University Southern California Trojans
SPORTS AGENT RESPONSIBILITY & TRADE ACT (SPARTA)
SPARTA is a federal consumer protection law enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) designed to regulate agency contracts and protect student-athletes from deceptive, coercive, or unfair practices by sports agents.
SPARTA imposes the following obligations on sports agents:
- No false or misleading information: An agent cannot provide false or misleading information to solicit a student-athlete to enter a contract with the agent.
- No inducements: An agent cannot provide an inducement (e.g., loan, guarantor for debt, or providing anything of value) to a student-athlete or anyone associated with the athlete to persuade them to sign a contract with the agent.
- No pre-dating or post-dating an agent contract.
- Disclosure of eligibility impacts: An agent must provide a student-athlete with a written disclosure statement which must be signed by the student-athlete (and their parent or guardian if under 18). This disclosure must include a loss of NCAA eligibility warning in bold letters!
- Disclosure to schools: Agents and student-athletes must notify the athlete’s educational institution in writing within 72 hours of an athlete signing a contract or before the athlete’s next competition.
Violations & Enforcement:
SPARTA gives the FTC enforcement authority. However, state action can also be taken by a state’s Attorney General on behalf of residents in their state affected by violations.
Violations of SPARTA are seen as unfair and deceptive acts under federal law and subjects violators to civil penalties.
Schools are entitled to pursue actions against agents for damages that may have been incurred by an institution due to an agent’s violation of this act.
SPARTA Does NOT apply to:
- Professional Service Providers (attorney, real estate agent, tax consultant, financial planners, etc.)
- A person acting solely on behalf of a professional sports team or organization
- An individual acting as an agent solely for their spouse, child, grandchild, sibling, etc.
More information about SPARTA can be found on the Federal Trade Commission website.
