[MUSIC] Welcome back. In this session, we're going to play act the three collective bargaining agreements for each America's three major leagues. We have with us, Ricky Volante, my teaching assistant who's helped me put the MOOC together, this Coursera course together. Thanks for being with us, Ricky. >> Thank you very much for having me, Professor. >> Let's start with, since you're a former major college pitcher player yourself, the MLB. We've had Jay Reisinger talk to us about the collective bargaining agreement. Let's make you Clint Frazier. Let's make you the top high school player in the country who's decided to turn pro. How would you say, in representing, Clint Frazier, you would get him through to super two status and through to free agency? And what moves would you want, your agent, your attorney and your agent to make for you as you go through the CBA to free agency, Ricky? >> Well, when it comes to super two status, as Jay discussed with us previously the player is at the mercy of the team. It depends on service time. Usually, it's the top 10% of second year players. Around 2 years and 128 days or so. So in that sense, Clint would be at the mercy of the Indians, and when they were to call him up or not. Now as for, arbitration itself. If he was not to gain the super two status, he would become an arbitration eligible player after his third season. From there Jay went through the process, so basically, the Indians would be trying to show how Clint Frazier deserves less, whereas Clint and his agent would be trying to do the best that they can to compare him to a Mike Trout or someone along those lines. And show that he deserved the maximum number that he could get through his three years of arbitration. >> Now let's ask you a somewhat trick question, we skimmed over it with Jay, if you got super two status, Ricky, could you have two arbitration opportunities? >> Yes. If you gain the super two status, then you get an extra year of arbitration, which is a beneficial aspect for the player, because, as Jay went through, if you do not gain the super two status, the team gets the right to simply assign you a value for that season, which is usually around the mid, the Major League minimum. Whereas if you gain super two status, then you get to submit a number and potentially make millions off of it. >> Okay. Let's make you Mike Trout now. Let's make it a little interesting. Perhaps the best player in the major leagues right now. Let's talk about your agent. Putting together your brand, putting together your off field opportunities. What categories would you want him to exploit for you, now that you're breaking into the best and brightest in the game? >> Well, being one of the best players of baseball, and being a particularly fit player in baseball, I would want my agent to look into healthy foods workout apparel, workout mate, materials and things of that nature. Which we're seen Trout actually do with his Subway campaign that he's done, which shows healthy eating, healthy lifestyle. I would also want a shoe deal with if possible, which we've just seen that Nike has just released their first player specific cleat since Ken Griffey Junior with Mike Trout. So those would be two major categories that you would look at. You could also look into traveling and things like that. Credit cards, because of the amount of traveling you do. And there are a lot of opportunities for a player like Mike Trout who has that prestige as a Major League Baseball player in the national pastime to capitalize on a lot of efforts. >> Great answer. Let's go to the NBA. We've got Andrew Wiggins here we've got him here in Cleveland at least for now. How would his agent go about structuring his path to free agency through the collective bargaining agreement that pertains to the NBA player, the, the rookie like Wiggins? >> Yeah, so Andrew Wiggins would be most recent CBA of the NBA would be assigned a four year contract upon being drafted and then from there, he wouldn't quite be able to reach free agency yet as we just saw with Kyrie Irving just signing a second agreement at the end of his four year deal. At the end of that second deal then you would have the opportunity to become a free agent now as to terms of endorsement deals and things like that In basketball, you obviously want to capitalize on your shoe deal. >> Let's stop with that. Wha, what if he signs a multi-million dollar shoe deal? Wiggins, that is, with a Chinese shoe company. Becomes the brand of that Chinese shoe company, and it's not suitable for his use, and he can't play in the NBA? >> Well, when you sign that contract with the Chinese shoe maker, you obviously want to carefully word your suitably contract that will allow for a player like Wiggins to play with the more comfortable shoe is the Chinese shoe doesn't fit him, or he just doesn't play particularly well with it because the last thing both parties want is for Andrew Wiggins to play in the shoe, play poorly, and it potentially be a result of their shoe. >> Throw you another tough question, he got drafted by the Clippers, he doesn't want to play for Donald Sterling, what rights does he have as your attorney? As his attorney, you're his agent. You're his attorney. What do tell Wiggins? I don't want to play for Donald Sterling for lots of reasons we all know about. >> Well, unfortunately with the Uniform Player Contract in the NBA unless he does not want to be paid, he will be playing for the Los Angeles Clipper. >> Let's go to the NFL. Here we go, now you're Johnny Manziel. Good play acting, what kinds of off field opportunities will he have here in Cleveland being represented by LRMR, the same agency that represents LeBron in part? >> Well, obviously with LeBron's return to Cleveland now, Johnny Manziel and LRMR together will have a very unique opportunity to market two of the most identifiable players in sports currently in the US. And look into some possibly very unique strategies that would allow the two of them to market together, as we've seen, they did the McDonald's Big Mac special sauce commercial together already. So they both have relationships with Nike obviously. And it's just an extremely unique opportunity that we haven't seen in sports before to have two absolute dominant players, at least from an advertising standpoint, to be in the same city represented by the same agent. >> I'm assuming Johnny will make free agency, but let's refresh for our audience. What he has to do to get there under the CBA for the NFL, and let's talk about the hard cap in the NFL and how it's different from the other two major leagues. >> Well, as a first round pick in the NFL Johnny Manziel, again, with the slotting system would get a four year contract. Now with the most recent CBA teams, have the right to put a fifth year option. There would be an assigned number, based on a formula that Johnny Manziel would receive that amount for the fifth season. Now once that fifth season is up, short of a contract extension, he would be a free agent and have the ability to sign with anybody, but granted, that will depend on his playing time and how well he does or doesn't do. >> Why do they call it the not for long league? Well in the NFL, contracts are mostly not guaranteed. granted, Manziel's is highly guaranteed through that first contract for, through those first four years. But unfortunately, with the intensity in the NFL, if you get injured and your contract's not guaranteed you will not be receiving a paycheck if you get cut. >> Let's go back to the NBA, and now you're Wiggins or representing Wiggins again. Why are so many of these free agents, once they've achieved free agency talking about taking less than they could otherwise get to stay with a team like the Heat? >> It's a very unique situation which seems to be limited only to the NBA. These players have become focused so much on the championship ring and the opportunity to play with a player like LeBron. Or like Dwyane Wade, or like Carmelo Anthony and take less, which you rarely ever see. The NFL player's association and the Major League Baseball players association both always tell their players to take the highest deal on the table. So for a player to take considerably less and then set the market at such a lower standard, it creates a very unique situation in the NBA. >> Let's finish up where we started with baseball. The guaranteed contracts, that's the crown jewel, and it's a soft cap if there's a cap at all. Kershaw, Tanaka, hundreds of millions of dollars, Tanaka goes down, he might be out for the year, looks like he will be. Is he going to get paid? >> He most certainly will. With the Major League Baseball CBA, virtually all contracts are guaranteed. There are some that are limited, as Jay went into with your arbitration salaries. However, Tanaka and Kershaw's were both entirely guaranteed, so if either Tanaka stays down for the year and a half to recover from he'll still be receiving very large paychecks. >> One last question with the NFL. Same sort of question about Sterling being the owner. Now you're representing an NFL player who simply doesn't want to play, play for the Redskins, Donald Snyder, they don't like that name. They want out. What rights would you have representing a Redskins player who wanted to get out? >> Well, if you are a player of the Redskins, as the agent, you probably have even less leeway than in the NBA because if you are cut and your contact is not guaranteed, then you are receiving and then quitting on a team would potentially make you, put you on the blacklist then for the NFL, and you'll be done with your career before. >> Asking an even harder question, what options does a Richie Incognito have? For example, the bullying incident, incident from last year suspended. We all know about it. What kinds, under the CBA and the Uniform Player Contract, what options does Incognito have to repair his brand and the damage that's been done to it? What would you recommend to him if you were his agent, his attorney, to repair his branch, so he could play again on the NFL? >> Well, as we'll discuss in the next lesson in more detail, what I would recommend for Incognito is to keep his head down and just play the game. There is no better formula for rebuilding a brand than winning or playing well. So if I was Incognito's agent I would tell him to sign a deal, get on a team, keep your head down and play well. >> Ray Rice, same advice, just went through a terrible situation assault battery, but now married, same advice for Ray, just play hard, just win baby. >> Yes unfortunately, Ray's situation might be a little, little, more delicate because of the nature of his eventual suspension that he'll be receiving from the NFL. But keep your head down and play well. >> Yet again no protections against that under the CBA or the Uniform Player Contract? >> Correct. [LAUGH] >> Thank you, very much for being with us, Ricky. You've done a great job of play-acting a number of different roles. I think you have a future. We're going to wrap up this section of this lesson, and thank you for your attention. Please continue to represent the professional athletes we've been talking about. We're very interested in hearing what you have to say about why you would want to represent which athlete in which sport. We look forward to posts and discussions with you, interactive discussions with you, as the, as this course and the lessons proceed. In the meantime, thanks for your continuing attention as we move right along to Jay Reisinger's inter, interview and the intimacies, the intricate relationships and the MLB CBA and the professional athletes who who must agree to, and have agreed to, and will abide by the CBA provisions in the Major League Baseball agreement. [MUSIC]
