Drafting basketball player-agent contracts and avoiding disputes: Key principles from BAT awards (Part 2)

This article explains the Basketball Arbitration Tribunal’s (BAT) key principles on drafting agency agreements and avoiding player-agent disputes. As a regular legal counsel before BAT, the author is often surprised to see that, despite BAT's extensive jurisprudence, the same questions frequently arise and require answers. This article aims to address this knowledge gap and provide guidance for navigating common concerns.

The article is split into two parts. Part 1, available here, examines issues related to the terms and the renewal of an agency agreement. Part 2, below, moves on to examine the termination of an agency agreement (and its potential consequences), and concludes with key tips for avoiding common disputes.

• Termination
  • General principles
  • (Not) just cause for termination
  • Possibility to terminate the agency agreement under the FIBA Internal Regulations
• Consequences of unjust termination or breach
  • Impact of contractual terms on consequences
  • Unregulated consequences
  • Exclusivity vs. non-exclusivity: Implications for termination
  • Estimation of compensation in absence of complete evidence
• Key tips for avoiding disputes

For the avoidance of doubt, many of the lessons learned here (in procedure and in substance) are applicable to other like sports.

By way of background, BAT is an independent body, officially recognized by FIBA, providing services for the rapid and simple resolution of disputes between players, agents, coaches and clubs through arbitration.^[1]