---
kind: "section"
citation: "15 U.S.C. § 7801"
title: "15"
title_heading: "Commerce and Trade"
number: "7801"
heading: "Definitions"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/15/7801"
units:
  - "Chapter 104 — Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust"
---

# §7801. Definitions


As used in this chapter, the following definitions apply:

- (1) **Agency contract—** The term “agency contract” means an oral or written [agreement](/usc/15/7a.md?p=2) in which a [student athlete](#9) authorizes a [person](/usc/15/7a.md?p=6) to negotiate or solicit on behalf of the [student athlete](#9) a [professional sports contract](#7) or an [endorsement contract](#5).
- (2) **Athlete agent—** The term “athlete agent” means an individual who enters into an [agency contract](#1) with a [student athlete](#9), or directly or indirectly recruits or solicits a [student athlete](#9) to enter into an [agency contract](#1), and does not include a spouse, parent, sibling, grandparent, or guardian of such [student athlete](#9), any legal counsel for purposes other than that of representative agency, or an individual acting solely on behalf of a professional sports team or professional sports organization.
- (3) **Athletic director—** The term “athletic director” means an individual responsible for administering the athletic program of an educational institution or, in the case that such program is administered separately, the athletic program for male students or the athletic program for female students, as appropriate.
- (4) **Commission—** The term “Commission” means the Federal Trade Commission.
- (5) **Endorsement contract—** The term “endorsement contract” means an [agreement](/usc/15/7a.md?p=2) under which a [student athlete](#9) is employed or receives consideration for the use by the other party of that individual’s [person](/usc/15/7a.md?p=6), name, image, or likeness in the promotion of any product, service, or event.
- (6) **Intercollegiate sport—** The term “intercollegiate sport” means a sport played at the collegiate level for which eligibility requirements for participation by a [student athlete](#9) are established by a national association for the promotion or regulation of college athletics.
- (7) **Professional sports contract—** The term “professional sports contract” means an [agreement](/usc/15/7a.md?p=2) under which an individual is employed, or agrees to render services, as a player on a professional sports team, with a professional sports organization, or as a professional athlete.
- (8) **State—** The term “State” includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
- (9) **Student athlete—** The term “student athlete” means an individual who engages in, is eligible to engage in, or may be eligible in the future to engage in, any [intercollegiate sport](#6). An individual who is permanently ineligible to participate in a particular [intercollegiate sport](#6) is not a student athlete for purposes of that sport.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 108–304, § 2, Sept. 24, 2004, 118 Stat. 1125.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title

Pub. L. 108–304, § 1, Sept. 24, 2004, 118 Stat. 1125, provided that: “This Act [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act’.”