Descriptive study of state statute regulation of athlete agents

The purpose of this research was to examine how athlete agents are regulated in the United States. The research determined that athlete agents are regulated by state statute, and these state statutes are not uniform among the states. Twenty-seven states have enacted statutes that govern athlete agents while twenty-three states have not deemed it necessary to control this profession.To determine which states have athlete agent statutes, the statutes of all fifty states were researched. Following this research, the five major requirements of athlete agents were extracted from the statutes and compared among the different states. These requirements included: registration, bonding, contracts, record keeping, and advertising. In addition to researching statutes, case law was examined to determine if there was any court decisions which set out laws or guidelines as to the practice of athlete agents. Finally the criminal penalties for violating an athlete agent statute were examined to determine what the possible penalties are that might be imposed. Law review articles, magazine articles, newspaper articles, and internet cites were also explored to find any instances in which athlete agents have violated state laws.The research determined that there is no uniform method in the regulation of athlete agents. Every statute that has been enacted is different. To effectively regulate the profession of athlete agents, a uniform standard was recommended- whether that is uniformity among state statutes, or federal legislation.School of Physical EducationThesis (M.A.