The NCAA looks powerless.
It could only do so much in attempting to solve the problems agents are causing, which have recently caused a whirlwind around Florida’s football program.
This is where the NFL and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) step in.
Alabama coach Nick Saban made a threat to the NFL only after saying he believes that agents should have their license revoked for a year if they are found to affect the eligibility of a student-athlete.
“If something doesn’t go on from their end of it to control what they’re doing to affect our players, then I’m not sure that the same hospitality will be welcomed in the future,” Saban said.
The NFL is quickly being dragged into the problem and it will soon have to respond.
Some punishments the league and the players association could implement are to revoke or suspend an agent’s license or even to punish the guilty players.
At this time, players can get away unscathed if they make a jump to the NFL. But not if the league held them out of games on their professional team.
Others are calling for the government to get involved.
“What we have to remember is that the NFLPA and the NCAA, they lack the same kind of penalties that the state and federal government could put forth,”sports agent and CEO of Dynasty Athlete Representation Darren Heitner said.
“The NFLPA can revoke a license, but as an agent what are you more afraid of – the players association revoking your license or going to jail for 15 years?”
The NFLPA already forces agents to undergo the strictest process out of any sport to become certified to represent one of its athletes.
It is the only league that requires applicants to possess a post-graduate degree. Furthermore, the players association forces agents to pay an annual fee of $1,200 and pass an exam on the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
In the MLB an agent just has to have clean background while representing a player on a 40-man roster to become certified.
Still, Heitner believes the NFL can do more.
“They have stricter criteria for entrance,” he said. “Once you become a part of the NFLPA as a registered agent, that’s when it really matters what they are doing.”
