UNIFORM ATHLETE AGENTS ACT
POLICY STATEMENT
It is beyond dispute that agents provide valuable and essential services for professional athletes. However, frequent headlines report improper or illegal contacts between agents, or would be agents, and athletes with remaining eligibility for amateur events. These instances cause loss of eligibility for the athletes and may also cause sanctions to be imposed upon educational institutions. These instances are highly publicized and inordinately time consuming and disruptive for the affected institution.
As a result of the above, at least twenty-eight states have adopted athlete agents acts. In the words of one commentator, the existing statutes "are vaguely worded and vary considerably from state to state." They also lack reciprocity. An athlete agent intending to do business in each state is required to comply with twenty-eight different sets of requirements for registration and be aware of twenty-eight different regulatory schemes.
The principal purposes of the proposed uniform act are to:
• Provide for reciprocity of registration.
• Authorize denial, suspension or revocation of registrations based upon similar actions in another state.
• Regulate the conduct of individuals who contact athletes for the purpose of obtaining agency contracts.
• Require notice to educational institutions when an agency contract is signed by a student athlete.
• Provide a civil remedy for an educational institution damaged by the conduct of an athlete agent or a student athlete.
• Establish civil and criminal penalties for violation of the act.
During consideration of the act at the annual meeting, the principal issue will be whether the act is drafted appropriately to accomplish these purposes.