Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig has been named to the adjunct faculty at Marquette University Law School as distinguished lecturer in sports law and policy.
“Bud Selig is, without question, one of the most skilled and accomplished professionals in the sports industry today,” said Joseph D. Kearney, dean of Marquette Law School. “We are truly honored that he would commit his time to our students and grateful that he’s chosen our classrooms as a place to pass down his significant wisdom to the next generation of leaders.”
The appointment formalizes a teaching position Selig has held at Marquette Law School since 2009, lecturing for several classes of the Professional Sports Law course each spring. The course is part of the nationally prominent Sports Law program at Marquette Law School, which is also home to the National Sports Law Institute. Both are led by Marquette Law School Professor Matt Mitten. Selig has been a member of the NSLI Board of Advisors since its inception in 1989.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed the lively dialogue with students in the classroom at Marquette Law School over the past several years,” said Selig. “It is very rewarding for me to pass on some of my experiences and hopefully enrich their legal education by discussing sports law and business issues affecting the historical development, structure and operations of Major League Baseball.”
In Selig’s 18 years as Commissioner (both interim and permanent), the game has achieved record attendance, record revenue, and new heights in social consciousness. Under his leadership, baseball has enjoyed the longest period of labor peace since the inception of the Players Association. He led the change in baseball’s economic landscape that has created the greatest competitive balance in the game’s history and in American sports today, with nine clubs winning the last 10 World Series.
Selig brought Major League Baseball back to his native Milwaukee in 1970 and helped save the Brewers franchise with the building of Miller Park. Despite the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, the Brewers have averaged 2,960,813 fans the past three seasons.
Selig has received numerous honors, including the Master of the Game Award from the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette Law School in 2000. Earlier this year, Selig received the Jackie Robinson Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award and was honored with a statue at Miller Park.
