Money Players

Money Players Links

Money Players is all about being the best resource for the business of being a professional athlete. Here are some links from around the web that we think are must reads for any current or aspiring professional athlete and their families.

• Sports agent C. Lamont Smith talks to Sports Agent Blog’s Darren Heitner about his new venture, jocklife.com. According to Smith, “Jocklife.com is for athletes of all levels: high school, college, and professional. The whole gist of the Jocklife platform is to bring some balance and fairness to the coverage of athletes…give athletes the opportunity to define themselves. Today, athletes are really defined by the coverage they get and the stories written about them. Very few times do they have the opportunity to define themselves in an extended fashion.”
  
  
• Slam Magazine’s Lang Whitaker interviews NBA agents Lon Babby and Jim Tanner. Tanner and Babby are known in NBA circles for their fee structure (hourly rather than percentage based) that saves their clients a lot of money.  They also are known as the agents that negotiated Josh Childress’ ground breaking deal with Greek professional team Olimpiacos.
  
  
• A nice piece by SI’s Kevin Armstrong on top high school basketball player Jordan Hamilton and his tight knit family. Hamilton’s mother mentions his intentions to sign a National Letter of Intent in the near future. Hopefully, she understands both the positives and the negatives of such a move.
  
  
• According to reports, Stephon Marbury has just spent $45 million to purchase a new private jet. Stephon has made a lot of money throughout his career (approximately $150 million), but this could turn out to be a purchase Steph will regret. Stephon probably has plans to lease the plane out when he is not utilizing it, but Scottie Pippen tried to do the same thing, and that didn’t end well for him. Stephon might want to put down the Bankruptcy Tonic and pick up a copy of Money Players.
  
  
• The Wall Street Journal with a report on how budget cuts in college athletic departments could hurt the U.S. in future Olympics.
  
  
• Another article on Baylor hiring the former AAU coach of top recruit John Wall. We first told you about this story in a previous set of Money Players Links.

-Nate Jones

For more in-depth information on the business of being a professional athlete, purchase Money Players: A Guide to Success in Sports, Business & Life for Current and Future Pro Athletes, written by our own Marc Isenberg.

Andy Oliver v. NCAA and the "Restitution Rule"

I've previously wrote on the Andy Oliver case, "The unintended consequences of trying to protect athletes." Mr. Oliver's attorney used this article to support its position in the case Oliver v. NCAA. You have to like that the horrifying image of athletic department employees beating down an agent is now part of the case's historical record. It's a joke...that would never happen in our country, right?

Quick recap: On the night before Oklahoma State baseball player Andy Oliver was to pitch in an important NCAA regional tournament game, he was ruled ineligible for violating the NCAA's "no agent" rule, which basically prohibits NCAA athletes from retaining agents to represents their interests. The charges against Oliver came courtesy of his former advisor, Robert Baratta, who sent a scorched-earth letter to the NCAA. Rather than wait for his case to wend and wind its way through the NCAA judicial process, Oliver and his family decided on a more aggressive legal strategy: Sue OSU and the NCAA.

Money Players Links

Money Players is all about being the best resource for the business of being a professional athlete. Here are some links from around the web that we think are must reads for any current or aspiring professional athlete and their families.

• Lester Munson with a great tribute to the late Gene Upshaw. Munson gives a very thorough breakdown of how Upshaw fought for and gained free agency rights for NFL players. You have to wonder what benefits NFL players would have today without the work of Gene Upshaw.
   
• On Ball Don’t Lie, Rod Benson wonders if his blogging might be part of the reason he hasn’t been signed by an NBA team. With more and more professional athletes starting their own blogs, one has to wonder if blogs help or hurt them. Some might say that Gilbert Arenas has both hurt and helped himself a ton with his NBA.com blog.
  
  
• More on Jameer Nelson’s “Building Magic” team building event. We have no idea if this will translate to wins, but this definitely shows that Jameer Nelson is a leader, through and through.
  
  
• According to bankruptcy papers, Michael Vick is losing $12K per month. Michael is going through tough times now, but he’ll have a chance to rebuild his life in the near future. Hopefully he’ll come out and be willing teach young up and coming athletes about the mistakes he has made, so that they won’t make the same mistakes in the future.
  
  
• According to NCAA President, Myles Brand, "NCAA amateurism regulations preclude individuals from receiving cash or the equivalent thereof (e.g. trust fund), as an award for participation in competition at any time, even if such an award is permitted under the rules governing an amateur non-collegiate event in which the individual participates."  The NCAA has dug its heels in on the amateur issue and shows no signs of relenting. Interestingly, the International Olympic Committee, which for many decades insisted that the amateurism was a core belief, dramatically relaxed its amateur rules. In 1974, the word "amateurism" was removed from the Olympic Charter, which eventually paved the way for the participation of athletes who received compensation, either through playing or endorsements. Regulating amateur athletes in a marketplace that places a high value on elite student-athletes is becoming increasingly difficult. The NCAA is in a tough situation. What do you think the NCAA and its membership should do? 
  
  
• Speaking of Brand, the Indianapolis Star gives us a report on Dr. Brand’s NCAA salary.  With an annual salary of $971,000, the NCAA President makes more than every public university president in the country. But he also makes less than ever major sports commissioner in the country. His job has similar requirements to both of those groups, so his salary being in between the two might be right on point.
  
  
• Brand was also in the Huffington Post this past week talking about the topic of pay for play in college sports.  In response, Brian Grummell of AOL’s Fanhouse gives us his take on the topic.  The comments section on Brand’s Huffington piece are also worth taking a close look at.
  
  
• The New York Times investigates if endorsement opportunities disappear for Olympic athletes that are injured before they have a chance to perform.
  
  
• Speaking of the Olympics, CNBC’s Darren Rovell has been doing an excellent job of covering the business side of the Olympics. We highly recommend rummaging through his blog archives over the last couple of weeks to soak up all of the information you can. You can start with this post on the most marketable non-team sport athletes following the Olympics.
  
  
• Check back Thursday for another set of must read Money Players Links.

-Nate Jones

For more in-depth information on the business of being a professional athlete, purchase Money Players: A Guide to Success in Sports, Business & Life for Current and Future Pro Athletes, written by our own Marc Isenberg.

 

 

Marc Isenberg Speaks to the Orlando Magic on the Business of Being a Professional Basketball Player

For the past three off-seasons, Jameer Nelson has organized an event that he calls the “Building Magic Week”, where he flies his Orlando Magic teammates into his hometown of Philadelphia for team/camaraderie building sessions. Jameer usually spends his own money to house his teammates in a hotel, pay for their meals, and provide basketball training and conditioning sessions. This year he added a little wrinkle to the “Building Magic” sessions, hiring our own Marc Isenberg to speak to the team about the business of being a Professional Basketball player.  You can read a full write up on this year’s “Building Magic Week” and Marc’s participation at the event on the Philadelphia Inquirer.

-Nate Jones

Money Players Links

Money Players is all about being the best resource for the business of being a professional athlete. Here are some links from around the web that we think are must reads for any current or aspiring professional athlete and their families.

• Sean Deveney reports on the National Basketball Players Association's high-growth entrepreneurship program. This summer the program offered NBA players four days of intense business classes and workshops at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, one of the nation's best business schools. This is something that any NBA Player with an interest in investing in or starting a business should get involved in. The gold in the article comes from, program director, Professor Steve Rogers: "Every single athlete is approached with get-rich ideas all the time," Rogers said. "But they don't have the tools to evaluate those ideas. Their focus is basketball. They should be saying no to these deals almost every time. At big venture capital firms, they will get 3,000 business plans per year, and they'll say yes to, maybe, eight of them. Of those eight, not all are going to work out. Sometimes a solid, legitimate business idea just doesn't work. What makes things harder for high-profile people like athletes is that a lot of the people who are offering them these deals are not legitimate. That's where this program is aimed to help."
  
  
• Speaking of athlete’s not being prepared to make sound business investments, Valley Wag composed a list of the worst athlete-backed internet startups of all time.
  
  
• Sam Smith gives us thoughts on the exodus of NBA players to Europe this summer. The comment section of the post is really pretty interesting.
  
  
• The Economist has a great special report on the globalization of sports.
  
  
• A lesson to be learned: Chose your agents and your business managers wisely. These are just accusations at this point, but $500K is a lot of money to lose.
  
  
• An outstanding breakdown by CBS Sportsline’s Gary Parrish on the quid pro quo aspect of college basketball recruiting. I would also recommend reading Parrish’s article on the Elite Camps.
  
  
• Sticking with the theme of Parrish’s article, Baylor hires the AAU coach of top recruit, John Wall, as their player development head.
  
  
• Tom Ziller of Fanhouse looks at the production of the 2004 NBA draft class last season versus the contract extensions they received. Just a hint: The order of salaries isn’t in step with who produces the most.
  
  
• Forbes has a cover story on the most powerful coach in sports: "[Saban] was given total control of the football program: recruiting, coaching, business administration and public relations. There are coaches at other universities who have similar salaries, like Charlie Weis at Notre Dame and Pete Carroll at the University of Southern California. But no coach, including those in the professional leagues, can match Saban's combination of money, control and influence. Saban, now entering his second year as the coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, is the most powerful coach in sports.”
  

--Nate Jones

For more in-depth information on the business of being a professional athlete, purchase Money Players: A Guide to Success in Sports, Business & Life for Current and Future Pro Athletes, written by our own Marc Isenberg.

Michael Vick and that nasty Bankruptcy Tonic

I keep telling athletes: AVOID THE BANKRUPTCY TONIC...ESPECIALLY WHEN IN JAIL. Michael Vick's life is now in shambles, not just because he's in jail in Leavenworth, Kansas, instead of Falcons training camp, but because he made some horrible financial decisions unrelated to dogfighting. ESPN legal expert Lester Munson examines Vick's very troubling financial and legal dealings.

When Vick's back was against the wall, he desperately needed some sound advice...so he turned to Falcon teammate Demorrio Williams, a former Nebraska Cornhusker. (If you could only ask one person in the Falcon organization for financial advice, would it be Demorrio Williams or team owner and billionaire Arthur Blank? Tough call.) After all those wrongs Vick made on his own, Williams tells Vick to go talk to Mary Wong, a business (mis)manager from Omaha. (If I'm getting business advice from someone from Omaha, it better be someone with the last name Buffett.)

Basketball Times article

Starting in the August issue, I became a Basketball Times regular contributor. It is an honor to be associated with a publication that includes such stellar basketball writers as John Akers, Dick "Hoops" Weiss, Bob Ryan, Chris Rivers and Dick Vitale. My BT column is an opportunity to delve deeper into the issues we cover here on the Money Players Blog.

Below is an excerpt from my first article that includes what I think could be a step in the right direction on the "one and done" issue ...

NBA's age limit creating red, blue differences of opinion

By Marc Isenberg

The “one and done” debate has raged since 2006, when the NBA—in agreement with the NBA players union—began requiring players who enter the NBA Draft to be 19-years old and one year removed from high school. 

It’s become basketball’s “red state, blue state” issue, where reasonable minds differ with seemingly no middle ground.

When it comes to solutions, people either want additional age restrictions or want these restrictions removed entirely. From the NBA’s perspective, the age restriction makes sense…but it pushes other, more serious problems down to the college level: what to do about players who don’t want to be in school, plus various amateur and agent issues.

CBS to NCAA: Uh, we're in business to make money

by Marc Isenberg

NFL fantasy has been a big deal for several years. But college football fantasy has lagged, not because there isn't any interest, but because fantasy sports is seemingly at odds with NCAA bylaws covering both gambling and the marketing of amateur athletes. While the NFL and many other pro leagues partnered with sites offering fantasy sports, the NCAA has steered clear. 

In June the Supreme Court refused to review the 8th Circuit's holding in CDM Fantasy Sports Corp. v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) that the First Amendment rights of a fantasy league operator to publish news and statistics outweigh MLBAM and players' state law rights of publicity to their names.

(Back to plain English after the jump.)

Jordan Anonymous

I thought I was among a small group of ridiculously devoted Jordan fans, but strangely I have never been that obsessed with Air Jordans (I think I've purchased 2 or 3 since 1984). Sure I have a few thou, mas or menos, invested in my Michael habit, but I swear I could kick it at any time. Now these are devoted Jordan heads. (Thanks TrueHoop)

Exhibits 1 through 7 that I might need a 12-step program:

1) See my groom's cake above.
2) When I was in high school, I would drive or walk by Michael's house to see if he was hanging out in front. (Under "normal" circumstances charges could be pressed, but the house I grew up in was just a few blocks from MJ's in HP, IL...any good lawyer could argue that I was just driving home.) And despite my efforts I never once saw him. But my mother would run into him all the time (that's a great story for another day).
3) Despite my disdain for Youtube, I still can't refrain from searching for "Michael Jordan" clips.
4) I have suggested to my wife that Michael Jeffrey and/or Jordan Michael would be excellent child names.
5) When I was a bachelor I had a lithograph of Michael (wagging his tongue) hanging above the living-room couch. (terms of engagement: the artwork was relegated to the guest bedroom to make my Chicago friends and relatives feel right at home).
6) Rare Air had a long run as my coffee table centerpiece.
7) Money Players -- the book -- has 23 chapters. Coincidence? Oh and Money Players is dedicated to MJ (and a few others) and has 7 MJ references -- but who's counting?.

Not on the list: my earlier disdain for Jerry Krause. I've let it go!

--Marc Isenberg

The case for free markets

Warning: This post really has nothing to do with the sports biz...or does it?

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are reportedly receiving $14 million for the photo rights to their newborn twins. The money will donated to one of their charities. Sounds nuts, but that's what these photos are apparently worth on the open market. No underground economy. No bounty paid to the paparazzi. The money goes to the right people...and Jolie and Pitt can capitalize on the public's insatiable appetite for celeb photos to benefit important causes. Credit the celebrity rags for reinventing the how the paparazzi game is played. Unfettered capitalism at its best.

--Marc Isenberg