FO readers: check out the second annual MIT Sloan Sports Business Conference, to be held on Saturday, February 9. They did a great job last year with the first conference, but this year, the expansion is just amazing. The students at MIT have put a ton of work into this, as have Jessica Gelman from the Pats and Daryl Morey from the Houston Rockets. There are a number of great panels, but three in particular will interest FO readers.

First, there is a panel on "Defending the Title," moderated by Peter Gammons and featuring Bill Polian, Brian Burke of the Ducks, Jed Hoyer of the Red Sox and -- just added -- a representative from the San Antonio Spurs.

Second, there is a panel on "Improving the Game," moderated by Rob Neyer and featuring Bill James, ESPN head John Walsh, NBA TV analyst Rick Carlisle, and sports marketing consultant (and former New England tight end) Randy Vataha.

Third, there is a panel on "Football Analytics," moderated by yours truly. We're still finalizing the panel, but it looks like we will have front office representatives from the Tampa Bay Bucs, Cleveland Browns, and San Francisco 49ers. No coaches this time.

I would like to invite our readers to suggest questions for the football panel by e-mailing us at mailbag-at-footballoutsiders.com. Remember that the questions need to be directed at front office people, so nothing on in-game strategy. They also need to be the sort of broad question that these men will feel comfortable answering in a public appearance (nothing like "are you going to re-sign player X" or "Why does player Y suck?").

Posted by: Aaron Schatz on 15 Jan 2008

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