Sports, as with all components of the entertainment industry is big business. It seems the sports page has become indistinguishable from the financial page with stories of million dollar compensation packages and billion dollar deals. The eight books here explain why players get paid so much, the impact of a salary cap, and why arguments for government financed stadiums are bad economics.
Published in 1994, this book is a bit dated but still the best published on the subject. Author Andrew Zimbalist, an Economist at Smith College pulls no punches when he discusses the owners have mismanaged the sport. He discusses a number of proposals, such as expanding the league to 35 or 40 teams.
A very nuts and bolts treatment of the issue of determining baseball salaries written by Roger I. Abrams, who is both Dean of Law at Northeastern University and a baseball salary arbitrator.
As with the first book, it is a bit dated (1995) but still a great resource, which definitely belongs on the bookshelf of anyone, interested in the subject. Author Gerald Scully examines the factors that determine both player salaries and franchise values. This book is available in both hardcover and paperback; I'd recommend the paperback, as it is quite a bit cheaper.
Absolutely *the* book to read on the issue of the economic impact of public subsidies for sports stadiums. Economists Noll and Zimbalist show how these subsidies are almost always losing propositions for the governments involved. A wealth of facts, figures, and economic reasoning is in this book. If you're doing a term paper on the subject, start here.
The full title of this book is: "Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit", so it's quite obvious which side of the argument Joanna Cagan and Neil deMause are on. The two authors are sports fans, not economists, so their arguments are less technical and much more accessible than the others on this list, so it's highly recommended for beginners.
Probably a couple hundred pages too long at 500 pages, but still a worthwhile read. This book is entertaining but is also informative, as it is used as a textbook in some sports economics courses. Rosentraub argues that sports leagues keep the number of teams in the league artificially low, which gives them an artificially high amount of bargaining power when lobbying for a new stadium.
Authors James Quirk and Stephen Ross show how the rising salaries and rising franchise values in pro sports have come at the expense of the fan and of the taxpayer. They argue that sports leagues are monopolies that should be broken up by the Justice Department. The views put forth in the book are far more radical than the other ones on the list, but are still very compelling.
Another good overview of the business of sports. I'd only recommend this book for beginners; if you're quite familiar with the subject there won't be much in here for you. As an introduction to the subject, however, it's really quite valuable.
