Gabelli Sports Business Initiative

Focused on the Future of Sports

Sports business is evolving at an unprecedented pace. From the popularity of new recreational sports to advanced use of biometric data to aid in athletic success, the world of sports is becoming more complex and more controversial. As a result, sports business models, legal standards, and ethical questions are becoming more complex and fascinating. Players are asserting their rights, owners are profiting through new revenue streams such as gambling and streaming, and sports fans are coping with the intersection of sports and politics. Additionally, mental health concerns, sexual abuse, and gender identity of athletes have produced debate on all levels of the sports hierarchy.

The Gabelli School Sports Business Initiative is at the cutting edge of everything that is happening in sports business. It examines and analyzes current issues involving sports and provides a forum that brings together stakeholders across professional sports, amateur sports, collegiate sports and Olympic sports, for critical discussions on what matters most.

From sports podcasts to symposia to lectures, the content we produce and deliver provides the insights and thought leadership that will drive the future of sports.

Professor Mark Conrad

The Gabelli School Sports Initiative was founded and is directed by Professor Mark Conrad, JD, who teaches in the Gabelli School’s Law and Ethics Area, and who also directs the Sports Business concentration for Gabelli School undergraduates. He has taught sports law and business classes at Fordham University for over 25 years. Professor Conrad has served as a panelist discussing sports law and business topics at other institutions, including Harvard University, Duke University, The University of Pennsylvania, and Fordham Law School, and is frequently quoted in major media outlets. He has lectured at Columbia University and Northwestern University in Doha, Qatar.

NEW – Sports Business Podcast with Prof. C

Professor Mark Conrad interviews sports experts, authors, and athletes on the topics that are changing the industry. He also comments on the key issues of the day. His law background provides a ground-breaking approach to enlightened exchanges with guests who join him in tackling tough topics. Tune in to these stimulating discussions to gain diverse perspectives, learn about interesting trends, and delve into the depths of the controversies that often make headlines.

Sports Business Podcast Latest Episode

Labor-management relations have shaped professional sports for half a century, yet many fans know little about how players' unions work. In this episode of The Sports Business Podcast with Prof. C, Professor Mark Conrad takes listeners inside one of the most important unions in American sports with George Atallah, the assistant executive director of external affairs for the NFL Players Association from 2009 to 2025. He is presently the founder of the strategic advisory firm SOMEBODY.

Atallah traces the union's use of litigation as leverage, focusing on the antitrust litigation that ultimately resulted in the 1993 Collective Bargaining Agreement. He reflects on negotiating the 2011 and 2020 collective bargaining agreements: a lockout lasting nearly 200 days, a strategy of getting "the most for the most" for members ranging from superstars to practice squad players, and a 2020 ratification vote decided by roughly 60 votes out of about 2,000 members.

Atallah also discusses commissioner discipline and the Deflategate fallout, the union's daily work between negotiations, the leadership change from DeMaurice Smith to Lloyd Howell, and the NFL's growth toward $25 billion in annual revenue. Looking ahead, Atallah considers what the next round of bargaining could bring, including the owners' long-standing push for an 18-game season.

For More Information

Please contact Professor Mark Conrad, Director, Sports Business Initiative: [email protected] or [email protected]