ABOUT THIS BOOK

In The Bottom Line, one of the foremost sports economists writing today, Andrew Zimbalist (National Pastime), analyzes the "net value" of sports. He examines motives for why owners buy franchises, the worth of the players and the profitability of teams, and the importance of publicly funded stadiums. In the essays collected here—which appeared in publications like The New York Times, Sports Business Journal, and The Wall Street Journal from 1998-2006—Zimbalist considers the current state of organized sports, from football and baseball to basketball, hockey, and soccer. He also addresses antitrust and labor relations issues, gender equity concerns, collegiate athletics, and the regulation of steroid use, providing readers with a better understanding of the business of sports and the sports business—and what makes both tick.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Andrew Zimbalist is Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College. His other books include (with Stefan Szymanski) National Pastime: How Americans Play Baseball and the Rest of the World Plays Soccer, and In the Best Interests of Baseball? The Revolutionary Reign of Bud Selig. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Sports Economics.

REVIEWS

"Very few academics treat sport as seriously as it deserves. And precious few of them keep their subject interesting. Andrew Zimbalist is royalty in this small kingdom."—Franklin Foer, author of How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization

"Andrew Zimbalist has taken important topics and given us a thoughtful, fascinating, and deeply prepared discussion of the games we hold so dear."—Lesley Visser, CBS Sportscaster

"Andrew Zimbalist is one of the best writers among economists working today, and he provides insightful analysis on interesting subjects. The essays in The Bottom Line provide a narrative history of recent events in the sports business and contain a wealth of detailed information, such as the share price for the Indian's IPO. I recommend this unique book."—Brad Humphreys, Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I: Team Management, Finances, and Value
1 “So You Want to Own a Big-League Team?”
2 Capital Needs, Political Realities Fuel New Interest in Sports Offerings
3 A Miami Fish Story
4 Take Stock in the Tribe
5 Has Milstein Lost His Mind?: Not Hardly
6 “If the Redskins are Worth $800 Million…”
7 The NFL's New Math
8 Don't Cry for Woody
9 Ticket Prices and Player Salaries: The Real Story
10 Yes, It's About Money
11 The NFL's Economic Success
12 How Much are the Red Sox Worth?
13 MLB in the Aftermath of 9/11
14 ML by the Numbers, but Who's Buying?
15 Baseball by the Numbers NYT
16 The Mets are Worth More than $391 Million
17 The Sports Franchise Market is Stronger than Many Think
18 Flawed Financial Analysis of NHL Skates on Thin Ice
19 Baseball's New Numbers: Doom and Gloom or Blip and Fit?
20 Baseball's New Management Culture is a Work in Progress
21 $53 Million for Pedro? How Do you Figure?

Part II: League Structure, Design and Performance
22 Fewer Families Own Sports Teams: It's Okay
23 If Competitive Balance Spoils the Show, Congress Waits in the Wings
24 Selig, Players Both Err Early Regarding Competitive Balance
25 Talent Decompression and Competitive Balance in Major League Baseball
26 Minor League Baseball: There's a Right Way and a Wrong Way
27 The Commissioner's New Clothes
28 Baseball's Competitive Balance and the Amateur Draft
29 Baseball's Blue Ribbon Commission: Good News and Bad News
30 NFL's Revenue Sharing Saps Will to Win?
31 The Sports Industry During Recessions
32 On Contraction, Selig Should Change His Mind Again
33 Un-Fair Ball
34 Competitive Balance is a Problem
35 How to Reform the NHL's Economic System
36 MLS Remains Minor League, World Cup Notwithstanding
37 Beantown's New Brain Trust Touches All the Fan Bases
38 The NFL's Report Card
39 Trading Deadline Activity Raises Issue of Baseball's Competitive Integrity
40 The Gold in Baseball's Diamond
41 What Went Wrong with WUSA?
42 Baseball's Short-Lived Rally
43 No Reason to Break Up the Yankees
44 More Financial Smoke and Mirrors from MLB
45 Enough Already: Time to Award DC a Franchise
46 Tweaking the NFL Juggernaut
47 Single Entity, Though Alluring, Won't Solve Hockey's Problems
48 British Soccer Fans, Kicked Again (with Stefan Szymanski)
49 The Final Word: McClatchy Is Barking Up the Wrong Tree

Part III: Stadiums: Financing, Mega-Events and Economic Development
50 Oral Testimony before the Committee on Commerce, on HR 2740, “Fan Freedom and Community Protection Act of 1996”
51 What's BOB Really Worth to Phoenix?
52 Football Stadium Folly
53 When Teams Move, Protecting Both Fans and Owners is Tricky
54 Now You See the Patriots, Now You Don't: NFL Musical Chairs
55 Flawed Specter Bill Gets an A for Effort
56 A Tale of Facilities in Two Cities: Boston and Green Bay
57 Share of Ball Park: $16 a Year Miami Herald
58 Cards Offer is in the Ballpark
59 New York City can do Better
60 The NFL and Los Angeles: Here We Go Again
61 Live from NYC: Inflation, Traffic - and the Olympics!
62 Renovating the Stadiums: The Real Economic
63 Foxboro's Gillette Stadium - A Model for Others to Ponder
64 Games People Play
65 Straight Talk on Stadiums
66 More Benevolence in Stadium Games
67 NY Facility Triad is Good News
68 Economic Impact of the Olympics Doesn't Match the Hype

Part IV: Antitrust and Labor Relations
69 Take Me Out to the Cleaners
70 Batter Up, Already
71 Team Profitability and Labor Peace
72 This Bud's for a Salary Cap
73 Let the Market Rule the Basketball Court
74 The NBA Lockout: Who's Dropping the Ball?
75 The NBA Lockout: A Post-Mortem
76 NBA Players Doing Fine, Thank You
77 “Jordan Effect” Won't Rescue NBA
78 Contraction and Baseball's Antitrust Exemption?
79 Baseball's Addition Through Subtraction Just Doesn't Add Up?
80 Baseball's Game of Smoke and Mirrors
81 Baseball and DC for All the Wrong Reasons
82 All Right All You Lawyers, Play Ball!
83 Baseball: A Deal Can Get Done
84 Labor Relations Heating Up in the NBA
85 The New Baseball Labor Agreement in Already at Work
86 NHL: Time to Stop Blowing Smoke and Start Real Bargaining
87 A-Rod Capture Makes Dollars and Sense 88 What to do about the Hockey Mess
88 Hockey Owners Give their Sport a Slap Shot
89 Monopoly's Money

Part V: College Sports and Gender Equity
90 College Sports: Surplus or Deficit?
91 Make Freshmen Ineligible: Only Good Can Come of it
92 Real Reform, Not Tinkering is Needed in College Sports
93 The NCAA has Lost its Way
94 Unsportsmanlike Conduct
95 CBS' Big NCAA Deal is No Cure for What's Ailing College Sports
96 Win One for the Gipper
97 Backlash Against Title IX: An End Run Around Female Athletes
98 Has March Madness Gone Mad?
99 Pay for Play in College Sports: Think Twice
100 College Athletic Success and Donations: Evidence is Not Encouraging
101 NCAA's New Financial Status Report: Good News or Bad?
102: College is not for Everyone
103 Should College Athletes Be Paid? American Teacher
104 Making the (Up)Grade: Tougher than it Looks
105 Another Bowl Game Not What NCAA Needs
106 Numbers, Facts Don't Back Title IX Critics
107 The BCS is Ripe for Reform
108 Clarett Has a Compelling Case for NFL Eligibility
109 Let Jeremy Bloom Ski and Play Wide Receiver
110 Curb Coaches' Salaries and Preserve Title IX Gains

Part VI: Media and the Regulation of Steroids
111 Extreme is Mediocre and XFL is the Name
112 The Increasingly Complex Sports Media Landscape
113 No Easy Answers for MLB's Steroid Scandal
114: Reflections on the Super Bowl
115 In Steroids Hearings, Congress has its Eye on the Wrong Ball
116 Anti-Doping: Settle in for the Long Haul

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