Players:
The Story of Sports and Money, and the Visionaries Who Fought to
Create a Revolution by
Matthew Futterman (Simon & Schuster, 2016, 336 pages, $17.63,
12.99) tells the story of how the business interests of both
athletes, their agents, and sponsors worked to wrest control of
sports and athletics from the hands of team owners and rich, socially
prominent “guardians” of the pure amateurism of more gentlemanly
sports, thus changing both the emphasis and the economics of sports
forever. Futterman carefully, yet graphically and interestingly,
details the work of sports agents, television networks, equipment
manufacturers, and others to broaden the appeal of sport, leading to
sharper, more focused competition, and a better deal for the workers
(athletes) bearing the brunt of the physical effort, toil, and
danger. Written with verve, energy, drama, and careful research, the
book tells a story every sports fan should read and understand while
they continue to make sports the object of near worship and high
drama entertainment in their lives.
The
first quarter of this fascinating, well-written book details the rise
of Mark McCormack from his privileged by unremarkable childhood in
suburban Cleveland, where he played low-handicap golf and loved
sports statistics, to become the pre-eminent sports agent who
parlayed recruiting and signing Arnold Palmer in the early days of
the champion golfer's career into a sports empire that managed the
careers of sports stars in many sports. Starting with Palmer,
Nicklaus, and Player in golf, he also managed tennis stars Bjorn
Borg, Chris Evert, and Pete Sampras in tennis, stars in other sports
as well as entertainment and politics through his company
International Management Group (IMG) and its event subsidiary TWI,
Trans World International. Along the way, he invented non-sanctioned
events, labeled trash sports, such as World Team Tennis and the
Superstars competitions which provided income for athletes competing
across disciplines when not playing in their seasons. He helped
create a star system which superseded team events associated with
local owners. The stories of how McCormack signed many of these
outstanding athletes while changing the face of world sport is
riveting and instructive, providing understanding of the why and how
our loyalty is now focused as much on individual athletes as it is on
teams and leagues. Many other sports entrepreneurs were influenced by
McCormack's vision.
Donald
Dell, a former professional tennis player who became a sports agent
and tennis marketing guru, is, along with McCormack, considered to be
one of the founders of the modern sports agent business. When he
encouraged Nicky Pelec and Stan Smith to boycott the 1973 Wimbledon
Championships, he brought professional tennis to the world of the big
four national championships (Australia, France, Wimbledon, and the
U.S.) creating a vastly lucrative and popularized tennis environment
while making it possible for tennis players to earn millions of
dollars instead of taking small payments under the table. Nick
Bollettieri, piggy backing on this trend, invented the sports academy
for tennis players. This small beginning has mushroomed into a hugely
successful sports school and camp industry which virtually dominates
the development of sports stars in American sports, both individual
and team. After 1973 the quality of athletes, equipment, media
coverage all improved and earnings exploded.
Futterman
then goes on the detail the development of players' unions, the
destruction of the idea of “pure” amateurism, the influences of
race and class in sports. He particularly emphasizes that the changes
show the democratization of sport in supporting goals of equality. He
also shows that the emphasis in sport has moved from the team to the
individual as the opportunities to achieve personal wealth have
improved. The Players
overlooks the importance fantasy sports play in supporting the rise
of the individual over the team, the event, or the city. The time,
interest, and money generated by fantasy sports has helped create
wall-to-wall sports and cable packages allowing gamblers and fantasy
players to keep up with every game played all night long. The story
of the development of ESPN and regional sports networks, often owned
by teams, is also detailed, although this material is probably worth
another book.
Matthew Futterman
Matthew Futterman is a senior special
writer for sports with The Wall Street Journal. He has
previously worked for The Philadelphia Inquirer and the
Star-Ledger of New Jersey, where he was a part of the team
that won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News in 2005. He lives in
New York with his wife and children.
Matthew Futterman has turned what might
have been a pedestrian story about sports business into an
intriguing, fast-paced yet detailed account of the massive changes
that have taken place in the world of sports during the past half
century through re-organization and increased media. In doing so, he
also mirrors changes in the larger society. As such Players:
The Story of Sports and Money, and the Visionaries Who Fought to
Create a Revolution
(Simon
& Schuster, 2016, 336 pages, $17.63, 12.99) functions as social
history as well as sports history, providing insight into how and why
sport so dominates our media and our conversation. I read the book as
an electronic galley provided to me by the publisher through
Edelwiess: Above the
Treeline. I read it on my Kindle
app.
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