Stanford University Press Blog

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College Bowl season may be drawing to a close, but the Super Bowl is just over a month away; the NBA and NHL and getting into high gear, and Spring Training is just around the corner.  Want the inside story on what's going on behind the huge stadium crowds, television broadcasts and advertising, fantasy leagues and more?  Money Games: Profiting from the Convergence of Sports and Entertainment, by sports business industry expert David Carter, offers a detailed look at just how and why the coming together of the sports and entertainment industries has generated billions of dollars over the last decade--and offers tips on how you can profit from it.   

Carter, Executive Director of USC’s Sports Business Institute at the Marshall School of Business and Principal of the industry-leading Sports Business Group, conducted over three dozen interviews with senior sports industry executives from around the world, such as the Presidents of ESPN and EA Sports, on both the current sports landscape and where the sports experience might be headed.  Readers will find a new side of sports revealed in Money Games, and will be privy to the game of business chess that has parlayed endless fan interest and entertainment access into billions of dollars, while revisiting the stories that they know in a new way. 

 Money Games not only analyzes how industry stakeholders have monetized this convergence, but also provides readers with answers to this core question: how can the sports business continue to profit from the blurring of sports and entertainment?  Carter considers a wide array of implications for television content, video gaming, athlete branding, the Internet, mobile technology, gambling, sports-anchored real estate development, venue technology, and corporate marketing—in short, those areas where business opportunities exist now that sports and entertainment have become one.

 Businesspeople who are engaged in the Sports Industry can use this book to take stock of the waters in which they swim.  Entertainment and Sports have been converging at such a rapid pace; this book will be useful for these readers to better understand their business landscape, the changes that they themselves may have been a part, and to determine their opportunities for the future.  Likewise, readers who are eager to participate in the sports and entertainment world (inclusive of MBAs) will find in this book a vivid depiction of the Sports Business—built on reflections from and research within the industry. 

 Today’s sports business is not that of your father’s baseball game, but of a synergy between entertainment and sports that makes for a much more dynamic and three dimensional experience in which the consumer can be saturated.  Money Games is the new sports business playbook for this landscape.

Yost's Varsity Green captures attention across the nation

College athletics are often on the national stage, and now during March Madness they are inescapable. For a university’s basketball program, being invited to participate in the NCAA tournament means exposure, prestige, and money – a LOT of money. But, that’s a good thing, right?

Mark Yost, sports journalist and author of the new book Varsity Green: A Behind the Scenes Look at Culture and Corruption in College Athletics has his doubts. His book cuts through the clichés and common misconceptions to take a hard-eyed look at the current state of college basketball, and he takes readers behind the scenes to dissect the enormous television revenues, merchandising rights, sneaker contracts, and endorsement deals that often pay state university coaches more than the college president – or even the governor.

Yost’s book has been getting a lot of attention this winter, both from those who think he’s right on the money and those who think he’s missing the whole point. From interviews with radio stations all over the nation to articles in prestigious publications, check out some of the chatter around Varsity Green here:

An interview with National Review Online

An Article, written by Yost, in the Wall Street Journal

An article in the Boston Globe

You can also read the first chapter of Yost’s book on the Stanford University Press website, here.

Yost on the "Madness" of college sports

With March Madness coming up, the hubbub that surrounds college sports will soon be upon us -- and "madness" is just the right word to describe it. With overly-involved, excitable parents, money-grubbing college sports executives, crazy fans, and athletes playing their hearts out, perhaps hoping to one day be a part of the pros, one might ask whether the excitement that characterizes college sports is a positive thing for those involved.

Mark Yost thinks not. Author of Varsity Green, Yost was recently interviewed on NPR's Marketplace and WBUR's Only a Game about corruption in college sports. From the profit motivations that drive many college sports programs to the unrealistic ideas fostered by parents and students about their sports careers, Yost explains how corruption can affect the lives of the athletes.  "It's about the money, it's about this billion dollar machine that parents willingly feed their kids into everyday. And this idea that athletics is their way out of the ghetto or off the farm. And the reality is that that's not true." - Yost, Marketplace Interview

He goes on the explain that 97% of kids who go on to play college sports will not make it into the pro-league, whether it's basketball, football, or any other sport. Many times these kids are left without an option, "they come out with 60 credits, and they don't know how to read or think."

Yost emphasizes that colleges should not undermine the education given to athletes (even the stars on the teams) as it is going to be valuable in the long run. Excelling in sports should not come at the cost of a good education.