Uniform Alternative Dispute Resolution: The Answer to Preventing Unscrupulous Agent Activity

This Note addresses whether there should be an arbitration and mediation section added to both the Uniform Athlete Agent Act (UAAA), and Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act (SPARTA) to establish a uniform dispute resolution process for dealing with unscrupulous acts of athlete agents. This issue is distinctive because while all four professional sports leagues’ players associations have specific arbitration procedures in their athlete agent regulations, the two statutes governing athlete agent conduct do not adopt a uniform policy relating to arbitration procedures. This Note addresses the prior history of state and federal legislation pertaining to an athlete agent, including how the UAAA and SPARTA regulate athlete agents working with both students and professionals. This Note then analyzes the similarities and differences among the arbitration and mediation procedures used by each of the four professional sports leagues’ players associations. It next discusses the successes and failures of both the professional leagues’ arbitration methods and other legal literature propositions for most effectively dealing with sports agents. Finally, this Note proposes that the most effective processes for dealing with the alleged unscrupulous acts of sports agents will result from modifying both the UAAA and SPARTA to include a uniform sports agent act and a uniform arbitration and mediation section