This coming Saturday, Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law will host its 4th Annual Conference on Sports and Entertainment Law. While I will unfortunately not be in attendance for this year’s event (I’ll be speaking at another conference in Jamaica) my hope is that an item only recently announced is a topic discussed by a panel. Specifically, the item is the new “ASU Athlete Agent Policy” disseminated to athlete agents only four days ago. The email was sent by Peter Turney, Athletics Compliance Coordinator at ASU. It reads in part,
To Athlete Agents:The purpose of this e-mail is to provide you the information you will need to comply with Arizona State University’s agent policy and registration process.ASU is committed to providing its student-athletes with the resources they will need to succeed after leaving the university, which for some student-athletes, will include a career in professional athletics. To facilitate access to resources that may assist those student-athletes in making decisions regarding their professional opportunities – and balancing the need to protect them and the institution from impermissible or unlawful agent practices – ASU has redesigned its agent policy and registration process.
An individual who enters into an agency contract with a student-athlete or, directly or indirectly, recruits or solicits a student-athlete to enter into an agency contract. The term “agent” includes, but is not limited to, an individual who represents to the public that the individual is an agent, a certified contract advisor, a financial advisor, a marketing representative, a brand manager, or anyone who is employed or associated with such persons. For purposes of this policy, the term agent does not include a spouse, parent, sibling, grandparent, or legal guardian or individual acting solely on behalf of a professional sports team or organization or educational institution unless that individual offers, solicits for himself or herself, or solicits on the student-athlete’s behalf or on behalf of the student-athlete’s family or friends any form of financial benefit or gift not allowed under NCAA or other governing legislation.
Scroll down a few pages in what is a rather lengthy new policy and you will find ASU’s new “Contact Policy.”
Whether contact will be permitted in any sport is at the discretion of the head coach and, if permitted, must occur in accordance with NCAA and any relevant player association rules. Agents will only be eligible to meet with ASU student-athletes in ASU facilities and after approval has been sought from and provided by the Compliance Office. Consequently face-to-face contact with a student-athlete must be scheduled through the Compliance Office and held in ASU facilities. Home and other off-campus visits with the student-athlete, his or her family, or anyone to whom he or she is associated are prohibited. Before any other contact (e.g., telephone, email, text) occurs, an agent must notify the Compliance Office to request approval to contact. Contacts for football are subject to additional policy guidelines found in the Football Agent Timeline Supplement.
I have such a problem with putting the head coach in charge of all permissible communications between agents and student-athletes. It empowers those agents to play a distinct role in the decision-making process for the student-athlete and unjustifiably give them the power to determine when contact is appropriate. I also do not quite understand the theory of limiting any agent/player communications to face-to-face meetings. It is as if such a policy will inhibit unethical agents from providing illegal benefits to or communicating student-athletes outside of the guidelines as presented. If I am an agent based in Florida, you want me to travel all the way out to Arizona every time I wish to speak to an ASU athlete? And what about that additional Football Agent Timeline Supplement? If you want to give ASU credit, at least throw the school some props for spending time on lengthy documentation.
Agent and Student-Athlete Contact Calendar
Underclassmen (rising freshmen, sophomores, and juniors):
Whether contact will be permitted is at the discretion of the head football coach and, if permitted, must occur in accordance with NCAA and NFLPA rules and in the time frame set forth below for rising seniors/senior year.
Rising seniors (and into senior year):
January 1 through the date of ASU’s Spring Game
Face-to-face contact – any such contact is prohibited.
Other contact (e.g., telephone, email, text) – before the first contact, an agent must notify the Compliance Office.
One-week period after ASU’s Spring Game (Interview Week)
Face-to-face contact – any such contact or interview with a student-athlete must be scheduled through the Compliance Office and held in ASU facilities. Home and other off-campus visits with the student-athlete, his family or anyone to whom he is associated are prohibited. An agent who wishes to interview with a student-athlete must submit an interview request to the Compliance Office. Submission of an interview request does not guarantee the agent will be granted a meeting with a student-athlete.
Other contact (e.g., telephone, email, text) – before the first contact, an agent must notify the Compliance Office.
Day after Interview Week through the date of ASU’s last regular season game (or the Pac-12 Championship, if ASU is a participant) – all forms of contact with ASU student-athletes are prohibited.
After the date of ASU’s last regular season game (or the Pac-12 Championship, if ASU is a participant) – during December, and during an appropriate timeframe within the discretion of the head coach, meetings with student-athletes may be scheduled through the Compliance Office and held in ASU facilities.
4 replies on “Arizona State’s New Athlete Agent Policy Empowers Coaches; Stifles Communication”
This is baffling. Back in January I visited with another Pac-12 student athlete face to face and the compliance officer as there at all times. Then one of the assistant coaches came in as well. However, insisting on face to face contact after the initial visit is crazy. With various social media outlets an agent can have several ‘discussions’ with that student athlete and do whatever they please without the monitoring of compliance officers and/or coaches. Its an honorable attempt but let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.
This is terrible for the student athletes but why should ASU care about them?:) Most athletes at ASU will definitely not make the best choice in agents for a couple reasons:
1. They won’t be able to interact with the vast majority of agents. Less options = less than ideal decision.
2. They will only interact with a few agents who the coaches approve of. Keep in mind that some coaches have their own agents who may or may not be good for a particular student athlete. You also can never know what other types of arrangement a coach can have with a particular agent.
3. If you can’t get to know an agent much at all before making a decision, how can you possibly choose the best agent for you?
If I were a parent of a high school athlete who has aspirations of playing professionally after college I would potentially avoid ASU because of this policy. If parents are forward looking enough to pay attention to this and avoid ASU I’m sure ASU would eventually change this ridiculous policy. Or, if I were a parent or athlete at ASU I would just ignore this silly policy altogether because ultimately this policy is flat out bad for the student athlete and there is no downside to just ignoring it. Huge upside to ignoring it though and making a better agent selection.
One of the coaches at ASU actively pushes the agency in this lawsuit and article. Funny. http://louisianarecord.com/news/247734-former-nba-player-suing-sports-management-agency-over-contract-linked-to-nba-and-former-lsu-basketball-player-tyrus-thomas
Maybe this is why Carrick Felix signed such a poor contract? Low money relative to draft position and a team option for the minimum in year 4 when he will have Bird rights? A similar contract (albeit slightly better) with a team option in year 4 is reportedly why Chandler Parsons switched agents.