Aregatta's Bondarowicz Speaks at Rutgers Law-Camden Sports Law Symposium

Aregatta Principal Andrew Bondarowicz joined noted sports law professor Marc Edelman of Baruch College, Rutgers Associate AD for Complian Nick Ojea, former Division 1 athlete Eric Moats on a panel at the Rutgers Law School-Camden Sports Law Symposium on Thursday, November 7, 2013.

The panel examined the legal issues and implications of paying college athletes for participation in intercollegiate athletics. The topic is a hot topic in NCAA circles in recent years and a host of legal cases are putting pressure on the traditional definition of "amateurism."

Bondarowicz Participates in ULC Committee to Revise UAAA Legislation

Aregatta Principal Andrew Bondarowicz, Esq., as Executive Director for the National Association of Sports Agents & Athlete Representatives (NASAAR), participated in the Uniform Laws Commission's (ULC) Drafting Committee in Chicago on October 25-26, 2013.

The ULC Study Commission is examining and eventually recommending changes to the Uniform Athlete Agent Act (UAAA), which is the basis for agent regulation in over 40 states nationally. The ULC is seeking to publish its draft legislation next year in hopes of gaining adoption in the ensuing years.

"The UAAA, while noble in its intentions, has been poorly applied and largely ineffective in regulating the industry. There is a great deal of interest from the agent community in either rationalizing it or scrapping it altogether. There is at least consensus that something has to change," says Bondarowicz. "This is a keystone issue for agents around the country."

The ULC will be reconvening in April for the next round of drafting sessions in Seattle, Washington.

Bondarowicz reappointed to Rutgers Law School Faculty

Aregatta Principal Andrew Bondarowicz, Esq. was reappointed as an Adjunct Professor for the Fall 2013 semester teaching Sports Law. He also taught the same class in 2012 after the school had not offered the course in recent years.

Bondarowicz reappointed to Rutgers Law School Faculty

Aregatta Principal Andrew Bondarowicz, Esq. was reappointed as an Adjunct Professor for the Fall 2013 semester teaching Sports Law at Rutgers Law School in Newark, NJ. He also taught the same class in 2012 after the school had not offered the course in recent years.

Bondarowicz to Appear on ESPN Outside The Lines

Aregatta's Andrew Bondarowicz, Esq. will be appearing in an upcoming ESPN Outside the Lines show examining professional athletes' charities.The show will look into the good, the bad and the ugly that sometimes exists with the foundations and charitable efforts of many pro athletes. Thbe available show is expected to air on ESPN on Sunday, March 31, 2013 at 9:00 AM EDT and again on ESPN2 at 10:00 AM EDT. The segment will rerun throughout the week and also be available online.

Bondarowicz has been involved with non-profits for almost 15 years. As an attorney and sports agent, he specializes in sports and entertainment law, intellectual property, business start-ups and non-profits. He regularly works with non-profit clients on formation, governance, fundraising, and programming issues.

If you have any questions about Aregatta's services or how Aregatta can help your organization, please email andrew@aregatta.com.

US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Weighs in on College Sports

US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan publishes an Op/Ed piece in USA Today pr

Bondarowicz to speak at MCBA Sports Law panel

Aregatta's Andrew Bondarowicz, Esq.  has been invited to speak at the Middlesex County (NJ) Bar Association panel on Sports Law on Thursday, March 21, 2013 in New Brunswick, NJ.

The event coincides with the kick off of March Madness and focuses in on the world of sports agents and athletes. The event details can be found here: http://www.mcbalaw.com/cde.cfm?event=406947

Bondarowicz is a frequent panelist on Sports Law topics and is an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers School of Law where he teaches Sports Law.

US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Weighs in on College Sports

US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan publishes an Op/Ed piece in USA Today both praising the NCAA for its recent re-emphasis on academics while also expressing caution at the escalating costs. Duncan criticized the run up in coaches' salaries as one of the chief drivers of athletic budgets and called for greater discipline and rollbacks to restore the balance.

Read the full story, click here.

NFL Stiffs the Little Guys

In the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, there is a little known concept called the Player Performance Pool (PPP) that provides bonuses to younger players who "outplay" their contracts. Each team sets aside $3 million of their salary cap for these equalization bonuses. The PPP is distributed based on the number of plays a player is in and their overall contract for the year. The more a player plays, the higher their allocation can grow.

The PPP was a way for players who do not make the big money to gain an extra 100-, 200-, or 300- thousand dollars in a season biased on their play. This could almost double the salary of a player such as Victor Cruz of the NY Giants, who essentially was playing for a minimum contract although being a Pro Bowl performer.

Well, in order to allow teams to spend more on high end players, the NFLPA agreed to suspend the PPP for   the next two seasons. So, the union that is supposedly looking out for the "little guys" essentially threw them under the bus so that the super stars can make a couple million more. It's a shame as the PPP was one of the best inventions in all of pro sports.

Baseball's Arbitration Shutout

Major League Baseball (MLB) continues to defy labor logic. After years of contentious relations between the players association and the league, MLB continues to serve an unlikely model in recent years. First, at a time of potential “Sports Armageddon” in 2010-2012 where four of the major domestic sports leagues faced potential work stoppages, MLB emerged as the only league to make it through without a lockout. Instead, MLB quietly reached a labor deal before the expiration of the prior agreement.

In another stunning announcement, baseball pitched an arbitration shutout this year when all 133 arbitration filings were settled without a single arbitration hearing. While the amount of arbitrations has been declining significantly in recent years, the lack of any hearings was another sign of strength in a once acrimonious relationship. The "shutout" is the first in the 39 year history of the arbitration system.

Originally posted on NASAAR.com

It's Over for NBPA's Hunter

The axe officially fell for NBPA Executive Director Billy Hunter on Saturday as the Players Association's Executive Board unanimously voted out its leader for a series of indiscretions in his stewardship of the union over the years. 

Hunter has vowed not to walk away quietly and is seeking to enforce him employment agreement that he entered into which would run through 2015.

The SI.com story can be found at:

http://nba.si.com/2013/02/16/billy-hunter-out-nbpa-derek-fisher/

Hunter's fall from grace was swift and dramatic. However, the serious questions about his stewardship, riddles with nepotism, self-dealing and other ethical concerns doomed the former prosecutor turned union executive. 

Originally posted on NASAAR.com

Aregatta's Scorecard on NCAA Conference Realignment

Conference realignment has changed the face of college athletics immensely in the last decade. The affects can be felt from the major “BCS” conferences down through the lowest levels of college sports. While the attention focus on the big schools, the greater impacts are felt at the lower levels where the face of entire conferences have changed forever. Here is a quick assessment of our winners and losers in the conference realignment carousel:

Big Ten: Other than trying to figure out why no one at these prestigious universities can count, the Big Ten definitely has helped themselves the most through realignment. The conference boasts the strongest academic profile from top to bottom with some excellent research universities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio State, and Northwestern. Nebraska helped extend the “footprint” into the Plains states and provide another solid national football program. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers was a great strategic move as it extends the Big Ten footprint into the coveted big markets of the East Coast including New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. Both are AAU research universities – which means something to the academic and professional stature of the universities. Maryland also brings Under Armour to the conference as the sports brand’s CEO takes good care of his alma mater. Rutgers is loaded with potential too – rich recruiting grounds for almost all sports, two major media markets, and – when they are winning – major publicity. The Big Ten bolstered its brand, maintained its integrity and exclusivity. It is still the place to be amongst conferences.

Pac 12: The Pac-12 was another model conference with its “Noah’s Ark” approach to conference building: every school has a natural rival: USC-UCLA, Cal-Stanford, Arizona-Arizona State, Oregon-Oregon State, and Washington-Washington State. The conference is also a great academic one. The addition of Utah and Colorado got them up to the magic number of 12 for conference championships in football. While the conference championship is a bonus, neither Utah or Colorado provides a very impressive profile that you can say increases their brand value. Adding the Salt Lake and Denver markets are nice, but it will be interesting to see how the schools integrate into the Pac-12 culture. While neither is a liability and Utah has had some success in football and basketball over the last 20 years, the Pac-12 improved itself, but probably not as much as the Big Ten. Unfortunately, the conference does not have a ton of schools to pick from, but amongst the available schools, I think they got the best ones for them – major state schools in upper tier markets – all be it no longer “Pacific.”

ACC: The ACC has always been one of my favorite conferences. But while the ACC was one of the catalysts for realignment, I think the ACC actually is worse off that the other major conferences. While it definitely grew and added some decent schools, I think it also weakened its brand and lost its identity. The pace of change, scattered geography and incongruent profiles have cost the conference that clean image that it enjoyed. Once a conference of excellent state universities with a tremendous brand in not only basketball, but also most other Olympic sports. While football was not seen as the same caliber as the SEC, Big Ten or Pac-12, it was no slouch either with Virginia Tech, Florida State, and Miami and the national championships that they brought. However, the land grab has turned the homogenous ACC into a conference that lost its identity. Tobacco Road is just not that important to the conference any more. The new additions don’t bring too much strength in football and while there is basketball cache in Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame, it will change the nature of ACC basketball. The ACC watered down its brand and will have to hope that the new additions become wildly successful; otherwise, it is only downhill.

SEC: The SEC has enjoyed the distinction of being the top football conference in the last decade. So expansion for them was not as much about football strength as much as its footprint, markets and help for its anemic academic profile. Missouri and Texas A&M were great moved for them from a footprint and market perspective. Missouri would have been Big Ten bound otherwise, but instead brings another big school with the St. Louis and KC markets. Getting Texas A&M was a coupe too – gaining a foothold in Texas and simultaneously pissing off “big brother” Texas. A&M’s success made it look like a brilliant move in 2012. The SEC has the smallest offering of sports of the major conferences, so some of Missouri and A&M’s programs will need to seek out new homes. All in all, it was a good move.

Big East: Well, everyone’s whipping boy may have actually worked out for the best. The weak union that existed in the Big East is no more. The basketball schools retained the brand and were able to return to their basketball roots. They have some work to do to restore some of the intensity, but the Big East will be back in play very soon. With Georgetown and Marquette in the national top 10-15, a core of major market, private schools and some successful additions that complement the conference and bring more credibility. The Big East will rise again and it will be much better than the conference of the last few years.

A Conference to be Named Later: This is a shame. The “leftovers conference” is a time bomb that will eventually self-destruct. There is little synergy, no cohesion, no loyalty and a lack of purpose. There are some good schools left, but the new conference will do nothing to build the brand. It is arguable that the new conference has fallen below the Mountain West in reputation. The best option would be to form alliances with Conference USA and the MWC to work together to battle the BCS conferences by promoting their collective “champion.” They get to play the underdog role, in a sense. But none of the remaining former Big East schools is likely to compete on a national level any time soon. So, there is not much to look forward to here.

Big 12: What seemed like a doomsday scenario not too long ago turned out alright for the Big 12. While they lost Colorado to the Pac-12, Nebraska to the Big Ten, and Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC, they managed to keep Oklahoma and Texas as their “anchor tenants.” Adding in West Virginia helped give them another powerful football and basketball program. The addition of TCU also added some more clout – particularly in North Texas. However, the Big 12 still has some work to do. They lost the required 12 schools to hold a conference football championship. The pickings are getting much slimmer, but there are still some decent targets out there.

MWC: The MWC actually came out looking pretty good. Keeping Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State gives them a solid football base. It also places the MWC at the top Group of 5 conference. A conference that was left for dead leapfrogged over the Big East – for now.

Nadal Breaks from IMG, Sets Up Own Shop

Star athletes changing representation is not typically earth-shattering news as it is a fairly typical occurrence. However, when two of the biggest names in a sport break away to set up their own shops, it starts to peak some interest.

Bloomberg reported that tennis star Rafael Nadal of Spain has ended his relationship with IMG, one of the heavyweight agencies in tennis. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-03/rafa-nadal-denies-img-cut-of-earnings-as-career-resumes.html The interesting angle on this is that Nadal is not switching to another agency, but rather is stricking out on his own. The former world #1 feels he is at a point in his career where he would have the deal flow come to him and therefore does not need the agency to bring deals to him. For Nadal, this will produce a savings of appoximately $2.8 million based on his endorsement level.

Nadal follows another former #1, Roger Federer, who did the same last year. Now two of the top names in men's tennis are self managed. Is this a new trend? Hardly, while Federer and Nadal have a commanding presence at the later stages of their careers, most tennis stars are not in a position to cut out their agencies entirely without sacrificing earning potential.

While it cannot yet be called a trend, the notion of top athletes cutting out agents is an interesting proposition - particularly in team sports where 'closed" markets exist. Over the years, there have been numerous stars that have chosen to go this route - particularly later in their careers or on veteran contracts.

Keith Dunn from KDCop comments on Snapchat

KDCop founder and Aregatta client  Keith Dunn was recently featured in an Asbury Park Press (Gannett) story on the pitfalls and dangers of Snapchat - a popular new app that many teenagers are turning to.

Click here to read the APP story.