Work and Play

The Business of Professional Sports

I. Evolution of Sports Business

Plight of players in post-WWII America

Consolidation trend in American business

Rise of a mass consumer culture

Emerging national perspective

Standardization of professional sports

I. Evolution of Sports Business (cont.)

Emergence of organized professional leagues

Club owners similar to the “Robber Barons” of an earlier era

Sports industry of late 1940’s functioned as a cartel

II. Foundations of the Sports Cartel

Baseball’s antitrust exemption (1922)

--Federal Baseball Club v. National League

NFL/AFL merger (1966)

The Reserve Clause

II. Foundations of the Sports Cartel

Waiver Clauses

Annual Player Draft

Rival Leagues were the only way to break the cartel

--Mexican League (1946)

III. Slow Start for Players Labor Organization

National political climate

--Taft-Hartley Act (1947)

--Red Scare

American Baseball Guild (1946)

--Larry MacPhail

IV. The Business of Professional Football

Blackout rights (1953)Failure to gain antitrust exemptionNFL a model of harmony and cooperationImmigrant Catholic culture as a cement among ownersThe role of Pete RozelleChallenges to player organization

V. Labor Organization in Hockey and Basketball

Cultural and structural impediments to union activity in hockeyJames Norris-Arthur Witz conglomerate--Conn SmytheNational Basketball Players Association (1961)Racial division within the Union

VI. Organizing Baseball Players

“Dog Fight” world of baseball ownership

Franchise shifting beginning in the 1950’s

The Dodgers go west (1957)

--Walter O’Malley

Major League Baseball Players’ Association (1953)

VI. Organizing Baseball Players (cont.)

Median income of pro athletes rose in the 50’s and 60’s

Star quality of pro athletes

Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale hold out in 1966

VI. Organizing Baseball Players (cont.)

Marvin Miller’s leadership of the MLBPA beginning in 1966

Solidarity of the Players Association

Influence of the Civil Rights Movement

VII. Establishment of New Franchises and Rival Leagues

The AFL vs. the NFL

Factors in creating new franchises

--air travel

--television

--Federal tax laws

--growth of the “Sun Belt”

VII. New Franchises and New Leagues (cont.)

Emergence of New Leagues

--Gary Davidson, the ABA, and the WHA

--The USFL (1983)

--Branch Rickey’s Continental League (1959)

VII. New Franchises and New Leagues (cont.)

Flurry of new leagues, new franchises, and franchise shifting changed the structure of pro sportsWhen losing could actually be winningCBS sells the NY Yankees to George Steinbrenner (1973)

VIII. The Threat of Franchise Shifting

Owner loyalty to cities declined

Al Davis moves the Raiders to Los Angeles (1982)

Calls for congressional regulation of the sports business

Opposition to congressional regulation

IX. Revolution in Players’ Salaries

New demand for player services

Balance of power shifts away from owners by the late 1980’s

Baseball led the way

Curt Flood challenges the Reserve Clause (1969)

1972 Baseball Strike

X. A Tale of Two Players’ Unions

Major League Baseball owners agree to sign no free agents between 1986-1988

Weakness of the NFL Players’ Association

--1987 NFL Players’ Strike fails