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Endorsements

Endorsing Activist Athletes

This past week, Sports Law Blog noted that it has been a while since there has been a prominent activist athlete [the disappearance of the Activist Athlete]. The blog writes:

After reading about Tiger Woods in this week’s Sports Illustrated, it seems abundantly clear why the Activist Athlete has disappeared: Corporate Endorsements (and the potential for superstar athletes to become “billionaires”). Woods’ states in SI when asked about his business acumen and decisions: “It all depends on how much risk you want to take on. . . The things I do are very conservative. . . . I guess you don’t become billionaires by making bad decisions.” Corporate dollars were far less available and significant in the years of the activist Lew Alcindor, Walton and Cassius Clay.

Would you advise your clients to shy away from making bold statements that could label them activists in order to prevent a potential loss in endorsement dollars?

-Darren Heitner

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.

3 replies on “Endorsing Activist Athletes”

Tiger’s Foundation and moreover, his school, are fairly ambitious undertakings. Especially if one believes what Tiger’s father had been saying for years, I think Tiger is destined to become more of an activist than even he may realize.

Via Alligator.org:

CRITICAL NOAH: Joakim Noah isn’t shying from his political views during Final Four weekend.

Noah chose again to use his notoriety and the media attention to exercise his First Amendment right.

He was critical of President Bush’s foreign policy Sunday, and Noah said he would use his fame to get his views across.

Like he did in a visit to the White House last April with the championship team, Noah questioned the president’s mindset.

“It was weird because I didn’t really agree with his views and what he stands for,” Noah said Sunday about the visit. “At the same time, I love this country and what it has to offer. And I’m not going to let one person change that. I wish people would do more traveling and be more critical of their own cultures.”

UF coach Billy Donovan said two weekends ago that he often discusses with Noah their opposing views.

Each is passionate about his beliefs, and they are willing to have civilized debates, he said.

“The one thing I always respect about him and his opinions is he doesn’t necessarily think his opinions are right,” Donovan said in New Orleans. “It’s just something he feels.”

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