be overwhelmed by it since this is a field with which I have a lot of direct experience.

I have met numerous athletes who have been defrauded  by their agents, financial advisors, attorneys and friends.  Many of them have been victims of ponzi schemes and other types of scams that were perpetrated on them due to their high profile, great wealth and relative lack of sophistication in dealing with these issues. 

I know attorneys who have filed lawsuits to recover the funds from these ponzi schemes, but unfortunately, the scammers have typically spent and used most of the funds for their own personal benefit, acquiring expensive homes, cars and jewelry and also taking exotic vacations and trips.  While it might make the victims feel a little bit better when they find out that the people who defrauded them have been disbarred, indicted, convicted and sentenced, the reality is that they rarely recover their funds.

When I discuss the cases with the attorneys who have filed the lawsuits on behalf of these athlete victims, they almost universally say that the athletes were defrauded by their own advisors, and that the athletes were too ashamed to come forward sooner to get authorities involved or get attorneys involved early in the process.  The athletes (and their advisors) typically did too little (if any) due diligence on the transactions and on the people who are promoting the transaction.

So while we wonder why this occurs, the reality comes down to one point. TRUST.   Athletes really do not know who to trust.  They rely on the information that is put in front of them by their advisors and their friends.  But who are the ones most often responsible for getting athletes into these ponzi schemes or other scams?  These same advisors.

The trick here is for the athlete to develop and implement a large team of independent advisors that can work together to help the athlete conduct due diligence.  This is where the stories from Broke” were the most disturbing. 

One thing that Broke” made clear is that a lot of the problems arise from the athlete’s feeling of invincibility.  We have read that hundreds and thousands of times relating to physical issues whether it is physical altercations, domestic violence, bar fights, drunk driving or others.  

Yet, we expect these same young athletes to exercise better business” judgment, even though none of them have actual business experience (and few of their families have that experience either).    When you think of who most people rely on when they need help, it is the people closest to them.  Their family and their trusted advisors.  The difference with professional athletes is that they do not grow” into these roles over time.  They do not advance in their careers before their earn big dollars.  They do not develop relationships with advisors while the stakes are small and have that relationship mature over time.  Instead, they are left extremely vulnerable to their agents, their attorneys, their family, their friends and their financial advisors.

One disturbing element in Broke” was how often these players described just handing out money to other people.  The sums of money are so large that they lose ALL perspective to the value of money.  Yet, if you asked them how much money they could earn in a year in any job other than professional sports, that perspective might help them understand their spending habits.

But would they listen?  If you go back and watch broke and listen to the stories from Andre Rison, you will see a tremendous attitude of I do what I want.”   And that comes at an extreme price.  It means that the athletes do not even want to listen to the people who really do want to help them.  Everything in their life is about competition.  About bigger and better.  About  having the best.  So it is easy to see why that also applies to their investments.

You want me to take conservative investments.”   Why should I?”   My teammates just invested into a deal that is getting him [10/20/30%].”

And that is how it happens.  The perpetrators of the scams and the ponzi schemes only need one access point.  They find one athlete that they cater to and cultivate a relationship with, and then they use that person to gain athlete to pro teammates, college teammates, high school teammates, etc.  You can see why the ponzi scheme format is so powerful in this environment.  It connects all the victims and they all feel insecure about the investment loses and they do not know who to turn to.  Many of the athletes write off their loses without even pursuing legal remedies.  And by doing so, they do not bring enough attention to the problem.  Lawsuits against these dishonest advisors would facilitate getting federal and state authorities involved.   Given the limited resources of the FBI, the postal inspectors and the US attorneys offices, they are unable to investigate and pursue all of the claims that are out there.  But with some help and with high profile victims, the lawsuits could help institute the proper administrative and disciplinary proceedings against those operating the ponzi schemes and other scams.  By having cooperative witnesses, supporting documentation and good attorneys leading the way, the opportunity to recover funds before they are all squandered would increase dramatically.   Because ultimately, the players really want a few things:  1) to get their money back; 2) to get their vengeance by having the scammers disbarred, indicted, convicted and sentenced; and 3) to not have this situation take over their life.

Hopefully for most athletes, these losses to fraudulent schemes do not constitute the bulk of their wealth.  But many lose money in other ways.  You saw the descriptions in Broke” talking about how many of them lost money in bad” deals as opposed to fraudulent deals.  At the end of the day, the financial impact is the same even if the emotional toll is not the same.

But perhaps the most difficult losses” to overcome are not those from ponzi schemes, fraudulent investments or bad investments.  It is the result of bad decisions by the athletes.   The amount of money spent on cars, homes, jewelry, gambling, strip clubs, alcohol and other luxuries is way beyond proportion to their financial status.  Athletes do not have the same length of earning career as the average business professional.  In football, the average career is approximately 3 years.   That means that most of the athletes never even make it that far. 

In our next feature, we will look further at how the athletes can overcome these negative habits and what advice they should be given early in their career by the agents and families in order to protect them from slipping into the Broke” mentality.

We honestly hope that Broke” becomes required viewing for the all athletes who have professional sports aspirations.   Because we know that many athletes will NOT listen.  But we also know that the more often they hear the message, and the more often it is from neutral” sources, the more likely they are to give it some credence and give much stronger consideration to the steps that are necessary to prevent the losses to ponzi schemes and other fraudulent scams.

Overall I felt that the movie did a pretty good job of highlighting some of the most severe examples of what could happen as a result of ongoing head trauma and potentially as a result of CTE.  Obviously, I am too close to the issue and not really part of the “target market” so maybe my expectations are a bit off.

I am not sure that the movie needed the love story element with Omalu but it seemed that they wanted to use that as a way to tie the story together and humanize Omalu a bit more.  I give incredible praise to Omalu for being willing to stand up to the NFL and the football establishment and fight on this issue.  His work laid the foundation for the great increase in concussion awareness over the past 5 years.  Despite being right and despite his success, he was demonized by many and I am not sure that the depth of the attacks on him was portrayed in the movie.

I think the movie missed a few big opportunities:

First, for most people that have not been around this discussion, stating that a concussion occurs at “60 Gs of force” is far too abstract.  They would have been better served to put in a few small clips from hits that were estimated at 60 Gs and then show them in comparison to clips that were part of the “Jacked Up” segment, all of which are probably well over 100 Gs of force.  I think most people would be surprised by how “minor” a 60 G hit looks in comparison to what they are expecting

Second, they took the extreme cases of Mike Webster, Terry Long and Justin S. (I am not even going to try to spell that name here without Google).  It is likely that all 3 of those players suffered significantly due to the head trauma and they did find evidence of CTE.  But those are hardly clean comparisons because that was also the midst of the steroid era and the potential of steroid rage and other drug implications is significant.  The movie conveniently ignored all of that as it focused just on the CTE issues (which should not be minimized, nor should you read this paragraph to mean that they are not significant contributing factors to their mental states).

Third, I think that the failure to compare the current state of concussion management and the way players are being handled post concussion now was disappointing.  It leaves the viewer with the impression that anyone playing football WILL SUFFER the horrendous effects that were highlighted in the movie.  Though people have mocked Roger Goodell saying the game is safer than it has ever been, that is probably true.  Players are removed after concussions and monitored closely.  Players who now miss 3-4 games would have been put right back on the field.  The number of hits players suffer in practice is significantly reduced starting from youth football to high school to college and to the NFL (or other pro league).  The cumulative effect of reduced hitting in practice means thousands of hits fewer for any of today’s players.

Finally, most notably, the party who is tasked with the primary responsibility for protecting the interests of the players gets off without any mention.  The NFLPA is the group that should bear MUCH MORE of the anger and frustration from the players than the NFL. The NFLPA has the resources and interest to fight back and question what is going on with the NFL. It never did.  I think it will go down as one of the great failures of Gene Upshaw, former Executive Director of the NFLPA.  I am not sure how the NFLPA has stayed out of the limelight so long, but it also came out with little criticism in PBS Frontline’s “League of Denial”.  If you haven’t watched that and are interest in this topic, it has much more details.

A few other observations:

1. Joseph Maroon comes across as arrogant and fighting against the science.  My favorite was the line of Omalu when he said that “history will laught at those that deny” and “tell the truth”.

2. Elliott Pelman, who chaired the NFL committee on the traumatic brain injuries for many years was a Rhumatologist. This was rightly pointed out in the movie but this movie did not highlight many of his other outrageious statements and proclamations in the offical reports that were issued.

3. Julian Bailes continues to be heavily involved in concussion related matters.  My favorite line of his was when he told Omalu “You are in trouble, but you are not wrong.”

4. The NFL deserves plenty of criticism for not picking up this issue earlier, and certainly for trying to mask findings that had the potential to hurt the game.  The NFL also certainly deserves flack for trying to bury the issue at the conference and presentation and prevent Omalu from presenting his findings. What everyone needs to remember, however, is that NOBODY ELSE was taking any different action either.  The NHL, MLB, the general medical community etc. were all way behind the times.  In fact, if you look at it, the NFL has actually been at the forefront of dealing with this issue (as it is in many health related issues such as drugs, PEDs, etc).  The general medical community still seems to be well behind the sports community in dealing with concussion issues.

5. Dave Duerson came out looking very bad in the movie.  The movie did not really give any background on him but having met him and had some other interactions, there are several important facts that were omitted.  First, he was removed from Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees because of a domestic violence charge which occurred while he was in South Bend for a trustees meeting.  He was on many other board, belonged to Medinah Country Club and was struggling to uphold his image.  He had a business that ran into significant financial difficulties and he was being investigated and sued on many levels relating to the collapse of his primary business (a meat packing plant that had contracts with McDonalds).  Again, not to minimize the impact that CTE may have had on him or his behavior (or business dealings), but these other issues could have been significant in his decision to take his own life.  Sadly, I had the opportunity to present at an event sponsored by an organization run by one of his closest friends. This friend was the first person to get to the body and cleaned up before the family got there. I got to see the actual photos he took of the bed, blood soaked sheets and the room.

6. Ira Casson, another one of the medical professionals on the NFL’s committees looked utterly ignorant with his blanket proclamations that there was no link to concussions or head trauma.

7. Junior Seau was anothe player that had tried to commit suicide on a few other occasions, before he was successful.

8. Omalu’s boss who was indicted is also a good reminder of the federal government that can choose to indict almost anyone for almost anything if you have any dealings with federal agencies or funding.  I don’t know the whole story in that case but would be interested to read more if anyone has the details.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions, many of which cannot be answered until we can identify CTE in living people.  I will make a list of these questions for next time.

Watching this year’s World Cup has been a great experience as there have been terrific matches and relatively little controversy as compared to other years.

Soccer is obviously the world’s sport and the pageantry and vivid colors give the event great flair.  However, there are 3 rules that I would love to see changed which would improve the soccer experience without drastically changing the sport.  Any change is met with objection from the traditionalists but I believe that these 3 changes would create a better overall game.  FIFA spent a lot of money evaluating and implementing goal-line technology, which had little need based on this year’s games.  The changes below have no real costs to implement but would have a positive impact on the games.

1. Offsides
2. Penalty Kicks during the game
3. PK Shootout

Offsides�The offsides trap gives the defense an ability to make strategic plays and prevents offensive players from staying too far downfield.  But at a certain point, the current offsides rule limits creativity and clogs the field making attacking soccer more difficult.  My proposal is that there can be no offsides on any ball played from inside the 18 meter line from the goal (i.e. equal to the top of the penalty area).  This balances the need for the offsides trap while allow creative thru balls and flick headers within the penalty area that are currently ruled offsides.  Currently a ball played from 6 yards from the goal to a player 3 yards from the goal can be deemed an offsides pass. This significantly hampers the offense’s ability to spread the field.  Ultimately, it also results in fewer goals and scoring opportunities because the defense doesn’t need to mark players and only needs to play the ball.  This change would allow the offense to find the space needed for more passing and creative moves inside the area and on the wings.

Penalty Kicks during the game�Not all fouls are created alike. Some of those within the area deserve a penalty kick and some of them do not.  The difficulty, is that the referee is currently given no discretion to decide which is which.  So while giving referees more discretion is rarely a popular option, this proposal would accomplish a few things.  First, it would ensure that incidental hand balls, or fouls on the edge of the penalty area in non-attacking positions would not require a penalty shot.  They would be rewarded with a direct free kick just like elsewhere on the field.  The fouls or hand balls in scoring position or directly denying a scoring opportunity would still result in a penalty kick.  Second, it would allow the referee to make more of the calls that currently go un-whistled.  Currently, if a ref sees an incidental foul or a marginal call, they ignore it and don’t blow the whistle because they are reluctant to award a penalty kick since it is almost an automatic goal.  By giving the referee this discretion, we would see the proper fouls calls and the attacking team would still be rewarded with a set piece in a dangerous spot.  It would also remove some of the frustration of players who are fouled and not getting the calls since the referee doesn’t want to award the penalty and it would also reduce some of the diving in the area because getting a free kick on the corner of the area is not worth as much as diving in order to get a penalty kick.

PK Shootout�You can read my diatribe about overtime below and I recognize that proposal is far more controversial, but this proposal is about the current shootout format which is really not equitable for the teams involved.  One team is always going first, the other always going second.  This results in particular pressures that can be unfair as the shootout unfolds.  My proposal would be to move to a structure like the tennis tiebreaker format.  Under this format, the shooting order would look like this:

• Argentina
• Germany
• Germany
• Argentina
• Argentina
• Germany
• Germany
• Argentina
• Argentina
• Germany

This would ensure that the pressure shifts between the two teams and one team is not always ahead or not always behind.  I think it would keep a more equitable balance as the teams vie for the next round.

I have a couple of other more radical ideas that are worthy of consideration.

Overtime.           While a penalty kick is okay as part of the sport, I hate to see sporting events determined with them just as I would hate to see NHL playoff games decided on a penalty shot shootout.  Imagine Game 7 of the Stanley Cup decided that way.  The pressure and tension in an NHL playoff game is difficult to replicate.  But I would rather see a Golden Goal format for overtime and a continuation of overtime until someone scores.   Just as an NHL game can go 2 or 3 overtimes, I think that would really enhance the sport as opposed to the penalty kicks.  I recognize it is more difficult to score in soccer than in hockey and that unlimited overtime doesn’t wrap up in a nice package for TV which currently allocates 3 hours for elimination round games (2 hours for a regular game, plus 30 minutes of overtime plus penalty kicks).  However, if you are looking for other ways to encourage scoring in overtime you could allow free substitutions or choose my most radical idea—remove one player from each team every ten minutes after the initial 30 minutes of overtime.  The reduced number of players on the field would ultimately result in a goal more quickly than a full 11 v 11 format.

Substitutions.   The substitution rules are also outdated and I think the game would be better served by following a format similar to baseball where subs can be freely inserted but the removed players cannot return to the game.  The current rules give little flexibility to a manager who wants to strategically start with a focus on offense/defense and retain the ability to change strategies mid-game.

Enjoy the final. Let’s hope it is better than the last two Brazil games.

One of the most important decisions that a college football player has to make is the selection of an agent to represent them in their mission to reach the NFL**. 

Unfortunately, there is nothing that prepares these players, nor their families for this process.   Just like the recruiting process in high school, the athletes go thru it one time.  The agents have typically been thru the process dozens or hundreds of times.  So the agents know the rules, know the hot-buttons and know how to manipulate the information into a format which is most digestible for the player and their family (or most slanted to the agent’s favor)

It is really an unfair advantage, and an unnecessary one.  The schools could do some basic education about the process.  This would arm their student-athletes with the information that is easily available.  It would allow the players to get a grip on the process before the agents start recruiting them.  We will have a follow up article about how the schools could do a better job educating players and managing the process, but for today, we are examining the most important things a player needs to know in order to select the best agent for themselves.

So here are 17 tips for making a good selection of an agent:

1. Big Names are not everything
2. Complete trust is the single most important element in choosing your agent
3. More money does not equal better representation
4. But, more money can help provide you with important services
5. Beware of promises
6. Do not believe everything you hear
7. Make sure that they behave professionally
8. Make sure that they have their own success(es)
9. Understand the process before you start
10. Best time to meet with agents is after Spring football before fall camp starts (for those who are planning ahead for next year)
11. There is nothing an agent can do for you during your senior season (legally)
12. Training facilities are rarely the differentiating factor
13. Beware of bundled services
14. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket
15. Make sure you are comfortable�fully comfortable
16. You have to be open and honest throughout the whole process
17. There is no rush-do your own due diligence

Big Names are not everything�it is great that some of the big names” are interested in representing you.   But you have to ask yourself the question, Is that the type of person/agency that I want to be represented by.”  There are many good independent agents so make sure you consider some of the following factors.  Your agent does not need to be with the biggest organizations.  The agent’s experience is definitely relevant, but the real question for you becomes the agent’s ability to service your needs.  Will the agent give you the personal attention you desire?  How much effort will they put in if your career runs into some bumps along the way?  Will they stick with you and help even if you fail to live up to the overall expectations.  I have heard many stories of players, even high draft picks, who failed to get proper help and communication from their agents because the player was running into difficulties and not living up to his potential.  While larger agencies can provide some additional perks and benefits, remember that the most important part of the agent’s role is to help guide you through the draft process and the contract negotiation.  The other perks are typically relatively minor in comparison.

Who do you fully trust?  TRUST is the #1 most important element in this relationship.  If you do not trust EVERYTHING that your agent is telling you (because of lack of experience, potential conflicts of interest, other agendas), then you will have a very difficult time having a productive relationship.  One of the hardest parts going into this process is the feeling that you are in it alone and you do not have anyone to trust.  The person you trust the most SHOULD be your agent.  If you do not get that feeling about an agent you are considering, (or that is currently representing you), then you should look elsewhere.  There will be many frustrations as the process proceeds, you need someone you can rely on, and someone you TRULY believe is giving you honest and accurate information (as opposed to the information that YOU want to hear or the information that THEY want you to hear).  Other players will yap in your ear, other agents will try to steal you away and often even college coaches, pro scouts and training facilities will try to have an impact on your selection.  If you fully trust your agent, that should just amount to background noise.  If you do not fully trust your agent, then that chatter will become a big distraction and continually create the doubt which will undermine your relationship with your agent.

More money does not equal better representation�Over the years I have seen many, many agents jump into the process, spend a ton of money, make a quick splash and then flame out quickly.   Often they flame out because they fail to properly evaluate prospects and spend in the wrong places.  Other times they flame out because they were more concerned about the splash and the image than they were about working hard on behalf of their clients.  Many people are not willing to put in the effort that it takes to represent athletes. Once they realize that the business side of being an agent is not about being at parties, events and games, they get easily discouraged.  While it is nice to be taken to an expensive dinner, and to be given other perks as part of the agent recruiting process, you would NEVER select other professionals (accountants, lawyers, financial advisors, etc.) by how much they spend entertaining you.  You should not select an agent based on that criteria either.

More money does help provide you with important services�Money is not necessarily evil.  Money is a very important element in this process.  No agent can represent you well without having the resources available.  Someone struggling in their own life may not be in a position to do a good job for you.  If they are stretched thin as a result of business demands, family demands, divorces, business failures or other draining events, their ability to help you might be limited.  It takes a lot of money to pay for the required travel, training and other expenditures that are part of the recruiting, training and draft process.  The biggest agencies can offer many of these perks, but there are many successful agents who operate in a smaller agency environment and do a terrific job for their clients.

Beware of promises�nobody can promise you what round you will be drafted in, what team will draft you or which teams will offer you opportunities as an undrafted free agent.  This is especially true early in the process when you have not had the Senior Bowl, East-West Shrine or any other all-star games, you have not been to the NFL Combine, and you have not gone through your pro-day workout.  People can give you a fairly accurate idea of where you might fit in to the overall ratings (based on earlier scouting reports), but you have to recognize that many of those rating systems are flawed and are only early projections.  Until the entire process is completed, you should be wary of these promises.  Do you own homework.  Each year there are significant changes between the top players projected coming into the season, and where they end up in the draft.   I once met with a father of a DL at Michigan.  He was upset because I told him his son was a 7^th round pick or free agent.  He said he had other agents promising him that he was probably a 2^nd round pick or at worst” a 3^rd round pick.  Needless to say, he signed with another agent and didn’t get drafted.  Just because one agent is giving you information you do not like to hear, that does not mean he/she does not believe in you.  In fact it might be a signal that they are being more honest with you.  If they did not want to represent you, they would not be recruiting you.

Do not believe everything you hear (or that is presented to you)�make sure that you understand the sources of the information being presented to you.  A lot of the information you receive from different agents should be the same.  If it is inconsistent with what several other agents have told you, it is worth further examination. Unfortunately, many agents misrepresent some or all of the following information:

• their client lists
• work that they have done for NFL players
• their work history and background
• contracts that they have negotiated
• how much their players rose” in draft rankings after they started representation
• the degree of customer service
• their ability to get your marketing/endorsement agreements
• the extent (and value) of their relationships around the league

Listen to everything that they say.  Study it carefully.  Do some of your own due diligence (as we explain later) or ask someone else that you trust to help.  Some of the misrepresentations are very well disguised and hidden.  In his book about the agent game (Illegal Procedure: A Sports Agent Comes Clean on the Dirty Business of College Football) , Josh Luchs gives some terrific examples of how agents completely changed projected draft orders of prior seasons early draft projections so that they could show how much they had helped their clients climb up the draft boards. 

Make sure that they are professional�you do not need someone else to party with.  You do not need a person who wants to hang out” with you.  The person you are hiring as an agent is there to provide you with professional services.  You have plenty of other people to hit the clubs with.  You agent needs to spend his time networking with scouts, player personnel and coaches.  In weeks like the Senior Bowl or the Combine he/she should be out late and working those networks.  But your agent has his/her role to perform, and if they are looking for the party scene, they are probably not a good choice to provide you with the professional service that you are looking for.  Obviously nothing wrong with the agent going out with you for dinner or drinks or spending time together at a club, but make sure you keep an eye on the frequency and extent to which they are living this lifestyle”

Make sure that they have their own success�This is one of the most important items.  If you agent is dependent on YOUR success, than that means they are not established and have not achieved their own success.  Even if you choose to select a less experienced agent, make sure that they have been successful in their prior endeavors (i.e. law practice, accounting, financial services, other business).  Too often I see players signing with individuals with no demonstrated track record of any kind.  They select someone they became close to (or often an agent or runner became close to the athlete with this in mind).  These are the situations where the agent can become dependent on the athlete’s success and that level of desperation may cause the agent to take actions which are not in the player’s interest (i.e. giving in too easily to contract demands, asking the player for loans, not taking trips or attending events that the agent should be at).  The professional track record of the agent you are selecting is very important.

Understand the process yourself before you start�This is something that you can easily do to help protect yourself.  DO NOT accept all information given to you by agents as a given.  Unfortunately, many of them want you to believe that they are giving you some proprietary secrets.  They rarely are.  Much of the information is available online through the NFLPA website or other easily accessible resources.  One of my pet peeves is that many of the schools do a very poor job of educating their athletes.  This failure allows the agents/runners to get closer to the players and provide them with information, misinformation or other inappropriate items.  If the schools took time to educate the players about this process earlier in their college careers, they would be reducing the perceived power and value the agents have.  A brief program of educating players would go a long way.  And by educate, I am not talking about the NCAA rules, university regulations or other life skills (though those are also important).  They need to educate the players specifically about the draft process, the agents, the timing, the expectations and the frustrations.  My analogy is this:  1) the universities’ refusal to educate the players about the agent process under the rationale of they don’t need to know about agents until they are done with college football because they don’t need an agent before that”; would be like saying, 2) I am not going to talk to my kids about sex, drugs and alcohol until they are done with high school because they don’t need to be doing any of those things during high school.”

Training facilities are rarely the differentiating factor�Training is important.  No question that good training can help you in the draft process.  Good performances at all-star games, the NFL Combine and your pro-day can go a long way to solidifying your draft position.  Read that again:  Solidifying.  Not necessarily changing.  If you talk to NFL personnel, they will tell you that most of your grade comes from your performance during your college career, your character and your perceived ability to contribute (taken from observations, conversations with your coaches and interviews).  Estimates vary, but I put the number at no more than 10% of your overall grade being determined by your actual physical performances at the NFL Combine and/or your pro-day.  So if you take that number, ask yourself how much better any one facility needs to be in order to have a dramatic impact on your draft position?  Find a place that you are comfortable with BUT DO NOT select your agent based on your like/dislike of a particular training facility.   Trust your agent to have you in a good spot.  If you are selecting an agent you like less because he has reserved slots at a training facility you like more you are asking for trouble.  I still believe the colleges could eliminate almost this entire problem by training their athletes for the combine.  Some schools do that, but at many schools the players training for the NFL Draft are viewed as a distraction rather than an asset and the staffs are happy to get them away from their current players.  I think many players would do well training in familiar environments with a support network in place and some familiarity.  Instead, the current trend seems to be to send the players away from their comfort zone, away from classes (if they still care about graduating), away from people that can allow them to be a normal person.  When they get in the draft culture”, they have too much unstructured free time which can often become difficult for many of the players to manage.

Beware of bundled services�I have never been a fan of the model that allows the agents to virtually require a player to utilize all of the services that they offer.  The important role of the agent is to be at the center of the circle with the player.  The other service providers should be independent people/organizations in order to provide the best chance for checks and balances.  If an agent says Don’t worry, I will take care of everything,” you should be concerned.  In today’s world, no one person has the ability to handle their duties as an agent, as well as issues relating to: insurance, marketing, financial management, marketing, social media, training and conditioning, nutrition, legal services, accounting, etc.  And just because you have a great relationship with one agent, that does not mean that you should necessarily be stuck with their people” for all of those services.  The most healthy structure for the athlete is where all of those services are provided by independent people that can serve as checks and balances and prevent misuse of power or help you through difficult times.

Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket�related to the point above, I put this as a separate item just to make sure that you read it again.  Do not give any one person/organization all of the power.  Make sure that you develop a strong group and strong team to represent all of your interests.  The different perspectives of your team of professionals will give you a valuable overview of what is going on in your world.

Make sure that you are comfortable�Your doubts will only increase as times goes by.  If you are not comfortable now, you will probably not be comfortable later.  You need to go in with full confidence and excitement.

Have to be entirely open and honest throughout the process�Your job is to find the best agent.  Do not try to hold back information or play games with the agents.  The agent can only do as good of a job as you allow.  If you are holding back on your agent, that is a signal that you may not fully trust them (as discussed above).  That will be extremely detrimental to the agent’s ability to represent you.  As I often told my clients when they consulted me on legal issues, you have to tell me everything.”  We make decisions based on the information in front of us and we develop strategies which allow us to avoid landmines and other problems.  If there are hidden issues, that could undermine your own interests.  If you are unhappy or upset or uncertain about things along the way, you have to realize that is to be expected.  Your agent is there to help you resolve those issues and feelings.  But if you get upset about something and do not discuss it with your agent, you are not helping yourself.  You are building up the barriers and the resentment.  If you are ultimately not comfortable with the way your concerns are addressed or with the explanations you are given, then you may need to look for different representation.  However, if you fail to have the conversation with your current agent, you will not know the difference between normal insecurities and concerns as opposed to significant problems.  If you ultimately have ongoing problems, then look for someone you trust so that you can discuss with them whether your concerns are a sign of real problems, or just needing a different perspective.

The best time to interview and meet with agents is after spring football and before fall camp starts�We included this section in here for the players who are starting to think about this process for next year, or in the future.  Take advantage of the summer.   Most schools will let you meet with the agents on campus if the agents are registered with your school and your state (as they are supposed to be).  This demonstrates to the agent that you are in control of the process, that you intend to keep everything above board, and that you expect them to comply with all applicable regulations.  Whether you do it on campus or not, make sure you meet with several agents, hear their varying pitches and give some thought to which 2-3 agents you might want to consider as part of your final process after your senior year.  A lot can change during your senior season (for better and for worse).  Let the year play out.  Take the time to get to know the agents who are recruiting you.  See whether they honor your requests and give you the space to play your season without distracting you from the task at hand.  You will learn a lot about them when you observe how they treat you during this period and it should be considered an important part of the process.  So get those interviews out of the way when you are not playing football.  And then make sure you tell the agents that you need to concentrate on football.  The professionals in the industry understand that.  They will stay in touch but should not be intrusive and should not be disruptive your football schedule.

There is nothing an agent can do for you (legally) during your senior season�The most important thing you can do during your senior season is play football.  And play well.   Having a successful senior year greatly exceeds anything else that can be done in the draft process.  So by the time you select an agent (and they go to work on your behalf) recognize that YOU have done the hard part.   There is nothing an agent can legally do for you during your senior season that will help you in the process.  They cannot pay for things, cannot take you places and cannot do any of these things for your family and/or girlfriend.    Agents can stay in touch with you and are likely to email, text or call.  But they should do that at times that do not disrupt the demands of your football or school schedules.  Many will want to stop by and visit for a few minutes after games to show you that they are still interested in you.  But if you lay out the boundaries over the summer during your interviews, you should be able to expect the agents to respect those requests.  If an agent is doing improper things to recruit you, then you have to ask yourself whether they will be just as likely to do those things TO YOU at a later date.  Any promises which violate NCAA, university or NFLPA regulations should be an immediate concern to you about the long term viability of the representation relationship, even if the immediate reward/perk being offered is enticing.  You should report any improper activities to your compliance officer.***

There is no rush�Too many people rush the process. Too many agents will put pressure on you to make your decision. The reality is that other than selecting a training facility, the agent will have plenty of time to work on your behalf. I always told my clients I liked to have our representation in place prior to the Senior Bowl so that I could use that week to discuss my players with NFL personnel such as scouts, coaches and others that can influence the draft process.  You do not need to sign as you walk thru the tunnel after your bowl game.  You do not need to sign the day after you may have had a tough bowl loss.  This is an important decision.  Take the time to consider it properly.   If you have followed the advice above and have interviewed agents over the summer, you should feel less rushed when your senior season ultimately comes to an end. Larry Fitzgerald did not sign with an agent until very late in the draft process because he had a very good understanding of the process, had people around him who helped him through the process and knew he was going to be a very high pick.  He is an exception.  But the point is DO NOT MAKE A DECISION UNTIL YOU ARE FULLY COMFORTABLE.  Regardless of what pressures” are put on you by an agent, this decision is too important to rush.  Make sure you do your own due diligence or have someone you trust help you with that process.  The person helping you should NOT have any type of vested stake in the results of the investigation (i.e. should not be a current teammate, former teammate, college coach, university official or other players you know in the NFL—because each of these groups have significant potential conflicts of interest).  The only type of information you should get from those groups is their perspective on the type of service and the integrity of the agent you are asking about.  Remember, people will typically be VERY willing to tell you about things that they are unhappy about in their investigation. 

As you go through the process, remember that you are selecting a person to represent your interests in a high stakes professional career.  It is a very personal decision.  There are many very good agents who are qualified to represent you.  Think about your own values and the type of personalities you are comfortable with.  Those should be your guiding principles.

* This article can apply in principal to many other sports and the agent selection process involved therein.  Each sport has its own culture” and its own set of rules.  It is important to select someone familiar with the landscape for the sport you are playing because that makes it more likely that they will have at least some of the relationships which will assist in representing you.

** Though some players acknowledge their willingness to work their way up through the CFL or AFL, the reality is very few players make it on this path and nobody’s career goal is to play at that level (though some are willing to accept it).

***yes, I realize many people reading this will tell me that is a fairy tale expectation, but I still believe that if the players were given education and an easy mechanism to report this conduct, it could be handled more effectively by the universities, the NCAA and the NFLPA.