Publications

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01 Dec 2009
News

No Sweat

When he’s not researching empirical asset pricing, behavioral finance, and portfolio choice, Assistant Professor Lauren Cohen’s fondness for heavy lifting moves into the physical realm. Here he works out with an 800-pound tire while training for a powerlifting... View Details

Keywords: weightlifting

February 1999 (Revised August 2004)
Case

I Lost My Volvo in New Haven: Tennis Event Sponsorship

By: Stephen A. Greyser, Brian R. Harris and Mitchell Truwit

Focuses on event management and sponsorship from the perspective of the event owner (rather than that of the sponsorship company). Describes in depth the search by one of the tennis tournaments on the professional circuit for a principal sponsor. Detailed economics of... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Communications; Decision Choices and Conditions; Management; Product Positioning; Television Entertainment; Sports; Partners and Partnerships; Sports Industry

December 2013 (Revised April 2025)
Case

The PGA Tour (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Cole Magrath

In 1994, the PGA Tour (the "Tour"), the dominant incumbent professional golf circuit, had created tremendous value for its players. In the 1974 season, players competed for $8 million in prize money; by the 1994 season, the total prize purse had increased to $56... View Details

Keywords: PGA Tour; Tim Finchem; Deane Beman; Golf; Professional Golf; Business Model; Value Creation; Competition; Adaptation; Monopoly; Globalization; Sports; Business Strategy; 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

01 Jun 2010
News

Just Extraordinary

TURNER: A World Cup goal. Matt Mendelsohn The world’s most popular sporting event — and the reason global productivity declines for several weeks every four years — soccer’s World Cup kicks off this month in South Africa. Stacie Scott... View Details

Keywords: Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; Social Assistance; Health, Social Assistance

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

July 2010 (Revised April 2016)
Teaching Note

Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital

By: Anita Elberse

Teaching Note for 510092. View Details

Keywords: Sports; Decisions; Marketing Strategy; Revenue; Price; Sports Industry; Sports Industry

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

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

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

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

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

January 2006 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Negotiating Star Compensation at the USAWBL (A-1): Confidential Instructions for Jesse J.

By: Ian Larkin, James K. Sebenius and Guhan Subramanian

In this three-party negotiation exercise, Jesse J, star center in the U.S.A. Women's Basketball League, with her agent, is negotiating a possible compensation package with the Boston Sharks involving a base salary, a possible share of team merchandising profits, and a... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Contracts; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Conflict and Resolution; Sports; Sports Industry; United States

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

August 2005 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots (A)

By: John R. Wells and Travis Haglock

What happens when an MBA buys a football team and hires a bunch of MBAs and a coach with an economics degree to run it? In this case, a historic three Super Bowls in five years. The end run Bob Kraft (HBS '65) used to acquire the New England Patriots. Why Kraft ignored... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Management Style; Motivation and Incentives; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Leadership Style; Sports; Management Teams; Sports Industry; United States