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I. Introduction
This document will give a broad overview of the sports agent market beginning with thehistory of the sports agents and an explanation on how and why agents have transformed from arole as an outside advisor, giving advice only on an as-needed basis, into an agent that ispractically inseparable from the business dealings of an athlete.Then, the document will briefly describe the sports agent’s roles, regulations, and duties.Given the regulations and duties of a sports agent, we can predict recurring legal issues in theindustry. This document will evaluate the source of those legal issues and attempt to correlate thelegal issues with the compensation method of sports agents.The commission compensation method creates an inherent conflict of interest and thispaper will show that many of the legal issues (that are common as a sports agent) stem from anaction that was completely legal but ultimately harmed their client. After reviewing these issues,this document will attempt to answer the question of whether a fee-based compensation methodwould serve the players better than the current commission-based compensation method, showreasons for a fee-based compensation method, discuss potential problems, predict what types ofplayers would benefit most, and lay out how a fee-based agency would be structured in thecurrent economic environment.
II. Sports Agents – In General
A sports agent means 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 agencycontract.
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The term includes an individual who represents to the public that the individual is an
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H.R. 361, 108th Cong., 2d Sess. §1 (2004).
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