Events
Reunion Speaker Series Two: A Conversation with Jerry Reinsdorf (JD ’60), Chairman of the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Bulls, moderated by Interim Dean Jim Speta
Thursday, March 4, 20213:00 PM - 4:00 PM
https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/96925042188?pwd=ODltbzdBdlI4TTBQRVo1WU1MNnJkZz09
Alumni Relations
Christine Breakey
christine.breakey@law.northwestern.edu
For NLaw Community
Join the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Alumni Association
for a wide-ranging discussion on athletics in the time of COVID,
emerging legal issues in professional and collegiate athletics, and a
behind-the-scenes glimpse of The Last Dance documentary, with Jerry Reinsdorf (JD ’60), Chairman of the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Bulls, moderated by Interim Dean Jim Speta.
This panel is part of the Road to Reunion Virtual Speaker Series, an
exclusive series of panels and conversations designed to explore the
wide-ranging impact of Northwestern Law.
A Conversation with Jerry Reinsdorf (JD ’60), Chairman of the Chicago White Sox
and the Chicago Bulls, moderated by Interim Dean Jim Speta
and the Chicago Bulls, moderated by Interim Dean Jim Speta
Live Zoom Event
Thursday, March 4, 2021
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Central
Please register to receive Zoom link information.
Thursday, March 4, 2021
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Central
Please register to receive Zoom link information.
Please support future Northwestern Pritzker School of Law students by making an optional donation.
About the Speakers
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Jerry Reinsdorf (JD '60)
begins his 41st season as chairman of the Chicago White Sox in 2021,
becoming only the seventh individual in Major League Baseball history to
reach the 40-year milestone as a club owner (Connie Mack of the
Philadelphia A’s holds the mark with 50 seasons in leadership).
During his time as chairman, Reinsdorf’s two professional sports teams – the White Sox and the NBA’s Chicago Bulls – have delivered seven World Championship titles to the city of Chicago and its fans. Reinsdorf accepted the Commissioner’s Trophy from Bud Selig on October 26, 2005, after the White Sox swept their way to the team’s first World Series Championship since 1917. The championship was celebrated by a ticker-tape parade attended by nearly 2 million Chicagoans. The White Sox have reached the postseason six times during Reinsdorf’s tenure, most recently in 2020 when the team claimed a Wild Card spot. The Sox claimed division titles in 1983, 1993, 2000, 2005 and 2008. Every one of the club’s Top 20 single-season attendance totals have come since 1981, including a franchise-record 2.95 million fans in 2006. Reinsdorf and the White Sox have received four prestigious honors in recognition of the franchise’s ongoing commitment to giving back to the community. In June 2011, Reinsdorf traveled to Washington D.C. to accept the Jefferson Award, one of the nation’s top honors for community service and volunteerism, known as the “Nobel Prize for Public Service.” In August 2011, Reinsdorf received the Barnes and Thornburg Jackie Robinson Award for diversity in the workplace, and in November 2011, Reinsdorf and the White Sox were honored by Commissioner Bud Selig with the Commissioner’s Award for Philanthropic Excellence for the club’s Volunteer Corps. In September 2012, Reinsdorf and the White Sox were again recognized nationally, receiving the Steve Patterson Award for Excellence in sports philanthropy for the team’s Volunteer Corps program. Reinsdorf’s life-long support for charitable and community organizations has resulted in numerous other awards and recognitions. In response to President Barack Obama’s call to service in 2009, Reinsdorf and the White Sox created the White Sox Volunteer Corps to support the Chicagoland community through service. The Corps, now consisting of staff, players and more than 5,000 fan volunteers, has mobilized to provide more than 53,000 hours of community service with an estimated value of $1.5 million during its 12 years of existence, including work renovating Chicago Public Schools, remodeling local Boys & Girls Clubs and donating time at the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Both of Reinsdorf’s sports franchises have donated millions of dollars to causes in the Chicago community through a variety of efforts, including Chicago White Sox Charities and Chicago Bulls Charities. Since 2019, the White Sox held 61 events to connect with the community and coordinated more than 900 appearances by players and staff, as well as donated over $550,000 in in-kind support and engaged over 17,000 youth in baseball initiatives. Chicago White Sox Charities has do-nated more than $35 million to Chicagoland organizations in cumulative giving since its inception. In 2015, the Chicago Bulls received honors as the inaugural ESPN Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year, and in 2017, the White Sox were finalists for the same award, which celebrates and recognizes how members of the sports industry use sport to serve their communities and make a positive impact. In December 2017, owners for five Chicago sports teams – the Bears, Black-hawks, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox – joined together as the Chicago Sports Alliance to donate $1 million annually to the UChicago Crime Lab and other worthy programs in an ongoing effort to support solutions to the violence that plagues some neighborhoods in Chicago. Reinsdorf and the White Sox created the Amateur City Elite (ACE) youth baseball program in 2007. Sponsored by Chicago White Sox Charities, ACE provides urban-based and largely minority youth the opportunity to play in a high-quality travel baseball program. In its 14 years, ACE has produced 30 draft selections, while over 200 ACE players have signed scholarships to play college baseball. ACE alums have won NCAA Championships and have been drafted as high as the first round (fifth pick overall). In recognition of his life-long commitment to promoting diversity, Reinsdorf’s White Sox hosted Major League Baseball’s 2013 Diversity Summit in Chicago, and the franchise also was chosen to host the annual Civil Rights Game and Beacon Awards Luncheon in August 2014. Reinsdorf has been responsible for the construction of four new sports facilities in Chicago. In addition to the building of new Comiskey Park (1991), Reinsdorf initiated construction of three other major facilities for the Bulls. The United Center, home for the Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks, opened for the 1994-95 season, the Sheri L. Berto Center served as the Bulls training facility from 1992-2014, and the Advocate Center, which opened in 2014 and now serves as the Bulls practice and training facility in downtown Chicago. The White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers also opened a state-of-the-art spring training complex, named Camelback Ranch — Glendale, in 2009. Over the past two decades, Reinsdorf, the White Sox and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority have undertaken dramatic offseason renovations to Guaranteed Rate Field. In 2016, three new, state-of-the-art video boards were installed in the ballpark, and the team added “The Goose Island,” an innovative seating area in right field, in 2019. Since heading the limited partnership that purchased the White Sox in January 1981, Reinsdorf has been involved in Major League Baseball initiatives at an industry-wide level. Currently, he serves on the Commissioner’s Executive Council. In the past, he has served on many other committees, including Player Relations, Relocation, Ownership & Legislative, Business and Media Board and Long-Range Labor Planning. Reinsdorf was instrumental in the formation of the Diverse Business Partners (DBP) Program in 1998, and Major League Baseball honored Reinsdorf and the White Sox with the Club Appreciation Award in 2018 to celebrate the program’s 20th anniversary. Over the past 20 years, Major League Baseball and its clubs have purchased hundreds of millions of dollars in goods and services from minority and women-owned businesses, and the White Sox annually rank among baseball’s leaders in the DBP program. In 2008, his long history of donating time to Major League Baseball led to Reinsdorf being asked to serve on the Board of The Baseball Hall of Fame. Frank Thomas and Tony La Russa were inducted as members of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2014, Tim Raines in 2017, Jim Thome in 2018, Harold Baines in 2019, and Ken “Hawk” Harrelson was honored with the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence in 2020. Reinsdorf expanded his involvement in professional sports in March 1985 by purchasing controlling interest in the Chicago Bulls. During his tenure as chairman of the Bulls – the third-longest in the NBA – the team has captured six World Championships (1991-93, ’96-98). Reinsdorf was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2016 in Springfield, Mass., becoming the 10th NBA owner to be honored. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on February 25, 1936, Reinsdorf graduated from George Washington University in Washington D.C. and earned a law degree from Northwestern University after moving to Chicago in 1957. Reinsdorf and his wife, Martyl, have three surviving children and nine grandchildren. |
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James B. Speta
is interim dean and Elizabeth Froehling Horner Professor of Law. Jim
has been a member of the faculty since 1999. His research interests
include telecommunications and Internet policy, antitrust,
administrative law, and market organization. He teaches in the Law
School and in the Joint Program in Law and Business operated by the Law
School and the Kellogg School. A 1991 graduate of the University of
Michigan Law School, Speta joined the Northwestern faculty following a
one-year visit. He had previously clerked for Judge Harry T. Edwards on
the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and practiced
appellate, telecommunications, and antitrust law with the Chicago firm
of Sidley & Austin. |
Contact Information
Christine Breakey
christine.breakey@law.northwestern.edu