Sports Law Institute unveils star-studded lineup of spring speakers

Heavy hitters from the world of professional baseball and football will visit Penn State Law to talk business, marketing, law, and sports. The public is welcome.    

Professor Stanley Brand, vice president for government relations of the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs, will kick off the series on March 17 at 12:45 p.m. with “A Case Study in Successful Lobbying: Minor League Baseball and the Antitrust Exemption.” Professor Brand will talk about baseball's antitrust protection which, as he describes, "has served the public interest and the communities in which we play for almost nine decades." A member of the law faculty at Penn State, Professor Brand is a distinguished fellow in law and government and a distinguished fellow with the Penn State Institute for Sports Law, Policy, and Research. The presentation will be live in the auditorium at the Law School’s Carlisle facilities and simulcast to Room 116 in the Lewis Katz Building at University Park.

Anyone interested in the business of sports or sports as a case study of globalization will want to hear Gordon Smeaton, former vice president of NFL International, speak about global marketing of the NFL. Smeaton's presentation will begin at 6 p.m. on April 13 in the auditorium of the Lewis Katz Building at University Park and will be simulcast to the auditorium in Carlisle.

On April 19, Michael Weiner, the new executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, will speak on issues confronting baseball players, including the 2011 expiration of the current players' contract, drug use and testing, and the development of young players in the U.S.  and in Latin Academies. The presentation will begin at 12:30p.m. in the auditorium of the Lewis Katz Building at University Park and be simulcast to room 112 in Carlisle. Weiner is a graduate of Harvard Law School and clerked for the Hon. H. Lee Sarokin in Newark, New Jersey before joining the Players Association in 1988.

These events are all co-sponsored by the Center for Sports Business & Research in the Smeal College of Business and the Curley Center for Sports Journalism in the College of Communications, as part of the strong program of interdisciplinary sports work at Penn State. The events are free, and registration is not required. Media inquiries can be made to Ellen Foreman at (814) 865-9030.