Owning Shares of Athletes and the 13th Amendment
Mississippi Sports Law Review, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2014
22 Pages Posted: 21 Aug 2014
Date Written: June 10, 2014
Abstract
On October 17, 2013, Arian Foster, a Houston Texans player, and Fantex Holdings (“Fantex”) reached an agreement to create an Initial Public Offering (“IPO”) where investors could invest in Foster’s future brand earnings. The contract with Fantex contains an option where Foster can leave the agreement within the first two years of the deal; however, there is no mention in the Registration Statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) detailing whether Foster can terminate the agreement after the first two years. While Foster has no obligation to seek out additional endorsements to maximize his value according to the Fantex prospectus, there could be a situation in the future where shareholders could attempt to force Mr. Foster to generate value for their shares.
Keywords: Fantex, 13th Amendment, Football, Peonage
JEL Classification: K00, K22, K10, K19
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation