NFLPA Unique In Requiring Agent Malpractice Insurance
Insurance is a common product professionals use to minimize their asset risk, if they commit a negligent act while providing services to a client. Doctors, lawyers and real estate agents all purchase malpractice insurance to cover their professional activities. Until a couple of years ago however, sports agents did not have any such insurance, despite the fact that they were negotiating multi-million dollar contracts for NFL players.
In 2004, the NFLPA conducted a survey of its agents and found that more than two-thirds of its 800 certified contract advisors did not have any insurance. For those who said they did have insurance, further review showed that most did not have insurance covering their activities as an agent, only for their law practice activities. When these survey results were revealed to the NFLPA Board of Player Representatives, they responded by voting in 2005 to make insurance mandatory for agents in order to maintain their certification in good standing. Today, the NFLPA is the only major sports union to require insurance for its agents.
“The agent insurance makes sense for both players and agents,” said NFLPA Staff Counsel/Regional Director Tom DePaso. “Players know that they are protected should their agent make a mistake, and the agents have a safety net for their activities.”
The insurance covers agent activity such as providing services to NFL players in the negotiation and enforcement of their NFL player contracts, and providing advice to players with respect to the protection and enforcement of their rights and benefits under the CBA.
The NFLPA is working with Capital Professional Insurance Managers (CPIM) to provide an insurance product designed for this coverage. This year the premium has been reduced for the third consecutive year to rates starting at $1,750.
“Hopefully, agents and players will not have to make a claim under this insurance,” DePaso said, “but it is comforting to know that it’s there if they need it.”
- NFL Players.com
