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Retirement

Where Does The Duty End?

There are quite a few things that I would like to change about the sports agent industry. One of them includes a change of trend in the way that agents generally treat their retired clients. On April 20, 2007, I wrote a post titled, Take The Vow, which may sound a little preachy, but definitely exposes my true feelings on the subject. Here’s the main gist of it:

It is too well known that many players bank on their abilities on the field to make money and do not prepare themselves for life after football. It is our job as agents, to change this trend. Promise that you will never give up on your clients, even the ones who turn out to be busts by the media’s standards.

Don’t think the situation is bad? Check out Spencer Folau. He retired from playing professional football at 32-years-old and had no clue how to file for benefits/disability or where to find a lawyer or financial planner. Where was his agent? Nowhere to be found and unreachable [Harris Sells Doughnuts in League of Former Stars].

Franco Harris is an exception. He was able to create a successful bakery after retirement from the NFL, but for every Harris, there are a few Folaus. However, instead of remaining ignorant and allowing his fellow colleagues to enter life after football unaware of the proper steps to take, Folau and former Baltimore Ravens teammate Mike Flynn created Alumni Management Group (AMG), which is a company that assists retired football players.

Athletes should continue to be proactive in shaping a successful post-playing career. At the same time, agents should not drop clients to the curb once they no longer provide services on the field of play. If an athlete wishes to retain his agent for the long haul, the agent should be receptive to helping that client in future ventures. I doubt someone like Folau would have had an issue with compensating his agent in return for helpful advice.

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.

5 replies on “Where Does The Duty End?”

Darren you are right on. This issue is one of the most important to me as well and it is our duty as agents to help all of our clients set up their future outside of professional sports. The fact that ANY professional athlete goes bankrupt is disturbing and it certainly reflects poorly on our profession.

Do you think there is a conflict of interest in helping with an athletes retirement and issues outside of sports? Would it be better just to refer your clients to the right financial planner or someone else whose specialty is in helping people with this type of thing–rather than take on something that agents may not be prepared/trained to handle?

I do not think it is a conflict of interest as much as it may be out of the scope of employment. However, standard representation agreement has a length on it and needs to be re-negotiated/re-signed every year, 2 years, 3 years, etc. If the agent feels comfortable handling retirement issues and the client wishes to allow the agent to remain in his capability, then there is no problem with the relationship. In fact, the agent’s job may be to refer the client to a good financial planner within the new scope of employment.

Yeah that’s a possibility you’d fully disclose to the client in advance and get a waiver on. But I’d also say that if you didn’t feel competent in the matter you should feel obliged to say so and recommend someone who is…

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