Publications

April 2005 (Revised May 2005)
Case

New England Patriots, The: Making the Team

Examines the organizational strategy of a professional football team that contributed to the team's sustained success. Considers several aspects of the team's "blueprint" with respect to players: recruitment, retention, task structure, training, culture, and... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Groups and Teams; Sports; Compensation and Benefits; Sports Industry; New England

July 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Case

The Springfield Nor'easters: Maximizing Revenues in the Minor Leagues

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Christopher H. Lovelock and Laura Winig

The marketing director of a new minor-league baseball team must design, conduct, and then interpret survey research to determine optimal ticket pricing that will yield large attendance figures and contribute to the owner's goal of breaking even in the first year of... View Details

Keywords: Market Research; Quantitative Analysis; Consumer Marketing; Pricing Strategy; Price; Marketing Strategy; Mathematical Methods; Product Launch; Sports; Sports Industry; Massachusetts

01 Jan 2011
News

Robert Kraft, MBA 1965

to be an extremely risky decision made by a sports fanatic, but in time it proved to be a winning business move. The decision to buy the Patriots fits a pattern that Kraft developed at a young age. He is a man who believes that anything... View Details

01 Dec 2016
News

Carving a Niche

1996) grew up skiing in the mountains of Idaho but switched to snowboarding in his 20s. Skiing was for moms and dads. Snowboarders did cool tricks and sported hip-hop-style pants and parkas with graffiti graphics. “It didn’t have to be... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

01 Jun 2014
News

Faculty Q&A: The Cup Runneth Over

right to outfit and sponsor individual teams? Sophisticated sports marketing outfits, often subsidiaries of the top marketing services firms, conduct detailed assessments to help companies like Nike and Samsung determine what value to... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

01 Mar 2015
News

@Soldiers Field

Twenty-five students from Brighton High School toured the Chao Center construction site as part of the Urban Neighborhood Design Alliance’s City/Build project, which teaches students about design and engineering. On campus to kick off the University-wide Deans’... View Details

February 2006 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Negotiating on Thin Ice: The 2004-2005 NHL Dispute (A)

By: Deepak Malhotra and Maly Hout

On September 15, 2004, the existing collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) expired. Because the two sides had failed to negotiate a new CBA by that date, NHL... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Participants; Trust; Sports; Compensation and Benefits; Sports Industry; United States

28 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Football Stars Debate ‘The Social Capital of the Savvy Athlete’

industry. The forum began with a discussion about the marketing power of social media, but quickly evolved into a conversation about race issues in the sports entertainment industry. 'unbelievable Platform' All acknowledged that Twitter... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Sports

29 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

How Economics May Lead to Better Football Games

from schoolchildren to attorneys—and even carries the potential to help sustain life itself. Sarah Jane Gilbert: What led you to research football teams? Are you a sports fan? Al Roth: I'm a matching fan. Q: What is matching, and why... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Sports

04 May 2018
News

How to Win the Kentucky Derby

the dynamic. You can't buy into a piece of the Yankees or the Patriots or the Phillies or any other professional sports team. But you can buy into a professional sports team by buying into a piece of a... View Details

Keywords: horse racing

March 2025
Case

YouTube: Bidding for NFL Sunday Ticket

By: Anita Elberse and Crystal Yao

In December 2022, Erin Teague, a senior director and the global head of sports, movies and shows at YouTube, technology giant Alphabet Inc.’s video- sharing platform, received the news that Sundar Pichai, the chief executive officer of Alphabet and its subsidiary... View Details

Keywords: General Management; Entertainment; Media; Sports; Marketing; Management; Business Strategy; Bids and Bidding; Sports Industry; Sports Industry

10 Nov 2018
News

The 71-Year-Old Ultramarathoner

Ultramarathoner Eric Spector (MBA 1972) got a late start on the sport. As detailed in a recent Wall Street Journal article, Spector started running while living in Manhattan, competing in his first New York City Marathon in 1979, but didn’t try his first... View Details

18 Jul 2014
News

Team Players

"We had 100 volunteers who worked almost around the clock," says Lehrer, who also helped host visits from HBS's Business of Sports Club and the annual Tech Trek. "There were lots of people answering questions from the same brand, so we... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

August 2005
Case

Bill Belichick and the Cleveland Browns

By: John R. Wells and Travis Haglock

Genius? That is not what they were calling Bill Belichick in Cleveland. Why? Four losing seasons in five years. Fans hurled trash and insults. The media resented him. Ownership abandoned him. Players quit on him. Very different from the three Super Bowls in five years... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Management Style; Sports; Sports Industry; United States

20 Jun 2008
News

Risk and Reward

stud fees for an additional several million in winnings? More wins could mean higher stud fees. But the sad demise of Barbaro and Eight Belles have got to give you pause. Then there’s the sport itself to consider. The number of racing... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; Management

November 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Discovering Hidden Gems: The Story of Daryl Morey, Shane Battier, and the Houston Rockets (A)

By: Frances X. Frei and Matthew Todd Perlberg

As NBA Commissioner David Stern approached the podium, silent anticipation gripped the 4,000 Houston Rockets fans gathered at the Rockets Draft Party. "With the 8th pick in the 2006 NBA draft," Stern began, "the Houston Rockets select Rudy Gay from the University of... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Talent and Talent Management; Competitive Strategy; Operations; Groups and Teams; Sports Industry

June 2019
Teaching Note

Michael Rubin and Fanatics (A) and (B)

By: Robert F. Higgins and John Masko

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 819-077 and 819-082. View Details

Keywords: Fanatics; Licensed Merchandise; Sports; Internet and the Web; Vertical Integration; Expansion; Strategy; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; United States

13 Jun 2014
Op-Ed

World Cup Soccer: 770 Billion Minutes of Attention

game, and they will forget the powerful machine that controls the most popular sport in the world. For more on The Economics of Attention, see The Rising Cost of Consumer Attention: Why You Should Care, and What You Can Do about It. View Details

Keywords: by Thales Teixeira; Sports

August 2021
Supplement

Dirk Nowitzki: Changing the Game

By: Boris Groysberg

NBA Superstar Dirk Nowitzki was unsure whether the 2018–2019 season would be his last as an NBA player. He had not faced such uncertainty since 1998, when he had navigated a difficult decision regarding the timing of his move to the NBA. He also did not know what he... View Details

Keywords: Career Decisions; Career Journey; ＂Sports Organizations,; Mentoring; Retirement; Sports; Performance; Training; Personal Development and Career; Decision Making; Talent and Talent Management; Sports Industry; United States