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Sports Agents

Interviews With Joe Rosen And Jeff Frye

In the past few weeks, hotstove.com has had a couple of agents on its Hot Stove TV column.  One is Joe Rosen of Orpheus Sports and the other is Jeff Frye of Franklin-Frye Sports.

Joe Rosen’s big client is Hideki Okajima.  It doesn’t hurt that he is based in Boston (allows for a lot of face-time with his major client).  Rosen started out as a Corporate and Securities lawyer after graduating from law school.  He worked at a couple of big firms in Boston.  One of the firms allowed him to build a sports and entertainment practice.  A point Rosen makes that I believe in, as well, is this – “Not every agent is a lawyer, but you need to be associated with one to do a good job.”  A big benefit of going to law school is being able to effectively negotiate, analyze, and evaluate contracts.  Morals clauses, termination clauses, etc. are important clauses beyond the core money clauses.  Rosen’s first client in the sports business was a female Olympic bobsledder.  He helped her negotiate an endorsement contract.  He then did some naming rights deals.  His big moment was when the Red Sox were sold in 2001.  He represented the primary New England based group looking to buy the Sox.  While that group did not win the rights to the Red Sox, that was when he decided he needed to be in this business.  Rosen is trying to learn Japanese in order to better communicate with Okajima.  Good luck with that!  Rosen says his big goal right now is to make Okajima more visible in the community, and he believes that him being based in Boston will help with that effort.  Rosen talks a little bit about his minor league players and how there is little contract negotiation involved between being drafted and becoming arbitration eligible.  The equipment deals are important, though.

Jeff Frye is a former Major League player who is now a baseball agent.  His best friend (Jay Franklin, brother of Ryan Franklin) played professional baseball, went on to work at Scott Boras Corp, and ended up teaming up with Frye to start an agency.  Frye believes that having someone who played in the Major Leagues is invaluable as far as representing athletes.  He rocks an anti-agent look (tennis shoes, blue jeans, and a ball cap) and he says that he is not a salesman.  Interesting distinction that Frye makes when he says he advises the family, not the player.  One of Frye’s clients is Ian Kinsler.  They seem to have a real good relationship; they even play Wii Bowling together.  Frye takes his clients hunting and fishing as their client “getaway”.

The interviews are pretty long, but the hosts do a good job with the questions.  I will be doing an interview with Hot Stove TV tomorrow.  Look out for it.

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.

One reply on “Interviews With Joe Rosen And Jeff Frye”

I have had a chance to meet Joe on a couple of occasions and he loves the game of baseball. When I first met him, I thought he was a scout because of the way he was tracking college players.

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