Baseball and Billions: A Probing Look Inside the Big Business of Our National Pastime

by Andrew S. Zimbalist

Book Overview

Chronicles the evolution of the baseball business from the Civil War to today, raising important questions about ownership structure, franchise finances, the minor leagues, the teams' relationships with host cities and the media.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465006140
• ISBN13: 9780465006144
• Release Date: October 1992
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent Look at What's Wrong with Baseball and How to Fix It

In "Baseball and Billions," economics professor Andrew Zimbalist addresses problems that plague Major League Baseball and alienate many young people who would otherwise be fans. Zimbalist, who has consulted for the players' union, focuses on strategic behavior by owners including artificially limiting creation of new teams, concealing profits while demanding taxpayer subsidies, and moving television broadcasts from the public airwaves to pay television services. These problems damage Major League Baseball's credibility among younger fans and lead many of them to watch football and basketball instead. Throughout the book, Zimbalist examines how owners' decisions harm small market teams. Doing so is vitally important because the sport's distorted economic landscape prevents teams in smaller cities from competing for playoff spots. Confronting these problems will be necessary for baseball to regain the top position among America's sports enthusiasts. The book's fundamental theme is that baseball is harmed greatly by the lack of separation between management and ownership. Managers of publicly-traded companies face powerful incentives to report their profits in order to raise capital and appease shareholders. Major League Baseball's individual owners, in contrast, focus more on reducing their tax liabilities, shifting revenues around in order to conceal them, and exaggerating their financial problems. Under the antitrust exemption, they can limit the availability of expansion teams for cities seeking to attract a franchise. As a result, the owners can make credible threats to leave for greener pastures while demanding greater and greater taxpayer subsidies for stadiums as well as larger shares of concession, parking, and luxury box revenues. Zimbalist explains that immediately before 1994, competitive balance remained strong, with 12 different teams winning the World Series over the prior 15 seasons. He credits the institution of the amateur draft, the salary arbitration system, and the advent of free agency for offering small market teams access to the talent necessary to compete. However, Zimbalist acknowledges that steady revenue is necessary to sign top draft picks, sign free agents, and win arbitration cases. This is why revenue sharing is vital to baseball's success. Unfortunately, Major League Baseball's revenue sharing system was deeply flawed at the time. Although ticket revenues were shared, parking, concession, and personal seat licenses for premium seats were not. As rapid price increases for the latter three became stronger income sources for large city teams, a shrinking overall portion of total gate receipts was shared with small market teams. This problem was compounded by the migration of television broadcasts from the public airwaves to cable television. National television broadcast revenues were shared among the teams, but local cable broadcast revenues were not. As more and more games were moved to cable, small market teams we

Insight into business of professional baseball

Very interesting insight into the economics that drive the business side of baseball. I recommend this to anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes business of baseball.

Updated to cover recent events

Updated to cover events such as Fay Vincent's dismissal as baseball commissioner, and the lawsuit over the Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants' decisions not to move to Tampa