Regulating The National Pastime

Major League Baseball, alone among industries of its size in the United States, operates as an unregulated monopoly. This 20th-century regulatory anomaly has become known as the baseball anomaly. Major League Baseball developed into a major commercial enterprise without being subject to antitrust liability. Long after the interstate commercial character of baseball had been established and even recognized by the Supreme Court, baseball's monopoly remained free from federal regulation. Duquette explains the baseball anomaly by connecting baseball's regulatory status to the larger political environment, tracing the game's fate through four different regulatory regimes. The constellation of institutional, ideological, and political factors within each regulatory regime provides the context for the survival of the baseball anomaly. Duquette shows baseball's unregulated monopoly persists because of the confluence of institutional, ideological, and political factors which have prevented the repeal of baseball's antitrust exemption to date. However, both the institutional and ideological factors are fading fast. Baseball's owners can no longer claim special cultural significance in defense of their exemption. Nor can they credibly claim that the commissioner system approximates government regulation effectively. Both of these strategies have been discredited by the labor unrest of the 1980s and 1990s. Duquette provides a unique perspective on American regulatory politics, and by explaining a complicated story in comprehensive prose, he has given researchers, policy makers, and fans a fascinating look at the business of baseball.

This is the story of two great sports. One is "America's game," while the other is "the world's game." Baseball and soccer are both beloved cultural institutions. What draws fans to one game is often a mystery to fans of the other. Despite superficial differences, however, the business and culture of these sports share more in common than meets the eye. This is the first in-depth, cross-cultural comparison of these two great pastimes and the megabusinesses that they have become. In National Pastime, Stefan Szymanski and Andrew Zimbalist illustrate how the different traditions of each sport have generated different possibilities for their commercial organization and exploitation. They pay special attention to the rich and complex evolution of baseball from its beginnings in America, and they trace modern soccer from its foundation in England through its subsequent expansion across the world. They illustrate how Victorian administrators laid the foundation for Major League Baseball (MLB) and soccer leagues such as the English Premier League, Italy's Serie A, and the European Champions League. The authors show how the organizers of baseball and soccer have learned from each other in the past and how they can continue to do so. Both sports are rich in tradition. In some cases, however, these traditions—often arbitrary rules established by long-defunct administrators—have obstructed the healthy development of the sport. By studying the experiences of other sports, it might be possible to develop new and better ways to operate. For example, soccer might benefit from greater cooperation among teams as in baseball. On the other hand, MLB could learn from soccer's relegation rules and more open system of ownership, thus avoiding some of the excesses (competitive imbalance, uneven team resources) associated with monopoly. National Pastime does not advocate the jettisoning of all tradition to adopt wholesale the approach of another sport, of course. In an era of globalization, where business interests are increasingly looking to transplant organizational ideas in order to maximize profits, the authors argue that fan-friendly reforms may be necessary in order to avoid something worse. Ultimately, they propose no simple solutions, instead suggesting specific reforms to the organization of baseball and soccer, drawing on each other's experiences. Lively and accessibly written, this book is essential reading for business analysts, journalists, policymakers, and managers of both sports. Most of all, however, it will appeal to baseball and soccer aficionados, whether they root for the New York Yankees, Manchester United, or Real Madrid.

Chronicles star baseball player Curt Flood's attempt to overthrow the "reserve" clause system of professional baseball, which bound players to teams as a form of property. Although he lost his legal battle, the Court left the door open for the players to eventually negotiate a version of "free agency."

Matches Edexcel's specification which will apply from September 2007 and includes the core units for the Development, Coaching and Fitness, and Performance and Excellence pathways.

This textbook covers all knowledge-based core units and the most popular optional units of the BTEC National in sport and exercise sciences. It provides in-depth coverage of the knowledge-based content as a basis for assessment tasks.

This is the first book in English to offer an overview of the development of the sport industry in Spain and Portugal, examining the social, economic, cultural, and political impact sport has had in this region and on world sport more broadly. Drawing on sources in Spanish and Portuguese, the book presents important new perspectives and empirical material not previously available to English-speaking audiences. With a strong focus on management, development, economics, governance and law, set in a broader historical and socio-cultural context, the book explains the unique characteristics of the sport industry in the Iberian Peninsula. It takes a deep dive into Spanish and Portuguese football - in many ways the centre of gravity of Iberian sport – and into sport tourism, a hugely significant component of the broader economy of the region. The book also considers important emerging themes in Iberian sport, from the development of women’s sport to the global profile of Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael Nadal, and considers the wider influence of Iberian sport across the wider Hispanic diaspora. This is fascinating and illuminating reading for anybody with an interest in sport business and management, global sporting cultures, international business, or Hispanic or Latin American studies.

This student text provides coverage of all the underpinning knowledge for the compulsory units. It includes lots of activities for reinforcing students' learning as well as for building their portfolio, and integrates key skills learning as well as identifying opportunities to bring in citizenship.

Globalization not only means fans watching distant contests and leagues exporting their products elsewhere; it also means the ability of knowledgeable academics and policy-oriented fans to learn about how others confront similar challenges. North Americans who realize on reflection that the way we do things is not necessarily natural or the only way will enjoy and profit from the insightful comparative essays in this book. The so-called European Model of Sport is quite different than our own. There are significant parallels between the European effort to distinguish sport and commerce and our own efforts in regard to big-time collegiate sports. The unusual (for North American fans of typical sports leagues) issues with regard to auto racing are quite instructive. A truly horizon-expanding work. Stephen F. Ross, Penn State Institute for Sports Law, Policy and Research, US The purpose of this book is to examine, from an EU perspective, the numerous developments which have taken place in the regulation of sporting activity in the last decade. Uniquely, in addressing these developments, the book adopts an inter-disciplinary approach, involving law, economics and sociology. The chapters place the regulation of sport in the context of the EU regulatory structure which hitherto has emerged in a piece-meal fashion and thus warrants a more holistic approach. The chapters bring together several key themes which arise from the question of whether sport is special? This addresses a growing argument that sporting activity displays unique properties which require a distinct form of regulation that existing competition or free movement rules cannot provide. The book is divided into three parts which reflect the current policy, legislative and judicial discourses that exists in the regulation of sport. The Regulation of Sport in the European Union provides both an academic and practical review of EU law and policy as applied to sport, and as such, this comprehensive overview will be of great interest to EU law academics, economists and political scientists. It will also appeal to legal practitioners and to those with an interest in regulatory processes in the EU.