UCI Professor Makes Football Tailgating a Science
As fans eagerly anticipate the NFL playoffs, a new study by Tonya Williams Bradford, an assistant professor of Marketing at the Paul Merage School of Business, examines college football tailgating in an article titled, “Dwelling dynamics in consumption encampments: Tailgating as emplaced brand community.” Continue reading…
Georgetown McDonough Student Government Association Launches Research Bites Series
For those wondering why speaking events don’t serve more food, you aren’t alone. At least, it seems the McDonough School of Business Student Government Association (SGA) picked up the idea, launching the Research Bites “lunch-and-learn” series late last month.
The series, running until November 20, and highlights faculty research over five unique events. During each Research Bites session, a different faculty member will give a one-hour presentation about their life in academia and how their research impacts business. Gabe Nelson, MBA ’18, Vice President of curriculum for the SGA, wanted to recruit faculty members who were familiar to the student body. He reached out to professors who taught core classes and had interesting research experiences to drum up interest. Nelson says he hopes the series will “give students valuable insights that can help their careers in tangible ways” and “build faculty-student relationships.”
The first Research Bite took place on September 18 and featured Associate Professor of Strategy Chris Rider. He expanded on the effectiveness of the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which is the league policy that requires all teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching positions. According to the press release, about 50 students attended the first event.
Other faculty members set to participate in the series include:
- Debora Thompson, Associate Professor of Marketing
- Paul Almeida, Dean and William R. Berkley Chair
- Jason Schloetzer, Associate Professor of Accounting
- Allison Koester, Assistant Professor of Accounting
According to McDonough, the MBA SGA serves the student body of Georgetown’s MBA program and is the primary interface between the student body and the faculty and administration. The SGA plans social events and boosts alumni relations, such as Thursday kegs, outings to local sporting events, and fall and spring formals. The SGA is also responsible for major student organization decisions, management of finances, and implementation of new and existing policies or initiatives. You can learn more about the McDonough MBA Student Government Association here.
MBA Alumni Spotlight: Eddie George – Former NFL Star
Eddie George is a true renaissance man. A triple (possibly quadruple) threat whose Midas touch has graced the disparate fields of professional football, Broadway (as Billy Flynn in “Chicago”), sports commentary, and wealth management, George is a testament to how far dogged determination, resilience, and a little moxy can take you.
After nine years with the Tennessee Titans and Dallas Cowboys, George pivoted to a career as an entrepreneur with George Enterprises, an umbrella brand that encompasses a number of ventures, including Edward N. George Wealth Management, landscape architecture firm EDGE Group, health and fitness magazine EGX Lifestyle, and domestic abuse nonprofit Visions with Infinite Possibilities.
When pressed about his staggering array of accomplishments, George told Rolling Stone, “To put yourself in a box of, ‘Well, I’m only a football player and I’m just going to stick to being in sports somehow,’ you’re not living a full human being experience.
We took a closer look at the life and career of America’s favorite polymath to understand how George parlayed his skills on the field to so many different outlets.
Early Life and Education
To say George was obsessed with football as a youngster growing up in Philadelphia would be an understatement of gargantuan proportions. In the aforementioned Rolling Stone profile, George recalls that the game was an anchor, a vector, and a lens through which he saw the world. “High school football. Little league football. Backyard football. Thanksgiving football. You name it. It was not only a passion, it was life. It was also a vehicle for me to pursue my dreams.”
George earned a scholarship to Ohio State after rushing a record 1,372 yards in his fifth year at Fork Union Military Academy. Over the course of three years at Ohio State, George surpassed and set new school records and generally continued his reign on the field. In 1995, George was recognized as a first-team All-American and won the coveted Heisman Trophy, which remains one of George’s most significant achievements. He explains, “To win the Heisman gave me the resolve that if I put my mind to it, I could do it. It taught me a valuable lesson of what can be accomplished.”
An Illustrious NFL Career
George’s nine-year career began when the Houston Oilers (currently Tennessee Titans) selected George in the first round of the 1996 NFL draft.
George’s record suggests a reliably brilliant player whose excellence is surprisingly overlooked: a ’96 Rookie of the Year Award, four consecutive Pro Bowls (1997-2000), and one Super Bowl appearance, in which George tallied two touchdowns in a nail-biting 23-16 loss to the St. Louis Rams.
After eight seasons with the Titans and one with the Dallas Cowboys, George retired in 2005. In a 2009 Kellogg School of Management profile, George spoke openly about the realities of what he could not fathom up until his very last season: a life, post-football. “Nine years goes by like this. And if you don’t take care of your money, you’re out on the street. It’s a scary feeling. You ask yourself, what’s next?”
At The Northwestern Kellogg School of Management
After retiring from the NFL, George was determined to find a way to keep moving forward but after 20 years immersed in the game, that was easier said than done, as George explained in 2009:
“I had to find something that was going to fill that void of putting my jersey on on Saturday and Sundays. One was my identity. Two, was figuring out what I would do next. Three, I had to ask myself what I was going to the next 60 years of my life to make money to maintain my lifestyle, to grow and build, and to take care of my family financially.”
George was brutally honest about his state circa 2006 in an interview with SB Nation: “To wake up and not know what you’re going to do with your time because you can no longer do the one thing that you’ve been doing your entire life, it’s daunting.”
As George explains in a Winter ’09 Northwestern Profile, “My celebrity status definitely helped open doors, but that will only take you so far.” After a few successful years at George Enterprises, he opted to attend Kellogg to “broaden and deepen his understanding of the business side.”
George was thrilled at the opportunity Kellogg gave him to reinvent and brand himself away from football. He explained in a Kellogg profile that he chose the school because of its reputation.
“Like on the football field, if I’m going to be the best at something, I’m going to learn from the best coaches, the best teachers. Kellogg resonated because of the strong branding and marketing emphasis.”
George graduated with an Executive MBA from Kellogg in 2009.
Edward N. George Wealth Management
After graduating from Kellogg in 2009 and receiving his securities agent and investment advisor licenses, George almost immediately considered how to use his business acumen in service of his fellow athletes. He told ESPN, “When I came into the league, I didn’t understand all the financial terminology. I lost some money in personal investments that I shouldn’t have. I want kids coming out of college to be more prepared for the financial side.”
George partnered with Greg Eastman, his own personal financial advisor of over two decades, and Scottsdale-based First Financial Equity Corp, to found Edward N. George Wealth Management—a boutique financial management firm that helps athletes get their finances in order via estate planning, tax planning strategies, retirement, and income planning.
Wealth management was a homecoming of sorts for George as it brought together a number of his diverse interests, according to a previous interview with the Nashville Post: “My life’s mission is entrepreneurship, entertainment and education. The wealth management firm is both entrepreneurship for me and education for the players.”
Daily Fantasy Sports Companies Continue Dodging Long Arm of the Law
Bill Doherty contributed a story to Lehigh University’s College of Business and Economics’ blog this week concerning a research paper by Lehigh Professor of Business Law Matthew Melone, who surveyed the legal grey area in which daily fantasy sports companies have increasingly come into conflict as their popularity surges.
Continue reading…
NFL Hall of Famer Donates $1 Million to Villanova
NFL Hall of Famer and Fox Sports analyst, Howard M. Long and his wife Diane, have donated $1 million to Villanova University. The Long’s commitment will go toward the University’s $600 million Comprehensive Capital Campaign, “For the Greater Great: The Villanova Campaign to Ignite Change. The gift will create a new eight room as part of a building project, and will be named The Howie Long Strength Training Center. The Strength Training Center will be open for Villanova’s top-ranked FCS Football program and the rest of the 24 varsity sports at the university.
This new facility will help to supply students with a state-of-the-art athletic training center within one centralized location. In addition to the “The Howie Long Strength Training Center,” the building will also include a new football locker room and coaches’ offices. The Villanova Football program will also name its annual defensive player of the year award “The Howie Long Defensive Player of the Year Award,” in recognition of the Long’s commitment to the school.
Are You Ready For Some Football: Booth Research Examines Timing of NFL Contracts
The National Football League is a huge money making business. With the regular season kicking off in just a few days, new research from the Booth School of Business shows that timing is of the essence with players enter contract negotiations.
“This paper is about a seemingly very small part of the NFL contracting — when do you get paid in the off-season?” Gregor Matvos, an associate professor of finance at Chicago Booth, said. Continue reading…
