May the Best Team Win: Baseball Economics and Public Policy - Hardcover

Zimbalist, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0815797281 ISBN 13: 9780815797289

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 2003

Synopsis

The business of baseball stands in sharp contrast to the game’s wholesome image as America’s favorite pastime. Major league baseball is a deeply troubled industry, facing chronic problems that threaten its future: persistent labor tensions, competitive dominance by high-revenue teams, migration of game telecasts to cable, and escalating ticket prices. Amid the threat of contraction, existing franchises are demanding public subsidies for new stadiums, while viable host cities are begging for teams. The game’s core base of fans is aging, and MLB is doing precious little to attract a younger audience. According to Andrew Zimbalist, these problems have a common cause: monopoly. Since 1922 MLB has benefited from a presumed exemption from the nation’s antitrust laws. It is the only top-level professional baseball league in the country, and each of its teams is assigned an exclusive territory. Monopolies have market power, which they use to derive higher returns, misallocate resources, and take advantage of consumers. Major league baseball is no exception. In May the Best Team Win, Zimbalist provides a critical analysis of the baseball industry, focusing on the abuses and inefficiencies that have plagued the game since the 1990s, when franchise owners appointed their colleague Bud Selig as MLB’s “independent” commissioner.

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Zimbalist is Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College. He has published fifteen books and has consulted for players associations, governmental bodies, cities, owners, corporations, and international development organizations. His books include May the Best Team Win: Baseball Economics and Public Policy (Brookings, 2003) and In the Best Interests of Baseball? The Revolutionary Reign of Bud Selig (Wiley, 2006). Bob Costas, a 19-time Emmy Award winner, and television's most honored studio host, is the host of NBC's "Football Night in America" studio show.

Reviews

Zimbalist, professor of economics at Smith College, is arguably the leading authority on sports economics in the country. His Baseball and Billions (1992) was one of the first books to take an educated look at the business of baseball, and since the release of that book, Zimbalist has spent thousands of hours researching and writing about the industry. His conclusion in his latest work, that baseball is in trouble, is not a new idea, but the reasons behind baseball's problems and Zimbalist's solutions combine to create an absorbing, provocative discussion. Zimbalist is no friend of baseball owners or baseball commissioner Bud Selig, and he devotes much space to tearing down arguments about the poor financial health of most teams and the need for cities to subsidize teams by paying for new stadiums. Expansion, not contraction, for example, would help spread out talent. The root cause of baseball's problems, Zimbalist argues, is its monopoly, and his most radical idea is for Congress to lift baseball's antitrust exemption and to force divestiture into two competitive leagues. But failing that, Zimbalist has a number of suggestions to improve the status of the game, including attracting younger fans by starting some World Series games at an earlier time; lowering ticket prices; and creating an owner/player partnership to study baseball's problems. At the very least, this volume provides baseball fans with enough material to allow them to engage in one of their favorite pursuits-arguing over what should be done to save the national pastime.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0815797281
• ISBN 13: 9780815797289
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 198