The Sports Think Review #118
March 7, 2025: Billionaires
The SportsThink Review highlights my favorite sport-related content. Most things I share are recently published, but some are not; the only rule is that I’ve read or encountered them recently. Some are relevant to my day job as a professor teaching courses on the business, history, and philosophy of sports. Others are just plain interesting, relevant to my lifelong obsession with the games we play. I also occasionally share articles and assorted musings on Twitter. The newsletter is free, but comes with two requests. 1. I’m always open to suggestions, so send me the good stuff that you read! 2. If you enjoy the newsletter, please share it with other folks who might enjoy it as well. Finally, I try to focus on non-paywalled writing, but if you find yourself unable to access anything, just hit reply to the email and I’ll do my best to get you a copy. Thanks for reading!
Howdy folks, happy Friday. It’s been a while and I hope that you’re well. Here’s what got me thinking this week…
The Main Event: One Good Read
The Billionaire Playbook: How Sports Owners Use Their Teams to Avoid Millions in Taxes ( Robert Faturechi, Justin Elliott, and Ellis Simani, ProPublica)
From 2021, but new to me. There are times where you have a general sense of how somethings works, then you come across something that really nails it. This article is one of those instances: a clear, detailed, and lengthy excavation of how the big money plays the sports ownership game. Lots of great data, visuals, and reporting from Pulitzer Prize winner Faturechi and the team here.
I really like this because it articulates the incentives at play in the financial case for sports ownership. If you take standard valuation metrics from other industries—like an EBITDA multiple, for example—the inflated prices of sports franchises don’t really pencil out. Yes, scarcity is at play. Then there is the prestige asset angle, the social and psychic benefits akin to owning a valued piece of art. But like much in American business, the (literal) treasure lies in navigating the tax code; there should probably be wings in Canton and Cooperstown and Springfield dedicated to accountants. Read this one to better understand what you already kinda knew.
The Highlight Reel: Things Worth A Look
Male coaches increase the risk-taking of female teams—Evidence from the NCAA
A pre-print from that vanguard of sexy writing, Labour Economics. Extremely academic, but pretty interesting. In short: women’s basketball teams with a male head coach make risky attempts 6 percentage points more often than women’s teams with a female head coach. Risk-taking has a positive effect on winning a game and teams with a female coach would win more often if they chose risky attempts more often.
Will we still call it the hardwood when basketball is played on glass?
Fascinating innovation with implications for training, performance, and entertainment.
I remain mostly clueless about cricket, but this is an interesting piece on player development and recruitment. Easy to see connections to other sports.
Aspen Institute Project Play 2024 Parent Survey
This is just data, but phenomenal data on American youth sports. Essential if this is your research or professional area. Should be of some interest to parents too.
And just like that Formula 1 is the biggest money annual event in Vegas
Not necessarily surprising, but still notable. It only took 2 years.
As always, thanks for reading. If you enjoyed today's newsletter, I'd be incredibly grateful if you'd share it with someone in your life who might like it too. Every share means the world to me. Thanks for thinking sports with me.
See you next time,
Tolga