As a young agent, I am still surprised to hear about all of
the trouble athletes are getting into off of the field. It seems like every week players are getting
arrested for DUIs, possession of drugs, or illegal possession or use of a
firearm. While the leagues and teams
create programs to help these players avoid trouble and most of these players
have the financial motives to avoid these issues, they still seem to find
themselves in trouble. Agents also have
a financial motive to keep their players out of trouble. The longer their clients’ careers, the
greater opportunity for commissions off of those clients.
With recent news of Mike
Goodson, the New York Jets running back being arrested for drug possession
and weapons charges, it has dawned on me that some of these cases could be
prevented by the athletes’ agents. While
many offenders may have blatant disregard for the law, others may be willing to
abide by the laws (or at least a few of them) if they understood them
better. While everyone should know that
drugs are illegal in all 50 states, some players find themselves in trouble
with DUI and gun possession charges due to differing laws in various
states. Since most players in the NFL
(and other leagues) are playing in different states than where they grew up or
went to college in, it can sometimes be a lack of knowledge or understanding of
the laws. Legal blood alcohol content
levels for operating a motor vehicle can be very different between states; they
can be legally below the limit in one state but considered under the influence
in another state. Agents can take five
minutes to look up this information and relay it to their clients who are often
times young and not mature enough to consider this when moving to a different
state.
Lately, one of the NFL’s biggest issues has been the number
of off-field incidents involving guns.
The NFL has a very strict policy on guns, which can cost a player a
large sum of money in fines and a lengthy suspension if they violate it. The NFL also has a large number of offenders
of this policy. To combat this problem,
the NFL has mandatory
annual meetings with the teams and their employees in which they encourage
all NFL employees not to own or carry a gun.
While this policy may be an honest attempt to prevent players from
illegally (and legally) possessing or owning a firearm, it seems to be
completely useless. The policy can often
fall on deaf ears as the policy violates constitutional rights and interferes
with players’ desires to own or carry a firearm for protection, hunting, or for
entertainment purposes. This is when I
think an agent can have a positive influence.
A significant number of agents have legal backgrounds and are often
times older (and more mature) than their clients, which would be ideal qualifications
for advising clients on guns and other potential legal obstacles.
With Mike
Goodson now facing a possible suspension and fines by the NFL, agents
should be considering consulting their clients on their rights as well as laws
of their particular states. Recently, an
alarming number of NFL players have been getting arrested for gun crimes such
as Tank Johnson, Jimmy Smith, Mike
Goodson, Da’Quan
Bowers, Marshawn Lynch and Plaxico Burress just to name a few. Some of
these crimes were a blatant disregard of the law, while others were simply a lack
of knowledge of the various laws. Some
of these players would still have been in legal trouble due to possession of
drugs but could have avoided felony charges (along with the NFL’s related
punishments) if they simply applied for the license to own a gun. States like Florida and Texas have very lax
laws while Illinois and New York have extremely limiting laws which can be very
difficult to abide by for those used to owning, possessing and carrying guns. By advising clients on an appropriate state’s
laws in regards to owning, purchasing, possessing and carrying a firearm, an
agent can avoid some, if not most instances where clients are arrested for gun
charges as most players would likely abide by these laws such as pursuing a CCW
(concealed carry weapon endorsement) and gain a thorough understanding of gun
laws. This in turn will save an agent
the ensuing public relations nightmare as well as potential commissions on the
players’ future contracts.
