Fans of the World, Unite! A (Capitalist) Manifesto for Sports Consumers

Ross, a law professor at Penn State, and Szymanski, an economics professor at Cass Business School in London, believe American sports fans are in an abusive relationship. Since the four major leagues (baseball, football, basketball and hockey) are essentially run by the owners, they can wallow in greed and laziness while fans idly suffer: “Clubs who are guaranteed perpetual membership in a monopoly league and who then get to set the rules for themselves have every incentive to act in their own self-interest and contrary to the interest of fans and taxpayers.” The authors outline a plan to end that, stressing league control via an independent entity (as is the case in NASCAR) and employing soccer's promotion and relegation system, which demotes underperforming teams and encourages competition. With real-life examples and solid research, the authors support their version of a sports utopia. In the end, however, the authors' stodgy, academic writing (they use “stadia” as the plural for “stadium”) becomes tedious and stifling. (Sept.)