- ホーム
- > 洋書
- > 英文書
- > Business / Economics
Full Description
Fans of baseball, football, basketball, and hockey have long been exploited and oppressed by the monopolistic practices of team owners. The time has come for a revolution in the organization of major U.S. sports!
Fans of the World, Unite! is a clarion call to sports fans. Appealing to anyone who is in despair due to the greed and incompetence of team owners, this book proposes a significant restructuring of sports leagues. It sets out a rational program for a revolution that will serve the best interests of the fans and of the sport itself. But Stephen F. Ross and Stefan Szymanski are no Marxists: they show how a revolution in the organization of sports might even benefit the owners. By harnessing the power of markets, sports leagues can be made both more responsive to the needs of the fans, and more efficient.
Ross and Szymanski have spent many years evaluating the ways in which leagues work across the globe. Drawing on their extensive study of leagues, the authors boil down their plan to two major reforms. Borrowing from NASCAR, they propose that team owners should not own sports leagues as well. Rather, league ownership should be separate. Their second proposal is drawn from soccer: introduce competition through a promotion and relegation system. In this type of system, the worst teams in the league are kicked out at the end of the season and replaced by the best performing teams in the next division down. This gives poor performing teams incentive to step up their game, and allows fresh blood to enter the leagues if the poor performers fail to do so.
The main goal of these reforms is to align the financial interest of those who own the league with the best interests of the fans and the sport. Having laid out the problem and the solution, the authors skillfully address practical implications of introducing their scheme, suggesting how leagues might at least make some changes, if not all of those suggested.
The time for change has come! Armed with this book, and with fairness on their side, fans can set forth to begin a revolution.
Contents
Contents Chapter One: How Sports Fans Are Exploited A Sports Fans' Manifesto Our Book, in a Nutshell Sports and the Public Trust The Inefficient Monopolists Tax Subsidies and Restricted Entry Ticket Prices Television Blackouts Labor Market Restraints Operating the Club: Management and Ancillary Sales Chapter Two: The Diagnosis and Suggested Cure Our Two-Fold Remedy Conflict of Interests Between Interests of the League and Interest of the Owners Recognizing the Conflict: The Commissioner and Regulation of "Integrity" Issues Beyond the Commissioner Chapter Three: Competitive Balance Chapter Four: Borrowing from Nascar: An Independent Competition Organizer A primer on the Economics of "Contest Theory" NASCAR's Origins NASCAR's Development (a) The perception of the "stock car" race (b) Incentives for best performance (c) Sponsorships (d) Expanding national appeal (e) Television appeal Sleeping Dogs: The Absence of NASCAR Restraints on Entry and Labor Competition The Exception That Proves the Rule: Selection of Nextel Cup Sites A Few Caveats Chapter Five: Borrowing from Soccer--Entry by Merit Origins of the Structure of a "Closed" League Problems with the Closed League Format and Entry-by-Merit as a Solution How Entry-by-Merit Works in Soccer Origins of Entry-by-Merit in English Soccer Weighing Objections Objection #1: competitive imbalance Objection #2: quality of major league play Objection #3: feasibility Chapter Six: How a Restructured Sports League Would Work Setting It Up Who Does What? The Relationship Between the League and the Clubs Introducing Promotion and Relegation to The Major Leagues The Labor Market and Incentives TV and Media Ticket Prices Marketing Initiatives Chapter Seven: Comparing This Proposal to Other Remedies for Monopoly Power The Inadequacy of Antitrust Law to Protect Sports Fans Direct Government Regulation Break Up the Monopoly Leagues Potential Need for Additional Regulation Continuing Application of Antitrust Laws to Re-structured Sports Entities Chapter Eight: Half-Loaf, Still-an-Improvement Compromise Suggestions The Limits to Voluntary Reform The Commission System The Commissioner as the "Coase-buster" Commissioner as Volunteer Cheerleader Chapter Nine: Conclusion: Fans, What We Can Imagine! The Case of the Frustrated Billionaire The Case of the Compromising Monopolist The Case of Mayors with Backbone The Case of the Fed-Up Commissioner The Case of the Imperialist Media Baron The Case of Fans Arising Notes Index
