Business of baseball?
Question:Im looking for some information on the business side of baseball and its history. Basically:
If I were to teach students the business of baseball in a 5 day plan, what would be good topics to cover each day? One day I could talk about accounting and the different types of revenues and expenses that go into a baseball team. What else could I talk about?
Answers:
Is it worth to give 26 dollars for this bat?
I'd first read the book, "The Lords of the Realm" by John Helyar. He's a business writer for the Wall Street Journal and he chronicles the business side of baseball from it's early days to 1994, including the labor changes in the 60s and free agency.A good syllabus might be something like this:
1 - Overview of modern baseball, finances, revenue and basic agreement between players and clubs. Rift between big market and small market teams.
2 - The old days: 1900-1960s. Relationship with minor leagues and how that changed. The reserve clause. Antitrust exemption
3 . Challenge of the reserve clause in the 60s (Curt Flood case), Growing player salaries and revenues, The growing impact of Television and how baseball treated it as a threat instead of a boon.
4- Free agency in 1970s. Andy Messerschmidt. Catfish hunter. Charlie Findley's attempt to fight back.
5. The 90s and skyrocketing revenues and salaries and the baseball strike. The AROD deal and how Tim Hicks tried to build a real estate empire around a baseball player. Changing landscape of TV with satelite deals. Revenue sharing.
Are the Phillies a triple A team? Will Ryan Howard ever fluke again?
Off the top of my head you could talk about marketing. I'll think of some other topics and let you know later.In terms of revenues/expenses it's a big topic which you could divide. For example: the salaries of the players, etc. The food expenses. Taxes. Stadium maintenance.
More Questions & Answers...