Written by Jeff Nixon – May 3, 2010
In a April 30, 2010 online article posted by Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports, one of the top NFL Player Agents, Ben Dogra of C.A.A. – the same agency that employs Tom Condon – made this statement regarding the institution of a rookie wage cap.
“Whatever system they want is fine because we’re going to do well either way.” He goes on to say that a rookie wage cap could hurt some new agents, because they would have to wait too long to get paid on a player. Does anyone really believe that Mr. Dogra cares that much about his competition? Other than the player agents themselves and the mouths they feed, does anyone really care how long an agent has to wait to get paid?
Dogra said that good agents (which I assume includes him) will still do well for themselves whether rookies get the money, or it goes to veterans. He said “You still have a certain amount of money that’s going to be spent on players regardless of where it goes, right? We’re still talking about the same percentage of money that goes to the agents. It just comes from a different place.”
Mr. Dogra is assuming that the extra money that veterans could make by instituting a rookie wage cap would automatically go into his and other player agent pockets.
Not so fast Mr. Dogra.
The NFL Players Association has full legal power and authority over the conduct and compensation of NFL player agents. They certify all player agents and have a Regulations Manual for Contract Advisors.
There is language in the Manual that would disallow agents from collecting a percentage of this money. Why? Because it is classified as a “benefit” - just like the Annuity Plan, Second Career Savings Plan and other current benefits that veterans receive.
Just look at the areas I have underlined in Section 4B of the Regulations Manual: Contract Advisors Compensation, where it states: The term “compensation” shall be deemed to include only salaries, signing bonuses, reporting bonuses, roster bonuses, Practice Squad salary in excess of the minimum Practice Squad salary specified in Article XXXIV of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and any performance incentives earned by the player during the term of the contract (including any option year) negotiated by the Contract Advisor. For example, and without limitation, the term compensation shall not include any “honor” incentive bonuses (e.g. ALL PRO, PRO BOWL, Rookie of the Year), or any collectively bargained benefits or other payments provided for in the player’s individual contract.
Sorry Mr. Dogra, but you and all the other player agents will not be able to touch this veteran player money, because it will be a collectively bargained “benefit”!
If the NFLPA and the NFL institute a rookie wage cap they will have to determine a method of distributing the money to veteran players. It would make sense to devise a formula that is similar to the existing PPP (Player Performance Pool) – another Collectively Bargained Benefit. The PPP is also known as Performance-based pay.
Because it is classified as “benefit” money, the agents should not be taking a percentage of it from the players. This money is different than the other performance incentives that player agents might be able to work into a player’s contract. Some agents do better than other agents at negotiating certain performance incentives for their clients, but because the PPP is a “benefit”, every player has an entitlement to the money just as long as they meet the performance criteria established in the CBA.
Mr. Dogra is a smart player agent and I’m sure he knows the Regulations Manual inside and out, but based on what he said about agents getting the same percentage of player money no matter where it comes from, it would be interesting to find out if he or any other player agents have been taking a cut of the active players PPP money.
The PPP was established in 2002, and in the past 8 years approximately 600 Million has been doled out to players. If player agents have been taking 3% of this money, they would have collectively siphoned off 24 Million in money that should have stayed in the active player’s pockets. I’m not saying this has happened, but based on what Mr. Dogra said, it should be reviewed by the NFLPA.
The NFLPA would know if this has been happening, because agents are required by the Regulation Manual to provide them – and every player they represent – with an itemized statement which shows the fees and expenses charged to the player.
We hope that players (both active and retired) that have received this benefit, will take a close look at what their agents have been charging them, just to make sure they haven’t been abused.
If the NFLPA really has the active player’s interests at heart, they will not allow player agents to take any of the PPP money, or any of the money that veteran players would receive if a rookie wage cap were instituted.
The Union has the unilateral power to make sure that never happens……. at Fourth and Goal we implore them to use that power.
Lastly, I should note that Jason Cole, the writer of the article in which Ben Dogra was quoted, did some research before he wrote the piece attacking Retired Players and Fourth and Goal. In an April 22, 2010 email to me he said “ From my observation, what is typical of retired players is all they do is whine and complain about what they don’t have from the NFL, but they don’t want to put any effort into figuring out a proper solution. Well, where the hell were you when you were playing? Nowhere. You didn’t pay attention and didn’t fight hard enough to get real benefits from the owners. Now, the current players are supposed to feel bad for you?” He goes on to say “What I also can’t stand is the fact that you do ZERO research and you rely on BS logic to move your arguements forward. For instance, all agents are evil and greedy. Did you happen to have an agent when you were playing? Just curious.
First of all I never said all agents are evil and greedy. Secondly, I did have a player agent for my first contract, but after the strike of 1982 retired players won the right to get contract information on all player contracts. Armed with that information, I negotiated my own contract in 1984 because I knew exactly what other players at my position were getting. As a result of our efforts during that strike, today’s players and player agents have that same information available to them. It was an important victory, but Mr. Cole said this about that strike. “Did you really fight for anything? No and no. You went through a strike in 1982 and got crushed, then crushed again in 1987.”
In addition to getting full financial disclosure of all player contracts in the 1982 strike, we also established a minimum wage scale. That scale is still in effect to this day! Although the amounts have grown and grown over the years since we fought for this.
We also fought and won the right to get a second medical opinion and the right to select the doctor of our choice for surgerires and medical procedures. In my book, those victories alone were worth the strike. Jason Cole doesn’t know what it was like before we won that victory. If your team surgeon was a lousy doctor, ”or butcher” as some were called back then, well that’s just too bad, because you’re stuck with them!
At Fourth and Goal we have done extensive research into both the problems and solutions of the rookie wage cap, but Mr. Cole is not going to let the facts get in the way of writing an article that is sympathetic to Ben Dogra and other player agents. I should note that Ben Dogra and Tom Condon are representing the #1 draft pick Sam Bradford and they will be collecting over 2 Million in payments just from that one client. Probably not the best source for Mr. Cole’s article.
Mr. Cole also told me to “do a little math on the performance based pay articles. The top 25 guys listed in that article combined to make $8 million. How exactly did the other $101.5 million get distributed? Who got it? Was it guys in their original contracts or did it include veteran.
If Mr. Cole had bothered to do any research at all on this issue, he would have known how the Performance-based pay system worked, and that indeed $109 Million was allocated to players whether they were rookies or veterans. We have covered this issue at Fourth and Goal extensively.
In closing, I want to warn all retired players that in the coming months, there will be articles like the one that Jason Cole wrote. They will attack retired players for wanting what he calls “Largesse” from the active players. The definition of Largesse is ”Liberality in bestowing gifts, especially in a lofty or condescending manner. “
Mr. Cole doesn’t believe that retired players are worthy of any increases because as he told me “Bottom line is that you’re lazy about doing things that are really hard. Now go back and comb your hair again for your next TV shot. I assume some producer who actually has a brain will tell you what to say.”
I don’t mind the insults, I have a pretty thick skin. But, no one tells me or anyone else at Fourth and Goal what to say. Not the NFL, the NFLPA not the NFL Alumni and certainly not one of the richest NFL Player Agents!
If anyone would like to send Mr. Cole, or Yahoo Sports an email regarding your thoughts on this isuue, please do so at these email addresses.
jphilcole@yahoo.com (Jason Cole)
Mr Cole says:
“Bottom line is that you’re lazy about doing things that are really hard. Now go back and comb your hair again for your next TV shot. I assume some producer who actually has a brain will tell you what to say.”
Mr. Cole needs a little lesson on respect….he obviously comes from that world that feels it will always be protected by his 1st amendment rights. Had he used that kind of tone in the circle we ran in, he would have had to answer for it, and not in words……