Sports Business Journal

[sportscurmudgeon]

Kellen Winslow Sr. is now a sports agent. But he isn't necessarily going to represent his son, Kellen Winslow, Jr. However, Winslow Sr. told Sports Business Journal that he has charged agents $2500 for the privilege of interviewing with Winslow Jr. Sounds like a good deal, no?

There is a minor problem. According to Gene Upshaw, this kind of thing violates the NFLPA code of ethics and might affect Winslow Sr.'s certification as an agent. Stay tuned. I have a feeling this story might get interesting.

[BrudLee]

In a world where retired athletes sully their reputations in a thousand different ways, Kellen Winslow, Sr. has found a way to distinguish himself. He reminds me of a Little League dad living vicariously through his son. His own legacy as a gamebreaking receiver is jeopardized by his comments and actions since retirement. Mr. Winslow, let your son be himself.

[redrock-skins]

Now that's funny, but enterprising! I say all the major agents should just tell Kellen Sr to kiss their a$$ and let Kellen Jr get a second rate deal.

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

Kellen Winslow Sr. is now a sports agent. But he isn't necessarily going to represent his son, Kellen Winslow, Jr. However, Winslow Sr. told Sports Business Journal that he has charged agents $2500 for the privilege of interviewing with Winslow Jr. Sounds like a good deal, no?

There is a minor problem. According to Gene Upshaw, this kind of thing violates the NFLPA code of ethics and might affect Winslow Sr.'s certification as an agent. Stay tuned. I have a feeling this story might get interesting.

[Phinehas]

Maybe charging agents $2500 a pop was the only way to get them to stop filling up his answering machine and spamming his email inbox?



--Phin

[SmootSmack]

Sean Taylor's and Larry Fitzgerald's parents are apparently doing the same thing

[Daseal]

Kellen won't get a bum deal no matter who his agent is. He should say forget it and just higher a lawyer to check over the contract!

Sports, maybe you can expand a bit farther, what exactly does an agent do for a player? I'm guessing he looks over contracts makes sure everything is good for the player, and deals with negotiations. Anything else?

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Wait a sec....these guys want agents to pay thousands so teams can pay them millions? Dumb and classless. Still, I might do the same.

[Scott]

Isn't that typical, just find an agent and sign...remember he is a soldier!!

[sportscurmudgeon]

Two comments here;

I had not heard that Fitzgerald's and Taylor's parents were doing the same thing by charging an interview fee to prospective agents. If they are, I would say that it is a bit of a low-rent move but they are not registered agents with the NFLPA where they might run afoul of the "ethics regulations". I will give these parents some free advice:


Do not forget to report this "income" to the IRS next year. Tax evasion is such an unseemly thing to have on your record...


Someone asked what an agent does for a player. The answer is that there are as many flavors of agent/player relationships as there are Baskin Robbins flavors in a month.

Mostly, agents negotiate the terms of contracts for players and when players are free agents, the agents will help them locate a team where they can sign and get a good deal - financially and in terms of playing time. The agents also are supposed to assure that the contracts fit into all the league rules and into the guidelines established by the NFLPA. Remember, all contracts have to be examined and "blessed" by the league and the NFLPA so the agent needs to pay some attention here.

Some agents are also attorneys and represent the player in various litigation situations.

Agents try to establish and then negotiate endorsement deals for players - everything from a big shoe/apparel deal with Nike to the little deal with a local car dealership where the player gets a free car as his payment for the endorsement.

Some agents are also involved with financial management companies and work to invest a portion of the player's money for him.

Some agents establish foundations for the players (usually the big name players who are getting much more than minimum salaries) and help them make the foundations a going legal concern that meets the IRS standards for a charitable organization.

If a player wants to be involved with a movie (a cameo appearance or a role such as LT in "On Any Given Sunday"), the agent will negotiate the deal and assure that it will not conflict with the team contract. If a player wants to be involved with something like a wrestling show, the agent will be involved there too - particularly with the team here because of the potential for injury. Oh, the agent would also arrange for some kine of insurance policy for the player in the wrestling show too.

The agent also shields the player from a jillion annoyances. If I wanted to write a long article on the life and times of Ade Jimoh (just an example, I would not want to do that), I would not call Jimoh. I would call his agent and pitch the idea there and then ask the agent to talk to Jimoh and recommend that Jimoh sit down and talk with me for several hours. Believe me, players who are household names get these kinds of overtures many times a week. The agent is like a filter here; he keeps the annoying ones out.

There are probably a half dozen other things agents do for players but these are the ones I can think of now. Others can add to this list please...

[BrunellFan]

Somebody certainly has a high opinion of himself for someone who hasnt done anything in the NFL yet...

[Gmanc711]

Originally Posted by Scott

Isn't that typical, just find an agent and sign...remember he is a soldier!!

And hes f*cking pissed.

[Daseal]

Wow, great run down of agents, Sports. I appreciate it, didn't know the agent had so much to do. What %age of the salary do they get? 5? 10?

[sportscurmudgeon]

Daseal:

Obviously, the fees paid to agents vary based on the amount of services that the agent provides. (BTW one service I forgot to list up above is that many agents also do the taxes - Federal State and local - for players). The bare minimum is 4%. Many agents get 6-7%. I've never heard a number over 7.5% but I don't pretend to know the details of every agent/player deal in the league.

There was a rumor that one agent had a sliding scale rate with his clients and if he got them more than a specified number in a contract negotiation, then his percentage of the deal was higher. If that was true, that practice stopped because the NFLPA won't certify an agent who does that.

While it might sound like a good deal for the player - and it might me - it also encourages the agent to hold the player out and that might be very harmful to the player and his career. I don't know for a fact that this agent did this, but it was a very prevalent rumor about 10-12 years ago.

[sportscurmudgeon]

Here is the next chapter in this story.

The NFLPA is mightily upset about this business of charging poetntial agents to come and make their pitch to Winslow Jr. And don't think that agents who have been asked to pay that fee aren't the ones who complained to the NFLPA in the first place.

Now Winslow Sr. says that all he was trying to do was to cover his expenses because he wants to fly some people to Miami to listen to the agents' pitches and then these folks will assist him and winslow Jr. in selecting the right agent.

I don't know about you, but I can fly to Miami from where I live for about $500. so if he wnats me to come and advise him, his expenses would be less than a grand. So if he's charging half a dozen agents $2500 apiece, the question now is: How many people are going to be there to "advise" them?