Black agents compete for blue chip athletes - sports agents - includes an article on football player Mike Singletary - Cover Story

Black Enterprise, July, 1992 by Bobby Clay

Of the 200 registered baseball agents at the start of the 1992 season, only 150 had active clients. And of those 150 base-ball agents only five, or 3.3%, were black. Of the 675 registered NFL agents in 1991, only 320 had active clients. And of those agents, only 45, or 14%, were black. "It's a tough field to break into," says Kenneth L. Shropshire, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia and author of Agents of Opportunity: Sports Agents and Corruption in Collegiate Sports (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, $24.95). "Maybe 5% of the people that call themselves agents are doing it full time. It's sort of like playing the lottery: If you do get that $5 million a year player, you're on your way to a career. If not...."

Then you'd better not quit that day job.

Actually, becoming an agent isn't that difficult--which is a major flaw with the system according to some basketball agents who find it hard to accept that boxing promoter Don King is now registered with the NBA. At last count, 24 states require agent registration. Six others are considering legislation in the wake of widespread corruption by sports agents who attempted to contract with players before their college eligibility expired. Of those 24 states with laws on the books, Oklahoma has the most stringent upfront requirements--a $1,000 registration fee and a $100,000 surety bond. Indiana has the toughest penalties--a maximum $50,000 fine and two years in jail. In order to represent a player on a professional team, an agent has to be certified by the repective sports' players associations. For the NFL, compliance, which is voluntary, entails filling out an application, paying a $400 application fee and $200 in annual dues. The NBA has no application fee but charges $800 annual dues. Major League Baseball has no application fee and no dues.

A few years ago, agents locked players into long-term contracts and threatened to initiate costly court battles if the athlete wanted out. But the players unions now require that the player-agent agreements be contractually binding for no longer than one year and that all disputes be handled by arbitration. Also, agents were once able to charge clients whatever commission they could get. The players unions now limit commissions to no more than 4% to 5%.

It's almost imperative though, to have some kind of legal or financial training. "If you're going to deal with contract law and labor law, you've got to have some legal know-how and ability," says Fred Slaughter, who represented Dennis Johnson and Norm Nixon during their playing days. Slaughter, 50, holds a law degree from Columbia University, as well as a B.A. and MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles. "If you're not an attorney," he says, "you will limit yourself severely."

That's the advice that Clark Atlanta University graudate Charles Lamont Smith got from former Atlanta Hawks general manager Lewis Schaffel back in 1979, when Smith first considered sports representation while working as a production assistant with WATL-TV in Atlanta and ushering at Hawks basketball games. Says Smith: "He said to me, "You're bright and articulate, but there's one problem. You're black. And for some reason, blacks have not gravitated to or trusted black representatives. Don't try to do it as an agent. Go back to law school and have something else to offer."