Wharton Faculty & Staff >> Biography

Kenneth L. Shropshire is the David W. Hauck Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Director of its Wharton Sports Business Initiative.  He served as Chairman of the School’s Legal Studies department from 2000-2005.  Shropshire joined the Wharton faculty in 1986 and specializes in the subject areas of sports business, negotiations, diversity and general business law. He teaches the Negotiation and Dispute Resolution course both at Wharton’s main campus in Philadelphia and at Wharton West in San Francisco.

 

He is the immediate past president of the largest organization of attorneys in the sports business, the Sports Lawyers Association. His most recent books are Negotiate Like the Pros: A Top Sports Negotiator’s Lessons for Making Deals, Building Relationships and Getting What You Want, and Being Sugar Ray: The Life of America’s Greatest Boxer and First Celebrity Athlete.  His past consulting roles have included a wide variety of projects including work for the NCAA, National Football League, the United States Olympic Committee, negotiation training for IBM, Clorox and Fannie Mae and diversity training for entering Wharton School MBA students.  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 has also served for the past three years as the Academic Director of Wharton’s Business management and Entrepreneurship Management Program for NFL players focusing on their transition away from the game. He also serves as an arbitrator for the NFLPA and USATF.

 

After receiving an undergraduate degree in economics from Stanford University and law degree from Columbia University Law School he was in practice law in Los Angeles and later served as an executive with the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee leading up to the 1984 Olympics.

 

He is the author or co-author of eight books including The Business of Sports. His other books include, In Black and White: Race and Sports in America, The Sports Franchise Game and The Business of Sports Agents.

 

He is an organizer and member of the Board of Directors of the Valley Green Bank in Philadelphia. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Florida Coastal School of Law (a for profit law school), the Board of Directors of NutraCea (NTRZ.OB) and as a trustee of the Women’s Sports Foundation.

 

Shropshire has provided commentary for a number of media outlets including Nightline, CNN, the New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio and Sports Illustrated.