Professor Kenneth Shropshire discusses the business of sports

An interview with Professor Kenneth Shropshire (October 25, 2007)

Professor Ken Shropshire is a Wharton professor in the Legal Studies Department and the faculty director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative. His publishing has focused on sports, including Being Sugar Ray: The Life of Sugar Ray Robinson, America’s Greatest Boxer and the First Celebrity Athlete (2007) and The Business of Sports Agents (2002).

Professor Shropshire held a brown bag lunch session with members of the Sports Business Club and also answered follow-up questions for this article.

What path led you to Wharton?

I played football as an undergraduate at Stanford, and went directly into law school at Columbia (JD, ’80). After graduating from Columbia, I became involved in sports law, doing some work for the 1984 Olympics around sponsorships.

In 1986 I joined the faculty at Wharton. At the time there was no sports specific class, but I taught at class at the law school on sports and entertainment law.

What is your current area of research?

I work on a combination of things. The main focus is on the business of sports. I also teach negotiations so stay on top of the latest research in that area. Finally, I stay on top of the latest legal issues related to race, specifically as they apply to sports but to broader diversity related issues as well.

When I first started doing research around race and sports in the 1980s, there were not any black quarterbacks in the NFL. The racial divide at that time reached from players in the “thinking positions” (quarterbacks, centers, point guards) and extended to managers and coaches.

Today, race is still a complex issue in sports. The number of minority players and coaches at the pro level has improved, but if you look at the number of minorities coaching Division-I football, it is still very low.

What is the best application of your research to the real world?

I don't know about best, but just yesterday I was speaking with a GM of a team on the best strategy to use against a "tough to deal with" sports agent. Over the years, I have been involved in many facets of the changing racial face of coaching and management level personnel gaining positions in Major League Baseball and the NFL, by virtue of my work with the Fritz Pollard Alliance and the one time Baseball Network.

What is the most interesting thing happening in your field?

To me it is the recognition by a growing group of athletes of the impact they can have to change social ills at the micro level and the dreams they have about changing even bigger problems. A number of athletes are starting investment funds (Ronny Lott) or charitable foundations (David Robinson). Think about what they could do if they were working together.

What do you hope students get out of your class?

In negotiations it is that they gain the confidence to go out and get the best deals possible against anyone

What uniqueness/similarities do you see between sports and business negotations?

Sports negotiations are much more public; there is always a sports journalist who is interested in the details, whether it’s a negotiation for a player or for a new stadium. Business negotiators face much less scrutiny.

What do you think is the best thing about Wharton?

From a faculty aspect, it is the entrepreneurial opportunities you have to focus on the areas that are most important to you.

What are your hobbies / how do you spend your free time?

Most of my free time is captured by my children. I like golf, tennis and fishing, but never have enough time to really get out there.

What's on your ipod?

Soul, reggae and jazz, with Gil Scott-Heron popping up with extraordinary frequency, capturing all of those genres. Gil is back out and performing, as of September.


Article contributor: Pia Chock