Major League Losers: The Real Cost Of Sports And Who's Paying For It Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Major League Losers: The Real Cost Of Sports And Who's Paying For It? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Major League Losers: The Real Cost Of Sports And Who's Paying For It. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Major League Losers: The Real Cost Of Sports And Who's Paying For It ReviewBy ANDREW CLINEMark S. Rosentraub, Major League Losers: The Real Cost of Sports And Who's Paying For It: Basic Books, 1997, $27.50, 513 pages.
Within the past generation, the pro sports team owner has become one of the top threats to state and local taxpayers. He has achieved this position by hiring hack economists to conduct trumped-up economic studies purporting to show that new sports arenas will bring large financial returns to the general public.
In his new book, Major League Losers, economist Mark S. Rosentraub shows very persuasively how pro sports arenas do not generate the economic returns to the general public that the owners claim, and therefore public subsidies are not justified.
Major League Losers is more than an economics book, and Rosentraub more than an economics professor. The book is written not for the policy wonk or academic, but rather for the sports fan and the taxpayer. Rosentraub covers the issue from the perspective of a concerned citizen and avid sports fan who just happens to be an economist rather than an economist looking to win tenure.
Rosentraub, a professor at Indiana University at Indianapolis and an Indiana Pacers season ticket holder, begins his book by laying down a little background so the reader will not jump straight into a bunch of economic mumbo jumbo.
In the first chapter Rosentraub outlines in simple terms how a city's economy works and how professional sports fit into that economy. In the second chapter he gets into a bit of psychology by explaining why sports occupy so exalted a position that they can garner public subsidies when other, far more important industries cannot.
The next chapter covers the theory of supply and demand, or why all cities that want pro sports teams cannot have them. In this chapter Rosentraub serves up a history of the big sports leagues, showing how each formed and evolved and how each was designed as a cartel that would maximize owner profits by minimizing competition.
Chapters four and five get into the nitty-gritty of economic analysis. In them Rosentraub explains just how little pro sports actually means to a city's overall economy. Professional sports, the author shows, never make up more than one half of one percent of all jobs in any community in which they exist. Nor do they account for two-thirds of one percent of the total payroll of any community in which they exist.
Also, when it comes to generating job growth, pro sports produce jobs only in a very tiny area localized usually within the stadium's own zip code. There is no large ripple effect throughout the community. In fact, pro sports can sap jobs from outlying areas because people who would have spent their money on movies and restaurants in the suburbs will instead spend that money at the sports stadium, reducing business for suburban entertainment and food venues.
In chapters six through ten, Rosentraub uses the specific examples of Indianapolis, Cleveland, St. Louis, Toronto, Montreal, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh to show how little return taxpayers receive when they opt to spend tax money on pro sports stadiums.
Chapter eleven focuses on the fight between suburbs and center cities that occurs whenever communities try to land or keep pro sports teams within their boundaries.
In the last chapter, Rosentraub offers a quick prescription for how to avoid the subsidized disasters that have befallen so many communities that have caved in to the demands of sports team owners.
Major League Losers could have been a much shorter book. The educated reader will skim through much of the fluff to get to the meat of the economic discussion. But this fluff may prove important in explaining the situation to those serious sports fans who otherwise may tolerate subsidies to teams as a means of obtaining their favorite entertainment. The book clearly and simply achieves the author's objectives. It is a must read for all hard-core sports fans as well as all taxpayers.
Andrew Cline is director of publications at the John Locke Foundation, a nonprofit think tank in Raleigh, N.C.Major League Losers: The Real Cost Of Sports And Who's Paying For It Overview

Want to learn more information about Major League Losers: The Real Cost Of Sports And Who's Paying For It?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Sport Funding and Finance (Sport Management) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Sport Funding and Finance (Sport Management)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Sport Funding and Finance (Sport Management). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Sport Funding and Finance (Sport Management) ReviewI never recieved this item... no tracking number. lost in mail. bad deal.Sport Funding and Finance (Sport Management) OverviewSport Funding and Finance is written for students who wish to get both a broad and deep understanding of the commercial and financial structure of sport in various contexts. To this end, the book provides students with a three-tiered learning experience.The first tier provides students with a broad appreciation of the commercial evolution of sport, and how it has managed to move from the kitchen-table model to the corporate-boardroom model, and along the way become quite a sophisticated industry from a financial viewpoint. Attention will be given to the commercial development of sport using USA and European pro-sport leagues as a benchmark. Changes in the funding arrangement of sport will be highlighted, and the different funding sources will be examined in detail. The second tier will give students a sound grounding in the principles and practice of effective financial management. Students will be introduced to basic accounting principles and practice, and then led into more complex issues of pricing, costing, financial analysis, budgeting, and financial projections. The third tier will explore future developments in sport finance and funding, and examine how they will impact on sport management knowledge and skill requirements.Within this framework, the book will provide students with two types of learning outcomes. The first outcome is knowledge based and will include the following:* a grounded understanding of the commercial evolution of sport from 1950-the present* an understanding of the different commercialphases sport goes through to reach commercial maturity* an appreciation of the major global sport events and leagues, and their financial arrangements.* an insight intothe financialstrengths and weaknesses of contemporary sport.The second outcome is skill-based, and by reading the book and completing the cases students will be able to:* identify the different legal structures of sport organisations and the financial implications of each structure* explain the main accounting conventions and how they impact on the financial management of sport organisations* identify the foundations of double entry bookkeeping* construct a simple set of accounts for a sport organisation* use financial ratio analysis to evaluate the financial performance of sport organisations * understand different methods of constructing budgets, and use them to control the financial operation of a sport organisation* set up models for identifying and managing costs* identify different methods for setting prices for sport goods and services, and to apply them to specific settings and events.* undertake a financial planning exercise and/or feasibility study for a sport organisation or facility* undertake a cost-benefit analysis for a sport organisation event.Therefore, students will obtain both a broad knowledge of the commercial evolution of sport and its current financial operation, AND the necessary skills for understanding and supervising the financial operations of a sport organisation.* Provides a unique balance of macro analysis of sport finance and micro-instruction in the skills of financial management * Developed learning features specifically created for semester long courses create an excellent learning tool for both students and lecturers* Provides both a broad knowledge of the commercial evolution of sport and its current financial operation

Want to learn more information about Sport Funding and Finance (Sport Management)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...