Smeal Hosts Fall 2008 Sports Business Speaker Series
The Center for Sports Business & Research at Penn State's Smeal College of Business will host a slate of guest speakers from the sports industry this semester to interact with students and faculty and build relationships between the center and the sports industry.
Smeal Hosts Fall 2008 Sports Business Speaker Series
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (September 24, 2008) – The Center for Sports Business & Research at Penn State's Smeal College of Business will host a slate of guest speakers from the sports industry this semester to interact with students and faculty and build relationships between the center and the sports industry.
On Sept. 25, the center will host Tom Sharbaugh, retired president of Leapnet, Inc. and former vice president for brand management at Anheuser-Busch, for the talk "Building a Consumer Products Brand through Sports and the Birth of the Bud Light Brand."
The following day the center will welcome Tom Stevens, vice president of Learfield Sports, a sports media rights holder for 43 universities, including Penn State. Stevens will discuss "Marketing of Sports Media and the Case for Sales Leadership Skills."
Both talks will be held at 6 p.m. in the Business Building's Struthers Auditorium.
Already, the center hosted Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney on Sept. 19 to share his experience with the launch of the Big Ten Network and the ongoing negotiations between the network and cable and satellite television providers.
The remaining lineup of speakers includes Shawn Stevens, chief marketing officer of the NBA Development League, who will deliver a talk entitled "Creating a New Sports Product within a Major League: The NBA Development League and Pro Basketball." Stevens will speak at 6 p.m. on Dec. 3 in 111 Wartik Building.
The center will also host Ed Weber, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Major League Baseball Advanced Media, in December at a date and time to be announced later.
All guest speaker sessions are open to Penn State students, faculty, staff, and the public. More information on the Center for Sports Business & Research’s fall 2008 speaker series can be found on the center's Web site.
About the Center for Sports Business & Research
Under the leadership of Executive Director Wayne DeSarbo and Associate Director Andrew Bergstein, the Center for Sports Business & Research focuses on the development of first-rate academic and applied empirical research in the sports industry, while helping to define educational opportunities for students looking to start careers in sports business. Drawing on Penn State's rich athletic tradition and working closely with two other University sports research centers in communications and law, the Center for Sports Business & Research seeks to bridge the gap between existing academic research on sports business and relevant practitioner issues in the industry.
For more information, visit www.smeal.psu.edu/csbr.
REPORTERS & EDITORS: For more information, please contact Wyatt DuBois in the Smeal College of Business Media Relations Office at 814-863-3798 or wed112@psu.edu.
Penn State's Smeal College of Business offers highly ranked undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, Ph.D., and executive education opportunities to more than 5,500 students at all levels. Featuring academic departments of accounting, finance, marketing, insurance and real estate, management, and supply chain and information systems, the college is also home to major research centers such as the Center for Supply Chain Research, the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, the Center for Digital Transformation, the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Center for Global Business Studies, and the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change.
