NFL Players to Attend Wharton Executive Education Program
Media Invited to March 1st Press Conference

Feb. 16, 2006 -- The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania will host more than 35 National Football League (NFL) players Feb. 26 – March 1 and April 3 - 5 as part of an ongoing NFL-NFL Players Association initiative to assist players in preparing for their post-playing careers. Organized by the Wharton Sports Business Initiative and Wharton’s Executive Education Division, players from teams such as the Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots, New York Giants and NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks will attend the three-day session taught by Wharton faculty. The complete list of players will be announced next week. This is the second year that the program has run at Wharton.

Media are invited to attend a special press conference on March 1 from 12:15 - 12:45 with selected NFL players, Professor Kenneth Shropshire, director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, and Michael Haynes, vice president of player and employee development for the NFL. The press conference will be located at the Steinberg Conference Center, 255 S. 38th Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Advance registration is required. To register, please contact Meghan Laska at 215-573-0757, mlaska@wharton.upenn.edu, or Peter Winicov at 215-746-6471, winicov@wharton.upenn.edu.

The Wharton Sports Business Initiative and Wharton Executive Education have collaborated to develop a combination classroom and field-based workshop. The Wharton curriculum focuses on a broad range of business topics, including financial analysis, entrepreneurship, real estate development, stock market investing, negotiation skills, risk management, and community reinvestment. Attendees will work on directed as well as individual real estate, entrepreneurial and personal finance projects during the month between the first portion of the program ending on March 1 and the second portion which will run again at Wharton April 3-5, 2006. The Wharton Sports Business Initiative is dedicated to forging a partnership among top level sports business leaders, Wharton faculty and students to generate and disseminate knowledge about the sports industry through educational programs, strategic corporate partnerships, high-level student consulting assignments, forums, and research. From internships and research to executive education, this Initiative serves as the center for all sports business related activities associated with the Wharton School.

Wharton Executive Education is dedicated to developing innovative leaders, building business knowledge, and expanding strategic perspectives for senior-level executives in multinational corporations. Through intensive design and delivery processes, Wharton Executive Education is committed to equipping executives and organizations with the tools and skills to meet the challenges of today’s competitive business environment.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized around the world for its academic strengths across every major discipline and at every level of business education. Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school in the nation, Wharton has approximately 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, Executive MBA, and doctoral students, more than 8,000 participants in its executive education programs annually, and an alumni network of more than 80,000 worldwide.