The NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement: Week 8

Today, we continue in our look at the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement. Today we’re going to look at Agent Certification. Specifically, we’re going to look at the requirements for becoming an agent (because, no, not everyone can become an agent). So, without further adieu, lets take a quick look at part of the NFLPA Regulations governing Contract Advisors
A. Application For Certification

In order to be eligible for Certification as an NFLPA Contract Advisor here under, a person must file a verified Application for Certification as a Contract Advisor (in the form attached as Appendix A) and a completed and signed Authority and Consent to Release Information (in the form attached as Appendix B) with the NFLPA, and pay the required application fee as established by the NFLPA Board of Player Representatives. Certification will be granted hereunder only to individuals and not any firm, corporation, partnership or other business entity. There is no limit on the number of individuals in any one firm, corporation, partnership or other business entity who are eligible for certification.

Okay, pretty basic stuff here. If you want to be an agent, you’ll have to file an application and a consent form. The current fee is $1,200 dollars to take the exam (this was the fee for 2007. I’m not sure if/how things will change for 2008).

To be eligible for certification, the applicant must have received an undergraduate degree from an accredited four year college/university and a post-graduate degree from an accredited college/university. However, the NFLPA shall have the authority to grant exceptions to this requirement in cases where the applicant has sufficient negotiating experience. A new applicant shall not be granted Certification (Section 2(F)) without first attending the NFLPA seminar for new Contract Advisors to be held on an annual basis and passing a written examination. In the instance that a new applicant fails the written examination on two successive occasions, the applicant shall be barred from applying for Certification and taking the written examination again for no less that five (5) years.

Pretty self-explanatory here as well. NFL agents are required, barring special circumstances, to have an undergraduate degree and a graduate degree (there has been some discussion as to whether or not, in the future, you will have to have a law degree to become an agent. As it stands now, that’s not the case, but it may be in the near future). As I mentioned in the last section, you have to attend an NFL Agency Seminar that ends with an agency exam. The important thing to note here is that the exam is open book/open note, so if you’re planning on taking it, take detailed notes on everything. Why? because if you fail the test two times in a row…well, you’ll be waiting 5 years to take it again. Ouch.

Applications for Certification as a Contract Advisor must be submitted to the NFLPA during a specified application period to be set by the Board of Player Representatives. Upon receipt of an Application for Certification, the NFLPA may, in the context of reviewing the application, request further written materials from the applicant and/or conduct whatever furtherinvestigation it deems appropriate, including an informal conference with the applicant and a background check.

As far as the specified application period, I’m not sure what it will be for 2008, as its not listed on the NFLPA site yet. The point though, is that there are deadlines to be met, and depending on the information you’ve sent in to the NFLPA, they may request further materials from you, contact references, and do a background check.

That’s it for this week. The Collective Bargaining Agreement can be found here and the Agent Regulations can be found here.