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.

• TrueHoop discusses the public relations implications of LeBron James' flirtation with the New York Knicks.
  
  
• Speaking of LeBron, here is a Sports Law Blog post on how the media is sparking unnecessary controversy between Charles Barkley and LeBron over LeBron's handling of his impending free agency. In the post Rick Karcher asks if ethics exist in journalism today. For the most part, I would say no.
  
  
• This is a self link, but I really think it is important to get this out in the open. O.J. Mayo is having an incredible rookie season. I'm really happy for O.J. because the young man has had so many doubters in the media and on the blogs over the last few years. Most of it was unjustified and just plain ignorant.
  
  
• Some changes to the NBA Pre-Draft process that all potential NBA players and their families should read.
  
  
• LeBron James ends his relationship with MSN. This relationship seemed like it had the potential to take off big time, but ended before it started. The closest thing we have to an athlete aligning himself with a big time online/tech company is Chris Bosh with AOL. I think this is an area where there is a lot of room for growth for pro athletes.
  
  
• Tiger Woods and Buick part ways. Not even Tiger could make owning a Buick cool again. Lexus came in and stole Buick's market about 20 years ago and it's been all downhill since. If/when GM restructures, Buick will definitely be one of the brands they discard.
  
  
• Athletes, let what happened to Plaxico Burress stand as an example. Please stop carrying guns. If you're going to a place where you feel you might need a gun, you probably shouldn't go. But if you must go, hire a professional security to make sure that you are protected. Because the P.R., legal, and health implications that usually follow athletes + guns club incidents are too high to do it any other way.
  
  
• Be sure to continue reading Brandon Jennings' When in Rome Blog on the UnderArmour website.
  
  
• Marc Isenberg has talked about the need to reform the NCAA's National Letter of Intent several times on this site. Future UAB basketball player DeMarcus Cousins might be one of the first NCAA athletes to negotiate the terms of his NLI. Cousins obviously understands market and negotiation power. Top NCAA recruits should be taking notes.

-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.

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.

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.

 

 

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.

Money Surfing

Art Spander writes about the wilting Rose Bowl and USC football Pete Carroll.

Darren Heitner's SportsAgentBlog.com is two years old. Happy B-Day!

Deadspin linked to my year-end roundup, Top 10 Biggest Sports Losers in 2007. Comments always entertaining: "Shawn Kemp nods in approval of Travis Henry."

AP story on the deplorable death of minority college football head coaches. Said NCAA prez Myles Brand, ""I feel very frustrated about it, and I don't have the legal ability to dictate hiring decisions. We've put in place everything we can think of that would work." Lesson: Rich, powerful white boosters are hardly moved by persuasion.

Sports Illustrated runs an excellent, in-depth article on Chaminade's improbable upset of UVa. Many of my friends play a role: Written by the great Alex Wolff, coaches Terry Holland, now East Carolina AD and Merv Lopes, a wonderful man who operates the Pete Newell Big Man Camp, and Mike Wilbon, a young writer frantically trying to get his Washington Post editors to stop the press so they can run the the story. [Sports Illustrated: The Greatest Upset Never Seen]

I started a facebook page -- and Money Players blog group!!

Money surfing

Yet another reason to visit Money Players on a regular basis...

RIP Rodney Parker Basketball hustler Rodney Parker died this week at age 71. TrueHoop's Henry Abbott explores Parker's fascinating life, quoting extensively from Rick Telander's book "Heaven is a Playground." (Since I've been blogging on the topic of college football, I should also mention Telander wrote "The Hundred-Yard Lie") [True Hoop]

Bad weather + NFL No one's better at capturing supermodels and football players than SI photographers.
[CNNSI.com]

Famous people blowing lots of money Read about the financial mistakes of Kim Basinger, Mark Twain and the Punky QB, to name a few.  Hemingway wrote in The Sun Also Rises: "How did you go bankrupt? Two Ways. Gradually, and then suddenly." Hopefully some good lessons of what not to do. [Growthink.com]

He's baack The greatest athlete of all-time returned today to practice with his Bobcats. (Iverson is shaking his head. Practice!) Could he possibly be plotting his return? Doubtful. Said MJ, "They can lobby all they want. They can't pay me enough." [Charlotte Observer]

Another nice Money Players book review Josh Golka reviews my book on his blog, Athlete Agent Regulation.

Short takes

Michael Lewis gets medieval Lewis, author of The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game (best sports book in the last several years) writes about the restricted marketplace for college football players in his Op-Ed, Serfs of the Turf.

TurribleTV on TNT Frank Caliendo, star of those TBS promos that ran constantly during the MLB playoffs visited the studio of NBA on TNT. Caliendo does Charles Barkley better than Charles. Bet you can't stop saying "turrible." Plus John Madden is cooking up something better than a "turducken." Because I think YouTube is a corporate thief...please go to cnnsi.com, look for Featured Video on right-hand side, then click TNT.com tab.

Did the real Eric Gordon play MJ's fake son? Interesting question whether IU frosh sensation Eric Gordon played MJ's son in the movie Space Jam.

Money Surfing

John Canzano questions the NCAAs decision to eject a reporter/blogger and then mocks them. [Oregonian]

The players at the College World Series are acting differently around ESPN's Erin Andrews. [Baseball America]

Coach John Wooden preached to never let making a living get in the way of making a life .. will Tiger Woods be able to achieve that balance now that he's a father? [Chicago Tribune]

Don't fight your teammates that are more skillful than you .. you might get yourself traded. [Chicago Tribune]

Could the NFL's new concussion guidelines actually hurt players more? [New York Times]

The NFL provides a "broadcast boot camp" to help players move from the field to the booth. [New York Times]

The Bush administration doesn't have a good Title IX record. [LA Times]

With the NBA Draft approaching, some are remembering the tragic story of Len Bias. [Awful Announcing]

USC receives a verbal commitment from a 14-year old basketball phenom. [Chicago Sun-Times] Which reminds us of this gem (Thank you Deadspin)...

Money Surfing

• MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is considering a suspension for Jason Giambi if he doesn't cooperate with the Mitchell steroid investigation - and the union won't stand idly by to let it happen. [MLB.com]
• Scientists who once published a study that said it would be okay for players to return to games they suffered concussions in are now disputing their own claims. [New York Times]
• Is the sports business topping out? Since "no one's watching anything anymore", that could be possible. [USA TODAY]
• The NCAA decides to eject a journalist who posted his observations of a College World Series game in a live blog, citing broadcast concerns. [New York Times]
• The NFL and Reebok will allow Jack Del Rio and Mike Nolan to wear suits at home games. [San Francisco Chronicle]
• What culpability do NFL players have with for their own financial well-being and health care after their careers are over? [Chicago Tribune]
• A win for the MLS: Even though David Bekham's European team wants to keep him because he's playing well, he's still coming to the Galaxy. [Los Angeles Times]
• NBA Players Association has announced an initiative to feed one-million Kenyans. [News Digital Media]
• Athletes need to be careful with muscle creams like Ben Gay and Icy Hot when recovering from strenuous athletic activity. [Washington Post]

Money Surfing

• The attorney that leaked grand jury testimony of the BALCO case blames alcohol, drugs, and depression. [ESPN]
• Bud Selig wants Jason Giambi to participate in the Mitchell Investigation The Players Union wants him to stay quiet and sees Selig's actions as a threat. [Chicago Sun-Times]
• Baseball players may no longer be able to use the independent leagues as leverage for bigger contracts from the MLB teams that draft them. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]
• NFLPA head guy Gene Upshaw aims slightly lower in his threat to harsh critic Joe DeLamielleure, further antagonizing retired players. [Baltimore Sun]
• The House Judiciary Committee will conduct a hearing on the process of disability benefit claims for former NFL players. [Chicago Tribune]
• A Taiwanese scout is giving baseball's minor leaguers another chance to play for big money in Asia. [Wall Street Journal]
• Daunte Culpepper, serving as his own agent, asks the Dolphins to release him. [USA TODAY]