Press Credentials for Bloggers?

The sports industry has always been a very difficult industry for many to break into. With very few opportunities and numerous job hunters willing to work for less, it is nearly impossible for many to even dream of having a job in sports. While most want to become sports agents or front office personnel, others are seeking to enter the media realm of sports. Photographers, writers, and even bloggers are beginning to seek press credentials with very little experience in the field. Who wouldn’t want access to pregame activities, locker-rooms or their favorite athletes while the rest of sports fans have to wait in long lines, pay expensive ticket prices, and never get to see their favorite athletes up close? Recently, bloggers have been getting press credentials, which now makes it seem like almost anyone can get them.

Recently, Peter Robert Casey has received press credentials as a micro-blogger. Casey has one of the top ten most followed basketball-related Twitter accounts. He is also the most followed user in the basketball field that isn’t a professional player, coach, or team. As a micro-blogger, Casey’s works are less than 140 characters long. Will this type of micro-blogger become the new fad and will even more micro-bloggers gain press credentials?

While Casey’s credentials may seem acceptable to most, many other bloggers and micro-bloggers seek press credentials without nearly the following Casey has. Where should teams, leagues, and sports venues draw the line? In the past, the NHL has issued press credentials to over one hundred bloggers. Some teams welcome bloggers into their locker rooms while others shun them. Should a visiting team that doesn’t allow bloggers into their home locker rooms be forced to allow credentialed bloggers into their locker rooms on the road? Some cities that are traditional sports cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Boston, and Los Angeles will find it very difficult to accommodate bloggers in addition to their already sizable media personnel. Other non-traditional sports cities such as San Antonio, San Diego, and Washington may find it advantageous to provide popular bloggers and micro-bloggers with press credentials.

As the popularity of blogs continues to grow, so will the number of bloggers seeking press credentials. Leagues may try to set rules to prohibit or accommodate bloggers but I believe it should be left up to each individual team. Smaller market teams or teams in non-traditional markets such as the Phoenix Coyotes can benefit greatly from bloggers while big market teams have no room to further accommodate these same bloggers.

Legal Issues in the Sports Industry

Legal issues have been numerous within the sports industry. While lawsuits and complaints regarding sports agents have remained in the public spotlight, other issues have become popular among the media this year. Roc Nation has been in the news this year for several legal reasons including recruiting violations. However, one legal issue it has had may not have reached the general public, which will be discussed later in this blog. Sports agent Terry Watson has also been indicted earlier this year after a long investigation by the NCAA into UNC’s football program. Perhaps this year’s biggest sports related legal issue is EA Sports ongoing battle with current and former football players over its use of players’ personas in its NCAA College Football video game.

Earlier this year, Volcom (a modern lifestyle brand for youth) filed suit against Roc Nation (Jay-Z’s entertainment company) for infringement on its trademarked diamond-shaped logo. Volcom has insisted that Roc Nation’s diamond logo too closely resembles its stone logo. Volcom has been using the logo since 1991 and has spent more than $100,000,000 marketing its logo. On the other hand, Roc Nation began using its log in 2009. Volcom issued a cease and desist but Roc Nation has refused to comply. While it is nearly impossible for a company to avoid this situation, Roc Nation should have considered Volcom when drafting its logo since Volcom has been heavily involved with promoting both recorded and live music. Both companies operate in overlapping markets and a logo similar to Volcom’s may be seen as confusing the Roc Nation brand with Volcom. If the logos are deemed similar, Roc Nation could be spending a large sum of money to rebrand itself. This is an issue that should be avoided at all costs by Roc Nation and future agencies without question as most agencies are not recognized by their logos but by their agency names and lead sports agents.

Another issue plaguing the sports realm is agents violating various state athlete-agent acts. These acts were created to protect collegiate athletes who still have college eligibility. Recently, sports agent Terry Watson was charged with 13 felony counts of violating North Carolina’s Uniform Athlete Act in addition to a felony charge for obstruction of justice. Watson is accused of providing gifts to former UNC football players including Greg Little, Robert Quinn and Marvin Austin. These gifts included monthly payments, hotel rooms, and travel expenses.  According to North Carolina state law, sports agents must register with the Secretary of State and are prohibited from initiating contact with a student-athlete or providing anything of value to a student-athlete not under contract with the agent. These violations are still numerous and new laws are required to further prevent this behavior. Agents still have a motive to breach this act and will continue to do so until the reward is no longer greater than the risk. Until then, I would expect these violations to continue to plague the industry and damage the reputation of agents as a whole.

A recent settlement between EA Sports and former collegiate football players has also been a topic of discussion in the sports industry. EA sports announced earlier this year that it would cease to produce its NCAA Football video game, which does not use college football players’ names. The suit began when players alleged that the game used players’ jersey numbers, biography information and physical attributes without their permission or compensation. Both former and current players will receive substantive compensation for the game’s use of their personas. The settlement may not result in student-athletes making a healthy earning off others use of their personas but may spark the discussion of if (and how much) student-athletes should be paid. While former college players in the suit are no longer student-athletes, current college-football players will be receiving compensation for their likeness being used by the EA Sports NCAA Football 2014 game this year. This marks the first time student-athletes will legally be paid other than from scholarship for their efforts on the field.

Biggest Story of 2013: IMG for Sale

With 2013 slowly winding down, the big story has been the much talked about sale of IMG Worldwide’s sports and entertainment management agency by private-equity owner Forstmann Little. IMG Worldwide, which was founded in Cleveland, is expected to sell for nearly $2 billion. IMG pioneered the marketing of primarily individual sport athletes, which consists of megastars like Tiger Wood, Peyton Manning, Novak Djokovic, and Maria Sharapova. IMG was on the forefront of shaping the professional sports and sports management industries since it was created from a handshake with golf star Arnold Palmer. The sale of its athlete management business doesn’t come by complete surprise as IMG has been moving away from representing athletes in recent years, after the death of the co-founder of Forstmann Little, Theodore Forstmann. Properties owned by IMG Worldwide include IMG Academy, IMG College, IMG Consulting, IMG Media, IMG Fashion, Sports, and Talent.

Initial bids were due by mid-September. A potential deal is expected to be reached sometime before Thanksgiving in 2013. IMG Worldwide may receive attention from buyout firm Bain Capital, private equity firm KKR & Co. and entertainment companies Creative Artists Agency and William Morris Endeavor Entertainment. Numerous other private equity firms have also expressed interest.

This sale will involve a sizable portfolio of athletes in various sports including tennis, golf, and football. While IMG’s list of athletes it represents has decreased in recent years, it still represents megastars Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Cam Newton and Sprint Cup driver Danica Patrick. The buyer should still retain a significant level of influence in the sports industry. A buyer such as Creative Artists Agency will likely form a monopoly of the athlete management industry since it already dominates the industry. Entering the holiday season, IMG will likely accept and complete a deal. The story is likely to become one of the biggest sports business stories of 2013 and will likely outshine the sports agency news with rapper Jay-Z and the formation of Roc Nation.

Sports Agent Negotiations

For me, contract negotiations are the most exciting part of being an agent. Agents often have to sit down with the same 30 or so general managers so it is important to maintain relationships while also representing their clients better than other agents. This seems like an uphill battle but three agents (Leigh Steinberg, Scott Boras, Ron Shapiro) have really stood out to me for both their performance and reputations. I managed to find videos of all three talking about negotiations.

In the Steinberg video, Leigh stressed the first step before going into a negotiation is to take an internal inventory and make sure your goals are clear. By having a hierarchy of values to fall back on during a negotiation, he is able to quickly make sensible decisions. One of his most interesting points was to leave your ego at the door. He goes on to tell a story about NFL quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers. He admitted that because he was able to leave his ego at the door, he was able to accept a less desirable deal for Roethlisberger, which eventually turned out well. On the other hand, River’s ego wouldn’t allow him to take a less than desirable deal. During this time, the situation became even less desirable and the ensuing deal was far less lucrative.

In the Boras video, Scott talks about how a negotiation is not about a search for an amount but a search about a truth. He talks about using analytics as objective criteria so both sides can determine a sensible amount to pay an athlete. His focus in a negotiation is using substance over opinions. He also talks about how he restrains from using league standards during negotiations because his clients are typically not needed by most of the league. His clients are typically only needed by a handful of teams so they should be evaluated on more individualistic values.

In the Shapiro video, Ron began by playing the “ten dollar bills” game between two people who had to negotiate how to split ten one-dollar bills. This game was to demonstrate how a win-lose situation could immediately turn in to a lose-lose situation. His point was that both parties needed to have an alternative plan to avoid both parties losing in a negotiation. The most interesting point he made was that this process was called “negotiation” not “EGOtiation”. He stressed taking the egos out of the process so it is no longer a win-lose situation but a win-win outcome. This often times results in the desired mutually beneficial outcome.

All of these agents had similar advice such as leaving your ego at the door, seeking objective criteria over opinions and having some sort of goal or alternative in mind before entering in a negotiation. While I have always looked at agents having huge egos, it seems like the best agents choose to not bring them into a negotiation. This is probably the biggest reason for their successes relative to others in the sports industry.

Steinberg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8zo0bngWCc

Boras

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEG7gID_h_E

Shapiro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtU3zrc-kIU

Can Agents Help Prevent Use of Prohibited Substances?

With over a dozen MLB players being suspended and the recent 6-game suspension of the Denver Bronco’s Von Miller for substance abuse, I still find it difficult to not see agents being proactive in discouraging their players from using banned substances. Not only do players lose out financially, agents also fail to earn commissions on lost income due to a player’s suspension. Shouldn’t the financial gain be enough of an incentive for agents to at least attempt to discourage their clients from using these substances?

The NFLPA recently released an alert on a supplement that has likely been taken by several NFL players. The alert insists that a banned substance was found in the supplement and that all players should immediately discontinue use and dispose of any remaining product. This once again reveals how easily a player can unknowingly and unintentionally take a banned substance. Under the NFL/NFLPA drug policy, the lack of knowledge of a banned substance in a product does not excuse a player from using the prohibited substance. A player will still face suspension whether or not they have knowledge of consuming a prohibited substance.

Players need to take every precaution to avoid these substances. Often times, players choose supplements they have been taking since high school or college, what their teammates use, randomly choose a supplement at a local GNC store, or blindly endorse a product without checking the ingredients of the product or the NFL’s prohibited substances list.

Agents deal with many players, have read the collective bargaining agreement and know what substances are banned.  Agents should consider helping players pick out supplements and research any prescription drugs they may be prescribed by doctors to prevent their clients from being suspended by the league. Agents often have the time and knowledge to prevent their clients from getting into trouble, so why are they not taking a proactive approach? Can agents be effective in preventing their clients from taking these substances?