FS Sports's List: Labor & Agents

By Daniel Roberts and Pablo S. Torre
This article appears in the April, 16, 2012 issue of Sports Illustrated and the April 30, 2012 issue of Fortune.

The most famous words in the history of sports representation are fictional, sure. But Leigh Steinberg, the man famed as the original superagent, still claims responsibility for their provenance.

By Darren Heitner | Headline, Recruiting, Sports Law
4/12/12

Two days ago, the NFLPA sent an email to all certified Contract Advisors concerning the NFLPA Board of Player Representatives’s recent approval of amendments to the existing NFLPA Regulations Governing Contract Advisors. The memorandum attached to that email is embedded at the bottom of this post.

By: Darren Rovell
CNBC Sports Business Reporter
3/29/12

Michael Levine stood out in the room full of media at Tim Tebow’s Jets news conference on Monday. The co-head of CAA Sports, dressed in a dapper suit, schmoozed TV media types and looked on like a proud businessman.
After all, Tim Tebow was his business.
Well, sort of.
CAA’s Hollywood rival, William Morris Endeavor, actually also counts Tebow as a client.

Andy Staples
3/20/12

Josh Luchs, a former agent who spent about half of his career breaking all those NCAA rules against paying players, has an idea to help the problem. In his new book, Illegal Procedure: A Sports Agent Comes Clean On The Dirty Business Of College Football, Luchs offers a humble suggestion that would solve many of the issues that cause so much frustration for the NCAA's enforcement staff.

By Josh Luchs
3/20/12

A Sports Agent Comes Clean on the Dirty Business of College Football.” Luchs was a sports agent from 1990-2008 before being suspended by the NFL Players Association. He wrote a cover story for Sports Illustrated in October 2010 shining a light on the secret payments and deal-making that exist in college football. This excerpt details his work with former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett leading up to the 2005 NFL combine.

Darren Heitner

College football can be quite the dirty business, but you do not need former NFLPA certified Contract Advisor Josh Luchs to tell you that. Since being featured in an extremely popular Sports Illustrated article written by Pulitzer Prize-winner George Dohrmann titled, Confessions of an Agent, Luchs has been on a country-wide tour of sorts, speaking on television shows, college campuses, and was even invited to attend NCAA Regional Rules Meetings. Luchs took advantage of these opportunities to inform others about what he describes as the dirty business of college football and why he decided it was time to come clean about his actions and the actions of other NFLPA Contract Advisors. Luchs’ experiences as a football agent, his effort to “come clean,” and his proposed solutions are all highlighted in his new book, Illegal Procedure: A Sports Agent Comes Clean On The Dirty Business Of College Football.

Published March 12, 2012
Six years in, firm a player in several areas of sports business

By Liz Mullen, Staff Writer
Published November 1, 2010

News that an employee of Drew Rosenhaus, one of the most powerful agents in the NFL, had been named in a document related to an NCAA investigation grabbed headlines and created a buzz in the agent community.

Published November 1, 2010
By Liz Mullen, Staff Writer

What began as a combined effort by multiple sports organizations to stem the problem of agents paying college players could end up as another source of tension in the NFL labor talks. Last week, the league and the NFL Players Association were at odds over whether NFL players could be punished for what they did in college.

Updated: October 14, 2010
ESPN.com news services

A former sports agent who admitted paying college football players in the 1990s told ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" that the NFL Players Association, the NCAA and state law enforcement agencies need to do more to stop agents from recruiting players with money and gifts."

By Liz Mullen, Staff Writer
Published August 2, 2010

The MLB Players Association could become the first players union to penalize certified agents who leave their agencies and take players with them in violation of their noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements.

Published July 26, 2010
The tight-knit NFL agent community was rife with talk last week that notable player agents could be put out of business by ongoing NCAA investigations at multiple Division I universities into allegations that high-profile athletes received improper benefits.

By Bob Andelman
(Originally published in Gallery Magazine, Spring 1994)

Vince Lombardi never met a sports agent he liked. Or one with whom he'd negotiate a deal.

According to legend, when a popular Green Bay Packers player showed up in Lombardi's office with an agent to renegotiate his contract, the coach looked the outsider up and down. "Who's this?" he asked.

"My agent," said the player.

"Wait here."

Lombardi disappeared into an adjacent room and was gone for about 30 minutes. When he returned, the puzzled player and his agent said they were ready to get started.

"We have nothing to talk about," Lombardi said. "You've been traded to Washington.""

Published August 18, 2008

November 4, 2010
By Andrew Carter, Orlando Sentinel

No action has been taken against a football agent in Florida in over five years

By George Dohrmann, Sports Illustrated

SI senior writer George Dohrmann met Luchs [pronounced LUX] in July while working on a story about the agent business. Luchs represented more than 60 players during his career, which placed him in the middle class of the industry. He was viewed by other agents as a particularly dogged recruiter and noted for his partnerships with more seasoned player representatives. When Dohrmann learned that Luchs was leaving the profession, he proposed a first-person account of life as an agent. Luchs was initially reluctant but ultimately decided to tell his story. At no point was he promised or given any form of compensation for his participation.