Sport Management and Leadership: Books

"This book includes the most significant sporting events of the 1960s, covering all the moments that generated tremendous growth in professional and college sports in America during this decade. It features stories such as Roger Maris breaking the home run record, Muhammad Ali's victory over Sonny Liston, the first Super Bowl, and the Miracle Mets"-- Provided by publisher.

"Leigh Steinberg is renowned as one of the greatest sports agents in history, representing such All-Pro clients as Troy Aikman, Bruce Smith, and Ben Roethlisberger. Over one particular seven-year stretch, Steinberg represented the top NFL Draft pick an unheard of six times. Director Cameron Crowe credits Steinberg as a primary inspiration for the titular character in Jerry Maguire, even hiring Steinberg as a consultant on the film. Lightyears ahead of his contemporaries, he expanded his players' reach into entertainment. Already the bestselling author of a business book on negotiation, the original superagent is now taking readers behind the closed doors of professional sports, recounting priceless stories, like how he negotiated a $26.5 million package for Steve Young--the biggest ever at the time--and how he passed on the chance to represent Peyton Manning. Beginning with his early days as a student leader at Berkeley, Steinberg details his illustrious rise into pro sports fame, his decades of industry dominance, and how he overcame a series of high-profile struggles to regain his sobriety and launch his comeback. This riveting story takes readers inside the inner circle of top-notch agents and players through the visionary career of Leigh Steinberg, the pre-eminent superagent of our time"-- Provided by publisher.

"This book examines the competitive landscape of Major League Baseball during the wild-card era, including the major storylines for all 30 teams, division races, and the state of dynasties in a new age of baseball"-- Provided by publisher.Major League Baseball has had a long and storied history, but perhaps no era has been as competitive and unpredictable as the past 25 years, with an expanded postseason making for an unexpected and entertaining end to each season. In America's Game in the Wild-Card Era: From Strike to Pandemic, Bryan Soderholm-Difatte provides a compelling examination of Major League Baseball since the 1994 players' strike. He reveals how the last quarter century has been the most dynamic in MLB history and argues that bringing wild-card teams and the division-series round into the postseason mix have fundamentally changed how dynasties should be perceived. Following the major storylines for all 30 teams, along with the division races and state of dynasties over the past 25 years, America's Game in the Wild-Card Era is a captivating look into a new age of baseball. America's Game in the Wild-Card Era, together with Soderholm-Difatte's America's Game, Tumultuous Times in America's Game, and The Reshaping of America's Game, form the author's complete, definitive history of Major League Baseball. -- Provided by publisher.

"Baseball Rebels tells stories of reformers and radicals who were influenced by, and in turn influenced, America's broader political and social protest movements, including battles against racism, corporate control, worker exploitation, sexism and homophobia, and American militarism." -- Provided by publisher.

"A fascinating, in-depth look at the history of competitive swimming and the people and moments that have defined the sport. From the first modern Olympic Games to the present, Below the Surface: The History of Competitive Swimming covers all the greatest moments, top rivalries, legendary swimmers, and biggest controversies in swimming history. It features athletes like Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, who have elevated the sport to an unprecedented level, and individual performances that are groundbreaking and awe-inspiring, such as Australian Fanny Durack becoming the first female Olympic gold medalist in 1912 and Jason Lezak leading the US to a come-from-behind victory in the 400 freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympics. While controversies such as doping and the advent of tech suits have troubled the sport, a new generation of athletes have produced fresh enthusiasm for competitive swimming. Below the Surface offers little-known stories, unique insight, and a detailed history of a great sport with a remarkable past and an exciting future."-- Provided by publisher."This book is the first complete history of swimming that looks at multiple aspects of the sport, including the top swimmers, major moments, controversies, developments, innovations, and more. Leading up to the 2020/2021 Olympic Games, it is the most up-to-date resource on competitive swimming"-- Provided by publisher.

The "New York Times Magazine" chief national correspondent and lifelong Patriots fan presents a scathing analysis of professional football in the present climate of high success, dangerous injuries, and scandal.

"The Crown Games offered a rare point of cultural unity amid the wide geography and fierce regional independence of the ancient world. This volume focuses on these festivals in the context of the ancient Greek world-a vast and sprawling territory that stretched from modern Spain to the Black Sea and North Africa"-- Provided by publisher

"This book addresses the current issues and challenges facing existing stakeholders in esports, how the industry will evolve in the coming years, and the multifaceted and diverse nature of the business and management of esports from multiple international perspectives. This book is intended to prepare and educate those wishing to better understand the digital world of esports, not to mention those that also strive to work in the industry"-- Provided by publisher.

Explores the NBA's surge in popularity in the 1970s and 1980s and its transformation into a global cultural institution. Far beyond simply being a sports league, the NBA has become an entertainment and pop culture juggernaut. From all kinds of team logo merchandise to officially branded video games and players crossing over into reality television, film, fashion lines, and more, there is an inseparable line between sports and entertainment. But only four decades ago, this would have been unthinkable. Croatto takes us behind the scenes to the meetings that led to the monumental American Basketball Association-National Basketball Association merger in 1976, revolutionizing the NBA's image. He pays homage to legendary talents including Julius "Dr. J" Erving, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan and reveals how two polar-opposite rookies, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, led game attendance to skyrocket and racial lines to dissolve. Croatto also dives into CBS's personality-driven coverage of key players, as well as other cable television efforts, which launched NBA players into unprecedented celebrity status

The founding editor of ESPN the Magazine and Pulitzer Prize nominee presents the extraordinary inside story of baseball's last 20 years, during which the genius and struggle for power of three men saved the game from self-destruction."In the fall of 1992, America's National Pastime is in crisis and already on the path to the unthinkable: canceling a World Series for the first time in history. The owners are at war, their decades-long battle with the players has turned America against both sides, and the players' growing addiction to steroids will threaten the game's very foundation. It is a crucial moment in the game's history that catalyzes a struggle for power by three strong-willed men: Commissioner Bud Selig, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, and union leader Don Fehr. It's their uneasy alliance at the end of decades of struggle that pulls the game back from the brink and turns it into a money-making powerhouse that enriches them all. This is the real story of baseball, played out against a tableau of stunning athletic feats, high-stakes public battles, and backroom political deals-- with a supporting cast that includes Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, Joe Torre and Derek Jeter, George Bush and George Mitchell, and many more. Drawing from hundreds of extensive, exclusive interviews, this is a rigorously reported, definitive account of how an enormous struggle for power turned disaster into baseball's Golden Age." --From publisher's description.

"Games People Played is, surprisingly, the first global history of sport. Wray Vamplew assesses how sports have developed and diffused across continents and centuries, exploring topics such as emotion, discrimination and conviviality; politics, nationalism and protest; and how economics has turned sport into a huge consumer industry. Sport is sociable, charitable and health-giving, but this book also examines its dark side: its impact on the environment, players' use of performance-enhancing drugs and the repercussions of match fixing. Covering everything from curling to baseball, boxing to motor racing, Games People Played will appeal to anyone who plays, watches and enjoys sport." -- Publisher's description

Povletich tells the improbable story of professional football's most iconic team, and along the way gives a unique window into the rise of modern professional sports. As the NFL has evolved into a financial juggernaut, the Green Bay Packers stand alone as the only professional sports franchise owned by fans, thus providing the only public record of how a sports team is run. This comprehensive, up-to-date history of the Packers includes the 2011 season.

"International Sport Management, Second Edition, prepares students to apply global management strategies in the business segments of sport marketing, sport media and information technology, sport event management, and sport tourism. Case studies and sidebars apply the concepts to real-world situations and demonstrate the challenges and opportunities that future sport managers will face on a regular basis." --Back cover.

"The National Football League is a towering, distinctly American colossus taking in $14 billion in annual revenue and provoking intense national debate over issues from player safety to political protest. Yet its current dominance obscures a surprising origin story. As it turns out, in the beginning most people found the very idea of professional football absurd. In The League, acclaimed author John Eisenberg reveals how the five men who built the NFL took an immense risk by investing in the sport in the 1920s and 1930s. Art Rooney, George Halas, Tim Mara, George Preston Marshall, and Bert Bell first achieved renown as gamblers, bookies, and prodigal sons. What they shared, other than street smarts and a competitive streak, was an unusual passion for professional football at a time when the nation was obsessed with college football, baseball, boxing, and horseracing. As Eisenberg shows in this absorbing chronicle of the NFL's first decades, the League nearly failed numerous times. It was frequently short on funds or fans, and often both. New teams appeared and quickly folded. The Depression and the Second World War only magnified the challenges the owners faced. The five rivals succeeded because each sacrificed the short-term success of his team for the longer-term good of the League. Together they instituted a draft and revised the rules to transform a plodding, run-based game into a dazzling aerial show. Together they ushered the NFL into the TV era of the 1950s -- when the league we know today first came into view. A remarkable story of sportsmanship and business ingenuity, The League is an essential read for any fan of our true national pastime."-- From publisher's description.

"For almost twenty years now, the NFL has been simultaneously an athletic, financial, and cultural powerhouse-and a league that can't seem to go more than a few weeks without stumbling into a scandal. Whether it's about domestic violence, performance-enhancing drugs, racism, or head trauma, the NFL always seems to be in some kind of trouble. Yet no matter the drama, the TV networks keep showing games, the revenue keeps going up, and the viewers keep tuning in. How can a sports league-or any organization-operate this way? Why do the negative stories keep happening, and why don't they ever seem to affect the bottom line? In this wide-ranging book, Mike Florio takes readers from the boardroom to the locker room, from draft day to Super Bowl night, answering these questions and more, and showing what really goes on in the sport that America can't seem to quit. Known for his constant stream of new information and his incisive commentary, Florio delivers again in this book. With new insights and reporting on scandals past and present, this book is sure to be the talk of the league"-- Provided by publisher.

"Good qualitative research can help sport management researchers and industry professionals solve difficult problems and better understand their organisations, stakeholders and performance. Now in a fully revised and extended new edition, this book is a user-friendly introduction to qualitative methods in sport management. Covering the full research process from research planning to reporting results, this edition includes expanded coverage of cutting-edge areas including digital and social media research, critical realism and social network analysis. The book examines the reflective and interrogative processes required for developing effective qualitative research questions and includes a deeper discussion of ontology and epistemology in the light of today's rapidly changing society. It takes the reader step-by-step through essential and emerging qualitative methods, from actor network theory and ethnography to computer assisted data analysis and sampling typologies. Every chapter includes examples of real qualitative research, including shorter 'research briefs' and extended case studies, reflecting the exciting qualitative research that is currently occurring in sport business and management, and highlighting the links between research and sport management practice. This is essential reading for courses in sport management, sport business sport policy, sport marketing or sport media and communications. It provides students, researchers and practitioners with the knowledge and skills to undertake qualitative research while deepening their understanding of how the social world can be perceived and interpreted through a particular theoretical lens. Useful online materials include recommended readings and PowerPoint slides"-- Provided by publisher.

"You've probably heard of Real Madrid; after all, it is the most successful sports team on the planet. The soccer (or football, globally) club has more trophies than any other sports team, including 11 UEFA Champions League trophies. Real Madrid has over 80 million Facebook fans, and over 1.4 million people visited the Real Madrid Museum in 2014 alone. However, the story behind the triumph goes beyond the players and coaches. Generally unnoticed, a management team consisting mostly of outsiders took the team from near bankruptcy to the most valuable sports organization in the world. So how did this team go from near bankruptcy to sports powerhouse? The impressive turnaround is thoroughly chronicled ... Given unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to Real Madrid - from its management to its players - Mandis, who teaches at New York's Columbia Business School, found that the key to Real Madrid's success, both on and off the field, was its focus on values ... The Real Madrid Way is a fascinating account of the most successful sports team on the planet and how its focus on values made it so"--Publisher's website.

"The natural environment is a central issue in both academic and wider societal discourse. The global sport industry is not immune from this discussion and has to confront its responsibility to reduce its impact on the natural environment. This book goes further than any other in surveying both the challenges and the opportunities presented to the sports industry as it engages with the sustainability agenda, exploring the various ways in which sport scholars can integrate sustainability into their research. With a multidisciplinary sweep, including management, sociology, law, events, and ethics, this is a ground-breaking book in the study of sport. Drawing on cutting-edge research, it includes over thirty chapters covering all the most important themes in contemporary sport studies such as: climate change, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility, ethics, governance, and the law, event management, tourism, and pollution, marketing, branding, and consumer behavior, the Olympics, urban development, and mega-event legacies. With contributions from world-leading researchers and practitioners from around the globe, this is the most comprehensive book ever published on sport and the environment."

The hardening of racial lines during the first half of the twentieth century eliminated almost all African Americans from white organized sports, forcing black athletes to form their own teams, organizations, and events. This separate sporting culture, explored in the twelve essays included here, comprised much more than athletic competition; these "separate games" provided examples of black enterprise and black self-help and showed the importance of agency and the quest for racial uplift in a country fraught with racialist thinking and discrimination.The significance of this sporting culture is vividly showcased in the stories of the Cuban Giants baseball team, basketball's New York Renaissance Five, the Tennessee State Tigerbelles track-and-field team, black college football's Turkey Bowl Classic, car racing's Gold and Glory Sweepstakes, Negro League Baseball's East-West All-Star game, and many more. These teams, organizations, and events made up a vibrant national sporting complex that remained in existence until the integration of sports beginning in the late 1940s. Separate Games explores the fascinating ways sports helped bind the black community and illuminate race pride, business acumen, and organizational abilities.

"This undergraduate textbook provides students with the information and skills needed to be a well-rounded sports television or radio broadcaster. Students will learn how to write for broadcast, shoot and edit video, and prepare for all the additional tasks needed along the way"-- Provided by publisher.

"On the face of it, women's sport is on the rise, garnering more attention and grassroots involvement than ever before. However, the truth is that in many respects progress is stalling, or even falling back. Sharron Davies is no stranger to battling the routine sexism the sporting world. She missed out on Olympic Gold because of blatant doping among East German athletes in the 1980s, and has never received justice. Now, biological males are being allowed to compete directly against women under the guise of trans 'self-ID', a development that could destroy the integrity of female sport. This callous indifference towards women in sport, argue Sharron and journalist Craig Lord, is merely the latest stage in a decades-long history of sexism on the part of sport's higher-ups. A strong fightback is required to root out the lingering misogyny that plagues sporting governance, media coverage and popular perceptions. This book provides the facts, science and arguments that will help women in sport get the justice they deserve"--Publisher's description.