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North Carolina To Gain Access To NCAA Documents On Agent Activity

The State of North Carolina and the NCAA have been busy fighting over access to documents regarding findings from the NCAA’s investigation of past NFLPA agent activity on the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s campus.  On July 29, 2011, North Carolina’s Secretary of State Elaine Marshall issued a subpoena asking for said documents, which are apparently under the NCAA’s control.  Elaine Marshall’s office wants access to transcripts of the interviews that the NCAA conducted at Chapel Hill in the past year, a copy of John Blake’s credit report, and other relevant material.

After not receiving a favorable response, Marshall’s office filed a petition for an order to compel the NCAA to release the documents.  The NCAA objected on jurisdictional grounds, claiming that Marshall should have filed the petition in Indiana (the NCAA’s principal place of business) instead of North Carolina.  The hearing on the petition commenced two days ago in the Wake County, North Carolina Superior Court.  Instead of ruling one way or the other, the judge (Judge Paul C. Ridgeway) provided the parties an additional 60 days to attempt to resolve their dispute; however, Ridgeway did state that Marshall’s office should re-file the subpoena in Indiana.  The NCAA’s attorney promised that the requested documents will be delivered, in unredacted form, thereafter.  The petition filed by Marshall’s office noted that the NCAA previously aimed to redact “confidential information.”

Now that the NCAA has changed its stance, the assumption is that the State of North Carolina will file the subpoena in Indiana and gain access to the documents.  Perhaps at some point in time, the state will be able to get to the bottom of many agent related issues, including the relationship between John Blake and Gary Wichard.

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.