ProAthletesOnly.com Point Of View / Scott Helfand - June 7, 2008

“Agents Gone Wild”

I am referring to the recent activities and incidents that have taken place involving former USC athletes and their involvement with agents and marketing representatives. The behavior of other agents and student athletes these days in general is also in question.

I believe the activities involving former USC star athletes O.J. Mayo and Reggie Bush and their involvement with agents is common on college campuses across the country. The public has been made aware of these alleged NCAA violations at USC and the media has decided to run with it. I can’t say I blame them either. Why? When a college student reportedly accepts $280,000 in cash and gifts you can bet there were some interesting stories surrounding that student’s extra curricular activities. I don’t think I ever had much more than $100 in my pocket when I was in college.

In the future there will be other universities that could at some point have the same issues and problems that currently surround USC athletics. There needs to be changes to the current system and guidelines as the money in pro sports continues to increase.

One major problem is the interactions and relationships between student athletes, marketing firms, and those known as “runners”. Agents and financial advisors are registered with the various players unions but not marketing agents or these “runners”. There are no rules, guidelines or regulations directly relating to them and they rarely have professional qualifications or titles. Or anything to lose.

An agent should never engage in providing cash or any other benefits to student athletes for many different reasons. First and most importantly it is illegal. That should be enough of a deterrent but it is not. The penalties are minimal and agents are apparently willing to take the risk when the contract fees earned after signing one of these star players could reach six or even seven figures in contract and endorsement fees.

If the NCAA and its universities want to make an attempt to decrease this illegal activity they need to push the federal government to enact much tougher legislation with severe consequences for both the agent and the student athlete.

How severe? In the guilty agent’s case I would suggest lifetime bans from the occupation and very significant fines. I wouldn’t stop there, however.

The student athlete should also be subjected to severe penalties for his wrongdoing and be held accountable as well. Without someone taking there wouldn’t be anyone giving. Student athletes on the take are just as guilty as the agent providing the benefit.

The bad publicity and possible NCAA sanctions imposed on a school from agent related violations could lead to forfeiting of regular season games, conference titles and bowl or post season games. With those penalties comes possible refunding of bowl game appearance fees, post-season tournament fees and TV revenue. After the illegal behavior is proven in court, the guilty athlete and agent should be responsible for the entire amount of these damages directly caused by their inappropriate and illegal actions. The schools could then reclaim the money that was refunded due to the violations.

In the Reggie Bush case, Yahoo! Sports reported Bush and his family illegally accepted nearly $280,000 in cash, rent and gifts. If the NCAA confirms that Bush received extra benefits during his playing career at USC, he could be ruled retroactively ineligible. Since some of the benefits date to the 2004 season, the Trojans’ national championship that season could be rescinded. USC could face further NCAA sanctions and Bush’s 2005 Heisman Trophy could be in jeopardy.

I don’t think being stripped of the Heisman concerns Bush these days as he has already cashed in. The New Orleans Saints drafted him and rewarded him with a $60 million contract. He has earned millions more in endorsements.

An interesting part of this Bush saga is that if accusations of illegal benefits regarding the marketing agent that brokered the endorsements for Bush are true, that marketing agent will continue to earn millions of dollars in endorsement commissions. This windfall is a direct result of illegal activity with Bush. This should not be tolerated by the NCAA, USC or law enforcement.

If USC is forced to pay penalties they could be also face other sanctions if it’s proven that coaches knew or should have known about the alleged benefits. A court should determine what these damages add up to and issue a judgment against Bush and the marketing representatives involved with him while at USC for that amount. That amount would surely amount to over $10 million. Maybe then student athletes will be deterred from breaking NCAA rules and the law.

To get back to my point earlier of why I don’t understand why agents pay student athletes another issue addresses common sense. If an agent gives illegal benefits to a student athlete and he accepts those gifts, common sense should tell that agent the athlete could be accepting gifts from other agents as well. The agent may believe providing illegal benefits could be the difference whether they sign that player. It never guarantees you a new client. That could turn out to be a costly mistake on top of the fact that you broke the law. Whether you sign that player or not, good luck trying to get your money back.

One could argue student athletes should be compensated “fairly” by the NCAA from the revenue they help generate for the member schools. Maybe illegal “courting” by agents would be less of a factor or eliminated with adequate compensation.

In addition to NCAA compensation and stiffer penalties, the NCAA could offer loans to the highest rated student athletes in each sport. The athletes would then be required to repay these loans in full immediately upon signing their pro contracts. It could be structured in a similar way to the NCAA Disability Insurance Programs.

The financial needs of these athletes could be legally satisfied and the athletes could then choose an agent based on their qualifications, not because of the desire or need for money.

The temptations from unscrupulous agents, marketing representatives and “runners” might be eliminated with these new available dollars for the student athletes.