The Pittsburgh Penguins' bankruptcy could affect how players in all sports approach free agency, according to Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Donald Fehr.
"The Pittsburgh situation could mean no more deferred money in contracts," Fehr said May 22 in a presentation at the Sports Lawyers Association's annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
Mario Lemieux says the Penguins owe him more than $34 million, largely because his last playing contract called for the bulk of his salary to be deferred until after his career was over.
Fehr also said the Penguins' bankruptcy could further tip the balance of power in favor of larger markets.
"This will push players away from fragile markets," he said.
Former University of Florida linebacker Jevon Kearse, a first-round pick of the Tennessee Titans, was one of several players who provided an affidavit to the NFL Players Association for its investigation of agent William "Tank" Black, according to sources.
Black represented Kearse until the linebacker fired him a few weeks after the draft. The NFLPA officially charged Black on May 19 with recruiting violations, including providing college football players with cash and cars.
The Women's National Basketball Players Association plans to certify wo-men's basketball agents by next year.
The union has already sent applications to the agents of many WNBA players. Annual dues for agents will be $1,500.
SFX Entertainment Inc.'s pending acquisition of Hendricks Sports Management is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.
Bill Strickland signed University of South Carolina guard BJ McKie.
Stanford point guard Arthur Lee signed with Gregory Polk.
Marc Cornstein of Pinnacle Management Group signed 7-foot-3-inch center Aleksandar Radojevic, who had planned to attend Ohio State this fall until the NCAA ruled him ineligible because he played four games for a Yugoslavian professional team.
Master P's No Limit Sports landed another client, New York Liberty guard Coquese Washington. She had been represented by Bruce Levy.
"She is under a binding contract with us and we intend to pursue all legal remedies to have that contract enforced," Levy said. "If it turns out there was tortious interference, we will also move against the entity that caused her to break her agreement with us."
Video game company Acclaim Sports extended its endorsement agreement with supercross rider Jeremy McGrath and will feature him in a new game called Acclaim Sports' Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000.
Thirty-nine college underclassmen and high school seniors declared themselves eligible for the June 30 NBA draft, up from 33 last year.
Video game company Sierra Front Page Sports will kick off the second season of the Jerry Maguire League — a computer-simulated fantasy league that pits the rosters of top agents against one another — this week.
Sierra will plug the client lists of the top 16 NFL agents (based on number of clients) into Sierra's Front Page Sports: Football Pro '99 and play out a simulated season during the next few months. The results will be posted on www.gelat.com.
The league is the idea of football agents Peter Schaffer and Lamont Smith of All Pro Sports & Entertainment, who last year set out to prove they had one of the best and most well-rounded client lists in the business. Their team came up short in the championship game, losing to the team of Marvin Demoff, whose clients include John Elway.
