Profile

Kenneth L. Shropshire

Professor

Bio

Kenneth L. Shropshire is the David W. Hauck Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Faculty Director of its Wharton Sports Business Initiative http://whartonsportsbiz.org/. He served as Chairman of the School’s Legal Studies and Business Ethics department from 2000-2005. Shropshire joined the Wharton faculty in 1986 and specializes in sports business and law, sports and social impact, and negotiations. He also serves as Special Counsel at the global law firm Duane Morris LLP, http://www.duanemorris.com/ working primarily on sports and entertainment industry related matters.

The most recent of Shropshire’s books are Sport Matters: Leadership, Power, and the Quest for Respect in Sports, Negotiate Like the Pros: A Top Sports Negotiator’s Lessons for Making Deals, Building Relationships and Getting What You Want, The Business of Sports and Being Sugar Ray: The Life of America’s Greatest Boxer and First Celebrity Athlete. His works include the foundational books, In Black and White: Race and Sports in America, and The Business of Sports Agents.

His consulting roles have included a wide variety of projects including work for the NCAA, National Football League, and the United States Olympic Committee. In 2000 the mayor of Philadelphia appointed Shropshire to chair Philadelphia’s stadium site selection committee and later, projects focused on future Philadelphia bids for the Olympic Games. He also serves as the Academic Director of Wharton’s Business Management and Entrepreneurship Program for NFL players focusing on their transition away from the game. He served as an arbitrator for the NFLPA and USATF.

He earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Stanford University attending on a football scholarship and received his law degree from Columbia University. He then worked at Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg and Tunney in Los Angeles and later served as an executive with the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee led by Peter Ueberroth. He is also a former president of the Sports Lawyers Association, the largest such organization in the world.

His current research focuses on sport and social impact. He is particularly interested in how sport has been used to impact social conditions in the United States and around the globe. This research has taken him frequently to South Africa, where he focuses on the Royal Bafokeng Nation as well as Brazil and Jamaica.