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

Zimbalist, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 081579729X ISBN 13: 9780815797296

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 2004

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.

Review:

"... argues Andrew Zimbalist, a professor... and author of 'May the Best Team Win.'" —Michael K. Ozanian with Cecily J. Fluke, Forbes, 4/28/2003

"Instead of drinking beer and moaning, pick up a copy of Andrew Zimbalist's 'May the Best Team Win.' Zimbalist is the author of 'Baseball and Billions,' one of the most impressive books on the subject, trumped, perhaps, only by this one.... 'May the Best Team Win' is one that the critical fan needs in their arsenal." — Mudville Magazine, 4/28/2003

"'Andrew Zimbalist writes with obvious love, but deep concern for our national pastime. " —Chris Berman, ESPN, 2/4/2003

"An absorbing, provocative discussion." — Publishers Weekly, 2/24/2003

"Follows up his original tome by documenting perhaps the wildest set of chapters in MLB history. In just the past two years, commissioner Bud Selig and the owners have attempted and failed to wipe out two teams, narrowly averted a labor stoppage with the players, engineered a bizarre ownership swap involving the Boston, Florida and Montreal franchises, stumbled through a high-profile congressional tongue-lashing, and were beaten in court by a stadium commission from Minnesota. " —Eric Fisher, Washington Times

"Major league baseball has put a stranglehold on real competitive balance, and Zimbalist claims that the near-monopoly status is a detriment to any impulse for improvement. His prescriptions offer harsh but needed medicine. " — Library Journal

"Zimbalist offers a whirlwind tour of baseball chicanery.... Concise and coherent.... Anyone who holds an opinion on the state of the game, or fears its demise, owes it to him- or herself to take Professor Zimbalist's 224-page class." —Jon Morgan, Baltimore Sun, 3/23/2003

"I highly recommend Andrew Zimbalist's new book, 'May the Best Team Win.' If you read this book... you'll know everything about the ugly side of baseball that you need to know." —Rob Neyer, ESPN.com, 4/1/2003

"Exhilarating.... Combines an academic's precision with a fan's passion." —Allen Barra, Newhouse Newspapers

"In the most damning chapter in the book, Zimbalist outlines a complex but convincing deconstruction of Selig's assertion that MLB lost $519 million in 2001...As Paul Beeston, MLB's chief operating officer said, 'Under generally accepted accounting principles, I can turn a $4 million profit into a $2 million loss and I can get every national accounting firm to agree with me.'" —Sean Callahan, GeezerJock Media, Washington Post Book World, 5/18/2003

About this edition

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 081579729X
• ISBN 13: 9780815797296
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 198