Amid a swirl of seismic changes to college sports surrounding name, image and likeness, the transfer portal and direct payment of players, the University of Washington is turning to an Eisenhower grad to help guide the Huskies into a new era.
Former Ike wrestler, runner and swimmer Cameron Foster was named UW’s senior director of contracts and cap management last February in advance of the introduction to revenue sharing in major college sports. And while his name will likely go unmentioned in Saturday evening’s Apple Cup broadcast, the former UW rower and founder of his own pro sports agency offers the school a resource many don’t have.
“(Washington athletic director) Pat Chun called me in December … he said we need someone with your negotiating skills to navigate through NIL and players getting paid,” Foster said in a phone interview over the summer. “Most of your talented college athletes have agents, and most schools aren’t equipped to deal with the intricacies of negotiation.”
From student to agent
Those intricacies are something Foster has familiarized himself with in more than 35 years as professional sports agent, starting with a chance meeting with Seahawks legend Kenny Easley while Foster was a law student at the University of Puget Sound.
Foster connected with Easley through prominent Seattle attorney Gary Gayton, who the future Pro Football Hall of Famer had approached about looking over the contracts of some of his Seahawks teammates. But Gayton wasn’t interested, and he recommended Foster — who was clerking for him at the time.
It was “more than a dream,” for Foster, who had been the lone law student interested in the emerging field of sports management at Puget Sound. Today, Foster and Easley’s Reign Sports Management represents 14 NFL clients, including former Huskies star and two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Vita Vea. Foster, who also represented UW legend Napoleon Kaufman, usually has several Pacific Northwest-tied players on his modestly sized client list. That’s been by design.
“You can make a great living off a handful,” Foster said. “My goal was not to be the biggest, but to be able to serve our clients and everything they asked of us. One of my goals was to be able to drive my kids to and from school when they were growing up, and I was able to do that. Keeping it small and keeping it local makes it easy.”
It also allows Foster to work on training some younger agents while joining the UW athletic department in a time of massive change to college sports.
Into a new era
In the wake of antitrust settlements known as the House settlement, Division I schools are allowed to share up to $20.5 million in revenue from TV contracts and ticket sales directly with their student athletes. That’s in addition to NIL payments, which when combined with more permissive transfer rules, had created something of a Wild West for college sports in recent years with some players hopping between schools over NIL disagreements.
For Foster, these changes are largely for the better and are at least an attempt to keep up with the ever-increasing demands on high-level college athletes.
“It’s definitely changed the sport, whether you like it or not; scholarships aren’t good enough for student athletes today,” Foster said. “They’re treated like pros. They don’t have time for part-time jobs. They’re training and working out all year round. The new House settlement is trying to rein in unscrupulous behavior. The goal is to get people to start playing fairly.”
Foster views his role as part of a trend of that professionalization of college sports. He pointed to Andrew Luck, the former Stanford quarterback who is now the general manager of his former football team, and Michael Lombardi, a former NFL executive who is now North Carolina’s GM.
Unlike Luck and Lombardi, Foster’s role isn’t limited to the football team. He negotiates contracts and navigates the revenue cap for all sports, though most of the revenue will be shared with football, basketball, softball and volleyball players.
One of those sports receives the majority of the available payments.
“It’s dictated by who makes money,” Foster said. “Obviously the football team brings in money, the majority of the revenue. It’s only fair they receive the bulk of it.”
Foster negotiates NIL license agreements and reviews contracts with the Huskies’ internal NIL division, Dawgs Unleashed.
The former Cadet believes his experience on the other side of the negotiating table and relationships with other agents have built him some credibility.
“I know where to push and where not to push,” Foster said. “I believe that when I’m negotiating with agents I’m familiar with, that they know I’m honest and not going to do anything under the table. I’m not playing a game and doing the best I can.”
The Huskies are 2-0 and out for revenge against a Washington State team that denied them a third straight series win with a 24-19 victory last fall. The schedule will only get tougher with matchups against No. 1 Ohio State, No. 21 Michigan, No. 9 Illinois and No. 6 Oregon still ahead. But, speaking in July, Foster was confident in his Dawgs.
“They’ve got a great offensive line, a handful of great skill (players), and a QB that’s solid. They’re going to turn some heads this year.”
