At least 15 NFL agents, representing most of the major firms active in the sport, met at the NFL Players Association offices earlier this month, where they argued why the maximum agent fee should not be reduced from 3 percent, multiple sources said.
The meeting took place Nov. 10 at the NFLPA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and union officials asked agents not to divulge details of the discussions.
According to multiple sources, prominent NFL agents including Drew Rosenhaus of Rosenhaus Sports, Joel Segal of Lagardère Sports, Doug Hendrickson of Relativity Sports, Alan Herman of Sportstars, Rick Smith of Priority Sports and Pat Dye Jr. of SportsTrust Advisors attended the meeting.
Players who attended included New York Giants long snapper Zak DeOssie, Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich, free agent offensive lineman Rich Ohrnberger and Giants running back Rashad Jennings, who was connected by telephone.
NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, general counsel Tom DePaso and Mark Levin, administrator of agents and administration, were also present, along with other staff members.
Multiple sources said players at the meeting were talking about reducing the maximum NFL fee to 2 percent. The current maximum, 3 percent, is the lowest among the top four team sports. The maximum fee in the NBA is 4 percent, and the NHL and MLB do not limit the fees agents can charge, but the norm is 4 percent to 5 percent there. “Every agent there argued against it,” said one agent who attended the meeting. “We have the most profitable and most powerful sport in the world at the moment with the television money and ratings, and they are trying to cut agent fees? It’s unbelievable.”
This agent and others at the meeting would not speak on the record, concerned the union might discipline them for speaking out. Many declined to comment or did not return calls, emails or text inquiries for this story.
“I was told expressly not to discuss what was discussed in the meeting,” said one agent who was there.
Other agents who attended the meeting include Chitta Mallik, Tony Agnone, Peter Schaffer, Neil Schwartz, Hadley Engelhard, Adisa Bakari and Vann McElroy.
Rick Landrum represented CAA Sports’ powerful football group, which represents more than 100 players and is headed up by agents Tom Condon, Jimmy Sexton and Todd France, sources said. Andrew Kessler represented Athletes First, which is headed up by David Dunn and represents more than 100 players in the league.
“For now we are not sharing any of the details with the media,” DeOssie said in an email. “I’m sure you understand.”
It is not known why the union asked that details of the meeting be kept secret.
Some agents who were invited to the meeting thought they would be told about agent regulations that had been discussed or voted on at the union’s annual meeting in March in Maui, Hawaii. But sources said the regulations were not discussed. It is unclear why agents have not been informed about what was discussed in Maui.
USA Today reported in July that the NFLPA board of player representatives passed a motion to form a committee to examine agent fees and look into creating an in-house resource to advise players on negotiating their own deals.
Agents at the meeting said they were asked about how much they spent on training players for the NFL combine and how much time they spent representing players, among other things. “They were asking us to justify our existence,” one agent said.
Agents made several arguments against lowering the maximum fee further, including that players have the ability to negotiate a fee lower than 3 percent.
It is not clear how many players are in favor of cutting the fees or if the maximum will be changed.
The NFLPA board of player representatives voted on several other regulations at the March meeting in Maui, including a new rule about which agent gets paid based on how multiple agents are listed on the standard representation agreement that is turned in to the union.
George Atallah, NFLPA assistant executive director, said in a text, “Agents, players and NFLPA staff who were [at the meeting] shared their thoughts on various matters including player deferred compensation, extended pay periods, the services that agents provide to the players and agent regulations, including the current fee structure.”
