{"id":335,"date":"2026-02-05T16:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T20:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/sportslaw\/?p=335"},"modified":"2026-02-05T16:29:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T20:29:02","slug":"agent-representation-in-collegiate-athletics-the-ftc-dips-its-toe-in-the-waters-of-regulatory-enforcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/sportslaw\/2026\/02\/05\/agent-representation-in-collegiate-athletics-the-ftc-dips-its-toe-in-the-waters-of-regulatory-enforcement\/","title":{"rendered":"Agent Representation in Collegiate Athletics: The FTC Dips its Toe in the Waters of Regulatory Enforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the calendar turns from 2025 to 2026, developments in college athletics continue to unfold at a rapid pace, with meaningful implications for universities, athletes, agents, and other industry participants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just last month, the Federal Trade Commission (\u201cFTC\u201d) signaled that the federal government may be turning its attention to the largely unregulated market of agents representing college athletes.  The FTC publicized that it had sent letters to twenty National Collegiate Athletic Association (\u201cNCAA\u201d) member institutions seeking information relevant to determining whether sports agents representing student-athletes of those schools had complied with the requirements of the Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act (\u201cSPARTA\u201d), a rarely invoked federal statute enacted more than two decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, the FTC\u2019s actions represent only a limited informational request from a relatively small number of schools; however, the FTC\u2019s January 2026 letters represent one of the most visible compliance initiatives undertaken pursuant to SPARTA since its enactment. The FTC\u2019s inquiry underscores the broader reality that college athletics remains a deeply unsettled landscape, presenting novel and evolving challenges that increasingly require sophisticated legal guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Largely Unregulated Market for Collegiate Sports Agents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to the name, image, and likeness (\u201cNIL\u201d) boom, sports agents representing college athletes in negotiations with their own institutions or other industry participants was effectively unheard of due to the prohibition on student-athletes receiving compensation of any kind. That changed rapidly over the past five years. The NCAA\u2019s retreat on NIL restrictions, combined with the advent of permissible revenue-sharing models, fundamentally altered the economics of college sports. Almost overnight, a cottage industry of \u201ccollegiate\u201d sports agents emerged to represent athletes in negotiations with universities, NIL collectives, and third-party sponsors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In professional sports, agent conduct is largely regulated through collectively bargained frameworks. For example, under the National Football League\u2019s current Collective Bargaining Agreement<\/a>, the NFL Players Association is responsible for agent certification and discipline, establishing standards of conduct and acting as a gatekeeper for those seeking to represent NFL players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, college athletics has no comparable structure. Absent any federal legislation, and because college athletes have not been universally recognized as employees, there is no players\u2019 union, no collective bargaining, no certification regime, and no industry-wide standards governing agent conduct. As a result, virtually anyone\u2014regardless of experience or qualification\u2014may represent the hundreds of thousands of college athletes in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The absence of any certification and industry oversight increases the risk of abusive practices and unprofessional conduct, potentially harming not only athlete clients but also the institutions and third parties with whom agents negotiate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FTC Invokes SPARTA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against that backdrop, it is unsurprising that the FTC has taken preliminary steps to address this void. On January 12, 2026, the agency sent form letters<\/a> to twenty unidentified schools seeking documents and information concerning sports agents who had represented student-athletes at those institutions. Specifically, the FTC requested:<\/p>\n\n\n\n