The University of Oregon, one of the most talent-rich football programs in the country for next year’s NFL draft, is relaxing its team rules to allow football players who want to meet with agents to do so.
Meanwhile, 106 agents and other athlete representatives, including many of the top agents in the business, have registered in Oregon as part of the state’s new agent law.
The University of Oregon is known for not allowing any contact between agents and athletes. This summer, Jeff Hawkins, the school’s director of football operations, said he would continue his practice of not allowing football players to meet with agents until after the regular season (SportsBusiness Journal, Aug. 4-10).
But Hawkins recently sent a letter to agents stating that contact will be allowed, though he reminded them of the Oregon law that went into effect Jan. 1 stating that agents can be prosecuted for any contact with a student athlete unless they are registered with both the state and the school.
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Agents must register with the state and the school before making contact with athletes attending Oregon institutions.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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The agents who were registered with the state of Oregon last week include
Tom Condon of
CAA Sports,
Joel Segal of
Lagardère Unlimited,
Drew Rosenhaus of
Rosenhaus Sports Representation,
David Dunn of
Athletes First,
Todd France of
Five Star Athlete Management, and
Eugene Parker,
Roosevelt Barnes and
Doug Hendrickson of
Relativity Sports. In addition to the football agents, MLB player agent
Scott Boras is registered.
The state law applies to athletes in all sports in all schools, from elementary school through college. Hawkins said state officials have said there has been an uptick in the number of agents registered in Oregon, although it was not clear how many of those agents now registered in the state did so after the new law went into effect versus how many might have been registered previously.
Hawkins said he is allowing contact with football players because of comments made by university officials about changing agent rules to allow communication with agents as well as a desire expressed by some players and their families to get to know agents.
Among the highly touted Oregon players on this year’s Ducks roster is quarterback Marcus Mariota, who is considered a possible No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft.
> FORMER INTERN SUES OCTAGON: A former intern has sued Octagon and is seeking class-action status on the matter, adding to the list of cases in recent years that have seen interns bring lawsuits against sports and entertainment companies.
Former Octagon intern Jeffrey R. Klein filed the lawsuit in New York federal court last month and seeks “to recover unpaid minimum wages owed to Plaintiff and all similarly situated persons who are presently or were formerly employed as interns” at Octagon and all its related entities, according to the lawsuit.
“We believe that we have completely followed the letter of the law and this claim has no merit,” an Octagon spokesperson said. Octagon is scheduled to formally file an answer to the complaint next month, according to court documents.
Klein worked at Octagon in 2011, from August through November, but the lawsuit seeks to represent all interns who worked at Octagon from August 2008 through present.
Klein worked in Octagon’s New York office, according to the complaint, and typically worked from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, as well as typically working one hour after-hours per week fulfilling tasks assigned to him via email.
Kara Miller, an attorney at Virginia & Ambinder, is representing Klein but declined to comment for this story.
The New York City employment firm has filed similar lawsuits previously. According to a story in The Wall Street Journal in April, Virginia & Ambinder has brought lawsuits over unpaid internships against Warner Music Group Corp., Viacom and Madison Square Garden Co. Earlier this month, a former intern for “Late Show With David Letterman” dropped a lawsuit filed by the firm against CBS and Worldwide Pants, the production company for the show, and issued a statement saying she was coerced into filing the lawsuit. The law firm denied that it coerced the intern, Mallory Musallam, into filing the lawsuit, according to published reports.
Unpaid interns or volunteers have sued other sports and entertainment entities in recent years, including Major League Baseball, Fox Searchlight and ICM Partners, according to published reports.
Bill Sutton, professor and director of the University of South Florida’s sports and entertainment management program, has followed internship programs in sports. He noted that sports companies and organizations have offered unpaid internships for years but that it’s something he advises his students against accepting.
“It’s always been around,” Sutton said of the practice. “It stopped being popular the last five years or so, since these lawsuits have been filed.”
> A3 SIGNS McCALEBB: Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Onterio McCalebb has signed with Allegiant Athletic Agency, the fourth agency to represent him. Tommy Sims will serve as his lead agent at Knoxville, Tenn.-based A3.
McCalebb most recently was represented by Slocum Law Firm. Prior to that, he was represented by Vantage Management Group, and before that he was represented by OTG Sports Management.
Sims wouldn’t speculate about why McCalebb has had so many agents in the first two years of his career but noted that he had a tough upbringing.
“He has no character issues,” Sims said. “The kid raised himself in Fort Meade, Fla. He has fought for everything he could possibly fight for.”
Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @SBJLizMullen.
