January 24, 2003
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It’s a business where the cry of “strike” is as devastating to the game itself as to the player swinging the bat. The economic concerns of major league baseball—from labor-management relations and legal issues to competitive balance and contraction—will be the focus of a one-day conference at Vanderbilt University on Feb. 21.
Academics, sports writers, attorneys and representatives of Major League Baseball and the MLB Players’ Association will gather here for a series of sessions about the business side of our national pastime.
The conference is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Flynn Auditorium of Vanderbilt University Law School at 131 21st Ave. S.
Allan Barra, sports columnist for The Wall Street Journal and author of Clearing the Bases—The Greatest Baseball Debates of the Last Century, will deliver the keynote address at 1 p.m. His speech is part of a luncheon beginning at 12:15 p.m. in Branscomb Quadrangle dining room on Vanderbilt Place between 24th and 25th avenues.
In addition to the luncheon, the conference will include four sessions:
·Conference organizers Allen Sanderson of the University of Chicago and John Siegfried of Vanderbilt University will present “Thinking About Competitive Balance in Major League Baseball” at 8:15 a.m. Panelists are Rodney Fort of Washington State University; Brad Humphreys of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County; and Leo Kahane of Mount Holyoke College.
·Panelists Roger Abrams of Northeastern University School of Law; Gary Roberts of Tulane Law School; and Stephen Ross of the University of Illinois College of Law will discuss “Has Sports Law Contributed to the Public Interest in Baseball?” at 10:30 a.m.
·Andrew Zimbalist of Smith College will present “Labor Relations in Baseball” at 2 p.m. Panelists are Sandy Alderson, MLB’s executive vice president for baseball operations; Robert Covington of Vanderbilt University Law School; Steve Fehr, outside counsel for the MLB Players’ Association; and Paul Staudohar of California State University-Hayward.
·Roger Noll of Stanford University will present “The Economics of Contraction” at 4:15 p.m. Panelists are Clark Griffith, an attorney and former co-owner of the Minnesota Twins; Bruce Oppenheimer of Vanderbilt University; and Sam Walker of The Wall Street Journal.
“The body of published work on economics and sports—particularly baseball—represented by the speakers and panelists participating in this conference is just phenomenal,” said Siegfried, professor of economics at Vanderbilt. “Anyone with an interest in the business of baseball, from economists to attorneys and business managers, will not be disappointed by the lineup card.”
Siegfried added that papers presented at the conference will be published in a forthcoming special volume of the Journal of Sports Economics.
There is no registration fee for the conference, but space is limited and reservations are required. Reservations, due by Feb. 10, can be made online at http://mba.vanderbilt.edu/conferences/baseball_reg.cfm or by calling 615-322-4021. Cost for the luncheon is $15.
The conference is co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt University College of Arts and Science, Vanderbilt University Law School and the Owen Graduate School of Management.
Media contact: Susanne Loftis, 615-322-NEWS, susanne.loftis@vanderbilt.edu