Categories
Contract Negotiation MLB Players MLB Rules

Goodbye To Select Bonus Clauses

If your baseball client wins the MVP, Cy Young, or Rookie of the Year award, he better be content with getting a piece of hardware to hang up on the wall, because MLB will no longer allow a team to compensate him with cold cash. The Baseball Writers’ Association of America recently passed a new rule stating that if a player has a bonus stipulation built into his contract at the start of the 2013 season and beyond, that player will not be on any BBWAA award ballots [Starting in 2013, players banned for awards if they have bonus clauses]. Players may still have clauses in their contracts for awards that are not granted by the BBWAA (Hall of Fame, Gold Glove, World Series MVP, etc).

So this serves as a heads up to all agents. Make sure that you are getting your stud clients some monetary gain in another way, but do not risk their ability to win one of these prestigious awards. Ignorance is never an excuse in this business, and not knowing about a rule like this could make a high profile client jump ship.

On a side note, Curt Schilling was very upset about the ESPN article and decided to go all sobby on his blog [The Schilling clause??]. I honestly did not read his commentary, but you are more than welcome to.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.