50 States in 50* Days - Utah Athlete Agent Regulation

Yeah, yeah, yeah - Utah isn't next on the list and 50 days passed by several hundred days ago. Oh well. As the Utes prepare to face Alabama and as the result of a special request, Utah is up next.

Utah is another state that has adopted the Uniform Athlete Agent Act. The Utah Uniform Athlete Agent Act is administered by the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL).

The DOPL site is loaded with information including all the forms you will need to register and links to laws and rules and more. It will cost you $510 to register and the registration expires for all athlete agents on September 30 every year. It will the cost $510 to renew your registration, which can be accomplished online.

The site also provides information on the Athlete Agent Licensing Board. The Board has five members and consists of one public member and four athlete agent members. Currently, only two of the spots are filled. One thing that caught my attention in reading the Utah Uniform Athlete Agent Act was this:

In addition, the Athlete Agents Licensing Board shall designate one of its members on a permanent or rotating basis to:
(i) assist the division in reviewing complaints concerning the
unlawful or unprofessional conduct of a licensee; and
(ii) advise the division in its investigation of these complaints.

Seems to me that an athlete agent assisting in the review of complaints on other athlete agents, particularly those who are competition and then advising the division in its investigation creates a number of potential problems. Hopefully the public member is the one who is designated to fill this role.

The DOPL site allows users to see who is registered and get fairly detailed info on athlete agents who are registered in Utah by going to the Verify a License link on the left. As of this writing, it looks as though most of the agents registered haven't gotten around to renewing as only eight of the 26 agents who have previously registered are listed as "ACTIVE".

If you plan to recruit student-athletes at the University of Utah, make sure to contact the compliance office first. According to the compliance office website:

All athletic agents must receive initial permission from the Compliance Office prior to contacting any student-athlete of the University of Utah. Severe repercussions are possible for violation of this rule, both to the agent and to the student-athlete.

The Utah State Aggies compliance office requires athlete agents to register before contacting a studet-athlete.