Beyond the highly publicized heroics and foibles of players and teams, when the grandstands are empty and the scoreboards dark, there is a world of sport about which little is known by even the most ardent fan. It is the business world of sport; it is characterized by a thirst for power and money, and its players are just as active as those on the professional teams they oversee. In this collection, some of the best scholars in the field use examples from baseball, football, basketball, and hockey to illuminate the significant economic, legal, social, and historic aspects of the business of professional sports. Contributors: Dennis A. Ahlburg, Rob B. Beamish, Joan M. Chandler, James B. Dworkin, Lawrence M. Kahn, Charles P. Korr, John J. MacAloon, David Mills, Roger G. Noll, Steven A. Reiss, Gary R. Roberts, Stephen F. Ross, Peter D. Sherer, Leigh Steinberg, and David G. Voigt,
The Business of Sports, Second Edition is a comprehensive collection of readings that focus on the multibillion-dollar sports industry and the dilemmas faced by todays sports business leaders. It contains a dynamic set of readings to provide a complete overview of major sports business issues. The Second Edition covers professional, Olympic, and collegiate sports, and highlights the major issues that impact each of these broad categories. The Second Edition continue to provide insight from a variety of stakeholders in the industry and cover the major business disciplines of management, marketing, finance, information technology, accounting, ethics and law. In addition, it features concise introductions, targeted discussion questions, and graphs and tables to convey relevant financial data and other statistics discussed. This book is designed for current and future sports business leaders as well as those interested in the inner-workings of the industry.
Why would a Japanese millionaire want to buy the Seattle Mariners baseball team, when he has admitted that he has never played in or even seen a baseball game? Cash is the answer: major league baseball, like professional football, basketball, and hockey, is now big business with the potential to bring millions of dollars in profits to owners. Not very long ago, however, buying a sports franchise was a hazardous investment risked only by die-hard fans wealthy enough to lose parts of fortunes made in other businesses. What forces have changed team ownership from sports-fan folly to big-business savvy? Why has The Wall Street Journal become popular reading in pro sports locker rooms? And why are sports pages now dominated by economic clashes between owners and players, cities with franchises and cities without them, leagues and players' unions, and team lawyers and players' lawyers? In answering these questions, James Quirk and Rodney Fort have written the most complete book on the business and economics of professional sports, past and present. Pay Dirt offers a wealth of information and analysis on the reserve clause, salary determination, competitive balance in sports leagues, the market for franchises, tax sheltering, arenas and stadiums, and rival leagues. The authors present an abundance of historical material, much of it new, including team ownership histories and data on attendance, TV revenue, stadium and arena contracts, and revenues and costs. League histories, team statistics, stories about players and owners, and sports lore of all kinds embellish the work. Quirk and Fort are writing for anyone interested in sports in the 1990s: players, players' agents, general managers, sportswriters, and, most of all, sports fans.
The legendary Charles C. "Cash and Carry" Pyle, considered by most to be the first sports agent, negotiated a $3,000-per-game contract for Red Grange to play professional football for the Chicago Bears in 1933. Today, salaries in the tens of millions of dollars are commonplace, and instead of theatrical promoters and impresarios, professionally trained businessmen and lawyers dominate the business. But whereas rules and penalties govern the playing field, there are far fewer restrictions on agents. Incidents of agents' manipulating athletes, ranging from investment scams to outright theft of a player's money, are far too frequent, and there is growing consensus for reform In The Business of Sports Agents, Kenneth L. Shropshire and Timothy Davis, experts in the fields of sports business and law, examine the history of the sports agent business and the rules and laws developed to regulate the profession. They also consider recommendations for reform, including uniform laws that would apply to all agents, redefining amateurism in college sports, and stiffening requirements for licensing agents. This revised and expanded second edition brings the volume up-to-date on recent changes in the industry, including: - the closing of one of the largest agencies - high-profile personnel moves - passage of the federal Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act - the National Football League's aggressive and high-profile efforts to regulate agents
Sport is big business. This work explores the business and economic dynamics of the sports industry from a diverse array of perspectives that cover the industry's macroeconomic, management and marketing/promotion issues.
Labeled by The New York Times as “instrumental in helping change the face of major professional sports,” attorney Jim Quinn has influenced modern sports business for decades. Beginning back in the 1970’s with the landmark Oscar Robertson basketball free agency case, Quinn battled owners in all four major leagues to make sure the players got their fair share. In the early 1990’s, he faced the goliath National Football League and won the right to free agency for players, Quinn has spent a lifetime dealing in the gritty sports business to make fair agreements for players. Quinn shares significant cases and legal proceedings across major American sports and tells stories of the courtroom battles he fought on behalf of players and labor leaders seeking economic justice in their workplace. He sheds light on known and unknown figures who committed to larger causes than themselves and that modern sports owes a debt to the leaders of the past who risked their careers. Through Quinn’s lengthy career he has helped to empower athletes to speak and act in the best interest of the sports community and overcome some of the toxic figures who sought to drag down league success for their own ego and greed. In Don’t Be Afraid to Win, Quinn provides a unique point of view of someone who was personally involved in making changes happen in the business. His is a masterful examination of how sports has grown dramatically over the decades, how it benefited from the rise of sports unions and free agency, and how there is still fairness to be gained across the leagues.
This book explores the business aspect of sports with an orientation to those topics that are most relevant to journalists, providing the foundation for understanding the various parts of the sports business. Moving beyond sports writing, this text offers a distinct perspective on professional, college, and international sports organizations – structure, governance, labor issues, and other business factors within the sports community. Written clearly and compellingly, The Business of Sports includes cases (historical, current, and hypothetical) to illustrate how business concerns play a role in the reporting of sports. New features for the second edition include: updates throughout, including disciplinary policies throughout the major sports leagues expanded discussion of intellectual property issues and merchandising new sections on ethical issues in sports, aimed at journalists. Offering critical insights on the business of sports, this text is a required resource for sports journalists and students in sports journalism.
Princeton's Michael N. Danielson studies the connections between professional team sports in North America and the places where teams play. Danielson is particularly interested in the political aspects between professional sports teams and city governments. Anyone who is interested in the present condition and future prospects of professional sports will be captivated by this informative and provocative book.
The sports industry is large, visible, and growing—and it has a huge impact on society. That's obvious to die-hard fans who not only watch sporting events but buy everything from balls to ties to paperweights with their favorite team's logo. But even sports haters can't escape the onslaught of professional sports: They are asked to chip in as taxpayers to build public stadiums, and their children are, like it or not, exposed to events sponsored by alcohol and tobacco companies, not to mention the juvenile antics of star athletes. Businesses, of course, take a hit in productivity when the Olympics—or World Series or Super Bowl or World Cup—rolls around. Yet most of us love to watch, and play. The Business of Sports takes on this endlessly fascinating behemoth of an industry to make sense of it all. Yes, sports is big business. How big? Estimates of total annual U.S. spending on sporting goods and services range from $250 to $560 billion a year, and spending related to organized sport alone has been estimated at $200 billion per year. And it's getting bigger, casting an ever-larger shadow over the entire globe. The Business of Sports throws light on the subject by exploring the business and economic dynamics of the industry from a diverse array of perspectives that cover the industry's macroeconomic, management, and marketing/promotion issues. —Volume 1, Perspectives on the Sports Industry, documents the current size, scope, and magnitude of the sports industry in the U.S. and abroad—including the U.K. and China. It also examines the importance of the world's most visible sporting events, like the Olympics, and the impact of sporting events broadcast around the world. —Volume 2, Economic Perspectives on Sport, takes an in-depth look at the sports industry from an economic perspective. The volume delves into the inner workings of leagues and teams, covering economic issues from the design of sports leagues to franchise financial valuations to salary caps to labor relations. —Volume 3, Bridging Research and Practice, fills the gap between scholarly research on sport and practitioners working in the industry. Topics include evaluating talent, maintaining managerial efficiency, analyzing statistical performance indices, and assessing the noneconomic benefits of professional sports. Business and sports are a potent mix of two of the strongest forces moving our society today. And, as the stratospheric salaries of professional athletes indicate, the industry is going through major growth and change. To make sense of it all, it helps to understand the underlying economic principles driving the business decisions made daily by owners and managers in all corners of the world. The unique, multivolume format of The Business of Sports allows sports nuts, journalists, business people, and students to explore the wide variety of issues that fuel the world's crazy passion for all things athletic.
