Publications

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 Jun 2002
News

Start-Up Success

When the HBS student soccer team had to pull out of the National MBA Soccer Tournament two weeks before it was scheduled to begin last February, defending the School's honor fell to a group of HBS alumni booters. Not to worry — the recently formed HBS Alumni Soccer... 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

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

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

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

October 1996 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Team New Zealand (A)

By: Marco Iansiti and Alan D. MacCormack

The case describes the development process used by Team New Zealand to design their two yachts for the 1995 America's Cup. During development, the team makes extensive use of simulation and physical prototyping to improve the initial design concept. As they approach... View Details

Keywords: Product Design; Design; Product Development; Sports; Ship Transportation; Research and Development; Situation or Environment; Decisions; Sports Industry; New Zealand

April 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Henry Walters (A)

By: Paul W. Marshall

Presents a custom program for NFL players. View Details

Keywords: Sports

01 Mar 2017
News

A Summit Higher Than Everest

feet above sea level—at twilight and raced nightfall back down. The exhilaration of that climb hooked Moore on mountaineering. At the time the sport was an exclusive one of well-heeled explorers, not endurance athletes, and many untouched... View Details

Keywords: April White; mountain; climb; climbing; adventure

June 2013
Case

STATS: Moneyball 2.0

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Mark Cecchini and Elizabeth Collins

Keywords: Sports

June 2021
Teaching Note

Michael Phelps: 'It's Okay to Not Be Okay'

By: Boris Groysberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Michael Norris

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 421-044. In 2020, Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 28 medals in various swimming events, was now retired. As he looked back on his 20+ year athletic career, he considered what had gone into making him the... View Details

Keywords: Mental Health; Talent and Talent Management; Training; Health; Success; Performance Improvement; Personal Development and Career; Family and Family Relationships; Sports; Competition; Sports Industry; United States; Baltimore; Arizona; Sydney; Athens; Beijing; London

December 2019 (Revised December 2021)
Supplement

Negotiating for Equal Pay: The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (B)

By: Christine Exley, John Beshears, Manuela Collis and Davis Heniford

Supplements the (A) case and describes the events following it View Details

Keywords: Equal Pay; Negotiation; Compensation and Benefits; Equality and Inequality; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Ethics; Negotiation Tactics; Corporate Governance; Lawsuits and Litigation; Sports; Sports Industry; United States

01 Dec 2016
News

Case Study: Sweat the Technique

Science Entrepreneurship at HBS, cites studies showing that even mild dehydration can compromise performance by as much as 29 percent. Nix has garnered interest from both endurance athletes—which include about 30 million dedicated runners in the United States alone—and... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell

01 Nov 2012
News

First and Goal

pointed to the dangers of youth football, specifically the cumulative effect of blows to the head (even of subconcussive force) in still-growing children. The Downtown Giants board, at Swearengin’s direction, resolved that it would identify and then consult with the... View Details

Keywords: Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance

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