Players: How Sports Became a Business

One look at the salaries of professional athletes and it could be assumed that they have always earned high incomes. Matthew Futterman, with his new book Players, points out a number of developments over the last 60 years that have changed the financial nature of sport and its major participants, the players.Futterman begins his dialogue with Arnold Palmer in the 1950s when sportspeople were not compensated properly for their efforts and discusses how Mark McCormick, a young lawyer figured out a number of ways to make Palmer financially independent, thus paving the way for many future golfers and sportspeople.Players is an apt title for the book as it considers the monetary interests of the participants who play professional sport and those people who play a major role in improving the financial status of the athlete. Futterman gives a wonderful recount of how quarterback Roger Staubach, a Dallas Cowboy earned $25,000 early in his career in 1970, but had to supplement this income by selling real estate in the off-season to help support his family. Just before he retired from football, Staubach continued to sell houses and started his own business. When he sold his business in 2008 it was worth $613 million!Matthew Futterman has well researched this book and presented a wide range of insights that marry together the sportsperson's talent with the monetary value of that talent. It tells a story about how the current crop of highly paid athletes can be thankful to many of the past who felt it would be worth taking a risk on finding ways to improve their financial wellbeing.

At it's heart this is a book about labor (granted highly skilled labor) taking risks and striking out against management/ownership to get its fair share of the sports entertainment pie. Whether the scaled has tipped over to far over to the athlete's side is open to debate but what is undeniable is that for a long time professional athletes were exploited by the powers to be.Baby boomers will have lived through most of what happened in this book. But the book is a great chronology of these events as well as providing the depth and perception that made reliving them very enjoyable. Much to my surprise there was not a mention of Curt Flood, the first baseball player to seek free agency by challenging baseball's reserve clause.My favorite part of the book were the chapters devoted to golf and tennis. I had no knowledge of how poorly world class golf and tennis players were compensated in relation to their immense talents. The story of Mark McCormack: his creation of the first sports management group, his relationship with Arnold Palmer, his battles with Wilson Sporting Goods and the bigwigs that ran golf and tennis are compelling reading.

A really good read as other reviewers have already stated.That said while it might be of interest to any sports fan it is probably more interesting to those who are at least fifty years old and can remember watching a lot of the players who are mentioned in the book and who lived through the events.This is not meant to detract from the book at all. Just an observation by someone old enough to remember growing up when a lot of these folks were playing.

Some really strong researched excellent writing.

The first 7 chapters are outstanding. The golf and tennis revolutions were fascinating reads, and the Edwin Moses stuff was interesting, too. I learned a lot about sports. I didn't learn as much in the last three chapters, but this was still an excellent book. It's only for fans who care about sports history and evolution. Overall, it was worth my time.

How did sports become such a big business? This book answers the story starting with Mark McCormack and his early relationship with Arnold Palmer which revolutionized sports marketing. But how about a chapter on the ABC show Superstars? Why was it popular? Heck, why was it even on air (basketball competing viewing related)? There are many fine stories here and well worth the short reads as they are all independent. I strongly recommend.

Bought this for class for a requirement. First bit a challenge to get through but ended up enjoying the book. Definitely would recommend it.

A really interesting look at how the nature of sports changed when the players were able to take control. In many ways it is both a triumph of labor and capitalism. A must read for anybody interested in the business of sports. The book is extremely well written and quickly paced chronically many of the most important moments in the battles between the players and the forces that tried to control them.

An awesome look at how sports has grown into the massive industry it is today.