Steelers President Rooney, Other Executives To Discuss Business Side Of Sports At Smeal

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (March 29, 2007) – Penn State's Smeal College of Business and Dickinson School of Law will host several executives from the sports industry—including Art Rooney II, president of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ernie Accorsi, former general manager of the New York Giants, and Chris Bevilacqua, founder of CSTV—for a two-part event exploring the economic, financial, and management aspects of the sports industry.

Get in the Game: The Sports Business in America Today begins at 11:15 a.m. on April 20 in Smeal's Struthers Auditorium on Penn State's University Park campus. Admission is by invitation only, but the public may watch the opening presentations via a live closed-circuit showing in 126 Business Building and in room 114 Advantica at The Dickinson School of Law's Carlisle campus.

The event opens with Rooney's presentation, "How Owners Helped and Hurt the NFL's Efforts to Become America’s Game," which is the inaugural lecture for Penn State's Institute for Sports Law, Policy and Research. Rooney will discuss whether leagues such as the NFL thrive because of, or in spite of, important decisions being made by club owners who often act in the short-term interest of their own club, rather than the long-term interests of the league or the sport.

"Rooney's lecture will be the first of a series that will bring industry leaders to campus to discuss the economic and legal structure of sports leagues," said Stephen Ross, director of the Sports Institute and a professor of law at Penn State Dickinson. "Current research at the institute has raised questions about whether sporting competitions should be organized by owner-run leagues as opposed to other ownership structures."

Immediately following Rooney's address, Accorsi will deliver a lecture entitled "What Does an NFL GM Do … Really?" He will share some of his experiences from his tenures as general manager of three different NFL teams: the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and New York Giants.

After Accorsi's presentation, Bevilacqua will deliver the day's final address, "New Media & Sports: Changing the Game." He will share CSTV's "multiple platform" concept, which incorporated nearly 250 Web sites and broadband services for more than 13,000 events annually and helped to revolutionize program distribution.

The presentations by Accorsi and Bevilacqua are part of Smeal's new guest speaker series, Leadership in Focus: Executive Insights, which was designed to bring high-profile business leaders to the college to connect with students and faculty to share some of their experiences in leadership.

A networking lunch will be held after Bevilacqua's talk. Following lunch, audience members will be divided into three smaller groups for interactive discussions with three rotating panels of experts. The panels and panelists are:

Teams and Leagues

•  Ernie Accorsi, former general manager, New York Giants
•  Rick Janac, general manager, State College Spikes
•  Greg Myford, associate athletic director for marketing and communications, Penn State
•  Vernal Taylor, senior marketing manager, NBA Global Marketing Partnerships
•  Malcolm Moran (moderator), Knight chair in sports journalism and society, Penn State College of                         Communications

Sports Marketing

•  Mike Felici, general manager, Learfield Sports
•  Thomas Shannon, vice president, major groups, Bank of America
•  Mike Stevens, senior vice president, PGA Tour
•  Jennifer Chang Coupland (moderator), clinical assistant professor of marketing, Smeal

Ownership and Finance

•  Chris Bevilacqua, principal, SCP Worldwide, and founder of CSTV
•  Jesse Neumeyer, industry associate, JPMorgan
•  Jim Plake, senior vice president and chief financial officer, Pittsburgh Pirates
•  J. Randall Woolridge (moderator), Goldman Sachs and Co. and Frank P. Smeal endowed University fellow,        Smeal

Get in the Game: The Sports Business in America Today is presented by a partnership between the Institute for Sports Law, Policy and Research at Penn State Dickinson, the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at the College of Communications, and the Smeal College of Business.

About Art Rooney II
Rooney was named president of the Pittsburgh Steelers in May 2003 after previously serving as the team's vice president and general counsel. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Steelers since 1989, and he was principally responsible for the design, development, and financing plan for the Steelers' new stadium, Heinz Field. Rooney also serves on the board of NFL Films, on the NFL's Super Bowl Site Committee, and on NFL Management Council.

A 1978 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and a 1982 graduate of Duquesne University School of Law, Rooney is of counsel to the law firm of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. He devotes a substantial amount of his time to community activities and is currently serving on the boards of the Pittsburgh Children's Museum, the Pittsburgh Public Theater, and the United Way of Allegheny County. Rooney is also on the Board of Trustees of Duquesne University and the board of the Public School Employees Retirement System.

Rooney is married to the former Mary Greta Kimball, of Ebensburg, Pa., a graduate of Penn State. The couple resides in the City of Pittsburgh with their four children.

About Ernie Accorsi
Accorsi retired in January after nine seasons as general manager of the New York Giants and more than 35 years in the NFL. Under Accorsi's leadership, the Giants made the playoffs four times, won the NFL East Division twice, and appeared in the Super Bowl in 2001. He is credited with drafting tight end Jeremy Shockey in the 2002 NFL Draft and with securing Eli Manning as the Giants' quarterback in 2004.

Prior to joining the Giants organization, Accorsi had served as general manager of the Baltimore Colts, from 1982 to 1983, and the Cleveland Browns, from 1985 to 1992.

After graduating from Wake Forest University, Accorsi, a native of Hershey, Pa., worked as a sports journalist and then as a sports information officer at St. Joseph's University and Penn State. He made the move to the NFL in 1970.

About Chris Bevilacqua
Bevilacqua, a leading sports television and marketing executive for the past 20 years, joined SCP Worldwide in August 2006 as a partner in the company, whose holdings include the NHL's St. Louis Blues, the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MLS's Real Salt Lake, and Running Subway, a New York-based entertainment production company.   

Prior to joining SCP, Bevilacqua was founding president of CSTV: College Sports Television, the leading digital and cable programming network dedicated to college and amateur sports. Before co-founding CSTV, Bevilacqua served as director of global negotiations and league affairs for Nike, negotiating sponsorship, television and licensing partnerships with professional league offices and professional sports teams.

Bevilacqua holds a bachelor's in marketing from Smeal and was an NCAA All-American wrestler and team captain for the Nittany Lions.