REVIEW OF LITERATURE The role of the sports agent is said to have emerged almost a century ago in the mid 1920s when football player Red Grange hired a “personal representative” to negotiate a contract based upon performance. Grange was the first professional athlete whose contract was based upon his performance along with the fans that his celebrity attracted to the games he played in. Since then most professional athletes hire personal representatives known now as sports agents to work out the details of their playing contracts along with securing other forms of income with the agreement that the sports agent will be paid a percentage of the contract that is completed. Though a sports agents primary role is to maximize the value of what …show more content…
Argovitz. In another instance while working for IMG, sports agent Bill Henkel, secured a memorabilia deal for Pro Bowl running back, LaDanian Tomlinson. Henkel received a substantial personal kickback from the company hiring Tomlinson, but did not inform Tomlinson's or IMG (Heitner, 2010). How this presented an issue was that Henkel breached his fiduciary duty in order to secure the deal with his own personal interest in mind. “Some American commentators describe the player agent business as “one of the most deceptive and unethical aspects of the sports industry’ and ‘responsible for much of what is wrong with sports today” (Johnson, 2006 p. 104). In order to understand what makes the lack of professional ethics possible in the sports agent industry one must consider the current regulations for governing professional conduct and each individual agent’s own ethical bases for decision making regarding those …show more content…
Though the requirements are made of the sports agent for disclosure, the UAAA's primary purpose is to protect educational institutions by creating a uniform code of rules and regulations. While student-athletes were a concern for the drafters of the UAAA, their primary goal was to protect educational institutions' financial interests against the practices of unethical agents who will do anything to sign a new client to an agency contract including acts that may jeopardize a student-athlete's NCAA eligibility and/or thereby disrupt the the educational institution's sports programs compliance with NCAA rules. Though the UAAA protects the educational institution it doesn’t serve as an effective deterrent for unethical sports agent behavior. “In essence, the Act only regulates interaction between the agent and the student athlete and does not address the dealings of the sports agent and the professional athlete, which then fails to protect the professional athlete (Neiman,
Through channels of competitive balance, the leagues have put restrictions on free agency. The MLB does this by requiring players to be in the league for six years before declaring free agency, and the NFL puts a restriction on free agency for some players, done by allowing teams to match offers players have received from other teams. Determining a player’s MRP becomes an easier process than in the labor markets of other industries due to the availability of statistics of player’s and their contribution to their team’s success. The difficulty of this process lies in the determination of how revenues for a team are produced.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) formed in 1906. When the NCAA was incepted they created strict bylaws requiring student-athletes maintain amateur status (NCAA Amateurism). The NCAA has remained diligent in enforcing and maintaining those laws. Under NCAA law it is illegal for student athletes to enter into contracts with professional teams, receive a salary for participating in athletics, and receive benefits from an agent or prospective agents (NCAA Amateurism). Presently, the NCAA has justified these regulations to “ensure the students’ priority remains on obtaining a quality educational experience and that all of student-athletes are competing equitably” (NCAA Amateurism). These rules however, have been in place since 1...
...hedules the athletes had, they are still considered just a student. The NCAA cannot continue to allow these schools to work the athletes as much as they do without giving the athletes what they deserve.
College athletes are manipulated every day. Student athletes are working day in and day out to meet academic standards and to keep their level of play competitive. These athletes need to be rewarded and credited for their achievements. Not only are these athletes not being rewarded but they are also living with no money. Because the athletes are living off of no money they are very vulnerable to taking money from boosters and others that are willing to help them out. The problem with this is that the athletes are not only getting themselves in trouble but their athletic departments as well.
Zimbalist, Andrew S. Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism And Conflict In Big-Time College Sports. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Though the requirements are made of the sports agent for disclosure, the UAAA's primary purpose is to protect educational institutions by creating a uniform code of rules and regulations. While student-athletes were a concern for the drafters of the UAAA, their primary goal was to protect educational institutions' financial interests against the practices of unethical agents who will do anything to sign a new client to an agency contract including acts that may jeopardize a student-athlete's NCAA eligibility and/or thereby disrupt the the educational institution's sports programs compliance with NCAA rules. Though the UAAA protects the educational institution it doesn’t serve as an effective deterrent for unethical sports agent behavior. “In essence, the Act only regulates interaction between the agent and the student athlete and does not address the dealings of the sports agent and the professional athlete, which then fails to protect the professional athlete (Neiman,
59). Primitively, scholarships were unheard of and universities were bribing athletes in order to convince them to attend their institution. After the media became aware that college sports were getting involved with fraud and gambling the proposition of offering athletes a free education (i.e. scholarships) was believed to help eliminate this dilemma. The principle of Universalization demonstrates an understanding of how equal respect is due, unless an ethical reason exists for not doing so. This is being violated by the NCAA because a student body president can receive five thousand dollars for his contribution to the institution, but a student-athlete can receive zero for their contribution athletically. NCAA critic, Taylor Branch publicly spoke in 2011 about student-athletes and equal rights by explaining, “[The real scandal in sports] is not that students are getting illegally paid or recruited, it’s that two of the noble principles on which the NCAA justifies its existence ‘amateurism’ and the ‘student-athlete’ are hoaxes…so they can exploit the skills and fame of young athletes…”
...ith no choice but to accept illegal money. If the NCAA would just pay these athletes some type of payment then athletes would be less likely to break the rules of the NCAA
People believe that paying college athletes will ruin the tradition and innocence of the game. However, people forget that Olympians get paid, and most of them are amateur athletes. "Gold medallists from the United States receive a minimum of $15,000 for their success (from the U.S. Olympic Committee and the national governing body of the winner's sport), USA Today, Final Ed." These Olympians can also capitalize on endorsement deals and other additional bonuses, most of which are illegal in college athletics. The innocence of the game is already in jeopardy, in a June 24th, 1996 issue of The NCAA News, " Studies indicate that 75 percent of underclassmen have received cash or gifts from an agent." That’s a pretty high number, three out of every four are involved in illegal activities involving agents, and 90...
The proposal of payment toNCAA student-athletes has begun major conversations and arguments nationwide with people expressing their take on it. “This tension has been going on for years. It has gotten greater now because the magnitude of dollars has gotten really large” (NCAA). I am a student athlete at Nicholls State University and at first thought, I thought it would be a good idea to be able to be paid as a student-athlete.After much research however; I have come to many conclusions why the payment of athletes should not take place at the collegiate level.The payment of athletes is only for athletes at the professional level. They are experts at what they do whether it is Major League Baseball, Pro Basketball, Professional Football, or any other professional sport and they work for that franchise or company as an employee. The payment of NCAA college athletes will deteriorate the value of school to athletes, create contract disputes at both the college and professional level, kill recruiting of athletes, cause chaos over the payment of one sport versus another, and it will alter the principles set by the NCAA’s founder Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. Under Roosevelt and NCAA, athletes were put under the term of a “student-athlete” as an amateur. All student athletes who sign the NCAA papers to play college athletics agree to compete as an amateur athlete. The definition of an amateur is a person who “engages in a sport, study, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons” (Dictonary.com).
The NCAA prides itself as an organization dedicated to safeguarding the well-being of student-athletes and equipping them with the skills to succeed on the playing field, in the classroom and throughout life. In order to ensure that participants are students first and athletes second the NCAA has specific rules pertaining to athlete amateurism. The requirements prohibit contracts and tryouts with professional teams, salary for participating in athletics, prize money, and representation by an agent. (Amateurism) These rules not only limit the freedom of the player but also put the player at risk of being taken advantage of due to the lack of a players union and illegality of employing an agent. Other aspects of the NCAA’s rule book have been under scrutiny as well. Marc Edelman, Professor of Law at Baruch College, wrote in his treatise: Why the NCAA’s No-Pay Rules Violate Section 1 of the Sherman Act that courts are now beginning to overturn certain rules that are deemed anticompetitive. This development is important because according to the Sherman Act “Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherw...
According to the NCAA regulations an athlete will lose his/her eligibility if they are paid to play; sign a contract with an agent; receive a salary, incentive payment, award, gratuity educational expenses or allowances; or play on a professional team. The word amateur in sports has stood for positive values compared to professional, which has had just the opposite. The professional sport has meant bad and degrading; while the amateur sport has meant good and elevating. William Geoghegan, Flyer News sports editor writes, “Would paying athletes tarnish the ideal of amateurism? Maybe, but being fair is far more important than upholding an ideal” (Geoghehan 1).
The controversy of athletes being overpaid dates back to 1922, when well-known baseball player George “Babe” Ruth received $50,000 within the first year of his career. Ruth’s extensive wealth was bolstered by dozens of endorsements (Saperecom). As it is shown in figure 1, in the Fortunate 50 Tiger Woods takes the number one spot for highest paid athlete. Tiger’s salary for 2011 is $2,294,116 and like Babe Ruth, his endorsements exceed his salary earning $60,000,000 making his total $62,294,116 (Freedman). It’s crazy to think that 89 years ago professional athletes scarcely made more than the average person today. This is of course not counting the inflation that has occurred since the years which Babe Ruth played baseball.
Professional athletes are modern day gods. We idolize and worship their abilities, powers and grace. However, as heartbreaking as it maybe to sports fans, the sports industry cathedral is drowning in lies and deception. The many forms of dishonesty to be found there are legion. Whether super-athletes, coaches or even referees, the lies and deception that are consuming the sports industry can be attributed to three simple causes: self- justification, self-deception and performance pressure.
The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) is an association set up to regulate