Louisiana did something on July 1 that no other state had done. The Attorney General's office opened an Athlete Agent Registration Portal, and now anyone who wants to represent a Louisiana athlete, college or high school, has to register with the state before they talk a single deal. A preliminary application. A criminal background check. Mandatory training. No registration, no representation, by law.
I want to walk you through why this matters even if you're nowhere near Louisiana, because it hands every family a question, and right now almost none of us can answer it.
What Louisiana actually did
Louisiana is the first state to require agent registration before anyone negotiates an NIL deal on an athlete's behalf. The portal went live July 1. Before an agent can represent a Louisiana athlete, they file an application, clear a criminal background check, and complete a training requirement through the AG's office. It covers agents who only do NIL work, not just the traditional contract agents people picture. And it covers high school athletes, not only college kids.
That last part matters more than it sounds. The people reaching out to families now reach out earlier than they used to. A sophomore with a good highlight tape gets found. Louisiana decided the person doing the finding should at least be on a list, with their record checked, before the conversation starts.
The question at the kitchen table
Here's the question, and I'd ask you to actually sit with it. The person talking to your kid about a deal, do you know if they're registered anywhere? Have they ever passed a background check that you've seen? Do you know who else they represent, or how they make their money off your son or daughter?
For a Louisiana family, there's finally a place to look that up. For most of the rest of the country, there isn't one yet. But the question doesn't change based on your zip code. If you can't answer it, you're trusting a stranger with the most valuable four years of your kid's earning life on nothing but a good handshake and a confident voice.
What to actually do this week
If someone is talking to your family about representation, do three things.
First, ask them straight: are you registered as an athlete agent in our state? A lot of states have had registration on the books for years under the Uniform Athlete Agents Act. The honest ones will know their number. Watch what happens to the room when you ask.
Second, look it up yourself if your state has a registry. Don't take the answer at face value. Your Secretary of State or Attorney General site is where these live.
Third, ask who else they represent and exactly how they get paid off your kid. If the answer is vague, that's your answer.
The frame I'm carrying
A registry checks the person. It does not read the paper.
That's the piece I want you to hold onto. Even a registered, background-checked, fully-trained agent can still slide a contract across the table with an exclusivity clause that locks your kid out of a whole product category for years, or a buyout number that punishes them for wanting to leave. Louisiana just made it harder for a bad actor to get in the room. It did nothing to the language once they're in it.
That gap, the space between checking the person and reading the contract, is the whole reason I built this.
Talk soon.
— Keeno