Education
J.D., Ohio State University College of Law, 1990.
M.A., The Ohio State University, 1990.
B.S., California State University, Sacramento, 1986.
Major: Business Administration
About Gil
Gil Fried is an internationally recognized expert on stadium safety and risk management, sport finance, and sport analytics. His research on foul ball safety helped put pressure on Major League Baseball to expand netting at all ballparks to provide a safer environment for fans.
Professionally trained as an insurance defense litigator and an employer-side employment law specialist, he is an authority on sport law, sport finance, and facility management.
Managing partner of Gil Fried & Associates, he specializes in negligence, risk management, economic damages, and facility safety issues and has provided litigation support in foul ball, crowd management, parking lot violence, and stadium safety cases. His work has helped establish new safety standards and protocols in the sport and recreation industries.
Fried served as an expert witness for the state of Wisconsin in nine suits stemming from the 1993 Camp Randall Stadium student stampede. He has also testified in situations involving injuries to various amateur and professional athletes (mainly as an expert for plaintiffs) and in alcohol/crowd management cases, including a Walmart Black Friday case.
A member of the University of New Haven faculty beginning in 1999, and chair of the Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management Department beginning in 2013, he regularly analyzes security plans for large venues and speaks to the national media on stadium safety for some of the world’s biggest sporting events, including the Super Bowl. He received a J.D. and master’s degree from The Ohio State University and a B.S. from California State University, Sacramento, in 1986.
Widely published, he has written or co-written 10 textbooks. He co-authored Sport Analytics: Data-Driven Approach to Sport Business and Management, the first textbook to explore the impact of analytics across sports organizations. Professor Fried has written more than 140 articles as well as numerous book chapters and resource materials for the International Association of Venue Managers’ Academy for Venue Safety and Security.
He co-authored "A Muddied Industry: Essential Risk Management Strategies for Mud Run Participants, Race Organizers, and Sponsors," which appeared in the American College of Sports Medicine Journal, and his articles in the sports risk management newsletter From the Gym to the Jury include "How Safe Are Parking Facilities near Sporting Facilities?" and "Can Sports Kill You?"
In his current research, Professor Fried is collaborating with a physicist to determine how much distance should be between fans and players sitting courtside at a basketball arena.