It's a delicate balancing act. It wouldn't surprise me for teams to ask their players to stop signing things for fans. One would think that sitting down to sign 900 is a bit different.
Auburn's Gus Malzahn chimes in on autograph rules, compliance
http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2014/10/auburns_gus_malzahn_chimes_in.html#incart_m-rpt-2AUBURN, Alabama -- Gus Malzahn is confident Auburn has the proper educational procedures in place to keep players out of trouble and controversy when it comes to signing autographs.
Malzahn was asked Wednesday about the pay-for-autograph concerns at Georgia and Florida State. Georgia running back Todd Gurley has been indefinitely suspended following allegations he was paid for signing autographs and Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston is under investigation for a similar issue.
"We're constantly educating our players and our compliance office does a very good job of helping with that," Malzahn said.
One way to avoid the issue is to ask players to not sign autographs at all, but that doesn't appear to be an option for Malzahn. Autograph seekers usually appear outside stadiums before and after games, and outside team hotels.
Signing a fan's jersey before a game is quite a bit different from sitting down with an autograph broker and signing hundreds of photographs and jerseys, but staying out of a potential controversy by not signing any autograph could be an option. Malzahn, however, doesn't agree with that stance.
"We always educate our guys on the cans and can't dos, but we always want our guys to be fan friendly, and engage in that," Malzahn said.
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