Thomas Mott Osborne: “last weekend, the National Football League draft was conducted. Over 200 players were selected in the draft. Each player…”

“last weekend, the National Football League draft was conducted. Over 200 players were selected in the draft. Each player eventually will be represented by an agent. The difficult thing is that many of these people who call themselves agents have no special qualifications. We find that many of them have no legal training, no expertise in writing contracts, some misrepresent themselves, some offer illegal inducements, particularly to undergraduates, such as cars, cash, clothes, and sometimes even drugs, to get young people to commit to a contract while they still have eligibility, which makes them ineligible, of course. A few even have criminal records. Most of them will tell a player that they will get them drafted higher. The NFL committee will say, well, you are going to be a fourth-round pick; and these agents say, well, if you come with me, I will get you a trainer and a nutritionist, and we will make you a first-round pick, which obviously does not happen. And then some even get the power of attorney, which sometimes bankrupts these individuals. The National Football League Players Association currently says that roughly one-half of the players leaving the National Football League have no money.”