By Robert Strauss
Wharton's Ken Shropshire keeps his eye on the business of sports.
When Kenneth L. Shropshire
was growing up in Los Angeles,
he and his friends were always
playing sports. Even though
they mainly played in loosely
organized after-school leagues,
some were quite good at it.
"Marques Johnson and Butch
Johnson had the most success
from those days," said
Shropshire about the
U.C.L.A./Milwaukee Bucks
basketball star and the former
Dallas Cowboys receiver.
"But it wasn't like it is now. My kids are in a multiplicity
of organized sports with coaches and schedules and everything.
I didn't – and I don't think Marques and Butch
even did – play high-level organized sports until we were
in high school. Kids have the opportunity to be involved
in many more sports now and at a much more intense
level. The increased intensity at that level is mirrored on
the business side of big-time sports as well."
Shropshire, who is the David W. Hauck Professor and
Chairman of the School's Legal Studies Department, has
taught everything from negotiation to real estate, diversity
issues to general business law. But his passion – and the
place where he gets quoted in every major journal in the
country – is sports in law and business. He is the author,
co-author or editor of six books on the business or culture
of sports. (His next co-authored book, The Business of
Sports, is due out in March 2004.) He was an executive
with the organizing committee for the 1984 Summer
Olympics in Los Angeles, chaired the Philadelphia
Stadium Site Selection Committee, has been a sports
agent, and is part of a project to assess whether
Philadelphia should bid on the 2024 Olympic Games.
Shropshire is kind of a two-way player when it comes
to consulting. He has not only helped Major League
Baseball educate team executives on how to deal with
negotiations, but has also aided the National Football
League Players Association in explaining to new agents
their role with players. He has given seminars on sports
to the South African government and on negotiation to
Fannie Mae; talked about the need to continue affirmative
action programs to the American Civil Liberties Union;
and testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
on professional sports franchise moves.
Yet he remains most passionate about the role of race
and diversity in sports.
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