FREE TRIALOp-ed: Rich Paul on the NCAA’s new restrictions for player-agents
By Rich Paul 15m ago
Editor’s note: Below is an op-ed written by Rich Paul, who represents NBA players as the CEO and founder of Klutch Sports Group as well as the Head of Sports at United Talent Agency (UTA). Last week the NCAA released a memo identifying new criteria for agents to be eligible to represent collegiate athletes considering the NBA draft early, notably the requirement of a bachelor’s degree. It was quickly referred to as “The Rich Paul Rule” because it would prevent agents like Paul, who chose to forgo college, from representing student athletes not finished with school that are considering the NBA draft without compromising their eligibility.
Last week the NCAA added new criteria for agents who wanted to work with “student-athletes.” They must pass a test, have three years of experience, and have completed their college degree. The media is calling it “The Rich Paul Rule” that, while incredibly flattering, is not accurate. It has no impact on me or the business of Klutch Sports Group. However, it does have a significant impact on people like me and the NCAA should be called out for it.
To be honest, I have no idea whether the NCAA adopted the new rule specifically because of my work with Darius Bazley, as people have speculated, or if it is because they know there are more and more people like me fighting for their chance and challenging this antiquated system.
The harmful consequences of this decision will ricochet onto others who are trying to break in. NCAA executives are once again preventing young people from less prestigious backgrounds, and often people of color, from working in the system they continue to control. In this case, the people being locked out are kids who aspire to be an agent and work in the NBA and do not have the resources, opportunity, or desire to get a four-year degree.
I actually support requiring three years of experience before representing a kid testing the market. I can even get behind passing a test. However, requiring a four-year degree accomplishes only one thing — systematically excluding those who come from a world where college is unrealistic.
Does anyone really believe a four-year degree is what separates an ethical person from a con artist?
Let’s also be clear that once the NCAA requires a four-year degree for athletes “testing the waters,” it’s only a matter of time until this idea is socialized, no longer questioned, and then more broadly applied. We all know how this works. Unfair policy is introduced incrementally so people accept it because it only affects a small group. Then the unfair policy quietly evolves into institutional policy. I’m not sure what the technical term is for that because I didn’t finish college but I know it when I see it.
There are certainly other ways to achieve that goal which don’t lock people out of the system. Why don’t they partner with universities on a one-year program for agents who don’t meet their requirements but want to learn the business? Or work with existing agents who play by the rules to help mentor those who are trying to “break in?”
There’s another practical reason that this rule doesn’t make sense. Respectfully, how do four years studying sports marketing in a classroom make you more qualified to represent a kid than working at Klutch Sports Group or for an NBA front office; or at any other entrepreneurial business for that matter? All this will do is exclude the agents whose life experience helps them understand the needs of many of these players best.
The barriers to entry for the next Rich Paul are already high enough. When I travel back to neighborhoods like the inner city of Greater Cleveland where I’m from, young black kids tell me that they see my career as another path for them out of their troubled surroundings. They want to grow up to do what I do. That inspires me. So if the NCAA is invested both in helping young people get the education they need and in supporting student-athletes, like they claim, then we are on common ground.
No matter the result what I’m focused on is helping aspiring agents and players figure out the best path forward for them so they can earn a living and be blessed with opportunities like I have. Hopefully, the NCAA will help foster a system that will allow for that as well.
But no matter what the NCAA does, I want young men and women no matter their color or background to know that this shouldn’t discourage them from aspiring to be in this profession. Continue to strive for greatness, the marathon of life will continue. #MoreThanAnAgent
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