Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. How Sports Fans Are Exploited -- A Sports Fans' Manifesto -- The Book, in a Nutshell -- Sports and the Public Trust -- The Inefficient Monopolists -- Can Intervention in the "Free Market" Be Justified? -- Tax Subsidies and Restricted Entry -- Ticket Prices -- Television Blackouts -- Labor Market Restraints -- Operating the Club: Management and Ancillary Sales -- Why Do Fans Put Up With It? -- 2. Diagnosis and Suggested Cure -- Our Twofold Remedy -- Conflict of Interest Between the League and the Owners -- Recognizing the Conflict: The Commissioner and Regulation of "Integrity" Issues -- Beyond the Commissioner -- Promotion and Relegation -- Holdup and the Need for Enforceable Rules -- 3. Competitive Balance -- American Values, Foreign Values, and the Concept of "Competitive Balance" -- Historical Origins of Competitive Balance as a Goal of Sports Leagues -- Is Competitive Balance Consistent with American Capitalist Values? -- Actual Evidence Regarding the Appeal of Balanced Competitions -- How Our Proposals Affect Competitive Balance -- 4. Borrowing from NASCAR: An Independent Competition Organizer -- A Primer on the Economics of "Contest Theory" -- NASCAR's Origins -- NASCAR's Development -- Sleeping Dogs: The Absence of NASCAR Restraints on Entry and Labor Competition -- The Exception That Proves the Rule: Selection of Nextel Cup Sites -- A Few Caveats -- 5. Borrowing from Soccer: Entry by Merit -- Origins of the Structure of a "Closed" League -- Problems with the Closed League Format, and Entry by Merit as a Solution -- How Entry by Merit Works in Soccer -- Origins of Entry by Merit in English Soccer -- Weighing Objections -- 6. How a Restructured Sports League Would Work -- Setting It Up -- Who Does What? -- The Relationship Between the League and the Clubs.

Introducing Promotion and Relegation tothe Major Leagues -- The Labor Market and Incentives -- TV and Media -- Ticket Prices -- Marketing Initiatives -- 7. Comparing This Proposal to Other Remedies for Monopoly Power -- The Inadequacy of Antitrust Law to Protect Sports Fans -- Direct Government Regulation -- Break Up the Monopoly League -- Potential Need for Additional Regulation -- Continuing Application of Antitrust Laws to Restructured Sports Entities -- 8. Half-Loaf, Still-an-Improvement Compromise Suggestions -- The Limits to Voluntary Reform -- The Commission System -- The Commissioner as the "Coasebuster" -- Commissioner as Volunteer Cheerleader -- 9. Fans, What We Can Imagine! -- The Case of the Frustrated Billionaire -- The Case of the Compromising Monopolist -- The Case of Mayors with Backbone -- The Case of the Fed-Up Commissioner, -- The Case of the Imperialist Media Baron -- The Case of Fans Arising -- Notes -- Index.

Fans of the World, Unite! investigates how American sports leagues are currently operating in the best interests of their owners but not of fans. This book offers a set of practical pro-competitive reforms that could dramatically improve the well-being of fans without crippling the owners financially.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.