(Part 2) Best sports & entertainment industry books according to redditors
We found 298 Reddit comments discussing the best sports & entertainment industry books. We ranked the 104 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
Didn't Pat Riley say he was unaware they had planned that, and he thought it was a bad idea?
edit: I think it was in either The Soul of Basketball by Ian Thomsen or Return of the King by Brian Windhorst. I don't own either book, anyone interested in checking?
Death of the Territories: Expansion, Betrayal and the War that Changed Pro Wrestling Forever by Tim Hornbaker
Easily one of the best wrestling historians around and all of his books are amazing reads. The book came out nack in september and is probably the best place to get a detailed and unbiased look at what happened.
Assuming that you're American.
Here's what you want to start with:
You're wrong, and I actually have sources.
https://www.citylab.com/design/2017/12/are-soccer-arenas-the-new-football-stadiums/547598/
https://www.nj.com/business/2014/06/sitting_empty_bears_stadium_costs_newark_essex_county_millions.html
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003NHSBM6
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-ballpark-adds-to-hartfords-financial-strain-1491912002
https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/gwinnett-hook-for-struggling-ballpark/EBBmymL74kL3lEeAihsnxN/
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-atlanta-braves-stadium/
https://www.politifact.com/rhode-island/statements/2015/mar/07/steven-frias/ri-gop-official-steven-frias-says-research-finds-n/
Lots of what you want to think about is not fencing specific. Someone, I don't remember who, recommended this to me a couple of years ago:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804834288/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Little bit out of date in some areas like advertising, perhaps, but lots of decent practical advice.
Or you could just read his book on it https://www.amazon.com/Soccerwarz-Inside-Americas-Soccer-Between-ebook/dp/B01DUYRABE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506101625&sr=8-1&keywords=soccerwarz
(you're welcome, Kartik)
For anyone who's looking for a new basketball book to read, check out Ian Thomsen's new one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0547746512/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_zj33AbY9NNTX6
I'm halfway through it and it's great. It's about the 2010-11 season. It's centered around LeBron & the Decision, which has been written about to death but there's a lot of great anecdotes and interviews that I haven't read anywhere else. It also goes deep on the Big 3 Celtics, Kobe, the Mavs, and Dirk.
I completely agree with this, especially the last paragraph.
I highly recommend John Helyar's Lords of the Realm to anyone who wants to take a deep dive into the history of baseball, specifically the business side of things. It gives an in depth account of the birth of free agency and the role Marvin Miller played in it.
https://www.amazon.com/Lords-Realm-Real-History-Baseball/dp/0345465245/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=Lord%27s+of+the+realm&qid=1574294896&sr=8-3
Anyone who may have must definitely read An Epic Swindle.
I'm so sorry that you're in this situation. I'd recommend Moneyball for your dad, especially if he's into the statistics behind the game. Your mom might appreciate Pilgrim at Tinker Creek or The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, both of which are about observing nature.
These were the most enlightening for me on their subjects:
Think you're referring to Malinowski's Betaball. He wrote/writes for Bleacher Report and occasionally does podcasts:
https://www.amazon.com/Betaball-Silicon-Science-Greatest-Basketball/dp/1501158198
Slated to be out in early October, so he's been heavily promoting it on social media
You may be interested in Star-Spangled Soccer: The Selling, Marketing and Management of Soccer in the USA by Gary Hopkins. Published in 2010, the book tracks the development of the soccer business in the U.S. from 1990 to the 1994 World Cup to the founding of MLS to (roughly) the present, analyzing franchise operations, youth development, and the growth of the American soccer market.
From the inside cover:
> Star-Spangled Soccer charts America's 25-year journey to becoming a soccer nation, the key business, decisions, personalities, and events that shaped its growth, and the developing perfect soccer storm that will propel its unstoppable march forward. The book takes its lead from a single premise that the granting of the 1994 World Cup to the United States set in motion a chain of events that has redefined soccer in America forever, good and bad, up and down, but ultimately positioned to become a major force in the rapidly changing American sports landscape. Drawn from a 20-year career as a senior executive in the American soccer market and supported by first-person interviews and insights with all the key personalities and decision-makers, Star-Spangled Soccer is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the American soccer market, where it has come from, and why it is positioned for exponential growth.
http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Perfection-Behind-Scenes-High-Stakes/dp/0306824027
http://www.amazon.com/Arm-Billion-Dollar-Mystery-Valuable-Commodity/dp/0062400363/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458068653&sr=1-1&keywords=jeff+passan
link for the lazy
ok
If you haven't, you should read Lords of the Realm by John Helyar.
It is sort of a "workers' history of MLB" told from the oppressed labor perspective. Goes into great detail about the expansion efforts of MLB and specifically how the owners colluded to keep good players out of the hands of expansion clubs, so that the Angels, Royals, Mets and Colts were forced to pick through dregs and near-retirees.
I'm not a fan of Ross because he tends to skip over vital details in a lot of proofs. I used the ninth edition of this book and it was not fun reading a derivation and trying to figure out the "obvious" step that Ross left out.
A First Course in Stochastic Processes by Karlin and Taylor is a much better book.
This is a great book and goes into pretty good detail on Leach's saga: https://www.amazon.com/System-Scandal-Big-Time-College-Football-ebook/dp/B00C0AM2XG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543528103&sr=8-1&keywords=the+system+the+glory+and+scandal+of+big-time+college+football
Some titles that come to mind:
by David Wangerin
by David Wangerin
by Roger Allaway, Colin Jose and David Litterer
by Roger Allaway
by Colin Jose
by Andrei S. Markovits and Steven L. Hellerman
by Beau Dure
by Gary Hopkins
by Gavin Newsham
by Sean Reid
[The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football] (http://www.amazon.com/System-Scandal-Big-Time-College-Football-ebook/dp/B00C0AM2XG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419270371&sr=1-1&keywords=the+system) was a really interesting read.
Bruce Feldman's books, [Meat Market] (http://www.amazon.com/Meat-Market-Smash-Mouth-Football-Recruiting-ebook/dp/B00P6KC4GM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419270508&sr=1-1&keywords=meat+market+inside+the+smash-mouth+world+of+college+football+recruiting) and [The QB] (http://www.amazon.com/QB-Making-Modern-Quarterbacks/dp/0553418459/ref=asap_B00NI03SCG?ie=UTF8) were both easy and fun reads.
[Rammer Jammer, Yellow Hammer] (http://www.amazon.com/Rammer-Jammer-Yellow-Hammer-Journey-ebook/dp/B000FC1W5K/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1419270677&sr=1-3&keywords=Dixieland+Delight) I enjoyed as well.
The Missing Ring was already mentioned, that is a good one too.
[The Last Coach: A Life of Paul "Bear" Bryant] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Coach-Life-Bryant/dp/039332897X) is another excellent read on a legend.
Jeff Passan's The Arm was a really interesting read on this subject as well. The Kindle version has been on sale for $1.99 at various points since its release. I'd recommend it.
I know this is days later but I thought I'd throw in my two cents.
The Best Team Money Can Buy was great.
I also enjoyed The Arm.
The Big Chair by former Dodger GM Ned Colletti was a really interesting look from the perspective of the front office. It's more of a memoir so it starts about Ned's early life as a kid in Chicago. It gave me newfound respect for Colletti.
Currently reading The MVP Machine, which is a great look at player development.
Smart Baseball is a few years old but is a good book about newer stats and why things like RBI, pitcher wins, and stolen bases are pretty bad ways of evaluating players.
If you want more Dodger history from their Brooklyn days, Bums was a fascinating read.
The best source for how the NASL formed and what their original mission was is SoccerWarz by my SocTakes colleague Kartik Krishnayer.
>TL:DR - The Cards model worked for 15 years, but it's time for a change, as seen both within the organization and through other Blue Chip organizations.
I get that in the mid 00's development was a much different process, and it was run well by guys from the Matheny-era who took a traditional approach. Saber wasnt widespread, advance video, scouting and technology was not to the point where it could contend with reps
If you haven't you should check out The Cardinals Way by Howard Megdal. The team was innovative in a lot of ways in regards to the use of sabrmetrics and development in the mid-'00s. Also, there has been a lot of change in those departments since then, unfortunately a lot of that has been because of "brain drain" with guys like Luhnow, Mejdal, Kantrovitz, etc leaving the org.
Absolutely, but as an instructor, you have a responsibility towards all your students, not just one, and you can't let your ego get in the way. Karen Vactor talks about this in her book Starting and Running Your Own Martial Arts School which every aspiring instructor should read and re-read. She basically asks, how many other students are you willing to sacrifice for one success story?
I picked up a great book for a buck at a university book sale:
The Billion Dollar Game
Really takes you behind the scenes of the business of the NFL (in an interesting way, not a muck-raking way).
It's shocking, but once upon a time, sports announcers used to fill pregame time with talk about the upcoming game, and not Player X's relationship with his estranged father. The camera didn't take shots of the crowd, or the surrounding area.
Then the Sabols realized, while working a small college game, that for everyone but the most diehard fan that shit gets boring after about 20 minutes. So they started getting people to talk about how much Town X loved Team Y, and why, and the history of Team Y in Town X.
Basically, they convinced Joe Average why he should give a shit what happens in today's game. You could argue this one decision made the NFL as popular as it is, and changed the face of every sporting event broadcast in history since then.
No, fantasy sports are nerdy. If you've ever read things like The Numbers Game, Baseball Between the Numbers, or Moneyball, you'll know that baseball statistics are extremely nerdy. This applies to other sports too, but baseball is by far the most nerdy.
That is not to say that all people into fantasy sports are nerds, but a lot of people into fantasy sports are nerds.
Chasing Perfection by Andy Glockner seems really good, and fits your description. Haven't read it but the author is really smart about basketball on Twitter.
There are some interesting sociological points that can be made about professional sports and the legacy of slavery in the US. The phrase "Well-Paid Slave" exists for a reason. There's a massive imbalance in power in collective bargaining, and it's worse in football than in the rest of the "Big Four" in the US, in part because the careers are so short.
Your friend missed all of that though, because he's not very well informed on sports economics or sociology.
The Billion Dollar Game - Allen St. John
A great inside look at how a Super Bowl is put together. A little brief, but really makes you appreciate just how much work it takes for Super Sunday to be so Super.
The Steven Gerrard autobiography won most of the annual sports book awards when it was released and it has always received good reviews. It is unlike most of the other player biographies. I have a copy but have yet to read it. It was ghost written by Henry Winter.
Epic Swindle: 44 months with a pair of cowboys is a biography of Liverpool under Hicks and Gillett and provides a good insight into how clubs are run and the problems that can be caused by large debt loads from leveraged-buyouts.
For non-football, Open by Andre Agassi was excellent. I read straight through it in a couple of sittings.
Late 2 years ago I had just really gotten back into baseball after having paid less attention to it for like a decde and was basically in the same place - so i went to my local library are they had this massive book The Dodgers: 120 Years of Dodgers Baseball. It covers basically everything you'll ever need to know about the dodgers - it even covers teams that aren't "technically" part of brooklyn/Los Angeles dodgers "lineage" like teams which played in brooklyn but left or died or whatever. I'd also recommend True Blue stories(a documentary series on FOX sports about the dodgers), it's not the most unbias history but it's good for what it is. Outside of that wikipedia is your friend, you can find just about anything there.
(EDIT: if you want to be heartbroken read Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers I teared up at the end and hated Walter O'malley even though he brought the dodgers to the best coast.)
Outside of that i'd recommend watching all 10 innings of ken burns' documentary Baseball. It's on netflix and i'm sure you could find it in shadier ways but it'll give you a real appreciation for the sport and it's history as a whole. Moneyball is also really good, but it's not that applicable to us...because we're the second biggest market in baseball.
Not a story itself but there is a great book by Frank Rose about immersive storytelling which pointed me to some really interesting things, especially those making fiction using non-traditional media.
Your best bet might be to try out a social media analytics platform to see all the different metrics in action.
This is pretty much a textbook for digital marketing, very well regarded: https://www.amazon.ca/Digital-Marketing-Strategy-Integrated-Approach/dp/074947470X/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1482359607&sr=8-19&keywords=marketing
The Whuffie Factor is older, but it's still solid: http://www.thewhuffiefactor.com/ Tons of insight about community building, rather than link selling.
Social Media - The First 2,000 Years is great for understanding social media in-depth. It explains the appeal of different social media platforms, and looks to their origins in history.
The Art of Immersion is another good one on social media and entertainment, from New York University. https://www.amazon.ca/Art-Immersion-Generation-Remaking-Hollywood/dp/0393341259/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JSFGKDE8WQC6FVMZ3G0K
It was the Reserve Clause as in the Owners Reserved the right to renew a players contract indefinitely.
Not the Reverse Clause.
Flood was a fascinating man, if you want to learn more there is a great book called A Well Paid Slave about him.
You mentioned all sports so I have four on soccer in the US. Long-Range Goals: The Success Story of Major League Soccer tells the story of the first 14-15 years of MLS. Star-Spangled Soccer: The Selling, Marketing and Management of Soccer in the USA is a business based book, but covers the utter insanity of soccer in the US from the the announcement of the US getting the World Cup until the book was published. Soccer in a Football World is a must read for the entire history of the sport from it's boom in the 1920's until mid-2000s. Finally, we have The Beckham Experiment which covers the story of David Beckham coming to the US and what followed. If I had to pick one of the bunch, go with Soccer in a Football World.
it's always sold as a means to bring business/revenue to the area, but it rarely does. That article is just one of many addressing the issue. Check out this book: https://www.amazon.com/Field-Schemes-Stadium-Swindle-Expanded-ebook/dp/B003NHSBM6/ref=pd_sim_351_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=51mDat9Y9HL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_OU01__BG0%2C0%2C0%2C0_FMpng_AC_UL320_SR214%2C320_&psc=1&refRID=J76QT7MY46267P829G86
I'd start by watching Ken Burns Baseball documentary.
​
As far as books, Moneyball is good, and The Only Rule is it Has to Work for an in depth look at how stats affect the game.
This book covers the stuff that lead up to the creation of the NWA and the first decade or two of the NWA monopoly.
This covers the peak years and the death of the territories.
Read BetaBall - it's fully explained.