Playbooks and Checkbooks: An Introduction to the Economics of Modern Sports

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What economic rules govern sports How does the sports business differ from other businesses Playbooks and Checkbooks takes a fascinating step-by-step look at the fundamental economic relationships shaping modern sports. Focusing on the ways that the sports business does and does not overlap with economics, the book uncovers the core paradox at th

Reviews

"Mr. Szymanski, an economics professor at the Cass Business School at City University in London, tackles the apparent paradoxes of the sports business in the head-on style of an N.F.L. linebacker. . . . He displays an impressive global knowledge of sports ranging from basketball and cricket to tennis and rugby, and provides a wealth of revealing financial information as well as entertaining sports trivia."---Harry Hurt III, New York Times
"Playbooks and Checkbooks is not a snoozer but a sleeper; equal parts eminently readable and wholly fascinating. . . . Szymanski's non-elaborated notion places his book with the best art history, for art also is a creature of its time."---David M. Gordon, The Browser
"Szymanski covers most relevant topics in modern sports economic theory in a very elegant and in my opinion comprehensible fashion. Personally, I really enjoyed his explanation of wage formation in sports labour markets, and his (sociological/historical) views on the development of sport as business. . . . It is well written, well structured and sometimes even funny."---Kjetil K. Haugen, Nordic Sport Studies Forum

Author Bio

Stefan Szymanski is professor of economics and the MBA Dean at the Cass Business School, City University London. He is the coauthor of Fans of the World, Unite!: A (Capitalist) Manifesto for Sports Consumers; National Pastime: How Americans Play Baseball and the Rest of the World Plays Soccer; and Winners and Losers: The Business Strategy of Football.