One of the most influential and controversial team owners in professional sports history, Walter O'Malley (1903-79) is best remembered--and still reviled by many--for moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Yet much of the O'Malley story leading up to the Dodgers' move is unknown or created from myth, and there is substantially more to the man. When he entered the public eye, the self-constructed family background and early life he presented was gilded. Later his personal story was distorted by some New York sportswriters, who hated him for moving the Dodgers. In Mover and Shaker Andy McCue presents for the first time an objective, complete, and nuanced account of O'Malley's life. He also departs from the overly sentimentalized accounts of O'Malley as either villain or angel and reveals him first and foremost as a rational, hardheaded businessman who was a major force in baseball for three decades, and whose management and marketing practices radically changed the shape of the game.

Since its creation the British Olympic Association (BOA) has been one of the most important institutions in sports governance. In spite of its prominence there has hitherto been no single-volume history of the Association. This scholarly yet accessible study fills that gap, assessing the origins, evolution, strengths and shortcomings of the BOA.

Have you ever wondered why states invest so heavily in sports mega-events? Ever considered who benefits from these (mostly publicly financed) 'mega' events? Part of the rationale of this edited collection is to go beyond the positive discourse that attends sports 'megas'. The volume of essays from a stellar international cast of experts offers a panoramic and interdisciplinary view of the growing field of Sports Mega-Event studies. The contributions cover discussion of the key concepts and debates in cutting-edge research, examples of leveraging strategies and the legacies from previous sports megas (such as London, Seoul, Sydney, Vancouver) and examples and analyses of recent and future 'emerging' states and their hosting strategies (such as India, China, Qatar and Russia).

The 2010 South African World Cup launched African football onto the global stage and its footballers are increasingly present at the best clubs in the world, yet it is rare to find compelling scholarship on the subject of African football. This book brings some of the top scholars on African football together to produce a collection that covers the diverse regions of the continent and diverse football topics. Focussing on aspects of identity, it spans issues of race, radicalization and self-identification, exploring the imagined continuation of war in support of a Nigerian club, the use of songs in support of a club and an ethnic community, and the effects of transnational broadcasting on supporter identification with football in Africa. This collection provides a valuable contribution to debates about African sport and identity and also contains an interview with one of Africa's first migrant footballers, Paul Bonga Bonga.

Sheffield Wednesday Miscellany collects together all the vital information you never knew you needed to know about the Owls. In these pages you will find irresistible anecdotes and the most mindblowing stats and facts. Heard the one about the former player who was wrongly presumed dead for 95 years? How about the time the lads were drawn away from home in the Cup on ten consecutive occasions? Or the ex-Owl whose playing career wound up in Greenland and the Falkland Islands? Do you know which Wednesday winger drove to matches in an ice-cream van? The result of the 'secret' match played under the new Hillsborough floodlights? Or the depth of the floodwater on the pitch in 2007? All these stories and hundreds more appear in a brilliantly researched collection of trivia - essential for any Wednesday fan who holds the riches of the club's history close to their heart.

This book examines Russia's 2013 anti-gay laws and their implications for the Sochi 2014 Olympics. Lenskyj argues that Putin's Russia and the International Olympic Committee wield power in similar ways, as evident in undemocratic governance, fraudulent voting processes, hypocrisy and absence of accountability.

In recent years, sport has been used as an instrument through which wider development objectives are pursued. This includes sport as a means to create awareness about the risks of HIV; sport as a vehicle to counter inter-group hostility; and sport as an environment where children can find respite in the wake of military conflict. The use of sport for the purposes of development is neither simple nor inherently successful. It is therefore regrettable that some of the agents and organisations involved in development programs provide idealistic accounts of their activities, thus suggesting that field work is unproblematic. By contrast, this book provides a critical approach to sport-for-development, acknowledging the potential of this growing field but emphasising challenges, problems and limitations - particularly if programs are not adequately planned, delivered or monitored. The book features both critical theory and reflective praxis, and will thus be useful to both academics and practitioners.

This book takes a multi-disciplinary approach to analyzing the nature of 'competition' and 'competitive advantage' within the U.S. pro sport industry. By many measures, the four major pro sports leagues in the U.S. - the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Baseball (MLB) - are now some of the most successful business entities in the country. While these established leagues have generally been highly profitable throughout their respective existences, the past two decades have been particularly lucrative, with franchise values in all four leagues growing rapidly, and at levels well beyond market rates of return. Within this context, the book seeks to explore the nature of the competitive advantage that these leagues apparently possess. The purpose is to identify not only how these leagues have been able to get to where they are today, but also to examine the competitive threats and opportunities that these leagues face as they move forward. A key contribution of the book is that it analyzes these issues from a multi-disciplinary approach including a traditional economics perspective, public policy and public choice theory and strategic management, to provide a parallel explanation for the success of each of the four major leagues. It argues that no single conceptual approach can, in itself, adequately explain the full richness of the issue. Its stresses that these various approaches should generally be viewed as complements, rather than as being mutually exclusive, and that a full understanding of the issue requires one to adopt a multi-disciplinary perspective, making it of interest to scholars in strategic management, sport management, and economics. It can serve as an effective teaching tool in both graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses for students in these fields, and is particularly useful for faculties seeking to emphasize to their students the importance of a multi-disciplinary, integrative, approach when analyzing business and management issues. The book may also be of interest to leaders within the sport industry itself, and will help to provide insight and perspective as leagues seek to enhance their competitive advantage in the marketplace.

This book showcases new research in sport business management around the world, offering a platform for the international exchange of ideas, best practices, and scientific inquiries in a globalized sport economy. Featuring work from leading sport management scholars from around the world - including North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia - the book addresses a variety of global, regional, national, and community issues that are central to successful sport management. Combining both qualitative and quantitative studies, it explores key themes such as the emergent environment, managing change, organizational transformation, application of technology, marketing and promotion, and research protocols. New case studies cover topics such as entrepreneurship and innovation, sport broadcasting, digital technologies, youth and college sports, and the development of the sport management curriculum. International Sport Business Management is a fascinating reading for all students and scholars of sport management, sport business, and sport marketing, as well as for any professional working in the sport and leisure industries.

College Sports and Institutional Values in Competition interrogates the relationship between athletics and higher education, exploring how college athletics departments reflect many characteristics of their institutions and are also susceptible to the same challenges in delivering on their mission. Chapters cover the historical contexts and background of campus athletics, issues and institutional tensions over market pressures, the spectacle of college athletics and how this spectacle influences athlete experiences, and the ways in which leaders are navigating these issues. Through stories of higher education that focus on the ways athletic departments leverage their institutional values, this book encourages readers to examine the purpose, mission, and academic values of their institutions, and to evaluate the role of their athletic programs, to improve outcomes and experiences on campus for students and student-athletes alike.

The history of Cairo's football fans is one of the most poignant narratives of the 25 January 2011 Egyptian uprising. The Ultras Al-Ahly and the Ultras White Knights fans, belonging to the two main teams, Al-Ahly F.C. and Zamalek F.C respectively, became embroiled in the street protests that brought down the Mubarak regime. In the violent turmoil since, the Ultras have been locked in a bitter conflict with the Egyptian security state. Tracing these social movements to explore their role in the uprising and the political dimension of soccer in Egypt, Ronnie Close provides a vivid, intimate sense of the Ultras' unique subculture. Cairo's Ultras: Resistance and Revolution in Egypt's Football Culture explores how football communities offer ways of belonging and instill meaning in everyday life. Close asks us to rethink the labels 'fans' or 'hooligans' and what such terms might really mean. He argues that the role of the body is essential to understanding the cultural practices of the Cairo Ultras, and that the physicality of the stadium rituals and acerbic chants were key expressions that resonated with many Egyptians. Along the way, the book skewers media cliches and retraces revolutionary politics and social networks to consider the capacity of sport to emancipate through performances on the football terraces.

In 2012, over four billion people tuned in to watch the London Summer Olympics. As the single largest mega-event in the world, the Olympics has the power to captivate the global imagination. Long before athletes vie for a gold medal, however, competition between cities eager to host the Games kicks off with a rigorous bid process. The lengthy and expensive endeavor to host the Olympics is as high-stakes as any sporting event. Rather than encouraging cities to refrain from bidding, Bidding for Development takes a policy approach that challenges stakeholders to bid responsibly and strategically in pursuit of concrete outcomes. Every bid city has the potential to accelerate long-term transportation development through a strategic and robust planning process. This book concentrates on the phenomenon of repeat Olympic bids and the opportunities that may come from bidding, particularly for those cities that never win the Games. In this context, Bidding for Development explores the intersection between transportation infrastructure development, the Olympic bid process, and the resulting legacies experienced by bid losers. The findings address the central question: how can participating in the Olympic bid process accelerate transportation development regardless of the bid result? In response, this book presents a Bid Framework outlining how and when cities may use the bid to unite resources, align transportation priorities, and empower leaders to achieve urban development objectives in preparation for the Olympic bid. The Bid Framework is then applied to two case studies, Manchester and Istanbul, to examine each bid loser's effectiveness in using the bid process to catalyze transportation development. Concurrently, the book takes into consideration how the International Olympic Committee's evolving bid regulations and requirements relate to urban development and positive social legacy. Bidding for Development delivers actionable recommendations for all Olympic stakeholders to improve the value of the bid process and transportation benefits beyond the Games.

The sports business has become one of the fastest-growing industries in recent years. Sports organizations now have the potential to generate massive amounts of revenue through a variety of different channels, including broadcasting rights, advertising and branding. However, the rise of sports-related business has so far received relatively little attention from management scholars and social scientists. This book argues that we can no longer afford to ignore this important economic and social phenomenon. It presents a conceptual framework based on the concept of value creation to show how we can understand and explain the success and failure of sports organizations. Key concepts are illustrated with case studies of sporting organizations, including Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and the Americas Cup. Written by a team of authors from one of Spain's leading business schools, it provides a unique set of theoretical and practical insights for researchers and sports organization managers.

Founded in 1904 by representatives of the sporting organisations of six European nations then expanding into the Americas, Asia and Africa FIFA has developed to become one of the most high profile and lucrative businesses in the global consumer and cultural industry. Recent years however have been characterised by a series of crises leaving the organisation open to critique and exposure, and creating a soap operatic narrative of increasing interest to the global media.
In this critical new account of one of the world s most important sporting institutions, Professor Alan Tomlinson investigates the history of FIFA and the underlying political dynamics characterising its growth. The book explores the influence of the men who have led FIFA, the emergence of the World Cup as FIFA s exclusive product, FIFA s relationships with other federations and associations, the crises that have shaped its recent history, and the issues and challenges that are likely to shape its future. Particular focus is given to selected moments in the post- Havelange administration and the way in which FIFA, its current president Joseph Blatter and some key close colleagues have responded to and survived successive scandals. The book provides a foundation for understanding the growth and development of what is widely accepted as the world s most popular sport; sheds light on the shifting politics of nationalism in the post-colonial period; and reveals the opportunistic forms of personal aggrandizement shaping an increasingly media-influenced and globalizing world in which international sport was both a harbinger and an early reflection of these trends and forces.

Fascinating and provocative, this is essential reading for anybody with an interest in soccer, sport and society, sports governance, or global organisations.
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Football is the most popular sport on earth, and a near-universal means of expressing collective identification. This book investigates the uses made of football to create, shape and foster national identities in Spain since the beginning of the twentieth century. Its focus is on the manner in which football reporting has been utilized to cultivate Spanish, Catalan and Basque national myths and stereotypes in different historical circumstances. Football and National Identities in Spain shows the changing and artificial nature of myths and exposes the often dark vested interests behind the propagation of national narratives through soccer. This book analyses Spanish, British, French, German and Italian media to tell the fascinating story of how the Spanish national team went from perennial underachiever to one of the most lauded in the history of the game and the profound implications this transformation had for the national and international image of Spain.

The Olympics Games are the biggest and most significant mega-sport event in the world. Planning and then staging the Olympic Games is a highly complex task which is exasperated by the fact that the Games are continually moving and not held consecutively in the same city. This means that start-up knowledge is required for each Olympics. Given the massive scale, scope and complexity of the Games it is surprising that very little research has been published that explores how the event is managed and organised. While the Games themselves are held over two weeks, the planning and preparation from bid stage to completion can be more than a decade in the making. The express purpose of this volume is to critically examine the planning, management and operation of the Olympic Games as the world's premier mega-sport event. The authors analyse and discuss how Olympic organisers and related stakeholders might effectively manage and deliver the Games, taking into account what has been learned from previous Olympics as well as the emergence of models of best practice from the management, project management and sport management literature.

At its core, the goal of any basketball team is relatively simple: take and make good shots while preventing the opponent from doing the same. But what is a “good� shot? Are all good shots created equally? And how might one identify players who are more or less likely to make and prevent those shots in the first place? The concept of basketball “analytics,� for lack of a better term, has been lauded, derided, and misunderstood. The incorporation of more data into NBA decision-making has been credited—or blamed—for everything from the death of the traditional center to the proliferation of three-point shooting to the alleged abandonment of the area of the court known as the midrange. What is beyond doubt is that understanding its methods has never been more important to watching and appreciating the NBA. In The Midrange Theory, Seth Partnow, NBA analyst for The Athletic and former Director of Basketball Research for the Milwaukee Bucks, explains how numbers have affected the modern NBA game, and how those numbers seek not to “solve� the game of basketball but instead urge us toward thinking about it in new ways. The relative value of Russell Westbrook’s triple-doubles Why some players succeed in the playoffs while others don’t How NBA teams think about constructing their rosters through the draft and free agency The difficulty in measuring defensive achievement The fallacy of the “quick two� From shot selection to evaluating prospects to considering aesthetics and ethics while analyzing the box scores, Partnow deftly explores where the NBA is now, how it got here, and where it might be going next.

In recent decades ceremonies stood in Olympiads as both vehicles of cultural values and shows embracing the banal and the everyday. But how much do we understand them as forms of public art? This book examines the London 2012 opening and closing ceremonies and the handover event to Rio for the 2016 Olympics as articulations of national and cosmopolitan belonging. It is argued that embodied and projected performances of Britishness and Brazilianness embraced both artistic styles and the contemporary digital turn, refinement and banality. Combinations of art and technology reflected a vision of humanity in motion complying with the Olympic values of fairness, beauty and embodied well-being. The three ceremonial performances supported imaginative travel on stage, on big screens and in musical genres. This travel, at once mediated, embodied and experiential, created an ideal form of 'human': a tornadoros. A creative worker and a tourist, the tornadoros manipulates audio-visual narratives of culture and identity for global Olympic audiences. Spanning Sociology, Sports Studies, Culture and Media Studies, Performance Studies and Tourism Studies, this is a highly interdisciplinary and original perspective on the Olympics.

The �rst full biography of the star Negro Leaguer and Hall of Famer   James “Cool Papa� Bell (1903–1991) was a legend in black baseball, a lightning fast switch hitter elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. Bell’s speed was extraordinary; as Satchel Paige famously quipped, he was so fast he could fl ip a light switch and be in bed before the room got dark.   In The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell, experienced baseball writer and historian Lonnie Wheeler recounts the life of this extraordinary player, a key member of some of the greatest Negro League teams in history. Born to sharecroppers in Mississippi, Bell was part of the Great Migration, and in St. Louis, baseball saved Bell from a life working in slaughterhouses. Wheeler charts Bell’s ups and downs in life and in baseball, in the United States, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, where he went to escape American racism and MLB’s color line. Rich in context and suffused in myth, this is a treat for fans of baseball history.

Taking part in a sport means that one must acquire the relevant skills: mental, physical and strategic. This book presents a new perspective on the role of skills, knowledge and intentionality in sporting contexts, examining how these skills and practical 'know how' can be perfected to a level of expertise. Contributors study broader trends of how we can best understand the role of skills, as well as using case studies of expertise to add depth and nuance to existing scholarship. This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport, Ethics and Philosophy.

Nowadays, sports Mega-events - with the Olympic Games leading the way - go over immense effort to showcase their environmental credentials. With that in mind, this book compares and contrasts the environmental credentials of four Olympic Host cities starting with Sydney 2000, the host of the first Green Summer Olympics, and culminating with London 2012. Setting out a comparative cross-national study that makes extensive use of perspectives offered by environmental sociology, this book showcases the scientific analytical vigour of this sociological sub-discipline. Since in most cases, the linkages between hosting the Games and the environment that are made by the general public and policy-makers are mostly in relation to the regeneration of the host city, this book engages with this type of environmental related contributions that can be made by Olympic Games hosting. Yet, inspired by the emphasis that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gives on the environmental impact and legacy of Games in terms of the Ecological Modernization (EM) perspective, the book engages with the potential imbued by Olympic Games hosting for the EM of the host nation.

No ground in the world can compete with the Oval's illustrious sporting history. Not just the scene of some of cricket's greatest moments -- from the birth of the Ashes to Fred Trueman's 300th wicket -- the Oval also hosted the first-ever football and rugby internationals in England, and the first-ever FA Cup Final. This stunning 240 page coffee table book reflects back on the rich history that has unfolded under the shadow of the world's most famous Gasometer -- from Don Bradman's farewell innings to the rock concert by The Who. Meticulously researched and featuring some of the best sports photographs ever taken, Oval Reflections is a fitting tribute to the past, present and future of 'the people's ground'.

Aims to describe and explain how organizations like football clubs operate, highlighting the best practices within profit driven corporations, which can be adopted by football clubs to operate in a better manner. What are the dynamics of different leagues and other contexts in which football can learn from business? What can business learn from football? And how can business implement these practices? This volume articulates a basic framework using the differences between football in Sweden and in England. It aims at presenting models which are easily applicable in the working place and defines playing styles on the pitch and thought styles in the board room. The author bases his text on his own experience from many years of teaching and consultancy work.

Written against the backdrop of the 2012 London Olympics, this book examines the idea of 'time' in sport, using time as a conceptual lens to explore movement, bodies, sports reporting, memory, disability, technology and the role of the past and the future in sport.

This book explores how the Olympic industry has shaped hegemonic concepts of sporting masculinities and femininities for its own profit and image-making ends, examining its continuing marginalization of athletes on account of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and class.