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The Impact Of Agents On Union Solidarity And Collective Bargaining

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For his paper on “The Impact of Agents on Union Solidarity and Collective Bargaining in Major Professional Sports,” Alex Stolls interviewed former NFLPA executive Richard Berthselsen.

Last Friday I had the honor of moderating a panel at the 2013 ABA Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries in Miami Beach, Florida.  The topic of my panel was the legal and business issues under various collective bargaining agreements.  For those in attendance, I hope that you enjoyed.

As I was making preparations to moderate the panel, I received an email from a Penn State undergraduate Senior named Alex Stolls, who will shortly be graduating with degrees in Finance and Labor Studies.  I had recently met Stolls when I went up to Penn State to moderate a panel with Jay Reisinger and Jon Fetterolf on “Baseball and the Law.”  Stolls attached a copy of his independent study project to the email and offered that I publish it on Sports Agent Blog.  Embedded below, please find his finished product titled, “The Impact of Agents on Union Solidarity and Collective Bargaining in Major Professional Sports.”

The thirty-two page paper focuses on the sports agent profession and starts with asking the questions:

“Agents are one of the most popularized and essential pieces of the professional sports pie, but when did this happen? When did agents become this important, even “part of the union family” as labor lawyer and former Interim Executive Director of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) Richard Berthelsen put it during my discussions with him. What has been the general impact of agents on union solidarity and collective bargaining throughout history? And perhaps even more important, what is the current landscape of the agent business and where is it heading?”

The author then states that agents have done more to harm union solidarity than to help it.  Near the close of the Introduction section, the author writes, “However, this research paper will ultimately claim that agents play an imperative role in today’s professional sports landscape as a sounding board and go-between for the league, union, and players.”

Stolls concludes his paper by saying that even though an agent’s primary concern is the well-being of his/her clientele, “the familiarity and interdependent relationship of these agents and the union essentially forces these two groups to work together.  The union relies on agents to keep their clients informed and committed to supporting union goals, and agents rely on the union to negotiate fiercely on behalf of the players. With that being said I am confident that as agents continue to become more important they will continue the trend of being a constructive go-between and sounding board for players, management, and the union.”

The Impact of Agents on Union Solidarity and Collective Bargaining in Major Professional Sports

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.

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