Each has involved a very different set of circumstances, but as Mark Conrad, associate professor of law and ethics and the director of the sports business concentration at the Gabelli School of Business, explained at a Fordham at the Forefront event at the University’s Lincoln Center campus on November 19, many of the tensions in the league today are ultimately labor issues.

Pro sports commissioners, Conrad explained, were once all-powerful within their given leagues, but in the age of collective bargaining, that doesn’t have to be the case. “The only check on the power of sports leagues, regarding labor, are unions,” Conrad said. Indeed, pro sports unions “are one of the few private employee unions that have thrived” during a time when the percentage of the American labor force in a union is around 10 percent—and dropping.

But Conrad explained that members of the NFL Players Association, which last negotiated a contract in 2011, are “probably kicking themselves” for allowing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to retain so much power. “They allowed the commissioner to be the judge, jury, and appeals court on various disciplinary matters,” said Conrad. “They allowed it in their last contract negotiation. You know that they don’t want to have that happen again.”

In other words, with the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement expiring in 2020: stay tuned.

The Biggest Issues Off the Field

Over the course of the evening, Conrad led a discussion on some of the most pressing issues in the world of sports business today. Along with the talk on governance in the NFL, he covered four other big topics: the professionalization of college sports, ethics and international sports, legalized sports gambling, and the recent NHL concussion settlement, mixing in talk of current trends, relevant court cases, and a dialogue with students and alumni in the audience.

The conversation about the changing state of collegiate sports was a particularly lively one.

“The old model has been breaking down in what I’d call the big money sports,” said Conrad, whose book The Business of Sports, initially published by Routledge in 2006, was released in a third edition last year. He paid special attention to one of the most hotly debated NCAA rules: the one that prohibits student-athletes from receiving compensation beyond cost of attendance at a school. “I think what’s happening is the economics, the business, the pressure, and the law are slowly going against the NCAA’s attempt to do this.”

Conrad gave the example of students at a school like Indiana University, which has both a storied basketball program and a renowned music conservatory. “A music student can do a gig on the weekend with a local orchestra and be paid a hundred bucks. And they do,” said Conrad. “But a student-athlete [who]even gives lessons in what he wants do … that would affect eligibility. That’s gotta go. That really is something that smacks of economic oppression.”

Keeping Up with Industry Trends

Phil Acocella, FCRH ’11, an attendee who worked at WFUV as a student, says he remembers Conrad from his time at the radio station. “He was a frequent guest on WFUV, and he always brought a sense of expertise and knowledge to the broadcast,” said Acocella.

Acocella, who now works at SportsNet New York, said he attended the event because he’s a big sports fan looking to hear about industry trends, and because he was interested in connecting with fellow alumni.

“It’s a great opportunity to not only network but to see what Fordham’s offering in the world of sports,” he said. “Events like this are one of the best things that Fordham offers postgraduation.”

—Joe DeLessio, FCLC ’06

The Office of Alumni relations established the Fordham at the Forefront lecture series in 2012 to demonstrate “Fordham’s leadership in areas of universal relevance and concern,” and to deliver “a measure of lifelong learning to alumni, parents, and friends in cities throughout the world.”

“We could have the banking industry—which is incomplete in a lot of developing countries—skip some of the steps we went through in the West, and go right to blockchain technology,” said Paul Johnson, a 35-year veteran of the investment community and an adjunct professor at the Gabelli School of Business.

Johnson, a senior advisor with the financial services firm Harbor Peak, spoke to 140 students and alumni of diverse academic and professional backgrounds at the Lincoln Center campus as part of the Fordham at the Forefront lecture series.

In the lecture, titled “Bitcoin, Blockchain, and the Future of Business,” he described the new capabilities brought about by blockchain, a dispersed online system in which transactions are made both more secure and more transparent because information about them is open and stored across the network.

In the developed world, blockchain will take costs and layers out of all sorts of transactions, such as real estate and importing and exporting, Johnson said. Much of its impact will be behind the scenes, he said.

And in the developing world, “it’s quite possible [blockchain]it will become the backbone to a new banking institution,” he said. “Much of its capabilities are yet to be seen.”

He added that it’s too soon to translate blockchain into money-making opportunities, and noted that some aspects of blockchain—such as how to resolve disputes—still need to be ironed out.

“There’s a difference between recognizing its importance and then trying to monetize the trend,” Johnson said.

Bitcoin Risks

Acknowledging the buzz around bitcoin, a digital currency used for blockchain transactions, Johnson advised investors to be cautious, referring to it as a “cultural artifact—a collectible like a Jackson Pollock painting”—rather than a currency.

“It has value because the community has given it value,” he said. “But it’s hard to determine the value of these things that have cultural appeal.”

Johnson offered similar advice about ICOs, or initial coin offerings, which are created through blockchain technology. Like an initial public offering, an ICO is a fundraising tool in which a company sells digital tokens to raise capital rather than issuing shares of ownership. So instead of acquiring equity in a company, purchasing ICOs is like buying a voucher for something that has a finite economic value—“a haircut, a movie ticket, or a ride on a ferris wheel,” for example.

“You can actually buy them, they look like bitcoin and are based on the idea that blockchain is really important,” he said. “That’s where ICOs are in the sweet spot of sucking people in. That causes me concern.”

Johnson attributed the bitcoin rage to “FOMO,” or the fear of missing out, a powerful emotional driver that moves many to make investment decisions without fully understanding what they are buying.

“It’s not some sort of magical currency,” he said, “and if you don’t know what you’re buying, you have the potential to lose a lot of money.”

One attendee, attorney Mike Krieger, LAW ’77, noted that blockchain could cut out the intermediaries in personal and business transactions, bringing “huge cost savings” but also “major declines in certain jobs related to work now done by these intermediaries.”

At the Gabelli School, Johnson teaches courses on digital currency, blockchain technology, and value investing. His students are working on a project called Jesuit Token that will use blockchain technology to promote community service University-wide. The goal, he said, is to incentivize and reward 25 million hours of community service in the next 20 years.

-Claire Curry