Global Sports Cultures, Markets and Organizations
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Global Sports Cultures, Markets and Organizations
Frank P. Jozsa, Jr. Pfeiffer University, USA
World Scientific NEW JERSEY
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LONDON
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BEIJING
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SHANGHAI
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HONG KONG
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TA I P E I
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CHENNAI
Published by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. 5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224 USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
GLOBAL SPORTS Cultures, Markets and Organizations Copyright © 2009 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.
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ISBN-13 978-981-283-569-7 ISBN-10 981-283-569-5
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Shujuan - Global Sports.pmd
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9/2/2009, 7:26 PM
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To my sister Nancy
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Foreword
Because of its insight, purpose, and scope, Global Sports: Cultures, Markets and Organizations is a uniquely interesting book. Drawing on published research from an array of sports, this book provides essential data, facts, and other information about key issues in sports. As suggested by the title of his latest book, author Dr. Frank P. Jozsa, Jr. discusses the origin, growth, and maturity of five team sports and their popularity and prosperity among fans and the general population in different nations. Professor Jozsa describes the cultures of these sports, traces the historical performances of many amateur, semiprofessional, and professional teams in domestic games or matches and international tournaments of the sports, and provides provocative analysis of interesting business and economic issues surrounding the sports in various countries. To my knowledge, there are no other books in the marketplace that address these issues in such a comprehensive and relevant way. The book provides interesting details about the histories of sports leagues, teams, and their players, and has a wealth of well-organized tables of data. Readers of Global Sports will appreciate, for example, why the game of baseball has existed for decades and currently thrives in the Dominican Republic, as do basketball in the Philippines, soccer in Germany, ice hockey in Canada, and cricket in Australia. Using an effective writing style, the author
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explains why each sport is important to the nations’ cultures, and how they contribute to the local economies of both large and small cities and towns, and rural communities. He has chapters that highlight countries such as China and Japan in Asia, England and Spain in Europe, and Brazil and Venezuela in South America. This book successfully incorporates and contrasts a range of team sports in nations from cultural, business, and economic perspectives. Because it includes discussion of current, controversial trends such as commercialization and globalization, and the gradual conversion of some amateur sports clubs into semiprofessional or professional teams, Global Sports is a valuable reference for foreign and American college and university professors in their international relations, sports administration, business, economics, and history classes. To illustrate, students will learn when, why, and how sports organizations emerged, succeeded or failed, and perhaps reformed themselves by adopting new policies, regulations, and rules. Students will understand the relationships between organizational development, marketing innovations, and management strategies that have helped team sports prosper in different countries. Other than its role in an academic environment, Global Sports also will be of value to researchers working on sport-market topics in regions outside the United States. This book’s Selected Bibliography contains an extensive list of relevant articles from journals, newspapers and periodicals, books from sports economists, and numerous readings from the Internet about aspects of sports business, culture, history, and relations. Furthermore, there is an appendix in Global Sports that includes, for example, the performances of nations’ teams in such events as the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cups, and countries’ cricket clubs in one-day and twenty20 internationals, and test matches. Frank Jozsa explains how these performances impact the finances of leagues and their teams’ investors, owners, managers and players, and the local businesses, governments, and households where these sports franchises are located and play their home games or matches. I have known Frank Jozsa for about 20 years. He has authored five books, each dealing with the historical development of the business and operation of professional sports leagues within the United States and in foreign nations. His academic training and his sincere interest in sports have resulted in his publications being thoroughly researched and welldocumented, accurate and up-to-date, and professional in format, organization, and style. In my judgment, Global Sports will be another of Frank Jozsa’s
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Foreword
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important and noteworthy contributions to the literature on team sports. I believe that both the serious researcher and the casual fan of team sports will find Global Sports to be a book they will enjoy reading. Gary L. Stone, Ph.D. Professor of Economics Winthrop University
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Preface
After authoring a few books and several articles on professional team sports, and teaching the concepts, principles, and strategies of international business and economics to graduate students, I was surprised and wondered why there were hardly any publications in the academic and popular literature that discussed the origin, development and popularity, and the growth and prosperity of various team sports among groups of nations in the world. This curiosity, in part, motivated me to consider and evaluate these topics and as a result, to then organize and write Global Sports. Since it is a recent contribution to the literature, this book’s audience includes sports fans, officials, and researchers. Also, the book appeals to the needs of professors and their students who are currently enrolled in sports administration, economics, history, and/or international relations courses at American and foreign-based colleges and universities. To successfully complete the manuscript of Global Sports, I was fortunate to receive different types of assistance to identify, locate, and obtain the appropriate and necessary readings and other materials about foreign countries and their national team sports. Furthermore, I greatly benefited from the cooperation, encouragement, and support that were provided to me by individuals, groups, and organizations. Indeed it was Frank Chance, who is Pfeiffer University’s Head Librarian for the Charlotte Campus and Distance Education, and his evening librarians — Elaine Wood and Kara Grimes — who spent time and resources to significantly help me in several ways. xi
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For example, they researched a number of databases and periodicals for readings on specific sports within nations. Furthermore, they discovered a number of web sites that contained useful data, information, and statistics, and requested interlibrary loans of sports books, directories, and other kinds of literature. Consequently, I am especially grateful to Frank, Elaine, and Kara, and to Pfeiffer University at Misenheimer librarians Jonathan Hutchinson and Lara Little for their abilities and efforts to meet and satisfy my frequent and often immediate demands with respect to acquiring different types of sports-related documents. Besides Pfeiffer’s librarians, there were other people who assisted me in my commitment and journey to investigate and author another title on team sports. In no specific order, inputs of information were provided by the following individuals.These included Ed Kobak, who is the President of Global Sports Productions, Ltd. — which is a sports marketing and publishing firm that specializes in producing sports reference volumes from around the world. Ed replied in an e-mail to me about the probable existence of a Japanese professional baseball fan book, and the publication of directories for ice hockey in Finland and the Bundesliga in Germany. Being an athlete, author and columnist, and also very experienced and knowledgeable about global sports, Ed’s interest in my research is appreciated. An aside, Ed publishes The Sports Address Bible & Almanac. Anna Kubista is an administrator in the editor’s office of a media marketing business in Prague that is named Advertures. In response to my request, she forwarded me a few web sites that discussed the history and development of amateur, semiprofessional, and professional ice hockey in the Czech Republic. For providing information about this special sport in that country, I thank Anna for her input. Hannu Tolonen, who is a senior advisor in the sports division of Finland’s ministry of education, mailed me a list of milestones (1899–2006) in Finnish ice hockey and an overview of the Finnish National Hockey League. Moreover, he provided me with the name of an official and web site for the Finnish Sport Museum. I am grateful for Hannu’s reply. Furthermore, two individuals mailed me some interesting information about the history and development of baseball in Venezuela. First, the cultural attaché at the Embassy of the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela in Washington, DC, Patricia Abdelnour, supplied the name of the Embassy’s chief of staff and officer who controls sports projects. Then second, Luis A. Magdaleno — a communication technology employee at the Embassy — forwarded a page of information that discussed why the Caracas Lions have
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been so successful as a baseball team; who the greatest Venezuelan baseball players of all-time are; and how the Venezuelan Summer League became so competitive, historic, and popular in that nation. In fact, Luis’ remarks were very factual, interesting and specific. As such, I wish to thank Patricia and Luis for their contributions to my research. Some organizations and a number of web sites contained the total or partial results of nations’ sports teams after they had performed in various domestic and international games, matches, tournaments, and other events. Indeed much of these data appear in tables within the chapters and also in Appendices A and B of Global Sports.To identify a few of them, these organizations included the International Basketball Association, International Federation of Association Football and Union of European Football Associations, and the International Ice Hockey Federation and International Cricket Council. Likewise, some valuable online sources for statistics in baseball were 19cbaseball.com, niseibaseball.com, and cubanball.com; in basketball were athleticscholarships.com, fibaeurope.com, and usabasketball.com; in football–soccer were all-soccer-info.com, expertfootball.com and uefa.org; in ice hockey were czech.cz, sportsbusinessnews.com, and whockey.com; and in cricket were cricinfo.com, mapsofworld.com, and uk.encarta.msn.com. In short, I frequently used the information from these and other sources in contents and tables throughout the book. While preparing the manuscript for this book, my computer failed to operate.As a result, I returned it to Pfeiffer University and purchased an HP Pavilion at Office Depot. Michael Utsman, who is the Administrative Director of Pfeiffer’s School of Graduate Studies in Charlotte, North Carolina, visited me on a weekend and spent a number of hours to ensure that the programs in my new computer were appropriately installed and updated. Also, since the mid-to-late-1990s Michael has helped me with any software and/or technical issues that I had encountered while developing various articles and other manuscripts before they were submitted to publishers. For being generous, kind, and willing to assist me on several of my previous projects, I consider Michael a professional administrator and thus appreciate his expertise, knowledge, and skill, and congratulate him for what he has accomplished for Pfeiffer’s faculty, staff, and students. For years, I have shared a home with Maureen Fogle and our sweet but shy and spoiled basset/beagle mix, Lucy. Despite Maureen’s busy schedule as a nursing director at a hospital in Charlotte, she has tolerated my relatively dull lifestyle and also accepted my goals to perform research and author sports books. We, therefore, have canceled or postponed a majority of our
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trips, vacations, and social functions. Consequently, I realize that Maureen has been very considerate of my interests and thus let my projects interfere with other household activities. So because of her patience, tolerance, and understanding, we have each been able to successfully accomplish some personal and work-related objectives while maintaining our relationship. In part, it is Maureen and not me who deserves credit for any achievement and success. I am also happy with Lucy being a part of our family. To be sure, she is a wonderful pet and companion who thoroughly enjoys playing with her toys, sniffing the ground while walking around the neighborhood, hastily chewing bones, sleeping in her bed, and joining Maureen and I to watch dog shows and other programs on television’s Animal Planet. Most importantly, Global Sports is dedicated to my sister Nancy Altuve. Besides being an extremely compassionate and loving wife, parent, and grandmother, during more than 10 years Nancy spent numerous hours each day, week, and month as the primary caregiver for a few of our relatives who were ill and needed medical assistance and other support in the final years of their lives. For that to occur, she conscientiously, meticulously, and promptly handled their affairs with respect to shopping for food and ordering prescription drugs, and with regard to the preparation and submission of paperwork for Medicare benefits, making appointments for them to meet with physicians, specialists, and administrators at local hospitals, cooking special meals, and arranging for any other needs while they stayed at home or at assisted living facilities or nursing homes. Undoubtedly, these relatives benefited from improvements in their health and therefore lived much longer and happier because of Nancy’s selflessness and commitment of her time to their care and well-being. Finally, I admire my brother-in-law Don Altuve for his work ethic and technical skills and also respect him for being a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. Frank P. Jozsa, Jr.
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Contents
Foreword
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Preface
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Chapter 1.
Introduction
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Chapter 2.
Baseball in Dominican Republic, Japan, and Venezuela
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Chapter 3.
Basketball in China,The Philippines, and Spain
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Chapter 4.
Soccer in Brazil, England, and Germany
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Chapter 5.
Ice Hockey in Canada,The Czech Republic, and Finland
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Chapter 6.
Conclusion
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Appendix A: Cricket in Australia, India, and Pakistan
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Appendix B: Tables
259
Selected Bibliography
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Index
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Chapter
1 Introduction
Decades and even centuries ago, a number of amateur and professional team sports were successfully founded and continued to exist during 2008 within one or more countries throughout the world. Indeed, after they had emerged, developed, and matured — and thus became increasingly competitive, popular, and perhaps profitable — a majority of them gradually expanded into urban, suburban, and rural communities of other nations within areas of Central, North and South America, and into regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, and Eastern and Western Europe. As a result, such international sports as baseball and ice hockey are currently well established and therefore games are played among associations, leagues, and their respective teams that perform at the local, regional, and/or national levels, and also by groups that are located across borders, continents, and time zones. Given their audiences, histories, and traditions, and for various business, cultural, demographic, economic, legal and/or political reasons, the dispersion of several team and/or individual sports has been restricted geographically to merely one or a few markets. Amateur and professional American football games, for example, primarily occur between teams that are based on the United States, while according to one source in the literature, archery is a national pastime in Bhutan, horse racing in Hong Kong, and kick boxing in Cambodia. Similarly, and with respect to some countries and regions, there appears to be extremely limited boundaries for other types of sports such as 1
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Australian Rules football, Gaelic football, table tennis, rugby league, rugby union, and wrestling. It is uncertain, however, whether the future demands for — and games of — these unique sports will diminish, increase, or remain confined to specific areas of the world beyond the early 2000s.1 Although the athletes, clubs, and/or teams within and between two or more nations play them, some sports especially appeal to segments of populations and to particular age, ethnic, income, racial, and/or social groups. For sure, they are occasionally featured and broadcast on major networks and public television programs, and written about in the print media and different kinds of sports literature.These specific sports include bowling, car racing, cycling, figure skating, golf, lacrosse, rodeo, road running, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, and yachting. Consequently, because of their nature, purpose, and status from national and transnational perspectives, the individual and team sports that were mentioned in this and the previous paragraph are less strategic and interesting to compare and measure than others, and therefore they are excluded from — and not analyzed in — Global Sports: Cultures, Markets and Organizations.
PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK Based in part on the short- and long-run economic implications and business trends and consequences of globalization and on such worldwide events as the Olympic Games,World Baseball Classics and World Cup tournaments, and also predicated on pre-adults’ and adults’ familiarity, interest, and participation in sporting activities, it was required of me to select for this study a unique but representative combination of sports and nations to focus on, research and evaluate.Accordingly, this criterion compelled me to select and analyze a few independent but significant multinational team sports. These choices were baseball, basketball, soccer, ice hockey (or hockey), and to a lesser extent, cricket, which is examined in Appendix A. 1 Besides reviewing the Internet web sites about sports in various nations, see “National Sport,” at http://en.wikipedia.org cited 3 June 2007.This reading contains recent lists of national sports by country, lists of countries by their most popular sport, and lists of other sports references.Also, see the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2008 (New York, NY: World Almanac Books, 2008) for information about the outstanding performances of one or more athletes and the historical events of various individual and team sports.
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Introduction 3
Other than cricket, several economic aspects and commercial elements of five team sports were thoroughly discussed in Sports Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues. Specifically, that book contains information in chapters about the prior, ongoing, and future internationalization if any and commercialization of US-based leagues.That is, Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Soccer (MLS).2 Besides the contents in Sports Capitalism, the historical affairs and business operations of franchises within these five American professional sports organizations were also examined in one or more of the following books. These are: Relocating Teams and Expanding Leagues in Professional Sports: How the Major Leagues Respond to Market Conditions; American Sports Empire: How the Leagues Breed Success; Baseball, Inc.:The National Pastime as Big Business; Big Sports, Big Business: A Century of League Expansions, Mergers, and Reorganizations; and Baseball in Crisis: Spiraling Costs, Bad Behavior, Uncertain Future.3 Before conducting a literature review for this title, a crucial decision of mine was to discriminate by choosing three special countries as prime sites for each of the five team sports. In other words, I had to determine where these sports were in existence and continue to be relatively popular and thus a major form of entertainment and pleasure for fans and also for a number of age, ethnic, racial, and social groups among the populations of people. After considering different sets of nations and distinguishing between their peculiar characteristics, locations, and qualities, four primary sports in a total 2
For histories and operations, and the commercial activities and strategies of these US-based sports organizations, read Frank P. Jozsa, Jr. Sports Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues (Aldershot, England:Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004). 3 Co-authored by Frank P. Jozsa, Jr. and John J. Guthrie, Jr., the first book is Relocating Teams and Expanding Leagues in Professional Sports: How the Major Leagues Respond to Market Conditions (Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 1999). And authored by Frank P. Jozsa, Jr. are American Sports Empire: How the Leagues Breed Success (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003); Baseball, Inc.:The National Pastime as Big Business (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006); Big Sports, Big Business: A Century of League Expansions, Mergers, and Reorganizations (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2006); Baseball in Crisis: Spiraling Costs, Bad Behavior, Uncertain Future (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2008).
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4 Global Sports
of 12 countries were identified and then portrayed and profiled in Chapters 2–5 followed by the game of cricket within three countries in Appendix A. At least one of the most dominant sports of a nation includes, for example, baseball in the Dominican Republic, basketball in the Philippines, soccer in England, ice hockey in Finland, and cricket in Australia. In short, each sport — when exposed and contrasted in the various nations — revealed to what extent it has existed as a component of the respective country’s consumer market, culture, and nationalism. To further justify my decision for this title, each of the sports I selected exists and performs in the United States and elsewhere, has league and team histories and interesting organizational trends, and also is extremely popular especially for millions of fans and among the general population of several countries across the world. In turn, a large number of dedicated, young, and adult female and male athletes have a tremendous passion to play and excel on clubs in such national sports as baseball in Venezuela, basketball in China, soccer in England, ice hockey in Canada, and cricket in India. Thus, these are special and unique team sports that have influenced the customs, habits, and other traditions and social behaviors of institutions and people. Finally, there are data, statistics, and historical information available to research and study about sports in the 15 respective nations. Before discussing the sports literature and reviewing this book’s organization by sections, it is important to note that Chapters 2–5 and Appendix A in Global Sports incorporate some historical information about how extensively these five team sports have developed in the United States through 2007, and then occasionally how each of them relate to its counterpart in three foreign nations. Hence, a few key observations and interesting facts about MLB and the NBA, and MLS and the NHL are oriented, respectively, to elements of baseball, basketball, soccer, and ice hockey as these sports prevail in other countries. Furthermore, the game of cricket, which is principally played in several nations by clubs and teams within associations, leagues, and other groups, is related to its development, environment, and status as a sport in the United States. Therefore, the next two sections of this chapter consist of the Literature Review and Book Organization along with the Notes. Essentially, at least two books about each of the five sports are featured in the Literature Review coupled with readings on sports business and economics, while overviews of Chapters 2–5 and Appendix A are highlighted in the part titled Book Organization. Finally, the Introduction’s Notes include titles and complete
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references to some of the important publications that are listed in various sections of the Selected Bibliography.
LITERATURE REVIEW For the topics covered in Chapters 2–5 and Appendix A, I scanned several different sources within the literature. These were primarily books, databases, online and printed articles, journals, magazines, newspapers, and periodicals because, in total, they contained data, facts and statistics, and historical information that discussed one or more of the team sports in each of the 15 nations.As a result, the most interesting, provocative, and relevant materials from the literature are presented in the Selected Bibliography and also used as references to develop the tables, themes, and topics in the contents of the four chapters and the appendices. At the same time, this research task meant that numerous documents about baseball and the other four team sports were read but not directly used because these readings did not relate to these sports’ business and/or economics, or to their culture, development, history, and/or popularity within and among the specific nations of this study. Furthermore, a few books and other publications about such popular foreign sports as cricket, hockey, and soccer had been discontinued and/or were unavailable online or not located in American college or public libraries.Accordingly, it was not possible for me to collect and review these materials. Simply put, the Selected Bibliography contains many of the accessible, current, and scholarly readings about the sports environments and industries within and between specific nations. Nevertheless, fans know that baseball as a sport, for instance, exists and is moderately popular among populations in countries besides the Dominican Republic, Japan, and Venezuela. Thus, because of the problems associated with obtaining particular online and printed materials, readers of Global Sports should be aware that baseball is a national sport in Cuba and Nicaragua, basketball in Lithuania and Uruguay, soccer in Iran and Yemen, ice hockey in Slovakia and Switzerland, and cricket in Guyana and Jamaica. Unfortunately, some sports readings in the sources of the literature were useless as references to this title since their contents were totally printed in languages other than English. This occurred, for example, with respect to articles listed on a few foreign Internet web sites. That is, these sites may have contained some detailed and valuable data, facts, and other information
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about baseball in Spanish, basketball in Chinese, soccer in German, ice hockey in Finnish, and cricket in Urdu, Sindhi, or Pashto. Consequently, this literature had failed to contribute any knowledge as an input to me in studying the business history, cultural development, and economics of these five sports. Even so, the difficulties, issues, and problems that arose because of a failure to translate readings printed in foreign languages into English did not impose a hardship or serious obstacle to the research of topics for the contents in the respective chapters and appendices of Global Sports.
Baseball For this local, national, and transnational sport, three books have been especially important to me as literature sources. As such, these titles teach their audiences to appreciate, learn, and comprehend the origin, development, and role of baseball within specific nations and among geographical areas of the world. Edited by George Gmelch in 2006, Baseball Without Borders: The International Pastime contains several original essays about why and how the history and culture of the sport is different between such small countries as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and South Korea. The essays, which were written by anthropologists, journalists, historians and college English professors, are organized into four sections by region that is of the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific.As a result, Baseball Without Borders provides for its readers some interesting facts and viewpoints on topics like the organization and play of Little Leagues in Taiwan and about high school baseball athletes, leagues, and teams in Japan. Indeed, the book is instructive and entertaining, and also unique in identifying and clarifying some local, regional, and national features of the sport within foreign countries.4 The next book that I reviewed about the game of baseball is Diamonds Around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball. Authored in 2005 by scholar Peter C. Bjarkman, this title discusses the sport’s culture, history, and tradition within such countries as Australia, Canada, and Mexico. Moreover, it gives detailed results of baseball tournaments that were held throughout the world and highlights the biographies of famous foreign 4
See George Gmelch (Ed.), Baseball Without Borders: The International Pastime (Lincoln, NB: Bison Books, 2006). Indeed, Professor Gmelch authored or co-authored eight other books including Inside Pitch: Life Inside Professional Baseball (Lincoln, NB: Bison Books, 2006), and with J.J. Weiner, In the Ballpark: The Working Lives of Baseball People (Lincoln, NB: Bison Books, 2006).
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ballplayers. Besides information included in the book’s 11 chapters, there is a chronology of the sport’s greatest moments and other important baseball events, and also an annotated bibliography, black and white photographs dispersed throughout the volume, an updated international baseball timeline, and a roster of members who were officially honored and inducted into the International Baseball Federation. In short, Bjarkman proves in Diamonds Around the Globe that baseball is undoubtedly an international game and according to the Library Journal, his book is “Truly a triumph of research and good writing, [and] this gem should be on the reference shelves of all libraries boasting a serious baseball collection.”5 Alan M. Klein’s Growing the Game:The Globalization of Major League Baseball is the third book of interest to me with reference to this sport. Published in 2006, this volume discusses some reasons and ways that caused the game to become global and explains how the US-based big league teams operate their training academies in a number of foreign nations. As such, Klein focused primarily on the international aspects of baseball and studied whether the sport will or will not continue to expand — and prosper or fail — throughout various areas of the world. One reviewer stated his or her views about Growing the Game as follows:“This is an excellent book from a first rate scholar who combines theoretical and empirical insights and an engaging look into the development of baseball across the globe.”6
Basketball For this increasingly popular and expanding team sport, the next two books expose a number of relevant facts and highlight personal experiences regarding the emergence and historical growth of basketball in different nations across the planet. Authored, respectively, by Walter LaFeber in 1999 5
There is Peter C. Bjarkman, Diamonds Around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005). In my opinion, this is one of the most detailed, well-organized, and thorough books written on international baseball. 6 When, why, and how big league baseball reinvigorated itself domestically and internationally is, in part, discussed in Alan M. Klein, Growing the Game: The Globalization of Major League Baseball (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006). For some insights about MLB teams’ training academies in nations of Latin America, there is Arturo J. Marcano, and David P. Fidler. Stealing Lives: The Globalization of Baseball and the Tragic Story of Alexis Quiroz (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2003).
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and Alexander Wolff in 2002, these titles are Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism and Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure. The former title examines some of the relationships that had evolved between the former NBA’s Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan and the cultural, economic, and social effects of global capitalism among age groups in various countries. Specifically, former Cornell University historian LaFeber links Jordan’s athletic career, charisma, and popularity as a player to the worldwide marketing and promotion of basketball among populations in cities and rural communities within developed and developing nations. In his analysis, the book’s author tends to critique the impact of unbridled capitalism on societies because of the shoddy labor market practices, relentless brand advertising, and aggressive pricing policies of such powerful mega corporations as Disney, Nike, and McDonald’s across the world. Furthermore, LaFeber connects basketball with America’s century of economic dominance and then explains how the sport became a multibillion-dollar business. Despite these issues, however, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism tells us how, when, and why basketball became a part of several foreign nations’ cultures and economies, and the pastime of sports fans who live in populated and remote regions of the world.7 Meanwhile, the New York Times’ Notable Book of the Year — Big Game, Small World:A Basketball Adventure — discusses Sports Illustrated journalist Alexander Wolff’s experiences while he visited 16 foreign nations and eight US states during various fall, winter, spring, and summer months in primarily the 1990s, and his knowledge, theories, and viewpoints about basketball being a popular and prominent sport in each of these places. Consequently, this title describes in general how basketball evolved internationally and then traces its development and success in establishing groups of fans within communities of Angola, Italy, and Ireland, and of course in rural and urban areas of China, Lithuania, and the Philippines. In the book’s 27 essays, Wolff includes interesting anecdotes and his philosophies about the sport, and also mentions how national politics and local politicians had influenced the penetration and progress of basketball in some cities of foreign nations. As expressed by one reviewer of the book,“Wolff keeps the story light and full of offbeat humor, while using his sharp skills to sniff out a story. He shows how the sport’s ferocity, power, and grace appeal to the human 7 Walter LaFeber, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism (New York, NY, London, England:W.W. Norton & Company, 1999).
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Introduction 9
passions in everyone, and how finding fascinating people go far in humanizing basketball in a global context.”8
Cricket For this distinct and international sport, the following books were identified and reviewed by me because each of them indicates how the game of cricket had become and remained a national pastime in such nations as Australia, India, and Pakistan. Published as a first edition in 1994 and then as a second edition in 2003, A History of Australian Cricket examines how the sport started in the early 1800s, demonstrates the competitiveness of English teams that had toured and played matches during the 1860s and 1870s, explains why Australian clubs excelled and have continued to dominate the sport from the early- to mid-1900s into the early 2000s, and notes the significance of the Australian Cricket Academy for being established in 1981. Furthermore, the book’s co-authors Chris Harte and Bernard Whimpress reveal some interesting history about the background arrangements and feud that had existed between the Australian Cricket Board and State Associations, and about the great career of Sir Donald Bradman as a batsman and administrator. Accordingly, the various “Australia [clubs] are probably the greatest cricket team[s] the world has ever seen and this [book] is the story of their journey to the top.”9 Besides that interesting and well-regarded title, in 2007 Peter Roebuck authored In It to Win It: The Australian Cricket Supremacy. Basically, this volume discusses some reasons for the longstanding success of Australia in test cricket tournaments, one-day international matches, and the new Twenty20 format.Within the book, Roebuck describes the mental and physical toughness, strength, and skill of such great players from Australia as David Boon, Adam Gilchrist, and Steve Waugh, and he also evaluates the intensity, 8
Wolff’s sports book is thoughtfully prepared, engaging and stylish. For his experiences and travels, see Alexander Wolff, Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure (New York, NY:Warner Books, 2002). 9 To understand why Australia has dominated many international cricket matches, series, and tournaments in recent years and during some previous decades, read Chris Harte and Bernard Whimpress. A History of Australian Cricket (London, England: Andre Deutsch Ltd., 2003); Richard Beard. Many Pursuits: Beating the Australians (London, England:Yellow Jersey Press, 2006); Julian Knight. Cricket For Dummies (West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2006).
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hubris, and commotion surrounding Australian cricket. In the end, readers of In It to Win It will learn why Australia’s cricket teams have been outstanding in all formats and usually are superior to the top national clubs of other nations. Finally, for more comprehensive details and facts, and complete references about various aspects of cricket events, leagues, teams, and players, see Ronald Cardwell and Roger Page’s The Fifty Best Australian Cricket Books of All Time, which was produced by Cherrybrook Publishers in 2006.10 For one book each about cricket in India and Pakistan, there are respectively, The Magic of Indian Cricket: Cricket and Society in India, which was published in 2006, and Pride and Passion: An Exhilarating Half Century of Cricket in Pakistan, which was printed in 1999. In the former volume, renowned author and critic Mihir Bose traces the development of cricket from when it had emerged as a colonial pastime in India to being a national passion and commercial powerhouse in the nation’s culture and society. Interestingly, Bose discusses cricket and its ties to India’s identity, caste system, politics and race, and he also analyzes how television, media coverage, and sponsorships have transformed the sport from being an amateur enterprise into a big business. Indeed, Bose’s book is factual, insightful, and passionate, and thus exposes the controversies, myths, and problems of Indian cricket. In the latter volume, author Omar Noman delves into the game of cricket as it was — and currently is — played throughout Pakistan. Besides documenting great moments and players of the sport, Noman also discusses such issues as ball tampering, biased umpiring, fixing of matches, and gambling. Furthermore, he explains how Pakistan has become innovative and thus led the expansion of the sport into nations of the Far East and Middle East. After being cited as a vital contribution and tremendous addition to the literature, one reviewer of Pride and Passion said:“This book is a must for all serious lovers of the game and highly recommended for all others. His [Noman’s] enthusiasm is irresistible and makes the book very special.”11 10 These
two books about cricket are Peter Roebuck. In It to Win It: The Australian Cricket Supremacy (Crows Nest, New South Wales:Allen & Unwin, 2006), and Ronald Cardwell and Roger Page. The Fifty Best Australian Cricket Books of All Time (Sydney,Australia: Cherrybrook, 2006). 11 See Mihir Bose. The Magic of Indian Cricket: Cricket and Society in India (London, England: Routledge, 2006), and Omar Noman. Pride and Passion: An Exhilarating Half Century of Cricket in Pakistan (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999).
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Soccer For this exciting, fast-paced, and glorious team sport, two books were authored by Keir Radnedge during the early 2000s. In turn, they serve as excellent and fundamental resources to learn about and understand the game of soccer and also its existence within nations. Being published by Carlton Books, these titles are The Complete Encyclopedia of Soccer: The Bible of World Soccer and The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Soccer: The Definitive Illustrated Guide to World Soccer. The first book celebrates the world’s most popular and top-ranked sport by providing in-depth information and histories about the leading international soccer teams and the club events of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) confederations and American professional leagues, and by highlighting many of the sport’s famous players, coaches and stadiums, and its classic and legendary matches. Moreover, the book examines soccer’s laws, policies, and tactics that have gradually evolved since the late 1800s and thus affected the structure, conduct, and performance of the sport. Although Radnedge has been criticized by some experts and international soccer officials for inflating the talents of MLS players and overlooking such superior European clubs as Arsenal, Manchester United and Real Madrid, his book is a recommended title that should be read by all soccer fans.12 Meanwhile, Radnedge’s second book provides a thorough discussion of key matches, strategies of teams in tournaments, and the culture of soccer within several foreign nations. Moreover, The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Soccer includes approximately 250 photographs, and some personal details about 200 players and other matters related to the organization of soccer in Other interesting books about cricket in India and/or Pakistan are Mihir Bose. A History of Indian Cricket (London, England: Andre Deutsch Ltd., 2002); K.R. Wadhwaney, Indian Cricket and Corruption (New Delhi, India: Siddharth Publications, 2005); Ramachandra Guha. A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport (London, England: Picador, 2002); Shaharyar Khan. Cricket: A Bridge of Peace (Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 2005); Lateef Jafri. History of Pakistan Test Cricket (Karachi, Pakistan: Royal Book Company, 2003); Brian Stoddart and Keith A.P. Sandiford, The Imperial Game: Cricket, Culture, and Society (Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1998). 12 Keir Radnedge authored these two books.They are The Complete Encyclopedia of Soccer: The Bible of World Soccer (London, England: Carlton Books, 2002), and The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Soccer: The Definitive Illustrated Guide to World Soccer (London, England: Carlton Books, 2004).
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countries affiliated with FIFA. In total, author Keir Radnedge’s two books are important contributions to the literature of this great team sport and of course, to its history, development, and popularity in many countries across the globe. If, for some reason, these books are not readily available in local bookstores and libraries, an alternative title for readers who love the game of soccer is Dan Woog’s The Ultimate Soccer Encyclopedia. For sure, this volume identifies the sport’s terminology, top players, and famous teams, and contains many relevant facts and statistics about soccer events and some interesting maps, images and trivia.13
Ice Hockey For aspects of this special winter team sport, I reviewed two interesting books. They, in turn, represent the game of ice hockey and its role from a broad range of national and international perspectives. First, in the Tropic of Hockey: My Search For the Game in Unlikely Places, author and dispossessed fan Dave Bidini searched for athlete’s playing ice hockey in its purest form. That is, he traveled to and visited such nations as China, Hong Kong, Romania, and the United Arab Emirates, and discovered ice hockey players who had introduced their peculiar and unique cultural imperatives into the sport. Furthermore, he watched teams that competed against each other as rival ethnic and racial groups, and then he located rinks in very unorthodox places of the world. In other words, Bidini — who was known by friends to be an avid recreational athlete and rock musician — told about his experiences from observing and studying the game other than when it was officially scheduled and played by teams in foreign and US amateur leagues and by professional clubs in the NHL. Indeed, this 2004 book was written for and targeted to traditional fans of the sport who remember it without the limitations and constraints of policies, regulations and rules, and before the
13 As stated by a reviewer in an edition of Children’s Literature, this book is a good reference for a reluctant reader who happens to love soccer, but also be prepared to listen to the kid’s recitation of facts about the game. For other important titles about the sport as it is played in various nations, see Dan Woog. The Ultimate Soccer Encyclopedia (Chicago, IL: Lowell House, 2000); Michael Lewis. Soccer for Dummies (New York, NY: Hungry Minds, Inc., 2000); Mike Ross. England Soccer: The International Line-Ups & Statistics (Cleethorpes, DN, England: Soccer Books Ltd., 1995); Alan, Tomlinson and Christopher Young, German Football: History, Culture, Society and the World Cup 2006 (Abingdon, Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2006).
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interruption of games for half-times and intermissions, and because of radio and television announcements and commercials.As the Tropic of Hockey is described by its publisher, which is The Lyons Press,“Bidini weaves hilarious stories of encounters with odd-sized rinks and players of widely different talents and experiences with tales of his travels and spot-on observations about the game and players in North America.”14 Regarding the second title about ice hockey, in Kings of the Ice: A History of World Hockey the authors captured epic moments of the sport and its greatest players, discussed the spirit and energy of the game, and identified the dedicated and passionate support of nation’s hockey fans. Moreover, this 2002 book highlighted the glories of unspectacular hockey players and also it provided insightful and detailed statistics about particular seasons, leagues, teams, and events. In retrospect, the book’s contents are enlightening and especially useful for research purposes by international hockey historians, while the photos in the chapters are unique and of professional quality. Furthermore, some of the world’s best hockey writers authored the essays in the book. These commentators and critics of the game included Ales Brezina, Denis Gibbons, Dmitri Ryzkov, Nikolai Vukolov and Pavel Barta. Based on its impressive array of topics, Kings of the Ice is a valuable contribution to the literature since it covers the culture, history and success of world hockey. As stated in an article that was published in Foreword Magazine, “With its combination of history, player analysis, and statistics, Kings of the Ice will no doubt become the reference source for years to come.”15
14 See Dave Bidini. Tropic of Hockey: My Search For the Game in Unlikely Places (Toronto, Canada:The Lyons Press, 2004). Basically, Bidini authored a humorous and cultural exposition of people and how they play the game in such nations as the Philippines and Singapore. 15 This publication is Andrew Podnieks and Sheila Wawanash, who are the editors of Kings of the Ice: A History of World Hockey (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada: NDE Publishing, 2002). Some hockey fans will enjoy a demo version of the companion CD-ROM, which explores a virtual hockey museum and contains other programs. Other volumes that discuss ice hockey within and/or among nations are Janet Lever. Soccer Madness: Brazil’s Passion For the World’s Most Popular Sport (Long Grove, IL:Waveland Press, Inc., 1995); John Davidson. Hockey For Dummies, 2nd ed. (New York, NY: Hungry Minds, Inc., 2000); David Whitson. Artificial Ice: Hockey, Commerce, and Cultural Identity (Aurora, Ontario, Canada: Garamond Press, 2006).
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Besides the previous titles of each sport, there is another group of books for researchers to consider as references and topics for Global Sports. As thoroughly discussed in the Literature Review of Frank Jozsa’s Sports Capitalism, these publications tend to focus on the concept of internationalization and the ideological, philosophical, social, and/or theoretical effects of them relative to the structure of amateur and professional sports played within various nations. To illustrate, Allen Guttman’s Games and Empires: Modern Sports and Cultural Imperialism analyzed why the world’s current sports reflect bureaucratization, rationalization and secularism, and why cultural hegemony is a reason that sports are internationally diffused. Then Alan Bairner’s Sport, Nationalism, and Globalization: European and North American Perspectives examined some relationships between sports and national identities that had existed for centuries and prevailed in such countries as Canada, Scotland, and Sweden. Finally,Toby Miller and his co-author’s Globalization and Sport: Playing the World linked some interactions that had occurred between sport and culture in certain societies of the world by applying such theories as decolonization, migration, and standardization. Simply put, these three titles are mentioned in this section of this chapter because they indirectly relate to the contents of Global Sports and, in part, contribute to the culture, development, and growth of team sports within and among many nations of the world.16 Two academic books that involve the ideology, philosophy, and sociology of international sport were not discussed in Sports Capitalism. Being published in 2001 for upper division undergraduate students and also for any college faculty who investigate the history of sports, Global Games: Sport and Society examines the existence, development, and dispersion of modern sports from when they had emerged within the societies of such developed nations as Germany, Great Britain, Japan, and the United States. 16 Although
controversial, provocative, and scholarly with respect to the dominance, history, and role of various sports in nations, these three books are Allen Guttman. Games and Empires: Modern Sports and Cultural Imperialism (Chapel Hill, NC: Columbia University Press, 1994); Alan Bairner. Sport, Nationalism, and Globalization: European and North American Perspectives (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001);Toby Miller, Geoffrey Lawrence, Jim McKay, and David Rowe. Globalization and Sport: Playing the World (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2001). Also, see James E.Thoma and Lawrence Chalip. Sport Governance in the Global Community (Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology, Inc., 1996), and Hans Westerbeek, and Aaron Smith. Sport Business in the Global Marketplace (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).
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Specifically, Global Games authors’ Maarten Van Bottenburg and Beverly Jackson used different — but somewhat obsolete — quantitative data and descriptive statistics to explain which groups had organized and dominated various sports in their respective countries of origin and then how these games were appropriated elsewhere.17 In their book, Bottenburg and Jackson identified such factors as agencies, climate, economics, geography, and religion to be some reasons for the social significance and politics that underlie the development, growth, and success of sports. To both of them, it is because of social and cultural meanings that people decide to adopt preferences for certain sports and in turn, these meanings will vary based on the changing relations between groups of people, and their social classes and nations. Allen Guttman, who had earlier wrote Games and Empires, said this about Global Games: “Observing the puzzling popularity of different sports in different parts of the world, Maarten Bottenburg [and Beverly Jackson] asks a deceptively simple question: Why this sport rather than that one?” Another book that primarily focuses on the mutual impact of sport and society is R. Levermore’s Sport and International Relations: An Emerging Relationship. Published in 2003 by the Frank Cass Company, this title indicates how sport reflects and even shapes nations’ international policies, and furthermore, denotes why it involves complex interdependencies and interacts with global systems of government. The book’s contents include, for example, the expansion, interaction, and location of professional sport organizations; the amount and growth of revenues that have been generated by the sports media; the act of nation building being caused by sport; and the influences and effects of sport on international diplomacy. Written for college students and those experts who investigate international relations and research leisure studies, Sport and International Relations has contributed to the knowledge, respect, and understanding of the benefits, costs, ramifications, and interrelationships of the globalization of sport within societies and among populations across the globe. 17 For scholars who research the reasons for — and effects of — globalization and sport on the culture and society of nations, see Maarten Van Bottenburg, and Beverly Jackson. Global Games: Sport and Society (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2001), and R. Levermore, Sport and International Relations: An Emerging Relationship (London, England: Frank Cass, 2003).
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Sports Business and Economics Literature An increasing number of sports topics and historical relationships of a commercial nature continue to be researched from national and primarily international perspectives, and thus some of them have recently appeared as publications. Basically, these topics and relationships highlight the implication and role of business and economics with respect to the conduct and structure of specific team sports within cultures of countries and among societies of the world. Indeed, some of the most impressive and in-depth publications are the books of prominent American and foreign sports economists, historians, and professors. Published during the early 2000s, the following are a few titles that involve business and/or economics concepts and also that directly relate to matters discussed in Global Sports.18 As edited in 2004 by economists Rodney Fort and John Fizel, International Sports Economics Comparisons contains 20 essays that reflect geographically diverse perspectives about sports. As such, the volume compares and contrasts economic models of teams’ revenues and costs, of sports labor markets and product market structures, and of policy issues and results like the profitability of teams and competitive balance within and between leagues. In turn, Fort and Fizel apply these various mathematical models to sports clubs and leagues in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and New Zealand, and in other nations of Asia, North America, and Western Europe. To be specific, International Sports Economics Comparisons consists of nine parts and these include one or more articles about such global topics as the Southern Hemisphere Rugby Union, Japanese, and Korean Baseball, and the ownership and finance of professional soccer organizations 18
The most prominent titles emphasized in this section of the chapter about the business and economics of sports include, for example, Rodney Fort, and John Fizel. International Sports Economics Comparisons (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2004); Andrew Zimbalist. The Bottom Line: Observations and Arguments on the Sports Business (Philadelphia, PA:Temple University Press, 2006); Simon Chadwick, and Dave Arthur (Eds.), International Cases in the Business of Sport (Oxford, United Kingdom: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007); Carlos Pestana Barros, Muradali Ibrahimo, and Stefan Szymanski (Eds.). Transatlantic Sport: The Comparative Economics of North American and European Sports (Cheltenham, England: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003); Robert Sandy, Peter Sloane, and Mark Rosentraub. The Economics of Sport: An International Perspective (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).
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in England. Although some of the equations, statistics, and terminology are technical and not appropriate for all readers, this book is educational, informative, and interesting, and thus appeals to sports scholars, practicing professionals, and policymakers, and especially to undergraduate students who are or may be enrolled in sports economics, management, and law classes. In short, International Sports Economics Comparisons depicts the major economic aspects of sports within and between foreign countries and also in relation to some of the professional leagues and their teams and players in the United States. Besides the book edited by Fort and Fizel, Smith College economist Andrew Zimbalist assembled and revisited more than 100 of his journal and newspaper columns, and then in 2006, he authored The Bottom Line: Observations and Arguments on the Sports Business. After organizing the title into six parts, Zimbalist analyzed such issues as the total and comparative dollar value of professional sports franchises, leagues and the extent of their competitive balance, financing of sports stadiums and arenas, teams’ owner–player relations, economics of intercollegiate athletics, and the sports media and regulation of steroids.The kinds of sports that were represented in Zimbalist’s book include American football and professional baseball, basketball, ice hockey, and soccer. Although most essays in this volume do not directly discuss international institutions and global perspectives, those individuals who are officials of sports teams, leagues, and other organizations located within Asia, Europe, and elsewhere will be more effective business and economic decision makers after they have read the chapters contained in Zimbalist’s The Bottom Line. In a review of this title, the University of Chicago’s A.R. Sanderson stated: “The bottom line on The Bottom Line? Definitely worth the money and time; should not be ignored and highly recommended to all readers at all levels.” To educate and help college students comprehend models and theories while learning some of the previous developments and newest practices in the management of international sport businesses, and also to inform these students about the operation of global sport markets, Simon Chadwick and Dave Arthur wrote International Cases in the Business of Sport. Published in 2007 by Butterworth-Heinemann, this textbook contains a number and variety of cases that discuss key business issues in such team sports as baseball, cricket, football (soccer), and rugby. In most of their chapters, the authors tend to emphasize managerial functions like control, delegation of authority, and planning and responsibility. Then, they apply these concepts to the sport business and also relate them to issues in economics, finance,
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and marketing. After he had reviewed Chadwick’s and Arthur’s title, Rob Wilson — a senior lecturer in sport management at Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom — declared:“A must have text for students and a valuable reference for professionals, International Cases in the Business of Sport provides a clear and stimulating insight into the ever changing, and increasingly expanding, global sport market.” Other pertinent and relatively recent publications exist and accordingly, these readings explore such phenomena as the worldwide expansion and/or globalization and internationalization of commercial activities, and how one or more of these trends are related to the business and economics of sports, and furthermore, to specific foreign sports leagues and their teams and the compensation, distribution of talent, and productivity of team players. Some relevant titles about these matters include books and their authors that, respectively, are The Economics of Football by Stephen Dobson and John Goddard, Transatlantic Sport: The Comparative Economics of North American and European Sports by Carlos Pestana Barros, Muradali Ibrahimo, and Stefan Szymanski, The Economics of Professional Team Sports by Paul Downward and Alistair Dawson, The Economics of Sport: An International Perspective by Robert Sandy, Peter Sloane, and Mark Rosentraub, Handbook of Sports Economics Research by John Fizel, National Pastime by Stefan Szymanski and Andrew Zimbalist, and Globalization and Sport by Toby Miller. In part, these and other volumes complement, justify, and support the themes that are depicted in Global Sports. Besides books on the economics of sports, there are several journals being published that contain technical articles written by scholars about a variety of topics in the discipline. This literature includes, for example, the Journal of Sports History, Journal of Sports Management, Sports History Review, and the Journal of the Philosophy of Sport and Leisure Studies. Consequently, the emergence, development, and popularity of team sports within countries and across regions are increasingly important subjects contained in these and other journals.
BOOK ORGANIZATION After concluding this book’s Preface and the Introduction in Chapter 1, there are four core chapters. As such, each chapter concentrates on a single team sport and how well that sport performs, operates, and economically prospers briefly within America and then primarily in three non-US nations.
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To be more specific about each of these chapters’ contents, Chapter 2 discusses the role of and athlete’s interest in baseball within the Dominican Republic, Japan, and Venezuela, and also the sport’s existence among populations as a major leisure activity and a way to participate in the sport for male and female kids, teenagers, and adults in these countries. Besides exposing the origin, development, and business of baseball within the three nations, this chapter also discusses: (a) the Dominican Republic’s Winter League and its history and politics, and the signing to contracts and export of young Dominican baseball players to teams in MLB; (b) Japan’s baseball history and the country’s amateur sports organizations, and the success of the nation’s professional baseball leagues and some of their teams, and the recruitment and employment of Japanese players to perform on American major and minor league clubs; and (c) Venezuela’s Summer Baseball League and the nation’s political turmoil, and some unfortunate controversies about the exploitation of domestic athletes by MLB franchises who have invested money and resources in local training academies to improve the educational levels and athletic skills of Latino ballplayers in the sport. The next group of contents following the second chapter is Chapter 3. Basically, this section of Global Sports describes the emergence, growth, and popularity of basketball and its games within China, the Philippines, and Spain, and why this sport has matured and prospered in these far-flung nations, and how it relates to the level of basketball that is performed by amateur and professional clubs in the United States. Furthermore, Chapter 3 examines such interesting topics as (a) China’s quest to become a superpower in the sport vis-à-vis the superior basketball leagues and experienced teams in Europe and America, and the NBA’s Yao Ming and his impact, influence, and long-run effects on young Chinese athletes and the country’s society and its commercial activities; (b) the Philippines’ sport history and dominant basketball conferences, associations and leagues, and the nation’s long run passion for the sport of basketball and its network of teams and players, and their performances in global tournaments; and (c) Spain’s most prominent basketball organizations and clubs, and the country’s national men and women teams and their best achievements in pre-2008 international basketball tournaments such as the Eurobasket, and the Olympic Games and World Championships. The contents of Chapter 4, meanwhile, expose the sport of soccer as it was established — and as it has survived and operated — in Brazil, England, and Germany. Also, Chapter 4 highlights why the sport is or is not becoming more important and increasingly accepted and respected as a game for
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larger groups of sports fans in America and among the US general population. In short, this chapter (a) reveals when soccer became a dominant sport in Brazil, why Brazilian teams have won numerous regional and world championships in soccer, and which of the country’s former and current soccer coaches and players are considered by some experts to be legends; (b) describes England’s history, seasons, teams, and league system in the sport, summarizes the increasing ownership of English clubs by foreigners including wealthy American businessmen, and provides a table of the country’s number of victories and/or losses in World Cup competitions and other international soccer events; and (c) discusses Germany’s soccer history, leagues, and its national men and women teams, and a table of the success or failure of these clubs in such tournaments as FIFA World Cups and the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Championships. Finally, and equally important as other sections, Chapter 5 gives some reasons for when, why, and how ice hockey has existed as a national and immensely popular sport within Canada and also in the Czech Republic and Finland, and briefly reviews its origin and status in the United States. More specifically, Chapter 5: (a) for Canada, examines local fan’s fascination with ice hockey and the sport’s national history, development and organization, and its relationships with operations of the NHL and this American-based league’s teams; (b) for the Czech Republic, presents information about the sport’s infrastructure and its federations and leagues throughout the nation, and denotes the results of the country’s men and women ice hockey teams in such international events as the Olympic Games and tournaments controlled by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF); and (c) for Finland, reveals dates and other important facts about Finnish hockey milestones and some institutions and rules of the sport, and about global hockey events and the performances of Finland’s national men and women teams in these competitions. After Chapter 5 ends, the conclusion is given in Chapter 6. It is followed by the back matter that includes Appendices A and B, the Selected Bibliography, and Index. As such, Chapter 6 summarizes the key topics and issues that were expressed in Chapters 2–5 and Appendix A. Moreover, it provides some insights and prognoses about the sports business and economics of primarily four team sports among a total of 12 nations from an international perspective, and including the game of cricket. Essentially, Appendix A discusses how cricket became a very popular and national sport especially in Australia, India, and Pakistan. Initially, it describes — in short — why and to what extent cricket has developed as a
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minor or secondary sport within the United States. Then, the appendix includes: (a) for Australia, the origin, development, and prestige of cricket in that country and the significant administrative role of the Australian Cricket Board and the success of various national men and women cricket teams of Australia in international matches and other well-known events; (b) for India, the sport’s organization and its prominent national clubs, and furthermore, the performances of India’s men and women cricket teams in events, and the sport’s growth, prosperity, and fan base among an Indian population that exceeds one billion; and (c) for Pakistan, highlights the nation’s cricket’s history, national teams, and the responsibilities of the Cricket Board, and also some economic and social problems associated with the sport in Pakistan such as bribes, gambling and illegal drugs, and the circumstances surrounding the recent death of the men’s cricket coach Bob Woolmer in Jamaica. Moreover, whether cricket can establish and sustain a larger fan base in the United States and how to expand it as a sport in other areas of the world are additional issues analyzed in Appendix A. Then Appendix B contains tables of historical data, statistics, and other meaningful information that relate to events of the sport in one or more of the chapters and Appendix A. Meanwhile, the Selected Bibliography consists of articles, books, dissertations, media guides, Internet web sites, and reports that were read or reviewed as references by me but may or may not have been embedded in notes of the introduction, chapters, conclusion, and Appendix A. Finally, the Index includes an alphabetical listing of pertinent topics and such information as sports events and institutions, key words and terms, and the names of leagues, teams, coaches, and players. As such, the Index is available for the benefit of readers and those who research and study the histories of these team sports.
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2 Baseball in Dominican Republic, Japan, and Venezuela
ORIGINS OF BASEBALL Unlike basketball, which in 1891 was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts, by a Canadian named James Naismith, the sport of baseball had primarily evolved from ‘bat — or stick — and ball’ games that were played by individuals in Europe during the late 1700s and early 1800s. Even so, there are a number of references in the literature identifying a similar sport that had existed in Europe beginning in the early to mid-1700s. These sources describe some common terms and other similarities which different types of baseball games had shared with such sports as English cricket and rounders, which each originated decades before 1800. In cricket matches, for example, words like batsman, pitch, and put out were used and in rounders, terms like hitting square and inning had appeared in newspaper articles of communities. In fact, some of the foreign athletes that had participated in English cricket and rounders occasionally reported about another sport called “base.”Americans, in turn, played a type of rounders game that was mentioned in various readings as “townball.”1 1
For a brief discussion of folk games that were played by athletes in the British Isles and about the game of stoolball, see “Origins of Baseball.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 11 July 2007]. 23
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Besides cricket, rounders, base, and townball, other versions of baseball were probably created and in existence very early in modern history. To illustrate, during the 11th century a game called “stoolball” emerged in which a player tossed a ball at a target that was defended by another player. According to legend, milkmaids played stoolball while waiting for their husbands to return from chores after farming in fields of crops. Another crude version of baseball had appeared in Europe between the late 1700s and early 1800s. Similar to the game of rounders, Germans created “Schlagball” in which a bowler threw a ball at a striker who circled the bases but avoided being hit by the ball.Thus, a few references, terms, and examples exist to verify the origins of baseball prior to 1800, and to prove that the sport then was in its most primitive stage of development.2
Baseball in America Between 1800 and 1850, some of the earliest references to baseball had appeared in American literature. That is, city newspapers and other local publications began describing the sport and spelled it as “base,” “bassball,” “baseball,”“goal ball,” and/or “round ball.”To identify aspects of the game during these years, a party meant team and four stones or stakes were arranged as bases at specific locations on a field, which was shaped like a diamond.To play a game, each party or team had pitched to itself. Meanwhile, bases were circled by players in a clockwise direction, and these players incurred outs by swinging at and missing three pitched balls or by getting hit with a ball while moving between the bases. Before 1845 — when Alexander Cartwright proceeded to establish rules for the game — small towns and rural communities in America organized baseball teams while other clubs were being formed in large cities and urban areas. In southern New Jersey, for example, some amateur sports associations within neighborhoods of cities played townball in 1831 and two years later, the Olympic Ball Club of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania was founded. Eventually, various amateur associations located on the east coast of the United States merged and played games against each other, and then assembled themselves into larger groups (or pre-leagues), which competed against other teams from cities and towns in outlying areas.As to the early development of the sport’s standards, in 1838 some of the townball associations 2 Cricket and rounders, and Schlagball are mentioned as sports games in “Baseball History: 19th Century Baseball.” http://www.19cbaseball.com [cited 11 July 2007].
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proposed and then adopted, published, and implemented baseball’s first constitution while the first recorded baseball game officially occurred during the mid-1840s. In short, before 1850 baseball had been accepted by the public and established as a sport in America. Furthermore, a number of rules and regulations were written by baseball officials to structure and effectively organize the sport and thereby increase its popularity and expansion in the United States during the mid-to-late years of the 19th century and early 20th century.3 Numerous books, readings, and other publications have reported on baseball’s emergence, development, and growth as an amateur and professional sport in America. From a professional perspective, some of the most important milestones throughout baseball’s history can be grouped in years as follows: (a) 1851–1899, when the formation of the National Association of Base Ball Players (1858), National Association (1871), National League (1876), American Association (1882), and Union Association (1884) had occurred; (b) 1900–1949, when the American League (1901) and Major League Baseball (1903) were started, and playing of the first World Series (1903) and entry of the first African American player (1947) had happened; (c) 1950–1999, when the first movement of a team (1953), league expansion (1961), and locating a team in Canada (1969) took place, and the adoption of free agency (1974). In sum, these were a few significant events and dates of the sport that each has contributed to baseball becoming an institution within the US culture, and being recognized during those periods as the country’s pastime.4 Therefore, given the foregoing information and knowledge of baseball history in America, and facts about the sport’s early origin in Europe and its growth and development as a major sport in North America, the remaining sections of this chapter discuss baseball’s role — that is, its culture, history and success — and then its commercial implications within the Dominican
3
The origins of the game in America and other historical information about baseball are described in Sean Lahman. “History of Baseball Part I — The Baseball Archive.” http://www.baseball1.com [cited 11 July 2007]. For the game’s future international expansion, see William W. Kelly. “Is Baseball a Global Sport? America’s “National Pastime” as Global Field and International Sport.” Global Networks,Vol. 7, No. 2 (April 2007): 187–201. 4 See the Official Major League Baseball Fact Book 2005 Edition (St. Louis, MO: Sporting News, 2005); World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006 (New York, NY: World Almanac Books, 2006).
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Republic (DR), Japan, and Venezuela. For clarification, these three countries were selected to represent this sport because they are places where the game is very popular and, in part, the nations have a reputation for producing and developing young and talented domestic athletes to excel as players for their national teams, and also for professional clubs in America’s minor leagues and for franchises in the big leagues.
BASEBALL IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC While American sailors were busy in Cuba throughout the mid-1860s loading sugar on boats for export to other nations, they introduced the game of baseball to the Cuban population. During those years, however, a civil war had erupted in that country. As a result, thousands of young, middle-aged, and elderly people fled Cuba and migrated to other islands of the Caribbean including Hispaniola a nation that was politically unstable and thus split apart in the mid-1800s, with Haiti occupying the western third of the island and the DR located in the central and eastern portions of it. Interestingly, the most developed and prosperous sections of Hispaniola were scattered in the south, southeast, and east regions, and along the southern coast, where the sugarcane industry had existed. Consequently, it was immigrants from Cuba and local athletes who began playing the game of baseball or “beisbol” at sites in cities, small towns, and rural areas that were primarily situated in the southeast portion of the island.Then as the game gradually spread throughout southern and eastern Hispaniola, some ballplayers decided to organize local teams and play their games in various domestic leagues and in tournaments. Eventually, and even while some US military units occupied the island from 1916 to 1924, a number of baseball teams formed in their hometowns, became dominant as national sports organizations, and have continued to compete into the early 2000s. Thus, it was initially Cubans and later Americans who were responsible for importing and starting baseball as an amateur sport in various areas of Hispaniola.5 5
Two sources to research for the sport’s history in this South American country are “Baseball and the Dominican Republic.” http://www.hispaniola.com [cited 3 June 2007]; Bill Bathe. “Dominican Republic Baseball.” http://ezinearticles.com [cited 3 June 2007].Also, see Jim Daniels. Dominican Diamonds (New York, NY: M. Shanken Communications, 1997); Marcos Breton. Home is Everything: The Latino Story (El Paso,TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2003); Rob Ruck. The Tropic of Baseball: Baseball in the Dominican Republic (Westport, CT: Meckler, 1991).
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Baseball Leagues Six years after future dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo and his followers overthrew the existing government in the DR and assumed power in 1930, the Dominican Summer League (DSL) was organized and its teams began to play baseball games. When the league failed in 1936, Trujillo became extremely interested in the sport. Hence in 1937, he revitalized the defunct league by merging two of its rival teams and renaming another one after himself. Indeed, the latter club featured a few outstanding African American ballplayers from the Pittsburgh Crawfords of the US Negro Leagues. Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, these players included Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, and Satchel Paige. Anyway, that year the competition among teams in the DSL was fierce because they had imported great professional players from Cuba, the United States, and other countries.Trujillo, meanwhile, had staked his personal reputation on — and publicly supported in the league’s summer championship series of 1937 — a team named Los Dragones who then proceeded to win a DSL title. Nevertheless, when its season ended, the league folded due to the financial problems of teams that had recruited and spent large sums of money on such high-priced ballplayers as the Los Dragones’ Bell, Gibson and Paige, Las Anguilas’ Luis Tiant and Horacio Martinez, and Estrelles Orientales’ Ramon Bragana and Cocaina Garcia. Subsequently, because of economic difficulties and for cultural, political, and social reasons, professional baseball did not return in total to the DR until the early 1950s.6 Owing to the contributions and passions of wealthy families and individuals who loved sports, and the development and success of the DR’s amateur international baseball teams, the DSL was restarted in 1951 and four years later, the professional Dominican Winter League (DWL) began to operate. For its regular baseball seasons, the latter organization from then to the early 2000s has consisted of approximately four to six teams. As noted in Table 2.1, between the 1955 and 2006 seasons of play the two most dominant teams in the DWL have been Aguilas Cibaenas whose home ballpark is in Santiago, and Tigres del Licey whom plays its home games at a stadium in the capital and port city of Santa Domingo.The host sites of other teams in column one
6
For an overview of baseball in the Dominican Republic and events in the sport during 1992–1999, there is “Dominican Baseball.” http://www.cubanball.com [cited 23 March 2005]; T. Kepner. “Dominicans Display Their Power and Their Passion.” New York Times (8 March 2006): D1–D2; Mark Kurlansky.“Where Champions Begin.” Parade (22 July 2007): 4–5.
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Table 2.1 Team Performances, Dominican Winter League, 1955–1960, 1963–1964, and 1966–2006 Team Aguilas Cibaenas Azucareros del Este Estrellas Orientales Gigantes del Cibao Leones del Escogido Tigres del Licey
Champion
Runner-up
Total
18 1 1 0 12 17
14 2 12 1 11 9
32 3 13 1 23 26
Note: For various reasons, there were no regular seasons or postseasons played in the DWL during 1961, 1962, and 1965. Source:“Championship History.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]; Peter C. Bjarkman. Diamonds Around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005), p. 193.
of the table are in the DR cities of La Romana for Azucareros del Este, San Pedro de Macoris for Estrellas Orientales, San Francisco de Macoris for Gigantes del Cibao, and Santo Domingo for Leones del Escogido. As expected, each of these cities is located in the eastern half of the island, which is more developed, populated, and prosperous than the western half.7 Table 2.1 reveals some interesting facts and other insights about the history and success of professional baseball in the DR. First, two teams have won 71 percent of the DWL championships and in total, had played well enough to finish runner-up in about 47 percent of the seasons.These exceptional performances suggest that the best amateur and professional ballplayers in the DR have tended to be recruited by — and signed contracts with — Aguilas Cibaenas and Tigres del Licey because these teams, in part, pay the highest salaries and also attract the most baseball scouts from big league teams like the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Yankees. Second, it is remarkable that only four to six teams have competed against each other during seasons in the DWL. In other words, unlike Major League Baseball (MLB) in America, in the DWL there have been few if any league expansions into other metropolitan areas of the DR and/or the relocation of clubs from one city to another. Hence, the reluctance of the DWL to increase or decrease the number of its teams, and/or the inertia to move 7
The league’s history and its teams and their players are briefly summarized in “Dominican Winter Baseball League.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007].
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one or more of them during 50-plus seasons of play, is likely based on avoiding higher expenses for salaries, transportation, and administrative operations, and also on the inability and/or unwillingness of populations in local markets with low or moderate incomes and wealth to adequately support Dominican teams in the regular seasons of professional baseball. Third, Leones del Escogido won its 12th DWL championship in 1992 while Azucareros del Este won its first and only title in 1995, as did Estrellas Orientales in 1968. Perhaps these three teams have failed to win more championships since 1955 because the league’s most successful managers include such legends as the former California Angels’ Winston Ltenas and Detroit Tigers’ Johnny Lipon of the Aguilas Cibaenas, and the former Los Angeles Dodgers’ Tom LaSorda and San Francisco Giants’ player Manny Mota, who each had managed Tigres del Licey championship teams during, respectively, the early 1970s and 1980s. Two other managers from MLB who had won DWL titles while coaching for Aguilas Cibaenas were the former Toronto Blue Jays’ Ozzie Virgil and Milwaukee Brewers’ Terry Francona, and for Tigres del Licey it was the Milwaukee Braves’ Del Crandall and Los Angeles Dodgers’ John Roseboro. In short, some of the men who successfully coached teams and thus won championships in the DWL had also excelled as former players and/or managers of MLB teams. Fourth, based on its history and tradition, the conduct, performance, and structure of the DWL will remain relatively stable and consistent during years after the current (2008) season expires. That is, in the future one or two teams will probably dominate the league as champions and very few — if any — expansions or relocations of clubs are likely to occur. Meanwhile, MLB franchises will increasingly exploit, invest in, and improve their training academies for ballplayers in order to scout, recruit, and sign Dominican players that have the greatest potential to succeed. In other words, the most available and talented amateur athletes in the sport of baseball from Latin America were, and continue to be, those from the DR.
Caribbean Series Forty-nine Caribbean Series have been played and completed through 2007. Specifically, the tournament occurred for 12 consecutive years (1949–1960) and then for 11 (1970–1980) and 26 (1982–2007). In retrospect, it was canceled during the 1960s and again from 1971 to 1979 because of Fidel Castro and his revolution in Cuba and also the island’s closing of its borders to foreign organized baseball. Then the Series was scheduled in Caracas but
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terminated again in 1981 due to a Venezuelan League player’s strike. During the Series’ first period — which consisted of a dozen years — the champion winter league teams from Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela had competed against each other. As a result, Cuba won seven titles, Puerto Rico four, Panama one, and Venezuela zero. Nevertheless, in 1970 the DR and Mexico replaced Cuba and Panama in the Series and furthermore, for the first time, the rosters of nation’s teams included a number of superior ballplayers from other clubs in their respective leagues. Consequently, the Series revived itself by being transformed into a tournament of baseball allstar teams from each of the four countries rather than the original group of league champions.8 As such, Table 2.2 indicates the distribution of 37 titles among four teams who had participated in the Caribbean Series between 1970 and 2007. As denoted in columns two through four of the table, the DR had dominated the tournament in, respectively, average winning percentages and number of championships.This happened because of the accomplishments of such great Dominican players as Manny Mota, Rico Carty, Pedro Borbon, and Jose Rijo. Furthermore, manager Ozzie Virgil had accumulated the most managerial victories at 14 and in fact,Tigres del Licey won three of the Series championships in the 1970s, two in the 1980s, three in the 1990s, and one in
Table 2.2 Caribbean Series Baseball Champions, 1970–1980 and 1982–2007 Country Dominican Republic Puerto Rico Venezuela Mexico
Games
Winning Percentages
Championships
226 232 213 215
0.612 0.527 0.487 0.328
16 10 6 5
Note:The Series was cancelled in 1981. Puerto Rico entered two teams in 2003. Venezuela did not participate in 1974 and 2003. Mexico did not enter a team in 1970, but two of them in 1974. Source: Peter C. Bjarkman. Diamonds Around the Globe, pp. 518–520;“2006 Caribbean Series.” http://www.answers.com [cited 13 July 2007]; “2007 Caribbean Series.” http://www.answers. com [cited 13 July 2007].
8
The most complete information about the Caribbean Series up to 2003 is contained in Peter C. Bjarkman. Diamonds Around the Globe:The Encyclopedia of International Baseball (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005), and also in “Caribbean Series.” http://www.answers.com [cited 13 July 2007].
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the 2000s. Although several players from the other three nations had succeeded as batting average and pitching champions, and as home run leaders during some years of the Series, it was the superior athletes, coaches, and managers from DR teams who have excelled since 1970, and also previously in 1949–1960. Despite these achievements, in a few of the non-Caribbean Series or alternatively, in various amateur and/or professional baseball tournaments, DR teams have been inferior performers. Other than winning one title each in the Senior League and World Cup through 2005, DR clubs have earned zero championships in such international tournaments as the Little League World Series and in the Intercontinental Cup,World Junior AAA,World Youth AA, and Olympic Games. Apparently this nation prefers to focus its efforts, resources, and investments on the development, prosperity, and stability of the DWL, and therefore prepare its national teams to win the annual Caribbean Series. Historically there are several reasons for why the DR has been and will be a superpower in the Caribbean Series and likewise, why the nation has a large percentage of foreign players on many of the teams in MLB as of 2008. First, since the sport was introduced on the island by Cuban refugees during the mid-to-late-1860s, Dominicans have become extremely fanatical and diehard sports fans, and very passionate about local baseball events. Even in many of the country’s poorest cities and most remote towns, a dilapidated ballpark or stadium exists in a neighborhood while crude baseball diamonds and dirt fields are scattered everywhere on the island.Thus, it is at the grassroots level that Dominican athletes — while they are very young children, and kids and teenagers — commit to play the sport with teammates and vigorously compete to win their games with determination, enthusiasm, and pride. As a result, the best young ballplayers in the nation succeed in the sport and are rewarded with an opportunity to play on more competitive local, regional and national amateur, semiprofessional and professional teams, and/or perhaps sign contracts during their mid-to-late teens, or as young adults, with MLB franchises. Second, there is fierce competition between young Dominican athletes to be admitted into domestic and big leagues baseball academies that are located at various sites in the DR. Despite them having poor equipment and playing without uniforms or shoes, kids with inferior or no educations and those who exist as members of impoverished families are motivated to practice hours each day and then perform over and over again at tryouts in order to enter one of these baseball facilities, which are conveniently placed
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primarily throughout the southeastern part of the nation. If these athletes excel and are scouted by licensed buscones and/or official baseball agents, such ballplayers may be signed by teams and then while living in an academy, be provided with proper equipment, clean and complete uniforms, and most of all, get an opportunity to make considerably more money and enjoy a better life. In his book, Home is Everything: The Latino Baseball Story, sportswriter Marcos Breton highlighted the appeal of baseball academies in the DR as follows:“Teams house their players in dormitories and feed their prospects balanced meals. Often it’s the first time these boys will sleep under clean sheets, eat nutritious meals, and encounter a toilet or indoor shower. They are taught discipline, the importance of being on time, of following instructions.”9 The third reason for the DR’s location, prominence, and success as a source of athletic talent in — and passion for — baseball is because of the island’s former and current ballplayers who had performed — or continue to play — for MLB teams.These men are national celebrities and thus adored by Dominican sports fans as heroes and emulated by kids and teenagers as role models.A very short list of them includes the retired Felipe and Matty Alou, Sammy Sosa, Juan Marichal and Juan Vargas, and the active Vladimir Guerrero, Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, and Albert Pujols. Moreover, these great ballplayers represent to millions of Latin Americans an example for how outstanding local athletes have escaped the poverty and wretched living conditions that exist within some neighborhoods of such cities as Higuey, Puerto Plata, San Cristobal, Santo Domingo, Santiago, San Pedro de Macoris, and La Romano. Thus, the DR has been one of the most attractive and longstanding markets for talented baseball players, investments in training academies, and dedicated fans beyond the borders of the United States. Even so, some historians, professors, and sportswriters have been very critical and disillusioned about the decisions of MLB commissioners and actions of the league’s teams and their scouts, and about how Dominican sports officials have allowed young men and their families living on the island to be controlled, exploited, and mismanaged. In their articles and books, these critics have documented the abuses to local ballplayers who 9
See, for example, Dave Zirin. “How Baseball Strip-Mines the Dominican Republic.” http://www.commondreams.org [cited 3 June 2007]; Kathleen O’Brien. “In the Dominican is Baseball a Ticket to Paradise?” at http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 24 February 2004]; Joe Posnanski. “Few Baseball Dreams Realized But Many Dashed in Dominican Republic.” http://www.kansascity.com [cited 8 April 2003].
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live in academies and away from their families, have condemned the mistreatment of some Dominican athletes by unlicensed buscones and player’s agents, and have revealed the lack of interest by MLB teams to conscientiously inform and adequately educate any ballplayers from the DR who may play in America’s big leagues. For examples of books about this topic, in Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream, the author notes that although the United States is widely mistrusted in Latin America for its culture and customs, political views, and worldwide aggressiveness and domination in business and economics, Dominicans grudgingly accept the presence of — and contributions by — MLB clubs on their island. Whereas in Stealing Lives: The Globalization of Baseball and the Tragic Story of Alexis Quiroz, Arturo J. Marcano and David P. Fidler researched, outlined, and then discussed some proposals as ethical standards and policies for governing and regulating academies in the DR, and for developing Latin American players who perform on professional teams in the United States. As such, these authors provided a few principled reforms for MLB to evaluate, implement, and enforce to avoid what tragically happened to Alexis Quiroz and other Dominicans during their training years while in academies, and throughout their careers with various organizations in America’s minor leagues and big league baseball.10 In his insightful but somewhat abstract and theoretical article entitled “Culture, Politics, and Baseball in the Dominican Republic,” author Alan M. Klein contends that, in part, North Americans are destroying the local traditions and national autonomies of the DR. Basically, Klein examines when, why, and how many US professional baseball organizations and their respective business partners had decided to interfere with and disturb Dominicans and the cultural, economic, and political lives of people, social groups, and communities on the island. Specifically, his article contains major sections on the early phase of baseball imperialism, US domination of Dominican baseball, and the sport of baseball as a political–cultural ideology. In the article’s conclusion, Klein writes: “They [Dominicans] are a beleaguered but proud 10
These two volumes are Alan M. Klein. Sugarball: The American Game, The Dominican Dream (New Haven, CT:Yale University Press, 1991); Arturo J. Marcano and David P. Fidler. Stealing Lives: The Globalization of Baseball and the Tragic Story of Alexis Quiroz (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2003). Furthermore, see Leticia G. Gonzalez. “The Stacking of Latinos in Major League Baseball.” Journal of Sport and Social Issues,Vol. 20, No. 2 (1996): 134–160.
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people who may someday rebel; to predict when the flashpoint will occur, we might well look first to the game [baseball] that has the trappings of the oppressor but the essence of Dominican resolve.” Nonetheless, since the article’s publication in 1995, the proportion of Dominican players on MLB teams has steadily increased, and there has been no violent or political rebellions by poor and so-called dominated Latin Americans against their oppressors. Furthermore, some MLB teams have substantially contributed to improvements in people’s living conditions by increasing their investments in the nation’s baseball academies, local businesses and communities, and by providing lifetime opportunities for hundreds of Dominican youths to help these athletes realize their dreams and become heroes and millionaires from playing this sport in America.11 For another viewpoint about these controversies and problems, in an interview on a National Public Radio program in late 2004, the Senior Manager of the MLB Office in the DR, Rafael Perez, spoke about the history and immense popularity and success of baseball in cities of Latin America. Interestingly, he mentioned how circumstances have changed since the early 1990s to increase the actual and potential benefits for young and aspiring Dominican ballplayers. According to Perez, there are approximately 27 academies in the DR that frequently sign teenagers and adults to contracts. He said that a portion of these athletes will eventually earn relatively lucrative salaries in American baseball leagues as opposed to working in agriculture and sweatshops in this and other third-world countries. Regarding their baseball equipment and accessories, Perez mentioned that many Dominican boys and young men who play on local teams now use leather gloves rather than milk cartons to catch baseballs. Also, they practice and play games in shoes and not barefoot or in sandals, and they use wooden and/or aluminum bats and not broomsticks to hit baseballs that are made of rawhide and not rolled, wool and cotton socks. Finally, Perez stated that it is a dream of all youngsters — and especially those from poor and even middle class communities in the DR — to play professional baseball and proudly represent their nation on teams in the minor or big leagues of America.12 11 For the complete article, read Alan M. Klein.“Culture, Politics, and Baseball in the Dominican Republic.” Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Summer 1995): 111–130. 12 See Melissa Block.“Interview: Rafael Perez Talks About Dominican Baseball Players and the Popularity of Baseball in the Dominican Republic.” http://www.npr.org [cited 1 July 2007].
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In Chapter 4 of his book Diamonds Around the Globe, Peter C. Bjarkman is concerned about any current or future economic crises in the DR that would deplete consumer incomes and cause baseball fans to stop attending games and supporting teams who play in the DWL. Also, he worries whether the stock of young Dominican ballplayers will continue to expand when such popular MLB role models and superstars as David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, Albert Pujols, and Manny Ramirez retire from the sport. For sure, Bjarkman also realizes that in the next 5–10 years the number of Dominicans elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Pennsylvania, will increase and join the former San Francisco Giants pitcher, Juan Marichal. If so, then more sports fans in the United States will recognize and appreciate how much goodwill, entertainment, and value that the DR’s players have contributed to the success of former and current teams in the American League and National League of MLB.13 To learn more details about the history of baseball and its cultural, economic, and social roles in the DR, see Chapter 1 in Sport Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues and Chapters 12–14 in Baseball, Inc.: The National Pastime as Big Business. In the first book, this Latin American nation is evaluated for its potential as a global baseball market, and also the DR is discussed relative to such topics as an MLB drug test program and worldwide player draft system, and as the country’s participation in a World Cup of Baseball tournament that was renamed the World Baseball Classic (NBC) in 2006. In the second book, readers are provided data, facts, and also general information about baseball in the DR, about the number of years that Dominicans have played on MLB teams, and about the all-time career statistics of former and current Dominican ballplayers who have been excellent performers on their big league clubs. This group includes such outstanding athletes as Miguel Tejada for his consecutive games played, Sammy Sosa for his years leading MLB in runs scored and the National League in home runs, Manny Mota for his pinch hits as a batter, Manny Ramirez for his slugging percentage and number of grand slams — that is, home runs with runners on each base — Pedro Martinez for his highest winning percentage as a pitcher, and Juan Marichal for the number of shutouts that he had pitched. Lastly, Chapter 14 in Baseball, Inc. reveals how successful or unsuccessful DR teams have been 13
These facts are reported in Peter C. Bjarkman. Diamonds Around the Globe, 159–174.
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in the Caribbean Series and also their performances in other international baseball events.14 The previous paragraph concludes the discussion about baseball and its history, role, and status in the first of three foreign nations. In the next two major sections of this chapter, the sport is described as it exists in Japan and then in Venezuela. As mentioned before with respect to the DR, in the following contents there will be information highlighting how baseball began in each of these two countries and about the sport’s culture, development, and growth there as an institution and activity for different segments of their populations.
BASEBALL IN JAPAN During the early 1870s Horace Wilson — a 28-year-old Civil War veteran, American English and mathematics teacher, and a baseball enthusiast — sailed on a ship with his wife and son from San Francisco, California to Tokyo, Japan, where he joined the faculty of Daigaku Minamiko, which was renamed South College and later Kaiseiko, and then in 1897, became known as Tokyo Imperial University (TIU). While employed at this educational institution, Wilson became a popular instructor when he taught his students how to play the sport of baseball and also had encouraged people in the community to attend local games that were held on weekends at the school’s playgrounds.After Wilson completed his second three-year term at the school in the late 1870s, he and his family returned to the United States. Nevertheless, as a result of Wilson’s efforts and initiatives, the game of baseball had attracted a dedicated group of athletes and fans among the Japanese people who lived within Tokyo and among the city’s surrounding areas.15 While baseball was being introduced by Wilson to various college students throughout the mid-to-late 1870s, other schools across the nation eventually began to adopt and play the sport, and also to form some local 14
Authored by Frank P. Jozsa. Jr., these books are Sports Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues (Aldershot, England:Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004); Baseball, Inc.: The National Pastime as Big Business (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006). 15 For the histories of amateur baseball organizations and development of professional baseball in Japan, and the Japan-United Baseball Games, see “Baseball in Japan.” http://www.niseibaseball.com [cited 3 June 2007].
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teams. In fact, railroad engineer Hiraoka Hiroshi successfully organized Japan’s first private-sector baseball team in 1878 at the Shinbashi Athletic Club (SAC) in Tokyo.A few years later he built the country’s first sports field that was designated exclusively for baseball practices and games, and then in 1884, Hiroshi organized another team and named it the Hercules Club. As rival baseball clubs gradually emerged in Tokyo and other cities, an organizational structure developed throughout Japan whereby teams began to compete against each other in games according to a schedule of dates. Hence, as baseball became more prevalent during the mid to late-1880s and early to mid-1890s in communities besides Tokyo, some Japanese officials and sportswriters argued that it had already surpassed cricket to become the nation’s most common, publicized, and popular sport. In the early 1900s, baseball gained even more of an audience and fan base in Japan and thus greatly expanded as a national sport.That is, between 1900 and 1925 amateur baseball organizations were founded in numerous Japanese elementary, junior, and high schools, and in many of the country’s colleges and universities. For example, a series of games that was played between Keio and Waseda Universities started in 1903, and 11 years later these two schools combined with Hosei, Mejii, Rikkyo, and Tokyo Universities to form the Big Six University Baseball League. This organization, in turn, became Japan’s most popular group of baseball teams for sports fans from the 1910s to 1940s. Meanwhile, beginning in about 1905 a number of Japanese and American collegiate and semiprofessional baseball clubs made visits across oceans and competed in games against each other, while their coaches met and exchanged information about such baseball strategies as how to bunt, steal bases, complete a squeeze play, and throw different speeds and types of pitches to batters. In the end, the interaction among various national teams and their coaches, players and staffs, led to the further development of the game especially in Japan, because in America, it was already flourishing as the nation’s pastime since it appealed to and entertained millions of spectators and attracted big crowds at the teams’ ballparks.16
Amateur Baseball Two amateur baseball events that have been held for decades at Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture are the All-Japan High School Championship 16
This reading is “Baseball: America’s Most Successful Export.” http://www.sg.embjapan.go.jp [cited 3 June 2007].
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Tournament, which began in the summer of 1915, and the National High School Baseball Championship Tournament, which originated in the spring of 1924. Each year these two competitions attract the top teams from Japan’s 40-plus prefectures, and as a result, they have generated tremendous interest and support from sports fans across the country. The tournaments’ games are broadcast live and nationwide on television networks and radio stations, and it is not unusual for one million or more people to visit Hyogo and enthusiastically root for their favorite team or teams. In Japanese cities whose baseball clubs qualify for the finals of these events, some businesses have closed for days while intra-city traffic may be stopped or rerouted while fans watch their teams perform in games on television and listen to them on the radio. Besides these great tournaments, various amateur baseball clubs that are not composed of high school students compete in different leagues and series of games. The latter events include an inter-city baseball championship tournament and a Japan amateur baseball championship tournament. Interestingly, all nonprofessional competitions in the sport are scheduled and supervised by the Japan Amateur Baseball Federation, which consists of several high school and college baseball representatives, and other sports officials.17 Other than qualifying for and competing in high school tournaments and university leagues, some amateur baseball teams from Japan have played in and have succeeded to win a few international tournaments. As reported in Table 14.4 of Baseball, Inc., Japanese clubs won an Intercontinental Cup in 1973 and 1997 and also two Asia Baseball Federation titles in the 1950s, four in the 1960s, one in the 1970s, two in the 1980s, and three in the 1990s. In a number of Olympic Games, the nation’s teams finished third in 1992, second in 1996 and third in 2004, and then placed third in the 2002 World University Championships besides earning a few medals in various Baseball World Cup tournaments. Furthermore, since the Little League World Series was initially played in 1947, Japanese teams became champions in 1967, 1968, 1976, 1999, 2001, and 2003, and finished second in 1998 and 2002. With respect to Japan’s very recent championship, in 2006 pitcher and most valuable player Daisuke Matsuzaka and outfielder Ichiro Suzuki led their team to a victory over Cuba in the inaugural WBC that was played at
17
Such information is discussed in “Baseball in Japan” and “Baseball: America’s Most Successful Export.”
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MLB ballparks in the United States. While Matsuzaka won three of his team’s games and Suzuki batted 0.364, Japan finished the tournament with the best record among those in the Classic, that is, five wins and three losses.18 Besides Japan — whose teams are usually outstanding because they have won titles in the Asia Baseball Federation — other foreign countries have tended to be competitive and thus dominate results in some international baseball tournaments. By a wide margin, the most successful of these nations is Cuba whose teams compete in the International Cup, Pan and Central American Games, Olympic Games, and the World University Championships. Meanwhile in the Little League tournament, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) won 17 World Series between 1947 and 2005 while teams from the United States finished first in 26. In short, Japan’s amateur baseball teams have been competitive globally and except for the WBC, generally rank behind Cuba and the United States as a power in the international tournaments in which they qualify for, enter and compete.
Professional Baseball During the early 1930s, a few of several baseball clubs that consisted of American all-star ballplayers visited Japan and played a series of games there against some of Japan’s best university teams. These contests were especially exciting for sports fans and populations within communities, and therefore, they motivated Japanese citizens to concentrate on, invest resources in, and upgrade the sport’s competitive level. As a result, in 1934 the Nihon or otherwise Dainippon Tokyo Yakyu Baseball Club — later renamed the Tokyo Kyojin or Tokyo Giants — was organized and before that year had ended, a total of seven professional baseball teams existed and performed throughout Japan.Then about one year later, the country’s Yakyu Baseball Club toured America and during January–February of 1936, a professional Japanese baseball league was formed in Tokyo.Through the late 1930s and early 1940s, the league consisted of six to eight teams per season. However, it was forced to suspend its operations after Allied aircraft
18
See Baseball, Inc., 136–146, and Brian Bremmer. “In Japan, Baseball’s Chance to Homer.” Business Week Online (7 June 2005): 1.
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bombed the city in 1945. Nevertheless, in 1946 the league resumed its normal schedule of games.19 With the support of US Army General Douglas MacArthur and because of sponsorships from Japanese corporations, a Central League and Pacific League were each established in 1950 with the leagues’ teams competing against each other in games during seven-month regular seasons, that is, from April to October. Normally, the teams in each league have played 130–135 games per season and in early October, the leagues’ champions then participate in the prestigious Japan Series to win a national championship.The most successful one-half dozen teams in the Series are listed in column one of Table 2.3. As the table indicates, the Yomiuri Giants and Seibu Lions have won 27 or 65 percent of the Series championships since 1950 and, respectively, each of them dominates the Central League and Pacific League.
Table 2.3 Top Six All-time Champions, Japan Series, 1950–2006 Team Yomiuri Giants Seibu Lions Yakult Swallows Hankyu Braves Hiroshima Toyo Carp Nishitetsu Lions
Champion
Runner-up
Total
18 9 5 3 3 3
10 6 1 7 3 2
28 15 6 10 6 5
Note: The Giants won its first championship in 1951 as did the Seibu Lions in 1982, Swallows in 1978, Braves in 1975,Toyo Carp in 1979, and Nishitetsu Lions in 1956. Source: Peter C. Bjarkman. Diamonds Around the Globe, pp. 143–144, and “Japan Series.” http://www.britannica.com [cited 20 July 2007].
19 In part, the history of Japanese baseball during the 1800s and 1900s is discussed in Sayuri Guthrie-Shimizu. “For Love of the Game: Baseball in Early U.S.–Japanese Encounters and the Rise of a Transnational Sporting Fraternity.” Diplomatic History, Vol. 28, No. 5 (November 2004): 637–662; Robert K. Fitts. Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2005); D. Roden.“Baseball and the Quest For National Dignity in Meiji Japan.” American Historical Review, Vol. 85, No. 3 (June 1980): 511; Daniel E. Johnson. Japanese Baseball: A Statistical Handbook (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1999); Joseph A. Oshima-Reeves. Taking in a Game: A History of Baseball in Asia (Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 2004).
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In contrast, there are several interesting differences in customs, styles, and traditions between the franchises in MLB and professional baseball teams in Japan. First, in Japanese baseball the emphasis is on bunting, defense, and pitching strategies and not on hitting doubles, triples, and home runs for extra bases. This occurs, in part, because of the success of Eiji Sawamura who pitched and struck out New York Yankees slugger Babe Ruth three times in a game that Sawamura had played against a group of American all-stars in 1934. Furthermore, the majority of MLB players while at bat tend to display more power even though on average, ballparks in Japan are relatively smaller with shorter distances from home plate to the wall along the outfield, and despite baseballs used in Japanese games being smaller and lighter in weight. Second, team rituals and the rigorous conditioning of ballplayers are significant elements in Japanese baseball, and so are self-discipline, unity, and unselfishness. Indeed, as a result of fewer workouts and less running, stretching, and strenuous exercising, American ballplayers tend to be less fit, heavier, and more muscular than Japanese athletes. Even so, major leaguers in America perform as well if not better than the Japanese who play baseball, and also Americans do not wear down and fatigue themselves despite a 162game regular season schedule as opposed to, for example, their counterparts who play on such former Japan Series champions as the Chuncihi Dragons, Chiba Lotte Marines, and Nippon Ham Fighters. Third, since the 1960s Japanese baseball teams have become more ambitious, aggressive, and rougher in their tactics and strategies during the nine innings of games.Although the sport in Japan has been criticized by many traditionalists for becoming more Americanized, the rituals and gentlemanly sportsmanship of Japanese teams and players have diminished. In turn, these characteristics have been replaced by actions to ruthlessly defeat and humiliate their opponents by scoring as many runs as possible on offense and denying them any extra bases on defense. As a result, it has been more common in Japanese baseball during the 2000s to see brush-back pitches thrown at opposing batters as intimidation, players who slide hard into second and third base with their cleats up to avoid making an out, and more attempts by batters to swing their bat fast and hit for power. In part, the latter behavior became somewhat popular when the former Yomiuri Giants’ superstar Sadaharu Oh led the Japanese baseball leagues in home runs from 1962 to 1974 inclusive, and then again in 1976 and 1977. Indeed, for many baseball fans who live in nations of the Far East, Oh had replaced the great Babe Ruth as the premier home run
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hitter in professional baseball after Ruth had died in 1948 from throat cancer at the age of 53. Fourth, it has been a difficult adjustment for former MLB players to change their attitudes, habits, and skills, and successfully perform across a number of regular seasons on teams in Japan’s Central or Pacific League. Even so, some of the accomplished hitters from MLB who had played on Japanese teams and became stars were foreigners Matty Alou and Jose Vidal from the DR, Ben Oglivie and Dave Roberts from Panama, and Orestes Destrade and Roman Mejias from Cuba. In short, since cooperation, self-sacrifice, teamwork, and unity are traits required from ballplayers by managers of professional baseball teams in Japan, most Americans and non-Japanese athletes have not easily adjusted and conformed to managers’ expectations, and therefore, they played without passion and perseverance after they had transferred or retired from MLB and joined baseball organizations in the Far East. Consequently, the performances of former US ballplayers on Japanese teams have been relatively brief, disappointing, and uneventful. Alternatively, in recent years an increasing number of popular baseball superstars from Japan have migrated to play on big league teams in North America. To identify a few of them, since 2000 there were the Seattle Mariners’ outfielder Ichiro Suzuki from the Orix Blue Wave, New York Yankees’ outfielder Hideki Matsui from the Yomiuri Giants, St. Louis Cardinals’ outfielder So Taguchi from the Orix Blue Wave,Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ infielder Akinori Iwamura from the Kinetsu Buffaloes, and Boston Red Sox’ pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka from the Seibu Lions.According to a combination of agreements, alliances, and partnerships between MLB and the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and/or their teams, the latter group must be compensated by the former league and/or its franchises when any prominent Japanese players migrate to the big leagues. The Red Sox, for example, reportedly spent more than $100 million in 2007 to acquire Matsuzaka from the Seibu Lions. In turn, that amount was distributed about equally between him, and the NPB and his former club. As such, the scouting, recruitment, training, and employment of outstanding Japanese players by the Mariners,Yankees, Cardinals, Devil Rays, Red Sox, and the other 25 MLB teams will continue despite such huge payments and other economic barriers that are involved in these international transactions.20 20
For these types of negotiations and salary requirements, see “Red Sox Announce an Alliance with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball.” http://www. sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 5 July 2007], Jon Weinbach.“From Japan,With Mixed Results.” Wall Street Journal (27 July 2007):W1,W4.
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Issues in Japanese Baseball Besides problems from the differences in various nations’ currencies, languages, ethnocentricities, and traditions, the exodus of young, popular, and talented ballplayers from Japanese baseball teams to MLB franchises has, in part, created tensions and stress between professional sports officials of the two countries. During 2005, for example, the NPB challenged MLB by disputing how the dollar proceeds generated from the promotional rights to the 2006 WBC should be distributed among the 16 nations that participated in the tournament.That is, because of its significant development, history, and tradition as a professional baseball organization, the NPB demanded a larger share of the television rights fees for itself.After some high-level negotiations and economic concessions, the NPB finally settled its dispute with MLB and as a result, Japan entered a team in the Classic and then played well enough to win the event. In short, this is only one example of several short- and longrun minor and major conflicts, difficulties, and trends being experienced with respect to this sport between Japan and other nations of the world. Because of the emigration of such ballplayers as Suzuki, Matsui, and Matsuzaka, an alarming problem has developed. That is, an increasing number of knowledgeable, and well-educated and young Japanese baseball fans have switched their interests to teams in MLB and/or their enthusiasm, expenditures, and support to other local sports in Japan like outdoor soccer and rugby, and judo, karate, sumo wrestling and table tennis. As a result of this trend, during the early 2000s the attendances at games of teams that compete in Japan’s Central and Pacific Leagues were below expectations and thus many regional baseball clubs have incurred financial problems.The Kintesu Buffaloes, for instance, finished with a $36 million net loss from their operations in a recent year. This predicament suggests that in the future, a number of amateur and professional Japanese clubs will be compelled to participate in more prestigious international baseball tournaments like WBC, World Cups, and Olympic Games to revive the sport domestically and improve its image among the people of Japan. Another current but significant issue for members of the Central and Pacific Leagues is that Japanese owners of baseball franchises have tended to treat their teams as separate entities in order to market and sell the products and services of their companies, and not those of sports brand. Also, some of these owners have failed to invest sufficient resources and money in their baseball enterprises and thus not develop innovative promotional strategies for the benefit of fans who may attend home and away games at ballparks,
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and/or watch them on television. Consequently, the revenue and profit differences between small and big market professional teams in Japan are increasingly larger, which threatens the competitive balance within each of the leagues. For solutions to this dilemma, there have been discussions by the leagues’ officials to implement an integrated system of television rights and/or adopt a revenue-sharing plan as it exists in MLB. Furthermore, the NPB is encouraging more wealthy entrepreneurs, moguls, and businesses to invest their financial capital and become part or full time owners of professional Japanese teams. To illustrate, recently Masayoshi Son — who is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Softbank — and Hiroshi Mikitani — who operates the popular Rakuten electronic retailing web sites — each became owners of NPB clubs. Other concerns, conditions, and viewpoints about the ownership problems within Japan’s professional baseball leagues were also discussed in an edition of Asian Business. According to a columnist in this publication, “Sports writers and entertainment professionals say that Japanese baseball as an organized economic enterprise is a holdout from the days when Japan’s economy was run by huge organizations managed by an elite few with little regard for market realities. By this measure, teams’ owners are decidedly old school.” To resolve this issue, it has been recommended by officials that the owners of Japan’s baseball teams study and learn how to better compete on a global scale as such other Japanese industries as automobiles, electronics, and toys did during the 1960s–2000s. In other words, these franchise owners need to focus on sports markets in order to generate more revenues and greater attendances at home games and also to increase the television ratings of the sport by providing the types of baseball equipment, memorabilia, and products that fans demand and will spend yen to acquire, especially online and at the teams’ ballparks.21 Since the late1980s, there have been some underlying shifts taking place in Japan’s culture that, in turn, are affecting sports institutions like baseball during the early 2000s. As reflected in Robert Whiting’s classic book You Gotta Have Wa, a spirit of unity and an emphasis on the group and teamwork had originally attracted the Japanese people to adopt and enjoy baseball 21 Although it is brief, an article entitled “Japanese Baseball Has Problems.” http:// www.globalconsumption.com [cited 3 June 2007] highlights what is currently being questioned about the professional baseball leagues and strategies of team owners in Japan.
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beginning in the late 1800s and early 1900s. However, in recent years, the appeal of baseball in Japanese society has somewhat eroded. Indeed, some Japanese ballplayers have been obstinate, selfish, and/or stubborn. That is, they refused to renegotiate their contracts unless they received excessively higher salaries and/or were granted unilateral rights to be traded from one team to another. As such, these athletes became mavericks and nonconformists by displaying their individualistic attitudes and behaviors before, during, and after games and seasons. Hence, they have, in part, created a backlash against organized baseball from diehard Japanese fans and among various other groups of people in the nation.22 Furthermore, American Michael Westbay — who operated a detailed English-language web site in Japan — concludes in an article that the youngest generation of Japanese is primarily interested in purchasing and using consumer products like DVDs, cell phones and iPods, and less committed to the beliefs, ideals, and traditions that made Japanese society and baseball be such a natural fit.Also,Westbay notes the deterioration in values and the radical lifestyles and actions of some families who have kids, teenagers, and young adults. In short, these changes in society have alarmingly reduced the demand for baseball in the country and the respect that it had earned from the older generation of Japanese sports fans and the general public. Whether and how the leagues’ officials and their team owners, managers, and players respond to these and other cultural revolutions may determine baseball’s ability to survive and continue to be one of the most popular team sports in Japan.23 The previous paragraph concludes the discussion of how baseball exists, operates, and prospers in Japan. In the next section of this chapter, readers will learn about the role and status of baseball in Venezuela, and why it is a national sport in that emerging, underdeveloped, and volatile South American country.
BASEBALL IN VENEZUELA According to some readings in the literature, baseball originated in Venezuela during the mid-1890s, which was decades after it was introduced 22
Robert Whiting’s book You Gotta Have Wa is, in part, discussed in Carter Gaddis. “Baseball Remains Unifying Force in Japanese Culture.” Tampa Tribune (26 March 2004): 1. 23 Ibid.
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as a sport into such nations as the DR, Japan, and the United States. Supposedly in the early months of 1895, a Cuban ballplayer and his teammates decided to travel and play baseball games throughout the Caribbean. And while in Venezuela, his group demonstrated the sport to spectators in metropolitan Caracas. As a result and before the year had ended, the country’s first baseball team — which was nicknamed Caracas BBC — was organized, and then it met to practice the sport at a specific site called the Caracas Baseball Club Exercise Field. Another source in the literature reports that in early to mid-1895, some Venezuelan students had returned to their country after studying in American universities and subsequently taught the game to their male friends who belonged to wealthy social groups and upper-class clubs in the City of Caracas. Indeed, these rich boys or so-called “patiquines” were able to afford and buy baseball equipment to use when they played games for fun and to be competitive. Anyway, while baseball became increasingly popular and then spread geographically across Venezuela during the late 1890s and early 1900s, local newspaper editors and journalists referred to the sport as a “new kind of chess game, the Base Bale,” and also made such comments as “But this game of base ball provides health and strength to the body and happiness to the spirit.”24 Between 1900 and 1925, several events occurred that indicate how quickly and thoroughly the sport had penetrated small towns and large cities in Venezuela. During the 1910s and early 1920s, for example, about 30 baseball teams had formed within or near the seaport city of Maracaibo.As such, they competed against each other in games in more than 10 different stadiums. Initially, it was American entrepreneur William Phelps who decided to import baseball equipment, shoes, and uniforms from the United States and to sell these goods in his department store in Maracaibo.Then later, he organized and sponsored three local sports teams as a way to further market his products in a store that included baseball items. Meanwhile, in Venezuela’s north-central City of Maracay, the country’s dictator General Juan Vicente Gomez formed a baseball club for which he performed as a pitcher along with such ballplayers as his brothers and several government officials. Besides Caracas, Maracaibo, and Maracay, baseball ultimately became a popular 24
For the origin, development, and spread of this sport throughout the nation, please read “The Past — History of Baseball in Venezuela.” http://www.iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007];“History of Baseball in Venezuela: Development and Spread.” http://iml. jou.ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007].
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pastime in other cities of the nation like Barquisimeto, Coro, and Valencia. In fact, some of the teams that existed in these and other places began to charge a fee for admission to games and then used the money to attract and hire superior ballplayers from Cuba and elsewhere.25 After 1925, baseball slowly became an integral part of the nation’s culture and a common game played by groups within the population. During the late 1920s, the Venezuelan Baseball Federation became established while a professional baseball tournament was being held in Caracas. As four teams participated in this tournament, rumors circulated throughout Caracas that some of the games may have been rigged in order for President Juan Vicente Gomez’s Maracay club to win a championship. As a result, in 1930 the Venezuelan Association of Baseball was founded to coordinate, promote, and regulate professional baseball tournaments played in the country. Then in the mid to late-1930s, national Venezuelan baseball teams entered into such international competitions as the Central American Games, which were then hosted by Panama, and also into an Amateur World Series played in Havana, Cuba. Despite winning only a few games in these regional events, Venezuelan baseball teams gradually improved in quality and later won world amateur championships during the early to mid-1940s.
Professional Baseball in Venezuela After Venezuela’s right-handed pitcher Alejandro “Alex” Carrasquel had joined MLB’s Washington Senators in 1939, and five years later when the nation’s best outfielder Jesus “Chucho” Ramos played for the Cincinnati Reds, officials in Venezuela were anxious, encouraged, and prepared to organize a topnotch professional baseball league. Hence, in early 1946, the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (VPBL) formed and immediately admitted four teams into the league that had working agreements, in part, with MLB, the Cuban League, and/or with America’s Negro Leagues. The four domestic teams who as rivals were named the Magallanes Navigators, Cerveceria Caracas, Club Venezuela, and Vargas Sabios included on their rosters outstanding ballplayers from Venezuela and from competitive clubs in leagues of foreign countries. Thus, during the mid-1940s, professional baseball was launched in Venezuela with teams using native and nonnative athletes and a national fan base that had already existed. 25
Ibid.
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For various economic and social reasons, since 1946 several clubs have entered into and exited from the VPBL while other teams in the league simply changed their nicknames. Prior to the early 1990s, the VPBL had consisted of six teams as a group.Then the La Guaira Sharks replaced Pampero in 1962 and two years later, the Lara Cardinals and Aragua Tigers joined the league. In 1969, the Valencia Industrymen dropped out of the VPBL and was replaced by the Zuila Eagles. And in 1991, the league increased to eight teams with the entry of the Eastern Caribbeans and Cabimas Oilers. However, because of weak support from local fans and business sponsors, the Oilers moved a short distance from Cabimas to Maraciabo in 1994 and three years later, from Maraciabo to Acarigua where the team’s name was changed to Pastora de los Llanos. Consequently, in 2007 the VPBL included four teams each in the Western Division and Eastern Division. Moreover, after the league’s regular season had concluded, there was a playoff titled “Round Robin” and then a final set of games between winners to determine the VPBL champion who, in turn, has represented Venezuela in the Caribbean Series.26 Since 1946, the Cerveceria Caracus/Caracas Lions — and now Leones del Caracus of the VPBL’s Eastern Division — has been the nation’s most dominant and successful professional team. During the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the Lions won at least two championships per decade. Some of the club’s greatest ballplayers excelled for clubs in MLB. These included Andres Galarraga, who debuted with the National League’s Montreal Expos in 1985, Omar Vizquel, who started with the American League’s Seattle Mariners in 1989, and Bob Abreu, who began with the National League’s Houston Astros in 1996. During various seasons, such outstanding managers as Regino Otero, Felipe Alou, and Pompeyo Davalillo have led their teams to titles.Although the Lions’ last championship was in 2005–2006, the team had not qualified for the finals of the VPBL’s postseasons during most years of the 1990s and early 2000s.That is, rather than risk debilitating injuries, the team’s most prominent stars have tended to play only one or a few regular seasons in Venezuela and then sign a contract to play for franchises in MLB. For other successful VPBL champions — besides the Lions — in selected years or for each decade of seasons, see Table 2.4. 26 Three
readings about this topic include “Venezuelan Baseball League.” http://www. geocities.com [cited 2 October 2003];“The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.” http://iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007]; “The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League: Current Structure.” http://iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007].
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Baseball in Dominican Republic, Japan, and Venezuela 49 Table 2.4 VPBL Teams with Multiple Championships, for Groups of Seasons, 1940s–2000s Seasons 1946–1949 1950–1959
1960–1969
1970–1979
1980–1989
1990–1999
2000–2006
Teams
Championships
Cerveceria Caracas Vargas Sabios Valencia Industriales Caracas Lions Magallanes Navigators Caracas Lions La Guaira Sharks Valencia Industriales Aragua Tigers Caracas Lions Magallanes Navigators Caracas Lions La Guaira Sharks Zulia Eagles Lara Cardinals Magallanes Navigators Zulia Eagles Tigres de Aragua
2 2 3 2 2 4 3 2 3 3 2 5 3 2 3 3 3 3
Note: There were neither regular seasons in 1959–1960 and 1973–1974, when a player’s strike occurred, nor in 2002–2003 because of the civil unrest among Venezuelans who despised the unpopular government policies of socialist Hugo Chavez. Source: Peter C. Bjarkman. Diamonds Around the Globe, pp. 224–225;“Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.” http://iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 3 June 2007].
Besides the VPBL, another baseball league thrived for several years in Venezuela. Because it existed as an independent organization and not associated with the Caracus-based VPBL, the Zulian Baseball Association (ZBA) formed in the 1930s. Its teams’ markets were located in the northwestern region of the country. That is, within some cities in the surrounding areas of Maracaibo. During the early 1950s, the best teams from the ZBA and VPBL agreed to compete against each other in a national championship tournament that was called the “Rotatory.”Although a ZBA team nicknamed Pastora won the first and only “Rotatory,” the league was forced to fold in late 1953 because of administrative and financial problems. In turn, this led to the formation of the Western Professional Baseball League in 1954, which
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continued to operate in Venezuela for 10 years but then dissolved due to economic difficulties.27 To assist with the training, personal development, and education of young athletes who had signed contracts with MLB teams or local professional baseball clubs, the Venezuelan Summer League (VSL) was established in 1997. This organization, in part, provides opportunities and incentives for talented domestic ballplayers to improve their fielding, hitting, and pitching skills in games and practices while they live in decent housing facilities near ballparks. Generally, these athletes receive a basic salary each month and free meals. Furthermore, they learn how to speak the English language, and also are taught in classrooms some strategies and techniques to become exceptional and smarter players while in professional baseball. In structure, the VSL includes two groups of teams. Some of them are part of the Barquisimeto Division, which consists of approximately four teams, while others play in the Valencia Division that contains about six clubs.When the league’s season ends in late summer, the ballplayers from clubs in these divisions report either to minor leagues in the United States or to Venezuelan teams that may assign them to a lower- or higher-ranked club. Or, they may be placed on a farm or rookie team within their former baseball organization. In short, the VSL operates in Venezuela primarily to train — but also to provide experience and education for — promising professional players so that they can improve and qualify for other Venezuelan baseball groups or for minor league teams and major league franchises in America.28
International Tournaments Since the early to mid-1940s,Venezuela has achieved limited success in various worldwide amateur baseball tournaments. Based on the data presented in Chapter 14 of Baseball, Inc. and the web sites of a few international amateur baseball organizations, Table 2.5 shows how successful Venezuela’s teams have performed for years in four global tournaments.That is, in comparison with Japan and Venezuela’s three rivals in the Caribbean Series — who since 1970 have been the DR, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. What do the 27 See “The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League: Early Days.” http://iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007]. 28 This foreign baseball organization is described in “The Future — Venezuelan Summer League.” http://iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007].
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Baseball in Dominican Republic, Japan, and Venezuela 51 Table 2.5 Amateur Baseball Championships, by Country and Tournament, for Selected Years
Country Dominican Republic Japan Mexico Puerto Rico Venezuela
Little League
World Cup
Intercontinental Cup
Olympic Games
0 6 3 0 2
1 0 0 1 3
0 2 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
Note: The baseball championships include the 1947–2006 Little League World Series, 1938–2005 World Cup, 1973–2006 Intercontinental Cup, and the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Olympic Games. Source: Frank P. Jozsa. Jr., Baseball Inc., pp. 138–140;“Little League Organization.” http://www. littleleague.org [cited 25 July 2007];“International Baseball Federation.” http://www.baseball.ch [cited 25 July 2007].
numbers in the table reveal about these international tournaments and the accomplishments of various amateur baseball teams from Venezuela? First, Venezuelan teams won a Little League World Series in 1994 and again in 2000. These two championships reflect, in part, the popular, welldeveloped, and competitive baseball system that exists for pre-teenagers within the nation. Mostly, Venezuela’s youngest athletes are inner-city kids who have emigrated to the sport from large, poor, and/or uneducated families, and who love to play baseball games while on various preadolescent teams. Also, they always have fun and practice the game on dirt and grass fields without uniforms and equipment to improve their skills. In fact, baseball is the primary social and physical activity of these kids’ pre-adult lives. Throughout the nation, major league scouts watch Little Leaguers in games and spend several hours each day traveling and searching for young prospects. For ballplayers with the most potential and who are at least 16 years old, they are eligible to sign a professional contract offered by scouts and agents from MLB and the Venezuelan professional leagues, and then these athletes may be rewarded with a bonus that ranges in value from a few hundred to thousands of US dollars. Second,Venezuelan baseball teams had successfully won World Cups in 1941, 1944, and 1945.When led by pitcher Daniel “Chico” Canonico — who was and is still regarded by the country’s people as a national hero and one of its biggest superstars — Venezuela played superbly and defeated the
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favored Cuban team 3–1 in a tie-breaking playoff game for the championship in 1941.After Venezuela had placed third in the 1942 World Cup but did not enter the tournament in 1943, a final suspended playoff game held in Caracus was forfeited in 1944 because of interference from a foreign photographer on a sideline of the ball field. As a result of this incident, the host Venezuelan team beat Mexico and won its second World Cup.Then due, in part, to the withdrawal of teams from Cuba and Mexico, Venezuela finished 10–0 and earned its third World Cup in 1945. Since the mid-1940s, a few Venezuelan teams have qualified for awards in other World Cup tournaments by finishing second for a silver medal or third for a bronze medal. However, between the early 1950s and 2000s, various teams from Cuba have dominated this international sports event and also such baseball tournaments as the Intercontinental Cup and Olympic Games.29 According to a Venezuelan employed in the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela — which is located in Washington, DC — the three unique and most significant features regarding the sport of baseball for Venezuelans are, first, the successful seasons and tournament victories of the Cerveceria Caracus/Caracus Lions/Leones del Caracus championship teams; second, the nation’s admiration and love for its greatest former and current amateur and professional ballplayers; and third, the emergence, development, and operation of the VSL. For this individual’s specific comments about each of these topics, for decades the Lions have been a very popular team and prestigious organization with a winning tradition.The club, in turn, has won numerous VPBL titles and some international tournaments, and many of its players have performed brilliantly on teams in American professional minor and major baseball leagues.These ballplayers include Antonio Armas, Carlos Hernandez, and Ugueth Urbina.When the Lions finish first in any domestic championships and global tournaments, Caracas’ Governor tends to honor the team and celebrate its victories by giving a holiday to local people who work.30 Then with respect to the greatest Venezuelan ballplayers of all-time, sports fans adore these athletes while kids think and dream about someday 29 In the Appendix of his book, Diamonds Around the Globe, Peter C. Bjarkman provides an international baseball timeline that features the greatest moments in world baseball history, and in Chapter 10, he focuses on world amateur sports events, including baseball, as played in the Olympics. 30 This information was requested, and then provided to me by a Venezuelan in a series of mailings during July of 2007. Since it was a personal communication between us, I have decided not to reveal his name and the exact source.
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being one of them. These athletes are respected and revered not only for their talents and achievements, but also for their contributions to local communities in Venezuela. For example, the Detroit Tigers’ designated hitter, Magglio Ordonez, spent a large amount of his money to fund a soccer stadium in which the America’s Soccer Cup was played in the summer of 2007. Finally, the VSL has provided many opportunities for thousands of Venezuelan baseball prospects to acquire skills and therefore compete during seasons on MLB-affiliated teams. Indeed, there are informal agreements between some American baseball franchises — like MLB’s Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians — whereby an individual from Venezuela may serve as coach or manager of the league’s teams. Thus, the VSL keeps ambitious and promising Venezuelan athletes occupied and involved in sports and accordingly, gives them a realistic chance of signing contracts with baseball agents and eventually becoming a player somewhere on teams in Venezuela’s professional leagues, or better yet, on clubs in America’s minor leagues and MLB.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS Between 1901 and 1960 inclusive, MLB had consisted of 16 teams that were each located at sites within their original cities. Since the early 1960s, however, MLB has expanded into other metropolitan areas of North America while some teams relocated to more or less populated urban places. These expansions and movements occurred, in large part, for business reasons.That is, because the sport became potentially prosperous and more in demand by fans in various US and Canadian markets; because some municipal and state governments and local taxpayers funded the renovation of existing — or the construction of new — ballparks for current or prospective professional baseball franchises; and because television, radio, and online broadcasts of regular season and postseason baseball games generated exposure and additional revenues and social benefits for this sport’s teams. Consequently, it was the principle of profit maximization that increasingly became a priority as the economic objective of owners — individuals and/or groups — who had invested in and operated franchises at their sites in cities of MLB. Based on my research of numerous readings in the literature, the following section of this chapter identifies and examines some important issues and other historical matters that relate to the commercial and economic conditions — and conduct, performance, and structure — of baseball leagues and teams, and of ballplayers in the DR, Japan, and Venezuela.
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Table 2.6 Demographic and Economic Characteristics, by Country, Selected Years
Country Dominican Republic Japan Venezuela United States
Land Area (thousands of square miles)
Total Population (millions)
Population Density (persons/ square mile)
GDP/Capita (thousands of US$)
18.8 145.8 352.1 3718.7
9.3 127.4 26.0 301.1
501 881 76 85
8.4 33.1 7.2 44.0
Note: GDP/Capita is reported for 2006, while the first three characteristics are reported for 2007. Source: World Almanac and Book of Facts 2008 (New York, NY:World Almanac Books, 2008).
Interestingly, these issues and matters also involve some cultural, demographic, and political aspects of these three nations and their relationships with other countries. In fact, Table 2.6 was organized and completed to reveal a few characteristics that distinguish each nation and also the United States.
Dominican Republic The DR is a relatively tiny, poor, and underdeveloped country whose economy depends primarily on tourism and the export of such agricultural products as sugarcane, coffee, cotton, cocoa, tobacco, rice, and beans from chief ports in Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, and San Pedro de Macoris.The nation’s urban population is about 60 percent of its total population and unfortunately, a large majority of people in households live in poverty, neighborhood slums, and dilapidated houses. Because of seasonal hurricanes that damage topsoil and crops, and due to volatile fluctuations in the world prices of sugar and other commodities, DR’s economy is cyclical, inflationary, and susceptible to recessions, and during some years, has experienced negative growth of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). For decades, baseball has contributed in several ways to the well-being of Dominicans and also, the sport has been a factor that influences the business environment of the nation’s communities and their commercial development. For example, in the southeast portion of the country there are numerous cities and towns with sugar mills and/or transportation facilities and processing factories that employ athletes including amateur,
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semiprofessional, and professional baseball players. Although their compensation is comparatively small based on the per capita incomes of workers in developed nations, these male teenagers, young adults, and adults put forth effort and allocate hours each day to their jobs, become more productive as workers and citizens by improving their educational and/or social and vocational skills, and therefore, some of them achieve an above-average standard of living for themselves and members of their families. Furthermore, a few of the prominent DR companies invest their pesos in local ballparks and sponsor sports teams while nearby, other cities might host the baseball academies of MLB clubs. As a result, these activities and actions provide a number of opportunities and risks for ambitious, young, and talented domestic ballplayers to receive training and showcase their abilities on offense as batters and on defense as pitchers, catchers, infielders and/or outfielders. Furthermore, some of them will sign lucrative contracts with such wealthy US-based franchises as the Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, and New York Yankees, or with these and other teams’ minor league affiliates. According to recent data, the 88 Dominicans on rosters of teams in MLB on opening day earned annual incomes that averaged about $3 million in 2008. In turn, the sports media in America has reported in articles that many of these athletes tended to transfer thousands of dollars from their US bank accounts to families, friends, and relatives who lived in the DR.31 Historically, there have been some unusual problems associated with baseball’s existence and operation in the DR. Owing to excessive player’s salaries, overhead, and other administrative expenses, the DSL folded during the late 1930s, but then it was restarted in the early 1950s when local businesses and wealthy families provided enough money and resources to revive this popular, nationwide baseball organization. Also, most small-tomedium-sized Dominican communities in rural areas are unable to financially support a professional or semiprofessional baseball team across many seasons, and also their governments are too poor to allocate monies for the development and upkeep of a local stadium for a club to perform. Thus, it is sports fans that live in and surrounding the industrial and largest cities of the DR who receive the major economic and social benefits and rewards of baseball programs that originate and exist within the country. 31
See “Opening Day Rosters Feature 239 Players Born Outside the 50 United States.” http://www.mlb.com [cited 1 April 2008].
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With respect to operating a sport organization in the country, other aspects of baseball are interesting to explore from a business perspective. First, there have been very few league expansions and relocation of existing teams in Dominican professional baseball. Because of deficient sports markets and inadequate per capita incomes among local populations, any mediocre and low-performing DR baseball teams tend to struggle economically but nevertheless may remain active for years, or alternatively, they gradually fail and disband. Since the mid-1950s, the three most consistent, dominant, and winning franchises in the DWL include teams named Aguilas Cibaenas in Santiago, and Leones del Escogido and Tigres del Licey, which are each located in Santo Domingo. Second, a semiregulated but increasingly controversial and well-known sports occupation among males in the Dominican labor market consists of licensed and unlicensed baseball agents who are known as buscones or finders. Generally these individuals discover and scout ballplayers, sign them to legal and/or perhaps illegal contracts, and then negotiate with various professional domestic and foreign baseball clubs that are likely to pay a commission for the rights to hire these athletes. Some of these agents, however, abuse government laws by creating and falsifying documents such as player’s birth certificates, drug tests and on-the-field performances, and by stealing player’s payments that had been received from teams and then threatening them and/or their families to not reveal the crime. Since there is no global draft that includes non-US amateur baseball players, the MLB and sports authorities in the DR have jointly agreed to implement stringent rules that effectively regulate these types of baseball agents and if necessary, penalize them for their criminal activities. Third, a significant number of Latinos detest the economic strategies and business, political, and social policies of America’s biggest corporations and national government, and furthermore, some Latinos mistrust the power and practices of MLB franchises and their owners. Indeed, these American organizations and their executives are viewed by many Dominicans as being imperialists and racists who have tried to dominate various economies, populations, and regions of the world. Regarding professional baseball, it is believed by some critics that MLB teams have willingly invaded Latin American sports markets to discriminate against and exploit domestic ballplayers by enticing them to sign substandard contracts and accepting below-average bonuses and salaries for their services that, in turn, are insufficient for them to live comfortably and without hardships in US cities. In short, these critics contend that America’s big league franchises have
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implicitly adopted a long-run goal of intentionally destroying, or at least diminishing, the local autonomies and traditions of Dominican baseball.32 Fourth, each year MLB and its teams inject millions of US dollars into the DR’s economy. These amounts include payments to domestic baseball players, scouts, and staffs; expenditures for products and services of local small businesses and larger firms; payments of fees and taxes to local, regional, and federal governments; donations to charities and civic organizations; deposits of cash into bank accounts and finance companies; and investments of funds to construct, maintain, and refurbish baseball academies. Besides these injections of monies, MLB clubs also create employment opportunities and hire local Dominicans for various types of jobs within their communities. Fifth, the DR is impacted economically when international baseball tournaments and/or MLB exhibition games are played at any sites within cities of the nation.These sports events, in turn, attract tourists and any sports fans and other groups that are associated with teams. Although the money generated from baseball tournaments and a weekend of games are insignificant amounts in total, various business organizations in communities and areas of the DR like hotels, nightclubs, and restaurants receive inflows of US dollars and other nation’s currencies. For sure, the country’s GDP is marginally larger because of the globalization of these and other kinds of baseball events. Because of historical differences in cultures and government systems, and the types of economies and average income levels and wealth of households within the DR and the United States, and because of the global markets that have been penetrated by large American companies including MLB franchises, there will always be a few commercial, economic, political, and/or social conflicts between the two countries. Nevertheless, it appears that an increasing number of outstanding male athletes from the DR will continue to join professional baseball organizations in North America and thereby improve these ballplayers’ opportunities to be rich, successful, and role models for other sportsmen in communities throughout Latin America.
Japan Baseball has been a major, popular, and traditional sport in Japan since the late 1800s to early 1900s. Despite such infrequent but destabilizing 32 These criticisms and other beliefs are, in part, expressed in Dave Zirin. “How Baseball Strip-Mines the Dominican Republic”; Alan M. Klein. “Culture, Politics, and Baseball in the Dominican Republic.”
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problems during Japan’s history as economic recessions, stock market collapses and military wars, this sport has continued to be very prominent among domestic students in elementary schools, high schools and universities, and among kids, teenage boys, and adult males who root for and/or play on teams in amateur, semiprofessional, and professional Japanese leagues. In fact, baseball games and tournaments, and the sales of sports clothing, merchandise, and equipment tend to generate surprisingly large amounts of cash, income, and revenue for various businesses, schools, and city governments within the country.33 Being a densely populated but technology based and highly developed country, Japan has invested and reinvested its financial capital and allocated its scarce economic resources into the establishment and development of private and public baseball events and programs at the amateur, semiprofessional, and professional levels. Consequently, Japanese consumers are sports fans who are compelled to spend their yen and attend baseball games played at local ballparks in cities and territories, watch baseball games on television and the Internet and listen to them on the radio, and read about and track the performances of ballplayers — and of their preferred baseball club or clubs — in such publications as sports journals and books, magazines, and newspapers. For several years, some of the most talented, successful, and wealthiest baseball players in Japan have migrated from their teams in the Central and Pacific Leagues of NPB to perform for various franchises in the American and National League of MLB. To acquire such Japanese superstars as Daisuke Matsuzaka, Ken Igawa, and Ichiro Suzuki, respectively, the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Seattle Mariners had paid posting fees to Japanese clubs in the NPB for the rights to negotiate with the agents of these players,
33 For more information concerning the business and economics of baseball in Japan, see Michael Arnold. “MLB Pitches to Fans in Japan.” Wall Street Journal (26 March 2008), B5B; Calvin Sims.“Japanese Leagues Worry About Being Overshadowed.” The New York Times (30 March 2000): 3; L. Shecter. “Take Me Out to the Old Yakyu.” Saturday Evening Post,Vol. 238, No. 3 (February 1965): 82–84; David King.“Baseball — The Global Game.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 25 November 2002]; William C. Rhoden. “MLB and Japanese Baseball.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews. com [cited 3 December 2002]; Doug Struck.“Japanese Appreciative of Their Exports.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 19 August 2003]; Stefan Fatsis and Suzanne Vranica.“Major League Baseball Agrees to $275 Million Deal in Japan.” Wall Street Journal (31 October 2003): B4.
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and then later, to sign the three of them to multiyear, multimillion-dollar contracts. As a result, since the mid to late-1990s several of Japan’s greatest ballplayers have abandoned their home teams for extravagant long-term salaries and to compete on clubs in MLB. In other words, such professional Japanese baseball franchises as the Chiba Lotte Marines, Hanshin Tigers, and Yomiuri Giants have lost some of their most experienced and superior players.Therefore, these teams have occasionally struggled to sell regular season tickets and increase their attendances at home and away games, and frequently failed to win championships in the league’s postseasons. Consequently, some of Japan’s NPB teams have declined in economic value during recent years. Because of increasing globalization among various nations in Asia, the majority of Japanese baseball organizations — and especially those in the NPB — are being challenged to modernize their operations and become more entrepreneurial in assisting the sport to expand its identity and business in Japan and elsewhere in the Orient.That is, Japanese officials who are decision makers should consider implementing policies and reforms in order to ensure baseball remains a competitive industry; to accept leadership roles by exploiting, controlling, and managing business opportunities that involve the sport; to enlarge baseball’s image, market, and reputation throughout Asia; and to establish profitable business relationships — and more commercial alliances, partnerships and sponsorships — in Tokyo and other cities with MLB and the premier baseball leagues that exist within other countries. A sample of these actions may include, for example, the following innovations. First, that Japanese professional teams devise new ways to recruit and reemploy one or more of their former superstars such as the 16 ballplayers who were listed on the 2008 opening day rosters of MLB clubs. Second, that Japanese sport’s authorities initiate promotional campaigns to increase baseball’s television ratings of games and tournaments among local households. Third, that well-educated, young, and middle-aged Japanese consumers, who increasingly prefer to purchase electronic products rather than spend their disposable incomes on baseball events, be targeted by the NPB as future baseball fans from a marketing perspective. And fourth, that the owners of Japanese baseball franchises become more knowledgeable about sports brands and aware of the complexities, return, and risks of sports markets.Thus, they and other Japanese baseball officials will learn how to compete and thrive regionally and internationally against such other types of team sports as basketball and soccer.
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To that end, the NPB can increase its popularity among Japan’s sports leagues by developing a comprehensive and more effective integrated system of television and promotional rights to reward its franchises. Furthermore, the NPB might also study revenue-sharing models that would benefit its teams at sites located in small- and medium-sized markets. With respect to these policies, the 30 franchises in MLB equally share national television revenues but not the amounts they earn from local broadcast agreements. Moreover, these North American clubs proportionately reallocate the gate receipts they receive at ballparks from home and away games during regular seasons and postseasons. As a result, this moderate redistribution of revenues allows MLB clubs located in such inferior US markets as Tampa Bay, Florida, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Milwaukee,Wisconsin, to sign more productive players, coaches, and general managers, and therefore to compete against their rivals that play at home in areas of Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. After winning the WBC in 2006, undoubtedly Japan enhanced its status across the world as a leading baseball nation and superpower in the sport. For sure, this victory had excellent international business and economic consequences and positive externalities for the country’s amateur and professional baseball programs, leagues, and teams and their players. In short, Japan’s success in the tournament proved that besides a baseball organization’s ambition, development and wealth, it is consensus, dedication, and teamwork among the ballplayers that are extremely important attributes for a national sports team to become a world champion. Indeed, the WBC exposed Japanese-style baseball to sports fans in other countries which, in turn, added some economic, financial, and social value to Japan’s franchises in the NPB.
Venezuela Being officially named the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, this small but volatile South American nation is a current member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Thus, it is the exploration, production, and export of crude oil to markets throughout the world that determines the growth, productivity, and wealth of Venezuela’s macro economy. However, because of its extreme dependence on the price, output, and shipment of oil, Venezuela has a history of political crises, labor struggles, and wide disparities in income between the top and bottom classes of its population. Nonetheless, since the late 1800s to early 1900s, baseball has been the
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nation’s most popular sport and form of entertainment especially for children, teenagers, and young adults who live within or near such large cities as Caracas, Maracaibo, and Valencia, and in other urban areas.34 Internally, baseball organizations and their players have been important, longstanding, and revered elements in the cultural, economic, and social environments of this nation.To illustrate, the VPBL consists of teams that are privately owned and each of them receives resources, special attention, and sums of money from a number of sponsors. Generally, these clubs make average to excess profits each baseball season since sports fans attend their games and because they earn revenues from broadcasting home and away games on local, national, and regional television networks and on cable and radio stations. For several years, the richest and most competitive VPBL clubs have included the Caracas Lions, Magallanes Navigators and Zulia Eagles. Similar to circumstances and conditions in the DR, successful Venezuelan baseball players are adored as heroes by their fans and role models by people in Latin America. As kids and teenagers, many of these men lived at home in poverty. However, after excelling as athletes, they eventually signed contracts to perform in the VPBL, and if very talented as ballplayers, may have then joined MLB clubs in America and perhaps earned millions of dollars while occupied in the sport. Consequently, baseball players are ranked among the wealthiest celebrities in Venezuela. In fact, 52 Venezuelan ballplayers appeared on opening day rosters of MLB teams to start the 2008 season. Some of them included such great athletes as New York Mets pitcher Johan Santana, who has signed a six-year, $137 million contract with the club, and the Detroit Tigers outfielder Magglio Ordonez, who in 2007 led MLB’s American League in batting average and doubles. Four other commercial, economic, and/or political aspects of Venezuela are relevant to the conduct, operation, and performance of baseball in that country. First, the VPBL decided to suspend its games in 1959 and 1974 because of ballplayer strikes.Then, the league cancelled the final portion of 34
There are other readings about business and economics topics that involve baseball in Venezuela. See, for example, S. Ellner. “Venezuela on the Brink.” Nation (13 January 2003): 5–6; Melissa Segura and E.M. Swift.“Unsafe at Home.” Sports Illustrated (7 March 2005): 56–63; E. Edwards,“The Boys of Winter.” Fortune (12 January 1998): 170–171; Peter Wilson and Nick Benequista. “Not a Great Season For the Venezuela Professional Baseball League.” http://www.sportbusinessnews.com [cited 20 January 2003]; Jim Souhan. “Latin American Academies Becoming the Norm.” http://www. sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 14 January 2003].
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its 2002 regular season when team owners supported a national strike in order to force the resignation of President Hugo Chavez or to demand that he approved free elections and ended the country’s work stoppage. Accordingly, these and other disputes indicate an unstable and sensitive relationship between Venezuela’s labor environment, government policies, and baseball. Second, because of high crime and poverty rates in many of the nation’s cities and rural areas, coupled with underemployment of the labor force plus exorbitant consumer prices, it is extremely difficult for baseball officials in Venezuela to plan and promote the sport with regional and global marketing campaigns, and thereby attract tourists and sports fans from other countries to attend and support local games and international tournaments. However, despite being affected by these problems, baseball has such a massive and passionate audience in the region that it unifies people of all ages in Venezuela and especially those businesses and other organizations associated with the sport. Third, MLB teams based on America have occasionally neglected their baseball academies in Venezuela, that is, by failing to invest enough funds in the academies to maintain adequate housing facilities for ballplayers and their families, and by not renovating local baseball stadiums and other facilities. Based on the historical and valuable contribution of Venezuelan ballplayers to all big league franchises in the United States and Canada, a prudent business decision is for MLB, the VPBL, and other Venezuelan baseball offices and government authorities to allocate sufficient amounts of cash and additional resources to improve the living conditions and structures of these academies. Fourth, many ballplayers from Venezuela have generously provided money from their contracts with minor and MLB teams to support baseball programs, build stadiums, and initiate economic development projects in communities of their home territory. Moreover, such athletes have also tended to remit significant amounts of their incomes to family and friends who live in substandard housing and squalor in towns within Venezuela. For certain, this generosity indicates a close, emotional, and everlasting bond between elite athletes from Venezuela who have prospered as ballplayers in America, and their kinfolk. In sum, amateur and professional baseball events and organizations in the DR, Japan, and Venezuela are extremely popular and traditional — and perhaps prosperous — among the populations of these nations. Since the 1800s, baseball has existed in some metropolitan and/or rural areas within
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these three countries. As such, the sport plays a complex, critical, and vital role in their cultures and societies. Furthermore, a number of these countries’ national baseball teams have excelled in regional and global tournaments, and thereby won several championships and numerous medals and other awards. To conclude, for more than 100 years of sports seasons each in the DR, Japan, and Venezuela, baseball has been a passion and institution for people of all ages who are proud of their nation’s teams and their coaches and players, and for what these groups and individuals have accomplished throughout history for their countries’ economies, images, and reputations in the world.
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Chapter
3 Basketball in China, The Philippines, and Spain
ORIGINS OF BASKETBALL The concept of basketball as a sport originated from a game called “duck-on-a-rock,” which was played by children who had lived in small townships of Canada during the mid- to late-1800s. To participate in this simple game, these children attempted to knock a duck off the top of a large rock by throwing a small stone at the animal. As a child who was born in 1861, Canadian James Naismith played “duck-on-a-rock” outside of his elementary school in Almonte, Ontario. Anyway, when he had completed elementary school and his education at Almonte High School, Naismith attended and graduated from McGill University in Montreal. Then in 1887, he earned a diploma at Montreal’s Presbyterian College of Theology and afterwards, continued his interest in and study of sports physiology and philosophy. After he served as a physical education teacher and athletic director at McGill University, Naismith left that school in 1890 and traveled to the United States to become an instructor at the Young Men’s Christian
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Association (YMCA), which was a training school for youths located in Springfield, Massachusetts.1 While teaching at the YMCA — which was later renamed Springfield College — Naismith’s superiors encouraged him to create an athletic game that could be played indoors in order to entertain and occupy the school’s students during Springfield’s severe winter months. Initially, Naismith thought about moving lacrosse and soccer games — being outside activities — into a small indoor space and thus to be played by college students during the winter. This strategy failed, however, because these two outdoor sports were too cumbersome, fast-paced, and physical to be played indoors by teams and athletes among the school’s students. Hence during mid- to late-1891 while at Springfield, Naismith created a new game as a sport and it became known as basketball. He designed the game for indoors by using a soccer ball combined with two peach baskets for goals that were attached to a 10-foot-high railing, and with nine players assigned as a group to opposite sides of the court. Furthermore, in 1892 he developed 13 original rules about how the game would be organized, and start and end. These rules consisted of such matters as scoring points, handling of the ball and committing fouls and other violations by players, specific roles for coaches and an umpire and referee, determining when half-time and rest periods would occur, and declaring the winner and runner-up of a game. Subsequently, for inventing this game as a novelty and popular sport, Dr. James Naismith was officially inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959, which was 20 years beyond when he had received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Presbyterian College, and after his death in 1938 at the age of 78.
Basketball in America After domestic sports officials had accepted in total Naismith’s rules of how to play the game, it changed when iron hoops and hammock-style baskets were introduced as goals in 1893, and then 10 years later, open-ended nets were installed to replace the baskets. While these innovations were being 1
The readings for this chapter’s section on the Origins of Basketball include the “History of Basketball.” http://www.kansasheritage.org [cited 11 July 2007]; “Basketball How It Began.” http://www.athleticscholarships.net [cited 11 July 2007]; Mary Bellis, “History of Basketball — James Naismith.” http://inventors.about.com [cited 11 July 2007].
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adopted by leagues, teams, and their players, basketball rapidly expanded as a spectator sport throughout several regions and within many nations of the world, and especially in the cities, small towns, and communities of North America. In the United States, for example, amateur basketball teams practiced the sport and then coordinated with larger groups to play games against their rivals. As a result, during the early 1900s the sport became increasingly popular and fun for kids to play locally in their neighborhoods, for teenagers who attended public high schools and colleges, and for young male adults who had or had not attended colleges but nevertheless enjoyed competing in games while on clubs in city leagues. Indeed, prior to the 1930s professional basketball leagues had been organized by groups of teams in some regions along the east coast of America and particularly in such northeast US States as Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. Before I discuss the emergence, development, and popularity of amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional basketball in three foreign nations — which is the primary focus of this chapter — it is useful to identify some factors that have made the sport such a special leisure activity for populations within the United States. In retrospect, basketball became widespread and especially popular among America’s sports fans within a few decades because of its unique organizations and competitive events, and the great teams and players who had participated in it. The most prominent of these amateur and professional organizations and their memorable events are, respectively, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and its history of Men’s and Women’s Division I NCAA Tournaments, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its longstanding tradition that involves regular seasons, playoffs, and championships. For the former two groups in the NCAA, these schools include the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), which won 10 men’s basketball championships between 1964 and 1975 inclusive, and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, which had earned six women titles since 1969. Meanwhile, teams in the US’s elite professional league in the sport have consisted of such outstanding champions as the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1950s, Boston Celtics in the 1960s and 1970s, Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s, Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, and the San Antonio Spurs in the 2000s. For a few of the greatest college players that have also excelled in the NBA, the list includes some retired Hall of Famers like Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Lew Alcindor — who renamed himself Kareem AbdulJabbar — and Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan. In short, these
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are the prominent basketball organizations, teams, and players that have caused the game to be extremely competitive, popular, and prosperous in American culture and sports history.2 Since the mid- to late-1980s and early 1990s, the game of basketball has attracted millions of new fans and experienced significant growth in several nations within Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, and Central and South America. In fact, while football — or soccer — ranks as the world’s most common and popular sport, amateur and professional basketball leagues and their teams exist in more countries than ever before in the modern era of sports.This long-run increase in the growth of basketball has occurred for at least three reasons. First, for 15 or more years NBA Commissioner David Stern has successfully highlighted, promoted, and marketed the league — and its teams and players — on radio and television networks, cable channels, and the Internet to households in metropolitan areas and rural communities of nations throughout the world. Second, the American Dream Team, who won a gold medal for the United States in basketball during the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, featured such all-stars as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan. As a result of participating in and winning that international tournament, these American athletes became celebrities and superheroes to foreign kids and teenagers, and role models to adult male basketball players across the globe, and especially to those in developing nations like Argentina, Lithuania, and Turkey. Third, during the mid- to late-1990s, many US-based corporations including McDonald’s, Nike, and Spalding collaborated with the NBA to sponsor and advertise the league and its teams’ equipment, logos and merchandise, and players’ jerseys, shoes and posters. Hence, because of these and other factors, the sport has expanded internationally while its games and other events have become more available, exciting, and popular for fans and television viewers in nations besides the United States. For this chapter, I have selected China, the Philippines, and Spain as the three countries to research and study with respect to how basketball had 2 For information about the NCAA and its tournaments, and the NBA championships, see various pages of the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006 (New York, NY: World Almanac Books, 2006). During 2007, the NBA hosted 262 international events in 162 cities on five continents. These events, as reported in “Beyond the NBA’s Borders.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 29 August 2007], involved interactive basketball activities for fans, and for others there were camps/coaching clinics, international training camps and exhibition games, basketball tournaments, and community outreach programs.
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begun, developed, and prospered or failed within their cultures and societies. Indeed, there is sufficient historical information reported in the English language and enough data, dates, and statistics in the literature to adequately describe the sport and its presence and impact in these three special, but independent nations.As such, in the next major sections of this chapter it is basketball in China that will be discussed first followed by comments about the sport and its existence in the Philippines and Spain.
BASKETBALL IN CHINA As clearly explained in Chapter 3 of my book entitled Sports Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues, basketball was introduced into China during the mid-1890s when groups of Christian missionaries played the sport’s games for fun at a YMCA within or near the northeastern city of Tianjin. Approximately 40 years later, basketball had expanded so much in China that it became a nationwide pastime and comparable in stature with such traditional Chinese sports as table tennis and soccer. In fact, during the country’s Cultural Revolution — which began in 1966 and ended in about 1976 — such simple and popular activities as dancing, mahjong, and ping pong were banned by the communist government while basketball continued to increase in popularity, and as such, be played especially by soldiers in the Chinese Army. Even Chairman Mao Tse-tung loved basketball because of the game’s action, style, and team orientation.3 Although local basketball clubs had existed for decades in some Chinese cities — as did sports programs at universities and state-sponsored men and
3 This
chapter, which is entitled “National Basketball Association,” incorporates parts about the league’s international strategies, global NBA broadcasts, foreign players, European basketball players and their sports environments,Yao Ming, global basketball markets, and the WNBA. See Frank P. Jozsa, Jr. Sports Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues (Aldershot, England:Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004).Three provocative books that discuss some problems associated with the worldwide expansion of basketball and other major US sports are Alan Bairner. Sport, Nationalism, and Globalization: European and North American Perspectives (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001); Allen Guttman. Games and Empires: Modern Sports and Cultural Imperialism (Chapel Hill, NC: Columbia University Press, 1994); Hans Westerbeek and Aaron Smith. Sport Business in the Global Marketplace (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).
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women sports teams at the national level — it was during the early 1990s when Nike funded the construction of basketball courts on the mainland, and also the company sponsored a high school basketball league. While some Chinese government officials were criticizing Nike for providing baggy and extra large gym shorts to athletes in local schools, thousands of kids and teenagers in China began to discover, learn, and adopt the customs, trash talk, and movements of playground basketball as performed by black players on courts in inner cities of the United States. Thus, before the mid- to late-1990s, American basketball had become a great and popular sport that was flourishing in cities and rural areas of China.
Basketball Associations and Leagues During 2007, there were three each prominent amateur and distinguished professional organizations that existed in basketball and had operations within China. The three amateur groups of teams consisted of, respectively, the Chinese University Basketball Association (CUBA), China High School Basketball League (CHSBL), and the Chinese Collegiate Basketball League (CCBL), while some of the best professional athletes in the country had played for clubs in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), Women’s Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA), or Chinese Basketball League (CBL). For an overview of the history, role, and structure of these six sports organizations — that is, CUBA, the CHSBL and CCBL, and the CBA, WCBA, and CBL — the research for this chapter revealed a number of interesting facts and unique details about each of them (see Table 3.1).4 Since its first season in 1998, CUBA has been the nation’s oldest and most competitive and popular association of college basketball teams. This amateur league — which is privately funded and not directly affiliated with the Chinese government — is organized similar to the NCAA in America. 4
The primary literature that discusses China’s basketball associations and leagues, and their teams, is listed in the Source below Table 3.1. Other readings about this topic are “Basketball in China.” http://www.china.org [cited 3 June 2007]; Calum MacLeod.“China Embraces Basketball.” http://usatoday.com [cited 3 June 2007]; Ron Gluckman. “Taking China to the Hoop.” http://www.gluckman.com [cited 3 June 2007]; Thomas Friedman. “Can China Make the Big Leagues?” San Diego Union (11 April 2001);8;Gordon Marino.“Basketball’s Great Wall of China.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 3 November 2004]; S. Marshall, “NBA Scores Big in China.” Crain’s New York Business (15 May 2006): 3.
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Table 3.1 Types of Chinese Basketball Groups, Selected Years Group
Type
Number of Teams
Year
CUBA CHSBL CCBL CBA WCBA CBL
Amateur Amateur Amateur Professional Professional Professional
34 130 16 16 12 14
1998 2003 2006 1995 2002 2005
Note: The column Year lists each of the basketball group’s initial season. Source:“Chinese University Basketball Association.”http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 6 August 2007]; “China’s School Basketball Leagues Draw in Sponsors.” http://www.china.org [cited 14 August 2007];“Chinese Basketball Association.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 6 August 2007];“Women’s Chinese Basketball Association.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 14 August 2007]; “Chinese Basketball League.” http://www.china.org [cited 1 November 2007].
As such, it consists of approximately 34 basketball teams with eight or nine of them playing in the Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, or Southwest Division.When CUBA’s regular season concludes, the two top teams in each division compete until all but one is eliminated in a series of games played during an annual end-of-season tournament that includes quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. As a result of this competition, between 1999 and 2006 inclusive, teams from China’s Huaquiao University had won four championships while clubs from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology finished first in two of these tournaments. Formed in 2003, the CHSBL has functioned as China’s basic or grassroots basketball league for high school students. This amateur organization, in part, is sponsored and promoted by Nike. During the 2006 season, for example, a total of 130 teams from 16 of the mainland’s provinces and cities, and a few from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region had competed for the CHSBL championship, while American basketball legend Michael Jordan attended the event as a spectator. In short, since 2003 the players from teams in this league have become the primary source of talent for basketball clubs and the game in China’s colleges. The CCBL, which began to operate in 2006, allows young athletes to play on one of the league’s 16 teams if these players are registered as students in any Chinese university. Because of its popularity among these students and the country’s sports fans, this basketball league has signed
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a four-year contract with the Beijing Li-Ning Sports Goods Company that, in turn, provides equipment and sportswear for athletes, and the funds for facilities to play the teams’ scheduled games.According to a deputy secretary of the league,“One of the main tasks of the CCBL is to send qualified players to the World University Games. The competitive level of [the] CCBL will be at the top of the university basketball league.”5 Since its inception in 1995, the CBA has been the country’s most prestigious professional basketball league. However, during some of the years before 2005, the CBA was named to represent different corporate sponsors. That is, it was called the Hilton League in the 1999 and 2000 seasons, Motorola League in the 2001 and 2002 seasons, and China Unicom in the 2003 season. Nevertheless, when its corporate sponsor(s) did not always appear in articles of the sports section of local Chinese newspapers, the league decided to drop being named by corporations, and in 2004 it became known as the CBA. Interestingly most of the CBA’s teams have titles that may or may not include two or three interchangeable parts, and that frequently are able to be translated into English. In order, the first part is usually a geographic designation that represents a Chinese province or municipality while the second but substitutable part is a corporate sponsor who may be replaced during or after a season. Then the last part of a team’s nickname may refer to an animal or warrior. Two examples of these teams’ names are the Liaoning Hunters and Jiangsu Dragons. Even so, any CBA clubs that move their operations from one city to another are permitted to retain their original name. Through 2006, the Bayi Rockets had won seven CBA titles while the Guangdong Southern Tigers were champions for the 2003–2005 seasons. Such NBA players from China as Yao Ming,Wang Zhizhi, and Mengke Bateer had previously performed on one or more CBA clubs. The WCBA was established during 2002 in order to exist as the women’s counterpart in basketball to the men’s CBA. With respect to the structure of the WCBA, there are six teams each in Group A and Group B, and these clubs are primarily sponsored by local or national Chinese 5 Besides the comment made by Deputy Secretary General Lu Hao, Li-Ning’s chief executive officer said:“The league [CCBL] will be sure to benefit a lot from China’s professional basketball players and will send more and more skillful and educational players to enrich the national team.” These statements appear in “China’s School Basketball Leagues Draw in Sponsors.” http://www.china.org [cited 14 August 2007].
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corporations. For example, various teams funded by the Bayi China Telecom Company won consecutive titles during the 2002–2004 seasons and that club’s competitors have included the Liaoning Baocheng, Jiangsu Nangang, and Guangdong Hongjia. Meanwhile, since being organized in 2005, the CBL has been considered a professional minor league in Chinese basketball. During its first two years, the CBL consisted of 14–16 teams per season and each team was located within or very near a major Chinese city. Because of its role in the sport, some players on the league’s teams may be reassigned to compete for clubs in the Division B classification of the CBA. Generally, CBL games are broadcast live in their home markets, and each week two of the league’s games appear on a regional and/or national television network. In short, the WCBA and CBL are expected to survive for many years as professional basketball organizations within China.
International Tournaments During several recent years and sometimes for a few decades, Chinese basketball teams have participated in such international tournaments as the Asian Games, Olympic Games, and the Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA) World Championships. Even so, after entering these competitions, the nation’s outcomes have been mixed.To be specific, since 1951 Chinese basketball teams have won six gold medals, two silver and one bronze medal in the Asian Games. In comparison, clubs from the Philippines won a total of seven medals and South Korea’s 11. Meanwhile, in the Olympic Games, China’s national men’s teams have yet to win a medal. However, they finished the highest, and in eighth place, in 1996 and 2004, and then ranked between 10th and 18th place in basketball in the other Olympic Games. And because of tough competition from basketball teams of the United States, Yugoslavia, Brazil, and the former Soviet Union, China’s national men’s teams’ best performance in the FIBA World Championships was fourth place in 1959. For sure, in the 2008 Olympic Games played in Beijing, the Chinese men’s basketball team will be well prepared and a formidable opponent especially for clubs from former Olympic champions like Argentina and Yugoslavia, and from those nations who have finished the Games in second place such as Croatia, France, and Italy. To confirm China’s dedication to — and interest in — being organized, trained, and ready for the 2008 Olympic Games, the NBA San Antonio Spurs’ swingman Bruce Bowen played on a
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US national basketball team against China in 2006 at an arena in the City of Guangzhou. According to what he experienced, Bowen said, “It’s [Guangzhou] like New York City magnified 30 times.You see building after building, but you don’t see a lot of disasters. They are serious about quality. I am really looking forward to the Olympics in 2008.”6 In the literature for this title, there are several recent publications that describe China’s efforts, goals, and strategies to become a basketball superpower among countries. For example, during the early 2000s the nation’s sports clubs — whose activities are coordinated by local sports committees, businesses, and/or civic groups — joined with the CBA and agreed to follow a system of rules and regulations whereby these clubs were permitted to, first, contact rich investors who would be willing to recruit and pay the transportation costs and salaries of superior foreign basketball players and coaches while in China, and second, to freely exchange players among each other to improve their club’s performances on the court. Indeed, the goals of this program are to increase the competitiveness, image, and professionalism of the CBA, and also to convert some of the Chinese state-owned teams into independent but commercial basketball enterprises. As a result of these actions, there were also ongoing plans to (a) reform the nation’s current basketball player reserve system, (b) introduce and implement a new basketball Super League, (c) market and promote the sport of basketball within cities and throughout other areas of the country, and (d) generate a larger fan base for China’s existing amateur and professional basketball leagues and their teams. Based on the views of one Chinese sports fan, some progress has occurred in basketball. He stated, “Our cheering squad was founded four years ago.At that time we had about 50 people.We now have
6
See Calum MacLeod.“China Embraces Basketball.”According to MacLeod, China has approximately 700 professional players among 90 teams in the CBA and WCBA, and the salaries of these athletes peak at $120,000 per year while ticket prices averaged $85–477 per game at the 2006 FIBA World Championships that were played in Guangzhou, China. To learn more about the development and success of China’s all-time greatest basketball player, read Brook Larmer. Operation Yao Ming: The Chinese Sports Empire, American Big Business, and the Making of an NBA Superstar (New York, NY: Gotham Books, 2005); Stefan Fatsis, Peter Wonacott, and Maureen Tkacik.“A Basketball Star From Shanghai is Big Business.” Wall Street Journal (22 October 2002):A1,A10.
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over 300. We want to cheer for our team [Beijing Ducks] in order to help their performance. That’s the least we can do.”7 Since the early 2000s, it is the Houston Rockets’ center Yao Ming who has been primarily responsible for promoting and marketing basketball in China and making it a more popular and well-entrenched sport there. As Ming developed the skills and athleticism to become one of the premier players in the Western Conference of the NBA, his friendly attitude, demeanor, and personality provided an opportunity for American professional basketball games to be broadcast on television networks throughout China and within other countries of Asia and the Far East. In the end, Ming and his Chinese teammates are expected to perform above expectations and with enough energy, enthusiasm, and motivation to win a gold, silver, or bronze medal in basketball for China in the 2008 Olympic Games. If their team earns a medal, then basketball will likely prosper and eventually surpass soccer to become China’s most likable, reputable, and well-regarded team sport for athletes and the nation’s general public.
BASKETBALL IN THE PHILIPPINES A few years after it was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, basketball was introduced for the first time into the Philippine islands by American missionaries — who had learned to play the game while they were members of the YMCA.As the sport further developed and became more localized and popular in metropolitan and rural areas on the mainland, it gradually but inevitably replaced soccer as the country’s national pastime. That is, this team sport attracted more spectators and larger crowds to its games than did such other traditional and wellknown Filipino sports — besides soccer — as billiards, bowling, and boxing. Thus, basketball was well established more than 100 years ago in the Philippines because young athletes there enjoyed playing the game for fun 7 The
rules, regulations, and reforms of the sport in China, and basketball fan Zhang Weiquang’s comment were each contained in “Basketball in China.” In the article,Vice President of China Basketball Management Center Wang Du mentions:“The purpose of our reform [home and away game system] is to discard traditional ways of management that contradict the rules of the market.The goal is really to get a larger market share.”
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in their neighborhoods and on teams in schools, and so did adult players who had joined clubs in urban leagues. Similarly, the people that lived in small and rural communities, and also in larger cities like Manila, Quezon City, and Davao became interested in and thoroughly entertained by the action, competition, and orientation of the game.8 Because of the growing enthusiasm and passion of Filipinos for basketball, which had spread beginning in the late 1890s, and the game’s increasing popularity among athletes, communities, and sports fans, some of the island’s basketball teams have participated in and enjoyed much success in international tournaments. Between the 1910s and 1940s, for example, the Philippines’ national men’s basketball team had been formed and as a result, it dominated competitors and won several gold medals in the Far Eastern Games — which were later renamed the Asian Games. Indeed, a total of nine championships were achieved by various Filipino teams during the years of 1913, 1915, 1917, 1919, 1923, 1925, 1927, 1930, and 1934. Interestingly, it was a national team from China that in 1921 ended the Philippines’ four consecutive victories in the Asian Games by beating its rival in the final series by a score of 30–27. Meanwhile in 1924, the University of the Philippines became a champion of the country’s first collegiate basketball tournament. In other words, during the early years of the 1900s, many of the nation’s amateur teams that played this increasingly entertaining and popular sport were very competitive and successful in global events. Two years after the country’s national men’s team won its ninth title in the Far Eastern Games, the American Commonwealth of the Philippines issued the world’s first basketball stamp and the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) decided to join FIBA. By associating with a parent organization such as FIBA — which schedules, promotes, supervises, and directs international tournaments at the club level — the BAP received immediate recognition and more publicity and thus became eligible to
8 For the history of basketball in the Philippines, and the nation’s commercial and professional basketball leagues, see various readings in the Source below Table 3.2. There are other perspectives about how popular the sport is in many countries including the Philippines.Three interesting books about this topic are, for example, Alexander Wolff. Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure (New York, NY: Warner Books, 2002); Christian Bocobo. Legends and Heroes of Philippine Basketball (Manila, Philippines: Christian Bocobo, 2004); Raul J. Teehankee. Dribblers: A Photograph Essay on Basketball Players of the Philippines (Manila, Philippines: PT Picturebooks, 1990).
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participate in additional global basketball games and other related events. Furthermore, the BAP has benefited from joining FIBA because it became a member of the world’s most prestigious and well-known governing group that controls and manages amateur basketball activities among foreign countries. Besides connecting with FIBA during the mid-1930s, the Philippines also placed fifth in the basketball tournament at the 1936 Olympic Games that was held in Berlin, Germany. In fact, during Olympic basketball tournaments in 1940–2004, the island’s clubs played competitively and tended to finish between 5th and 12th in rank. Furthermore, after the 1930s, the Philippines’ amateur teams continued to be active internationally by participating in such basketball events as the Asian Games, FIBA Asia, and World Club Championships, and in the William Jones Cup. Anyway, it is important to note that this country’s nonprofessional basketball teams have been heavily subsidized for decades by the Philippine government, in part, to provide facilities for teams to practice in, and also for the funds to pay expenses when the country’s clubs compete in regional and international tournaments. As a result, the sport has flourished and prospered within cities on the nation’s mainland, and furthermore, among the rural populations of its 11 largest islands.
Commercial and Professional Basketball Leagues While the country’s number of amateur and collegiate sports programs continued to emerge, develop, and spread during the early 1900s, the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) was formed in 1938 by the Philippines’ former Olympic basketball coach Dionisio “Chito” Calvo (see Table 3.2). The MICAA, which consisted of industrial and commercial teams each season, remained intact for about 40 years. Then in the mid1970s, some officials from a few amateur sports organizations and a number of MICAA club owners met and decided to reorganize and then expand and improve the level of professional basketball as it was being played within the Philippines. After they agreed to take action and establish a new organization, a portion of these MICAA owners eventually withdrew their teams from the BAP and founded the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) during the mid-1970s. As such, the PBA became Asia’s first seasonal basketball league and the world’s second oldest after the NBA, whose initial season was in 1949 when America’s Basketball Association of America and National Basketball League combined their operations and merged.
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Table 3.2 Former and Current Philippines Basketball Groups, by Type, Selected Years Group
Type
Number of Teams
Years
MICAA PBA PABL PBL MBA NBC
Commercial Professional Commercial Professional Professional Professional
14 10 9 9 16 10
1938 1975 1983 1983 1998 2004
Note: The Philippine Amateur Basketball League (PABL) was a commercial league that changed its name to the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) and became a semiprofessional organization of teams. The entries in the Number of Teams column are based on when the groups were founded, and these numbers varied during some Group’s seasons. Years are the Groups’ first year in operation. Source:“Basketball in the Philippines.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007];“Philippine Basketball Association.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 21 June 2007]; “Philippine Basketball League.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]; “Metropolitan Basketball Association.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 21 June 2007]; “National Basketball Conference.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 21 June 2007].
To distinguish itself as a professional league, in 1975 the PBA was organized into conferences whose winners competed in a postseason series to determine the Grand Slam champion and be awarded a trophy. Since that year, the current PBA teams that have won the most titles are the San Miguel Beermen — renamed Magnolia Beverage Masters in 2007–2008 — with 17 and Alaska Aces 11, and with seven each are the Barangay Ginebra Kings and Purefoods Chunkee Giants. In contrast, with one championship each are Santa Lucia Reality and Talk N Text Phone Pals, and with zero titles are the Air21 Express and Welcoat Dragons. Finally there are two prominent teams that previously had won championships, but for business, economic, and/or financial reasons, no longer exist as members of the league. These defunct basketball clubs were the Crispa Redmanizers with 13 titles and Toyota Super Corollas with nine. Some of the more interesting, special, and unique features of the PBA include the following items: (a) its policies and rules, which were adopted primarily from those of FIBA and the NBA; (b) a regular season that extends from February to October in order to accommodate international basketball tournaments that are held annually or biennially between June and September; (c) an end-of-season honor called the Best Import of the Conference, which is awarded to the most outstanding non-Filipino player
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on a PBA team; (d) the approval and entry of guest teams into the PBA from other basketball leagues for one or more seasons; (e) the broadcast coverage of teams’ games on different local, regional, and national television networks and radio stations; and (f ) the scheduling of some regular-season games played by a few of the PBA teams in such foreign countries as Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates. In short, for approximately 33 years the PBA has been the most successful and premier domestic professional basketball league that has existed and performed in the Philippine Islands. When the MICAA folded during the early 1980s, the San Miguel Corporation’s Chairman Danding Cojuangco conceived of and then organized the Philippine Amateur Basketball League (PABL). Originally formed as a league for collegiate players — yet whose teams were sponsored by large companies — the PABL rapidly evolved into a totally commercial, professional group of clubs. Because of the league’s orientation, reorganization, and transformation, the PABL changed its name to Philippine Basketball League (PBL) in 1983. Interestingly, some of the companies that previously owned or currently owned PBA clubs also control a number of PBL teams. Furthermore, many PBA teams recruit a number of their basketball players from those in the PBL, while such former PBL clubs as Red Bull Barako and the Welcoat Dragons had improved their performances over seasons and thus were allowed by officials to transfer their organizations into the PBA during the 2000s. Generally each year, the PBL will consist of five to seven teams, whose sponsors have included prominent international businesses like Burger King, Nikon, San Miguel, Swift USA and Toyota, and such local, regional, and/or national commercial entities as Air Philippines, Bingo Pilipino, Hapee Toothpaste, Otto Shoes, and Wilkins Distilled Water. Recently, some PBL games have appeared on several Philippine network television and cable channels, and also other games were broadcast on a few radio stations across the country. Fifteen years after the PABL/PBL began to operate and while the PBA was still in existence, a new professional basketball league had formed in the Philippines. That is, in 1998 a broadcast network named ABC–CBN funded the start-up of the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA). Referred to as “Metroball,” the new league’s mission was based on regionalization whereby its teams represented a particular city, province, or an island of the Philippines rather than being identified with private companies, and that these teams played their home and away games at facilities in each other’s region. If qualified and talented enough in basketball, any
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athletes born in the Philippines were allowed to perform as players on the rosters of MBA teams.This hiring policy, in turn, had attracted some players from the PBA and thus, ultimately caused a significant increase in the salaries and benefits paid by these and other professional basketball teams in the Philippines. “Metroball,” which followed a format and schedule of regular-season games similar to that of the NBA, consisted of several teams each in the Northern Conference — whose clubs were located in the Luzon and Manila areas — and in the Southern Conference — whose clubs existed in the Visayas/Mindanao region. To determine which of the teams would win a league title, the conferences’ champions competed against each other in the final series of a tournament after they had defeated their rivals in divisional and semifinal games. In fact, between 1998 and 2002 inclusive, five different teams — including the Negro Slashers — had won an MBA championship. Besides winning four Southern Conference titles, the Slashers defeated the Batangas Blades of the Northern Conference in three consecutive games to earn an MBA championship in 2002 after the club had finished as runners-up in 1998, 2000, and 2001. Because of the escalation in players’ salaries and the increasing costs of financing and controlling a regional basketball league, officials at ABC–CBN decided to stop subsidizing the MBA after the 2002 season had concluded. Hence, when this league ceased operations and folded, its teams released their players and they entered into the marketplace. Subsequently, some of them signed contracts with clubs in the PBL while others migrated to franchises in the PBA. In the end,ABC–CBN’s attempt to undermine the PBA by organizing the MBA had failed although the latter league did exist for five consecutive seasons.This unfortunate result was due, in part, to managerial mistakes by and problems of the broadcasting company’s decision makers who unrealistically under-budgeted the economic costs of operating teams in a league across a large geographic area, and also because these executives overestimated the regional demand for such MBA teams as the Northern Conference’s Olongapo Volunteers and Pangasinan Presidents, and the Southern Conference’s Iloio Megavoltz and Surigao Miners. After the Philippines National Basketball Conference (PNBC) had relinquished its name and rights to the BAP in 2003, one year later the PNBC’s remaining team owners reorganized as a group and became known as the National Basketball Conference (NBC). Similar to the defunct MBA, the NBC focused on providing basketball games to sports fans located within large regional markets of the Philippines. Twelve teams competed in the NBC’s
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first season and then in 2005 and 2006, a few new clubs were admitted into and joined the league. Also, in 2006 NBC officials reconfigured the league’s structure into two conferences, which was the same strategy implemented by the PBA, PBL, and MBA in previous years. Based on the number of championships they won, the NBC’s two best teams have been the Tribu Sugbu and Ozamiz Cotta.
Philippine Basketball Timeline Besides the previous information regarding the Philippines’ commercial and professional basketball leagues, some specific highlights and facts about the sport are highlighted by decade in the following paragraphs. For the first four decades of basketball in the country, the following matters were relevant to the development of the sport.They are as follows: during the 1910s, the nation’s first national basketball team formed and it won four gold medals in the Far Eastern Games; during the 1920s, Philippine player Luis Salvador set an all-time record by scoring 116 points in the Far Eastern Games while Filipino basketball veteran Jovito Gonzales won his sixth consecutive medal in that tournament; during the 1930s, the country’s teams defeated those from Mexico, Estonia, Italy, and Uruguay in the Olympic Games, and also Far Eastern University won the first University Athletic Association of the Philippines Basketball Championship; and during the 1940s, the Philippines participated in the Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere Games — which was sponsored by Japan — and the Philippines defeated Iraq 102–30 in the opening game of the 1948 Olympic Games. Other important basketball events and news for the Philippines by decade include these facts: during the 1950s, the world’s largest domed entertainment center — named the Araneta Coliseum — was completed in Quezon City, and furthermore, the great Filipino player Carlos Loyzaga finished as the third leading scorer in the 1954 FIBA World Championship; during the 1960s, FIBA suspended the Philippines from its tournaments because the country’s President, Diosdado Macapagal, refused to issue visas to players from communist countries while Carlos Loyzaga retired and became a legend since he was the most successful athlete to ever play for the Philippines’ national basketball team; and during the 1970s, the Crispa Redmanizers team won a Grand Slam title after winning three consecutive PBA conference championships, and future PBA superstar Ricardo Brown was drafted by the NBA’s Houston Rockets.
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Some more recent pieces of information about the sport are also worthwhile to mention here. By decade, these details include the following facts: during the 1980s, the Philippines won a William Jones Cup and International Basketball Championship — which was played in Taiwan — with the help of some American players on the team, and FIBA agreed to permit professional players from nations to participate in any international basketball tournaments including the FIBA World Championships and Olympic Games; during the 1990s, the nation celebrated its 100th year of independence from Spain by forming the Philippine Centennial Team, and 11 of the country’s players were inducted into the Philippine National Basketball Hall of Fame; and during the early 2000s, the PBA celebrated its 30th anniversary and the PBL its 20th, and FIBA suspended the Philippines for the third time because of the BAP’s political agenda and the league’s and government’s failure to adequately develop and support the country’s national basketball team into an Asian powerhouse club.As a result, the team was not allowed to enter such basketball tournaments as the Asian Games, FIBA World Championships, and Olympic Games. In 2006, an insightful article about the most popular sports in the Philippines was published in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Basically, the article’s author explained why basketball has had a stronger appeal to — and demand from — sports fans within that country than the game has experienced from individuals and households in the United States. In fact, the article contains these statements:“Basketball is a national obsession here [Philippines]. Players are elevated to godlike status. Fans are, well, fanatical. The most devoted followers are groups of transvestites who attend every game, their unbridled enthusiasm tolerated, even secretly embraced, by the most macho of players.”9 According to the aforementioned article, there are simple reasons why basketball has been — and continues to be — so popular among Filipinos. First, people who live on the islands have only a few options for entertainment during leisure hours of a day. Because basketball unifies these populations, they enthusiastically cheer for their favorite teams and players, and also they are motivated to attend home and away games of the sport. Second, as community development projects, local Philippine governments have subsidized construction costs and thus provided basketball courts with hoops in numerous urban areas and remote villages of the islands. As such, 9
See Martha Ann Overland. “Studying Basketball’s Grip.” Chronicle of Higher Education (14 April 2006): A56.
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a number of politicians and many foreign missionaries who live in the Philippines believe that the sport is a way to energize people who tend to have dilapidated, and even unusable, public facilities. Third, in recent decades the US State Department has invested funds and resources into the Philippines’ economy and also sponsored basketball clinics for kids and teenage athletes. Furthermore, American cultural envoys have visited the nation’s islands to improve the US image and reputation of being a leading democracy in the world and a friendly ally of the Philippines. During the early 2000s, Heidi Ueberroth served as the NBA’s executive vice president for global media properties and marketing partnerships. When Heidi visited the Philippines, she said:“I’m afraid to get off the plane with my NBA tag on. In the Philippines basketball is No. 1, 2, and 3.” Thus Heidi was aware and also observed enough events to appreciate, realize, and understand the passion that people in the Philippines have for the sport, and especially for basketball’s professional leagues, teams, coaches, and players.10 To summarize the sport’s history in this country, a US Fulbright scholar who had studied basketball in foreign nations recently concluded: “Basketball has a powerful grip on the Philippines. The Americans introduced the game nearly 100 years ago after winning the islands from the Spanish. Eager to Americanize its newest acquisition, the US sent thousands of teachers and basketballs to the Philippines.”11 10
There is Mimi Whitefield, “Basketball Executives Work to Maintain Sport’s Popularity Worldwide.” Miami Herald (29 March 2000): 1. In her article, the author also discusses the NBA’s international marketing strategies and television broadcasts in such nations as Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. For another reading about the NBA and its future plans for exposure, see Diane Brady. “Heidi Ueberroth, The NBA Marketing Executive is Behind a Big Global Expansion.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 7 October 2007]. 11 Former Northwestern journalism student Rafe Barthholomew’s statement was reported in “Studying Basketball’s Grip.” He also said:“I want to explain what basketball means in the Philippines. It’s a part of people’s lives at really every level of society here. It’s no different than studying religion.” For other readings about basketball in the Philippines, see “ABC Strikes Deal with Star Sports for Philippines.” Media Asia (6 May 2005): 12; Raphael Bartholomew.“Players From U.S. Face Added Pressure in Philippines.” New York Times (21 April 2006): D3; James Hookway. “More Bounce For Your Buck.” Far Eastern Economic Review (1 May 2003): 34–35; Edwin Kiester Jr. and Sally Valente Kiester. “Yankee Go Home and Take Me With You!,” Smithsonian (May 1999): 40–49; Adam Porter. “Celebrity Spin.”New Internationalist (July 1999): 14–15.
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BASKETBALL IN SPAIN During the early 1890s, a game of basketball was initially played in Europe by athletes at a YMCA in Paris, France. As the sport developed and became increasingly popular between the mid-1890s and late 1920s, it had gradually spread among nations across that continent. As a result, in the 1930s FIBA was established in Geneva, Switzerland — where Latvia won the first European basketball championship — and then in 1936 the sport was introduced into the Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany.12 As the game expanded among countries in the Americas,Asia, and the Far East, there were a few significant circumstances and events that reflected basketball’s growing popularity and value as a national and international sport within Europe. That is, during the mid- to late-1950s, FIBA men and women world basketball championships and cup competitions were scheduled and played between teams of various countries in Europe. Furthermore, in the Olympic Games some of the men’s basketball teams from France and the Soviet Union played competitively and won silver medals. Because of these and other results, since the 1960s basketball has been further adopted, accepted, and promoted either as a major or minor sport in most nations of Eastern and Western Europe.To document and then learn to what extent basketball emerged and developed in one Eastern European country — that is, Spain — the following sections of this chapter were researched and organized for the readers of Global Sports. 12
For the history of basketball in Spain and information about Spanish basketball leagues and tournaments, and about the nation’s participation in international tournaments, see the readings in the Source below Table 3.3. Also, see the “History of Basketball in Europe — Timeline.” http://www.fibaeurope.com [cited 30 June 2007]; Herman L. Masin, “Bravo Barcelona.” Coach & Athletic Director (March 2007): 5–6; Chris Ballard,“Pau Gasol vs. European History.” Sports Illustrated (29 October 2001): 85–88;“History of the Section.” http://www.fcbarcelona.com [cited 25 August 2007]. Other details related to the sport in Spain are reported in “Real Madrid Top Most of the Rankings in Spain.” http://www.realmadrid.com [cited 25 August 2007]; “Basketball in Spain.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 17 August 2007];“Asociacion de Clubs de Baloncesto.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 17 August 2007];“Liga Espanola de Baloncesto.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 17 August 2007]; “Copa del Rey de Baloncesto.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 17 August 2007];“Supercopa de Espana de Baloncesto.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 17 August 2007]; “Spain National Basketball Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 17 August 2007].
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Basketball Leagues in Spain Several groups in team sports, including American-style basketball, were established and had appeared in European nations during various years of the mid- to late-20th century. To illustrate, Spain’s premier professional basketball league — which was originally named the Liga Nacional from 1956 to 1982 and then in 1983 became known as the Asociacion de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB) — agreed to adopt, implement, and follow FIBA rules, and throughout its history, the league has consisted of approximately 15–20 teams per season.To compete for a championship, the league’s teams must play a series of home and away games against others in their division and an ACB season ends when this schedule of events has been completed. Similar to a few basketball leagues in other European nations, the ACB takes a brief break in its schedule of games during winter months. Interestingly, the league champion is the team that wins the most games in a season and not necessarily the one with the highest winning percentage. If there is a tie in the number of victories between two or more ACB teams at the end of a regular season, then the champion is the club that scored the most total points in games. If two or more teams, in turn, scored the same number of points, the winner is the team that had the best head-to-head record against its rivals. For some interesting information about teams’ performances in this elite basketball league between 1956 and 1982 inclusive, Real Madrid won 22 Liga Nacional championships while FC Barcelona claimed three and Joventut Badalona two. Then from 1983 to 2007, FC Barcelona earned 11 ACB championships and Real Madrid eight, Joventut Badalona two, and with one each were clubs named Tau Vitoria, TDK Manresa, and Unicaja Malaga. Based on these titles and decades of years, since the late 1950s the two most dominated and successful professional basketball clubs in Spain have been Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Consequently, such current and/or former NBA players as Arvydas Sabonis, Jorge Garbajosa, Pau Gasol, Sarunas Jasikevicius, and Walter Herrmann have won most valuable player awards for their outstanding performances in one or more ACB seasons and/or for winning a championship in a final series of games. Before discussing another prominent Spanish basketball league in the following paragraph, it is worthwhile to reveal some historical facts about the FC Barcelona team. First, the club’s initial season to compete in basketball games occurred during the mid-1920s.Approximately 15 years later, it joined the nation’s First Division, and before 1950 had developed into a superpower
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within the sport. Subsequent to some organizational problems and belowaverage performances during the mid- to late-1950s, FC Barcelona returned to become competitive again and thereby won a title in the Spanish League and thus a Generalissimo Cup.Then from the 1960s into the early- to mid-1970s, Real Madrid replaced FC Barcelona in ability and consequently, it became the dominated, professional basketball team in Spain. Nevertheless, in the 1977–1978 basketball season, FC Barcelona beat Real Madrid and won a Copa del Rey tournament. Then after the 1970s, FC Barcelona won additional Spanish basketball championships and also earned medals in some of the European tournaments. In short, between the early 1940s and 2000s FC Barcelona’s numbers and types of titles have included the following awards: 14 ACBs, 13 Spanish Cups, 12 Catalan Leagues, seven Spanish Championships, six Catalan Championships, two each Korac Cups, European Cup of Winners Cups, and Spanish Supercups, and one each title in the Euroleague, European Supercup,World Champion of Clubs, and Prince of Asturias Cup. Besides specific information about the history and achievements of the ACB and its various teams, another important professional basketball league in Spain has been the Federacion Espanola de Baloncesto (FEB). Although established in 1996 but considered inferior in quality to the ACB, the FEB consists each season of about 15–18 total teams who are divided into three equal sub-groups. These three classifications of teams are named the Adecco Oro,Adecco Plata, and Adecco Bronce. In contrast to how the ACB operates as a basketball league, the FEB also follows FIBA rules while its teams play a similar — but not identical — type of schedule as described for clubs in the ACB.That is, an FEB’s regular season is split in half and the winners of these two periods of time play for a championship. With respect to the 1996–2006 seasons inclusive, Etosa Alicante and Polaris World Murcia are the teams that had each won two FEB championships. In short, the ACB and FEB are, respectively, the first- and second-tier professional basketball leagues with experience and that currently exist in Spain. As such, their member clubs have a devoted group of hometown and regional fans who attend games and support the efforts of players and coaches to win a league championship.
Spanish Basketball Tournaments Although the sport had existed and developed in several Eastern European nations since the early 1900s, it was in 1933 that the Copa de Espana — later renamed the Copa del Generalissimo during General Francisco Franco’s
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years and then retitled Copa del Rey in 1977 — became organized as a national cup competition among various basketball teams that are based on Spain. For the results of this tournament, between 1933 and 2007 Real Madrid teams won 22 titles and finished runners-up in 17 championships while those of FC Barcelona defeated their rivals for first place in 20 of the years and also placed second in seven. In fact, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have dominated this tournament since 1933 by winning or finishing runnersup in 93 percent of the 71 championships — which excluded 1934 and 1937–1939 when this tournament was not played because of economic instabilities among European economies and the disruptions from military threats and preparations with respect to the forthcoming world war on the continent.Thus, the other 13–20 clubs who had participated during one or more seasons in the Copa de Espana/Copa del Generalissimo/Copa del Rey have succeeded to win only a few titles in this important event. These include, for example, such teams as CB Joventut with seven championships, Tau Vitoria five, and CB Estudiantes three. Since 2004, a Spanish basketball supercup event has been played. This tournament is titled the Supercopa de Espana de Baloncesto (SEB), and it consists of games between four competitive teams. These clubs are the annual champions each of the ACB and Copa del Rey, and the two teams that placed second and third in the ACB. However, if the same club was extremely successful during a season and also won ACB and Copa del Rey titles, then the next best three teams besides that champion play in the tournament. For the results of this event, the SEB champions include FC Barcelona in 2004 and TAU Ceramica in 2005, 2006, and 2007.
International Tournaments To measure and discuss how successful the Spanish national men and women basketball teams were against their opponents from other countries in various tournaments during selected years, Table 3.3 was organized. It denotes that in six global tournaments, the men teams had won a total of 34 medals while the women teams earned 16 of them. Nevertheless and despite these differences, Spain’s men teams have not always outperformed their women counterparts in some of these international tournaments.To highlight each group, in the U16 championships the men won a gold medal in 2006 and so did the women in 1999 and 2004–2006. Meanwhile, in the U18 tournaments the men won two silver medals during the mid-1970s and the women two in the 1990s and three
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Table 3.3 Spanish Teams, Medals in International Basketball Tournaments, Selected Years Tournament
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
1 2 0 0 0 1
6 2 3 6 1 0
4 4 2 2 0 0
11 8 5 8 1 1
4 2 1 1 0 0
2 5 0 1 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
6 7 1 2 0 0
Men U16 European Championships U18 European Championships U20 European Championships Eurobasket Olympic Games FIBA World Championships Women U16 European Championships U18 European Championships U20 European Championships Eurobasket Olympic Games FIBA World Championships
Note: The U16, U18, and U20 are tournaments for players who were, respectively, Under 16, Under 18, and Under 20 years old. The 12 tournaments in the table occurred as follows: for the men, it was the U16 European Championships in 1971–2007, U18 in 1964–2007, U20 in 1992–2007, Eurobasket in 1935–2005, Olympic Games in 1936–2004, and the FIBA World Championships in 1950–2007; and for the women, it was the U16 European Championships in 1976–2007, U18 in 1965–2007, U20 in 2000–2007, Eurobasket in 1938–2005, Olympic Games in 1976–2004, and the FIBA World Championships in 1953–2007. Source: “U16 European Championship.” http://www.fibaeurope.com [cited 18 August 2007]; “U18 European Championship.” http://www.fibaeurope.com [cited 18 August 2007]; “U20 European Championship.” http://www.fibaeurope.com [cited 18 August 2007]; “Eurobasket.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007]; “Eurobasket Women.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007];“Men’s Olympic Games All-Time Results & Standings.” http://www.usabasketball.com [cited 7 August 2007]; “Women’s Olympic Games All-Time Results & Standings.” http://www.usabasketball.com [cited 16 August 2007]; “FIBA World Championship.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 6 August 2007]; “FIBA World Championship for Women.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007].
in the 2000s. Then in the U20 events, the men won two bronze medals between 1994 and 2000 and the women zero during 2000–2007. In other words, since the mid- to late-1990s, the Spanish women’s teams generally performed about as well or better than the men’s in winning some medals in U16 and U18 basketball events.
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Besides participating in the U16, U18, and U20 European Championships, the Eurobasket is a biennial basketball tournament that is played between the national teams of various European nations. Furthermore, the winner of this event — whose rules are governed by FIBA of Europe — qualifies for a FIBA World Championship.As reflected in Table 3.3, Spain’s men teams have won zero gold but six silver and two bronze medals in the tournament, while Spain’s women teams defeated France to win the Eurobasket title in 1993 and also finished runner-up to the Soviet Union in 1989. Thus, the Spanish men national teams have won more total medals and thus tended to play aboveaverage in their performances relative to the national women teams in this European basketball championship. In the Olympic Games, the performances of Spain’s national men and women teams have disappointed the basketball fans of this Eastern European country. Besides its silver medal in 1984, Spain’s men teams have finished somewhere between fourth and ninth place in this global event while the women clubs’ best results were fifth in 1992 and sixth in 2004. Because of excellent national basketball teams from the United States and former Soviet Union, and more recently from Australia, Lithuania, and Yugoslavia, Spain has failed to win more than one medal in men and women basketball at the Olympic Games since the mid-1930s. Regarding the FIBA World Championships, Spain’s men team won a gold medal in 2006. Nonetheless, and as reflected in the results of the other 10 international tournaments of Table 3.3, it has been men teams from primarily the United States,Yugoslavia, former Soviet Union, and Brazil, and women clubs from the United States, former Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Australia that have usually dominated their competitors and thus succeeded to win one or more gold, silver, and/or bronze medals in this event. To review, Spain’s men teams have been more competitive in the U16 and U18 European Championships and Eurobasket tournaments than in the U20 European Championships, Olympic Games, and FIBA World Championships. Meanwhile, this nation’s women teams have played much better in the U16 and U18 European Championships than in the other four events.Therefore, because of the experienced and talented basketball leagues, teams, coaches, and players from other countries, after 2007 Spain’s national teams are unlikely to finish first or even in second or third place in some of the international tournaments in which they qualify for, enter and perform. In Appendix B, there are several tables that indicate the performances — in tournaments — of national basketball teams from several foreign countries including China, the Philippines, and Spain. For the total number of
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medals won by men and women teams of these three latter nations in each of the following events, the results are summarized as follows: in the Olympic Games, one medal each for China and Spain; in the FIBA World Basketball Championships, two medals for China and one each for the Philippines and Spain; in the Asian Games Championships, 18 medals for China and seven for the Philippines; in the FIBA Asia Championships, 32 medals for China and eight for the Philippines; and in the Eurobasket Championships, 13 medals for Spain. Consequently, China’s national basketball teams on average defeat their rivals and thus have been relatively successful in tournaments within Asia’s geographic region, while teams from the Philippines occasionally win a medal in tournaments and those from Spain frequently finish in first, second, and/or third place in the Eurobasket.13
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS The various amateur and professional basketball programs, and the respective leagues, teams, and players in China, the Philippines, and Spain, are interesting and provocative subjects to research, analyze, and contrast from business and economic perspectives. During decades while the sport had existed and expanded, it became increasingly organized and played by athletes in groups within these three nations. Thus, as basketball evolved into being an entertaining and popular activity, it also developed, in part, into a commercial industry throughout these countries’ metropolitan and urban areas, and among segments of their populations. In retrospect, there are a number of key implications that indicate basketball’s effects and relationships in these three countries with respect to beliefs and concepts in business and economics. However, before a few of 13
Tables B.1–B.6 in Appendix B include the basketball performances of nations in, respectively, the Olympic Games, FIBA World Basketball Championships, Asian Games Championships, FIBA Asia Championships, Men’s Eurobasket Championships, and Women’s Eurobasket Championships. When the total number of men and women gold, silver, and bronze medals won by each country are converted into percentages per tournament through mid-2007, the results are that China and Spain have each won 1 percent of the medals in the Olympic Games; China 2 percent, and the Philippines and Spain 1 percent each, in the FIBA World Championships; China 25 percent and Philippines 12 percent in the Asian Games Championships; China 23 percent and Philippines 8 percent in the FIBA Asia Championships; and Spain 5 percent in the Eurobasket Championships.
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Table 3.4 Demographic and Economic Characteristics, by Country, Selected Years
Country China Philippines Spain United States
Land Area (thousands of square miles)
Total Population (millions)
Population Density (persons/square mile)
GDP/Capita (thousands of US$)
3705.4 115.8 194.8 3718.7
1321.8 91.0 40.4 301.1
367 791 210 85
7.7 5.0 27.4 44.0
Note: GDP/Capita is reported for 2006, and the other three characteristics are reported for 2007. Source: World Almanac and Book of Facts 2008 (New York, NY: World Almanac Books, 2008).
these issues are discussed in this section of the chapter, Table 3.4 denotes four basic characteristics that collectively reveal some important information about each nation’s and the US’s approximate sizes and their per capita distributions of output of goods and services. As such, these national statistics are worthwhile for readers to remember since they indirectly relate to the current and potential markets for sports, and for purposes of this chapter, more specifically to the commercial development and role of basketball within and among the first three nations listed in the table. Initially the most significant business and economic aspects of basketball in China, and then in the Philippines and Spain are each highlighted and examined, and followed by the endnotes to conclude this chapter.
China Relative to other countries on the planet,The People’s Republic of China is the world’s most populated nation and an economic superpower whose economy is booming commercially and industrially because of new development, private and public investment, and global trade.As a result, the majority of the country’s enterprises earn additional revenues and profits while millions of households realize a higher standard of living because of more income, savings, and wealth. Also, Chinese governments that exist in cities and provinces receive incremental inflows of yuan and other currencies from the fees and levies that were applied to imports and the taxes imposed on local, regional, national and international businesses, and domestic households. Because of its economic prosperity, China’s politicians as decision makers have decided to focus on and upgrade team sports by investing
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a proportion of the country’s available resources and abundant amounts of financial reserves into social affairs and entertainment functions, and that includes a number of amateur and professional basketball events, facilities, and programs within and across Chinese communities. Besides a system that features more intensive and dedicated training of coaches, managers, and athletes, and because of an expected improvement in the performances of China’s sports teams in local and regional leagues and at a few international tournaments, a decision to reinvest a portion of the nation’s scarce resources and its money capital into basketball programs and organizations has caused responses and other reactions from some commercial enterprises of different countries.To illustrate, during early 2008 the NBA in America announced the formation of a subsidiary named NBA China. Accordingly, this entity was established to evaluate, initiate, and control this American professional league’s basketball activities in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, and as a business unit, to involve such investors as the Bank of China Group Investment Ltd., China Merchants Investments, and Legend Holdings Ltd., which is the parent company of computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. If it is competent, innovative and successful, NBA China will continually grow the sport in China and throughout regions of Asia by planning and then assisting the Chinese with developing their basketball arenas, and also by initiating and implementing sports marketing, media, and licensing partnerships across the country. According to CBA Executive Vice President and Secretary General Li Yuanwei,“With the support of its strategic investors and additional investments in China, I think the NBA and the CBA can expand upon our past cooperation to further develop basketball in China.”14 Other business and economic innovations in China have occurred to engage, promote, and support the country’s basketball organizations, operations, and programs. These include, for example, major partnerships and also 14 For some expectations, facts, and business plans about NBA China, see “NBA Names Investors in China Venture; New League is Possible.” Wall Street Journal (15 January 2008): B5; Adam Thompson and Alan Paul. “NBA Uses Local Allure to Push Planned League in China.” Wall Street Journal (11 January 2008): B1, B2;“NBA Heads to the Great Wall of China.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 15 January 2008]. In the latter article, NBA Commissioner David Stern spoke about the formation and development of NBA China. He said,“The opportunity for basketball and the NBA in China is simply extraordinary. The expertise, resources and shared vision of these immensely successful companies will help us to achieve the potential we see in the region.”
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the sponsorship of games and grassroots events there by US multinational companies as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Nike, and by a variety of Chinese firms such as footwear and apparel manufacturer Li-Ning Company and a wood flooring producer and distributor named Homenice, and a home appliance firm known as Haier. Furthermore, there are several marketing campaigns associated with Chinese basketball that are each sponsored by Adidas, Reebok, and/or Time Inc. In commercial advertisements, displays and promotions, China’s basketball fans are informed about products and services supplied by Microsoft, Motorola, Spalding and Toyota. In total, these and other US and foreign businesses are important factors in the financing, marketing, and operating of CBLs and their teams, and thus the further development and expansion of the sport in this nation of more than 1.3 billion people that, in part, consists of 56 ethnic groups, eight principal languages and four chief religions, and that achieves an annual GDP growth rate of at least 8 percent.15 From a sports market perspective, another important source and expanding venture in China is the additional exposure and broadcast of domestic and foreign basketball games, tournaments, and other related sporting events on television networks. For sure it is NBA and CBA clubs, and the Chinese men and women national basketball teams that this nation’s fans increasingly demand to watch and root for on television while they compete in games and tournaments, and to learn about these club’s great players and how they are portrayed in documentaries, commercials, and stories. Some television spots, for instance, feature the basketball products endorsed by famous NBA megastars like the Denver Nuggets’ Allen Iverson, Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James, and Houston Rockets’ Tracy McGrady. Even so, the Rocket’s 7-foot-6-inch all-star center Yao Ming is 15
There are numerous business deals that involve basketball, and American and foreign companies and their investments in China. In part, these transactions are reported in such articles as Samantha Marshall, “NBA Scores Big in China.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 21 May 2006]; Mei Fong and Geoffrey A. Fowler.“Time Warner Tests China Curb on Magazines.” Wall Street Journal (16 August 2006): B1, B8; Geoffrey A. Fowler and Mei Fong. “Chinese Firm Drafts NBA’s Shaq.” Wall Street Journal (15 August 2006): B2; Jane Spencer,“Lenovo Signs Deal With the NBA in Bid to Build Brand Awareness.” Wall Street Journal (24 October 2006): B4; Adam Thompson and Mei Fong.“Can Half a Billion Chinese be Wrong? The NBA Hopes Not.” Wall Street Journal (25 September 2006): A9, A11. For demographic statistics about China, see pages 766–767 of the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006.
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undoubtedly the world’s most idolized, respected, and well-known athlete who was born and lived in China. Furthermore, since the mid- to late-1990s he has become a legend among Chinese sports fans and an important reason for basketball’s growing popularity throughout areas of the Far East and populations of Asian countries.16 Because of the great fame, goodwill, and publicity generated by Yao Ming, and given his impact on sports fans in Asia and North America, the variety of teams that exist in other CBLs besides the CBA have likely attracted more spectators to their games. Therefore, they have improved their playing competitiveness and also economically, increased their present and future values as private or public enterprises. Despite some minor and even major financial problems, these secondary or substandard Chinese teams perform during scheduled seasons and postseasons in such basketball groups as the CBL, CCBL, CHSBL, CUBA, or WCBA. In fact, a number of new CBLs have been founded since the early 2000s and further expansion of these amateur, semiprofessional, and professional organizations is anticipated into the early 2010s. There are some unique cultural, traditional, and political issues that affect the business and economic development and growth of amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional basketball events and programs in China. A few of them are itemized and discussed as follows. First, a Chinese government agency or department supervises and totally controls the activities of the national men and women basketball teams and furthermore, this bureaucracy regulates the salaries of players and essentially determines for whom these athletes will perform in the various Chinese leagues. In other words, any actions that involve players such as a draft, free agency, and trades between teams are restricted to a much greater extent than in the United States and by the NBA. Second, the CBA is a league, which domestic and foreign sports experts criticize for its poor play, inconsistent and unfair 16 The values of NBA teams and their players continue to rise in the United States and China for the same reason that five Chinese television networks broadcast all-star games. To explain this business matter, read Marc Gunther. “The NBA’s Full Court Press in China.” http://www.cnnmoney.com [cited 13 March 2006]. In part,Yao Ming’s impact in basketball and China is discussed in Geoffrey York.“Live From China — The Legend of Yao Ming.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 8 January 2003]; T.C. Peng, “The Yao Ming Story.” Chinese American Forum, Vol. XVIII, No. 4 (April 2003): 2–7; Stefan Fatsis, Peter Wonacott, and Suzanne Tkacik.“A Basketball Star From Shanghai is Big Business;” Jill Painter, “This Just in ... Yao Ming is Big Business.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 20 February 2003].
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officiating, and the inefficient scheduling and production of basketball games and tournaments when provided for fans on Chinese television networks. However, NBA China will propose changes to the structure and operation of the CBA that, in turn, may reform this league and minimize these types of problems in the future.17 Third, because of the expanding commercialization and globalization of sports, Chinese officials are being challenged to accept these trends and thereby, they need to implement and enforce new rules and forms of competition in the country’s basketball programs and operations. As a result of hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing during August, China has invested in and upgraded its sports facilities and also invited basketball experts from the United States and elsewhere to teach the game to Chinese teams and their players. Fourth, China’s prosperity and impressive development and economic growth have caused inflation and thus an increase in various prices and wages across the nation. Consequently, the salaries and benefits of Chinese basketball players have been pressured upward by market forces that affect the demand and supply for labor services.This suggests that more income inequality has and will occur between elite athletes who perform in various team sports and common workers in the general population. Hence, bureaucrats and government agencies in China that control the game of basketball may be forced to eventually constrain athletes’ compensation and their wealth. In short, Chinese basketball needs to reform and modernize its current policies and rules to promote participation in sports, and also to encourage the nation’s men and women teams to compete and therefore win championships in global events. Do similar business issues and economic concepts exist with basketball affairs, events, and programs in the Philippines and Spain?
The Philippines Since this nation of 7100 islands in Southeast Asia became independent from Japan during the mid-1940s, the Republic of the Philippines has been an ally of the United States and until 1992, a site for American military bases. Based on its history, economic development, and land use, at least 50 percent of 17 Being the nation’s premier professional basketball league, the CBA is discussed in such readings as “Basketball in China,” and in Calum MacLeod. “China Embraces Basketball,”“Chinese Basketball Association,” and in Stephanie Kang, and Geoffrey A. Fowler.“A Big Shot in China.” Wall Street Journal (24–25 June 2006): A1,A8.
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Filipinos live in small villages while such large metropolitan areas as Manila, Quezon City, and Davao are polluted, congested with traffic, and surprisingly becoming even more urbanized with banks, hotels, megamalls, and other modern facilities. For decades, the country’s economic growth has depended on such industries as food processing, textiles and wood products, and the export of raw crops and natural resources. However, more recently there have been increasing transshipments of electronic equipment and components from one or more of the Philippines’ islands. Being predominately Christians, Filipinos speak several languages in different dialects and despite years of internal conflicts, protests and political corruption, anti-colonialism and pro-Americanism have jointly survived.18 With respect to the Philippines’ economy and the nation’s business and economics, and issues in sports, it was amateur and then semiprofessional and professional basketball organizations that had emerged, developed, and eventually became very popular among — and participated in by — various female and male athletes and different age groups within the population. In fact, although Filipinos are generally shorter in height and less athletic and skilled in basketball than Americans or Europeans, they are extremely enthusiastic about the game and love to play it for fun, as members of official league teams, and while enrolled as students in their local school systems. Thus given their growth, popularity, and success in the Philippines, local and national amateur and professional basketball events and programs in total have received generous government subsidies and also attracted investors, sponsors, and civic organizations for financial support within their communities and regions. After dominating Philippine basketball for almost 40 years, an industrial and commercial basketball league named the MICAA began to decline during the early- to mid-1970s and then folded for economic and financial reasons in the early 1980s. Given this experience, the MICAA was replaced by two other basketball organizations, that is, the PBA during the mid-1970s and several years later, the PABL (later renamed the PBL). Interestingly, following the NBA being established in 1949, the PBA is the world’s second oldest professional basketball league while the amateur PABL gradually evolved into a group of semiprofessional teams that became recognized and played as the PBL. 18
Some recent data, statistics, and/or monetary values about the people, geography, government, economy, and finance of the Philippines are contained on pages 823–824 of the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006.
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According to the charters and rules of these and other sports organizations located in the Philippines, some domestic amateur and college basketball players had occasionally performed for clubs owned by local businesses. Consequently, since the 1970s many franchises in Filipino professional basketball leagues have become increasingly popular and successful, and therefore, they have attracted and employed some of the nation’s youngest, most talented, and elite athletes. As such, in that country there exist professional basketball teams named after cities but sponsored by companies and/or their subsidiaries that are involved in such different industries as beer, communications, real estate, and transportation. Based on specific readings in the literature about sports leagues and their teams that operate in the Philippines, there are various aspects of basketball that are concerned with facts and matters related to business and economics.The following items are a few examples. First, Manila-based food and beverage company RFM had previously owned a PBA basketball team named the Sunkist Orange Juicers. Accordingly, the company invested $1.5 million in its team each year during the mid-1990s to win one or more championships. In league games, the Juicers used American basketball players who had received such special benefits to perform as a tax-free salary, much admiration, glamour, and glory from local basketball fans, and favorable publicity in the media. Meanwhile, within six months after its brand was introduced in the marketplace, RFM’s Sunkist Orange Juice became the nation’s leading beverage.19 Second, from the mid-1970s to late 1990s any professional team contracts that were signed by foreign basketball players — in contrast to those agreements endorsed by athletes from the Philippines — had different standards with respect to compensation including bonuses and extra incentives for outstanding performances.As a result, in Philippines sports there existed a closed market system whereby the two groups of basketball players were contractually segregated and independent of each other. Nevertheless, after it was organized as a league in 1998, the MBA authorized its teams to hire basketball players according to international rules, which, in turn, forced all 19 “Everybody’s
crazy,” said PBA chairman Jose Concepcion.“They really watch games. They wait for the opening. A lot of people buy the tickets way in advance, and the social talk is really practically about basketball.” For why the league’s teams are named after products, and also why business rivalries exist on the basketball court, see Maria Ressa. “Basketball Mania Rules the Philippines.” http://www-cgi.cnn.com [cited 18 April 2008], and also James Hookway.“More Bounce For Your Buck.”
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PBA teams to pay competitive salaries regardless of their players’ nationalities. Therefore, the country’s labor market for domestic and foreign basketball players shifted from being a closed and discriminatory system to being open and more equitable. Third, a number of clubs that compete in basketball leagues within the Philippines are based in cities and medium-sized communities across the islands and therefore, inconveniently distant from each other in kilometers. Given this arrangement in distances between sites, there are above-average transportation expenditures and travel times associated with the locations of teams in remote areas and especially for the owners and players of these franchises. For sure, this situation means that basketball tickets and other prices must be increased about every season by teams in these leagues, in part, to offset the disproportionate expenses of traveling and playing games in arenas within the host cities. Invariably, the inflated ticket prices must adversely affect these clubs’ attendances, revenues, and profits. Hence in order to minimize transportation costs and maximize the profits of the Philippine sports franchises, it would benefit the PBA and other professional basketball leagues to reevaluate their structures and consider the locations of their teams as a major factor in expansion and/or the movement of inferior clubs. Fourth, during 2005 a Philippine broadcaster named Associated Broadcast Company (ABC) had signed a license with ESPN Star Sports to supply more than 350 h of sports programming on free-to-air-television within major areas of the Philippines. Indeed,ABC has been a market leader in terrestrial sports programming and a company who broadcasts basketball games played by several teams in the PBA.As a result, this television deal suggests that current and future professional basketball events among Filipino clubs will be broadcasted to households throughout the islands and perhaps to homes in other regions of Southeast Asia.20 Fifth, a Philippine Basketball Fantasy online game was organized in 2006–2007 by chief executive officer Kendrick Chong of Creating Next Concepts Inc. Basically, the game’s primary objective for participants — who act as general managers of basketball teams — is to earn the most fantasy points based on how well they choose their roster of players, or alternatively, 20 See “ABC Strikes Deal With Star Sports For Philippines.” Other articles about the relationships between basketball, business, and/or politics in the Philippines are Ronnie Nathanielsz. “The Politicization of Philippine Basketball.” http://www.manilastandardtoday.com [cited 2 July 2007]:Adam Porter.“Celebrity Spin.”
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by attaining the highest value for players on the roster of their team plus cash assets. Similar to investing in companies that are listed on a national stock exchange, the economic value of Fantasy players depends on their performances on the basketball court while teams’ rosters may increase or decrease in value as players’ performances change and/or these athletes are traded to another team. Since the game is free to play for participants, Chong and his partners had planned to earn their incomes from advertising sales and by offering premium services to participants for a fee. As it was conceived and created, this simple but challenging game indicates the great appeal and fun of basketball for hardcore and casual Filipino fans who love the sport and its teams and players.21 In short, the previous five topics are directly concerned with amateur and professional basketball in the Philippines and the sport’s interrelationships with issues in business, economics, and finance. Although there are cultural, political, and social factors that also affect basketball events, organizations, and fans in that nation, this sport has the potential to become a more lucrative investment for team owners, and a prominent source of income and wealth for coaches, general managers, and players.
Spain Being located in an area of southwestern Europe, this relatively mid-sized but prosperous nation has an economy that relies partially on the trade of products between itself and such allies as France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. In fact, Spain has a combination of natural resources and labor services that are used as inputs in order to produce for export a variety of durable and nondurable outputs including automobiles, machine tools, and textiles. Furthermore, tourism in Spain is an industry that generates significant amounts of money, and also additional value and wealth for businesses and households in the country’s largest cities, and particularly in Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia. With an urban population of nearly 76 percent and an annual GDP of approximately two billion euros, Spain has enough financial capital to expand its economy by investing in and modernizing the 21
According to Philippine Basketball Fantasy creator Kendrick Chong and his plans for the website,“I wasn’t sure if the game would click. But we went for it since we do really like fantasy basketball. We decided to go with the NBA because it was more popular.” For other details, see Erwin Oliva.“Filipino Startup Develops Online Fantasy Basketball Game.” http://services.inquirer.net [cited 18 April 2008].
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agricultural, manufacturing, and retail sectors.With respect to sports, it is the local and national soccer programs and organizations that receive the bulk of government subsidies and overwhelming attention and support of fans, sponsors, and the media.22 After America’s “Dream Team” of university and professional players won a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, basketball became a more exciting and popular spectator sport throughout Spain. That is, the number of basketball leagues, teams, and players expanded while attendances at games and revenues from events increased for the country’s amateur and professional clubs.Also, more children and teenagers began to play the sport among themselves in their neighborhoods and schools. Furthermore, more skilled and better-trained athletes excelled as basketball players on Spanish college teams and on semiprofessional and professional franchises. Finally, each year a few of the nation’s greatest players have emerged as stars in international basketball tournaments but then decided to leave home for the United States and join a club in the NBA. In short, since the early 1990s basketball in Spain has become a moderately successful sport whose events at arenas are observed by fans and/or seen on local television networks by people of all ethnic groups living in cities and rural communities. Regarding basketball’s unique existence, image, and status in Spain from business and economic perspectives, there are a different set of issues than those discussed before with respect to the role of this sport in China and the Philippines. Based on a number of readings in the literature, the following are highlighted and briefly examined next as four specific and important matters about the commercial activities, economic concepts, and/or financial problems of Spanish basketball. First, to compete against domestic soccer in the marketplace and thus be attractive to sports consumers and dominate their loyalties, Spain’s 53-year-old professional basketball league named ACB requires additional funds from sponsors and money from television broadcast rights to promote its brand and also expand its teams’ market shares nationally and throughout regions of Eastern Europe. However, as an organization and competitor, the ACB has not successfully developed an effective business model and implemented it, in part, to offset Spaniards’ enormous appeal for soccer games. 22 More information about Spain’s demographic and commercial profile, and the country’s people, geography, government, economy, and finance are available on pages 834–835 of the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006.
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To accomplish this goal, the ACB must accurately survey and measure the size of its local, regional, and international markets, learn what professional basketball offers to consumers as a product in those markets, and then determine the sport’s current and future life cycle. In other words, until it adopts a coherent global marketing strategy the ACB will continue to struggle financially and thus, gradually lose a proportion of its fans and markets to Spanish and foreign soccer leagues and their teams. Second, for years many of Spain’s greatest basketball players have migrated to NBA teams in America. During the early 2000s, for example, FC Barcelona’s Pau Gasol repurchased his contract from a Spanish team for approximately $2 million and then signed a three-year, $8 million deal to play for the Memphis Grizzlies located in southwest Tennessee, which is a State in the United States.After the Grizzlies failed to make the NBA playoffs in 2006–2007 and underperformed the following season, Gasol was traded by the Grizzlies to the West Division’s Los Angeles Lakers that is based at home in southern California. There, he joined superstar Kobe Bryant to earn more money and an opportunity to win a conference league championship. Besides Gasol but before 2000, other prominent Spanish athletes who became players on various NBA franchises included Fernando Martin, Drazen Petrovic, Arvydas Sabonis, Raul Lopez, Jose Antonio Montero, and Roberto Duenas. For sure, these players from Spain were attracted to the NBA because of multimillion-dollar salaries, more publicity, prestige, and recognition for them, and the motivation to compete against the best basketball players in the world. Consequently, clubs in the ACB and other Spanish professional leagues will not greatly improve in quality since Spain’s most talented players tend to emigrate to NBA clubs.23 23 In his article “Pau Gasol vs. European History” in Sports Illustrated, Chris Ballard discusses Gasol’s development as a basketball player in Spain and his importance to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. This article reminds me of a professional basketball game that I attended in Charlotte, North Carolina between the Grizzlies and Charlotte Bobcats in early 2007. Although the Grizzlies were defeated by the Bobcats, Gasol performed above-average by scoring more than 20 points and leading his team in rebounds. His European style of play during games was apparent since he focused on passing the ball to teammates, closely guarding his opponent on defense, and not forcing his shots as did some other players on the Grizzlies. Because of his potential and great skills, it surprised me when Gasol was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in southern California. Interestingly, for the 2007–2008 regular season the Lakers won the Western Division and Conference titles of the NBA, but were defeated in the finals of the playoffs by the Eastern Conference’s Boston Celtics.
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Third, between 2008 and 2018 the NBA plans to create several basketball franchises overseas and organize them to exist and compete in a newly formed European division. Such cities as Berlin, London, Rome, and Madrid have been mentioned as prime locations for one or more of these teams. To host a franchise, however, a European city must contain an NBA-sized arena that provides enough revenue streams to potentially support a professional basketball team.As such, there are several critical issues to be resolved before this plan can be finally approved and then fully implemented by the league. Some of these issues — phrased as questions — are expressed as follows. Would sports fans that live in specific European markets purchase expensive regular-season basketball tickets to attend 41 home games per season? Would foreign audiences adapt to an American basketball style of play and accept it as a type of premium entertainment? Would American basketball coaches, players, and trainers be content to live alone or with their families in Europe for six or more months each year? Would the owners of NBA franchises and the teams’ administrative and executive staffs prepare for, and thus adjust to, the inconveniences and rigors of making frequent transatlantic road trips? Since further expansion of professional basketball teams in the United States is limited, it essentially depends on the availability of adequate venues and other options as to whether the NBA is prepared for the entry of new foreign franchises and thereupon, locate and market them and the sport in several European cities.24 Fourth, in 2002 three Spaniards created one of basketball’s most interesting, lucrative, and popular web sites. Being titled hoopshype.com, the site generally reports a mixture of opinions, gossips, news, and rumors about the NBA and its 30 teams and their coaches, owners, and players. In fact, some estimates denote that approximately one-half million people across the world visit the site each month. Accordingly, the site’s creators scan and then read hundreds of sources for their information about the NBA.Also, they
24
Soon after early 2008, professional basketball club Real Madrid planned to begin construction on a new arena in Spain. If the arena meets facility requirements that have been established by the NBA, then a Spanish team will likely join the league’s European basketball division if it begins to operate. See Ian Thomsen.“NBA Mulling Idea of Five-Team Expansion in Europe.” http://www.si.com [cited 13 February 2008]; and Ian Whittell, “An All Euro NBA Division Would be Very Interesting.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 6 October 2006]. In fact, NBA Commissioner David Stern had met with Real Madrid’s vice president Jose Sanchez in late 2006 to discuss the club’s participation in an NBA-sponsored division.
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contact numerous sports agents, executives, coaches, managers, and players to confirm or deny stories and then if worthwhile, post the information on hoopshype.com. Apparently it was because Spain finished runner-up in basketball at the 1984 Olympic Games, and because of the performances of players, gold medals won by the US “Dream Team” in 1992, and the publication of Spanish-language basketball magazines during the mid- to late-1990s and early 2000s that in total, inspired Jorge Sierra, Raul Barrigon, and Angel Marin to design, organize, and launch their web site.25 In sum, these are four of the most relevant business, economic, and/or financial issues that at some level involve basketball in Spain. As described before in this section, they are each unique to this nation and independent of the topics that were discussed about amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional basketball in China and the Philippines.Therefore, the information contained in this section of the chapter indicates that in the future, basketball will likely be a more powerful, progressive, and prosperous sport in China than how it may develop, operate, and mature in the Philippines or Spain.
25
“What most distinguishes hoopshype is the critical mass of movers and shakers who read it daily. Even when the rumors prove false, the site acts as a catalyst.” For more information about the web site, see Russell Adams. “The NBA’s Top Gossips: How Three Nobodies Built Basketball’s Most Powerful News Site — From Spain.” http://www.wharton.universia.net [cited 21 March 2008].
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4 Soccer in Brazil, England, and Germany
ORIGINS OF SOCCER According to the research and studies of some historians, the Romans played a form of soccer — hereafter written in the contents of this chapter as football or soccer — and they had participated in the sport during the pre-modern Olympic Games that were held in Rome, Italy, and at sites in other ancient cities. Other groups of historians, meanwhile, have claimed that the Greeks used football games to train their men as warriors for battles against enemies and that thousands of years ago, a kick ball game named “Tlatchi” had probably existed in rural communities and other remote areas located within the Americas. Besides these beliefs, theories, and sources regarding the beginning and emergence of the sport, there is also some evidence denoting that soccer was played several hundred years ago when athletes in China and Japan kicked around a hair-filled leather ball for entertainment and fun on grassy fields and sandlots in their neighborhoods. Then in approximately 600 AD, some local sports teams were formed in various cities of these two nations in order for them to compete against each
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other in types of soccer games. In short, it is likely that this sport had originated somewhere in the countries of Asia and Europe, and then within centuries, the game had spread to nations on other continents.1 After it had been condemned for being evil, indecent and vulgar, and a noisy, phony, and useless activity by such monarchs as King Henry IV, Henry VIII, and Queen Elizabeth I, football eventually became legal and thus sanctioned by government officials and different athletic organizations in England during the late 1600s. As a result, for the next 200 years the sport increased in popularity and gradually expanded among the populations of many eastern and western — and northern and southern — European countries, and also among people in nations of Africa and Central, North and South America, and in other distant places such as Australia and New Zealand. After its growth and early progress, the sport became even more common, developed, and organized during the mid- to late-1800s and early 1900s when a number of national football associations (FAs) or similar types of sports organizations were formed by local and regional groups and by government agencies throughout areas of the world, and especially within specific countries of Western Europe. Furthermore, during the early years of the 20th century, international soccer events were coordinated, scheduled, and played between nations under the auspices of the sport’s primary governing body, that is, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), which was established in 1904 in Paris, France, by seven charter nations that included Belgium, Denmark, and Spain. Simply put, these time periods and other historical facts and information briefly highlight the origins of football as a team sport among regions of the world.
Soccer in America Before discussing the emergence, status, and role of football in three independent foreign nations, its existence and growth in the United States are insightful, interesting, and useful aspects of history to remember as a frame 1
For the origins of this sport, see “Was This How Soccer Was Introduced.” http://www.athleticscholarships.net [cited 11 July 2007]; “Soccer History and Information.” http://www.all-soccer-info.com [cited 11 July 2007]; “Milestones in Soccer History.” http://expertfootball.com [cited 11 July 2007]; “Soccer History.” http://expertfootball.com [cited 11 July 2007].
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of reference, and also to comprehend how the sport had evolved, developed, and matured in a specific geographic area.As such,American folklore asserts that soccer was originally played in the United States along or near the state of Massachusetts’ coastline by native Indians during various years of the early 1600s. Then within two centuries — that is, after the late 1700s — the following were the most significant actions, activities, and events that had affected the development of the sport in America.2 To be sure, between 1800 and 1900 the Oneida Football Club of Boston, Massachusetts, was founded.And, this team was undefeated in the sport during 1862–1865 despite playing without the regulations, rules, and standards that were later adopted for the game by the English Football Association. Meanwhile, such elite schools as Princeton and Rutgers Universities in New Jersey had organized soccer teams, and these clubs competed in various intercollegiate home and away matches. Then in 1884, the American Football Association formed as a group in Newark, New Jersey. In turn, its mission was to establish, control, and manage a network and structure for the different amateur soccer clubs and other informal teams that had existed in the region.Two years later, teams from the United States and Canada met and played against each other in the first international soccer game that was scheduled beyond borders of the British Isles. Besides FIFA’s formation in 1904, and the game being introduced into the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, several other important developments occurred after 1900 in football, and especially with respect to its history and progress as a sport in America. For example, between the years of 1905 and 1950, the United States Football Association was granted full membership in FIFA and also, the original American Soccer League began to operate with seven franchises being located at sites within cities of five states in the northeast United States; the world’s first indoor soccer league was established and then opened its winter season at the Commonwealth Calvary Armory in Boston; a US soccer team competed against those from 12 other nations in Montevideo, Uruguay, but it finished third following Uruguay and Argentina in FIFA’s first World Cup competition in 1930; and 11 years later, the 2 Two readings about soccer in America are “American Soccer History Timeline.” http://www.soccerhall.org [cited 18 September 2007];“Soccer in the United States.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]. Furthermore, two books that discuss this topic include Michael Lewis. Soccer For Dummies (New York, NY: Hungry Minds, Inc., 2000); Dan Woog. The Ultimate Soccer Encyclopedia (Chicago, IL: Lowell, 2000).
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National Soccer Coaches Association of America was organized in New York City by 10 of its members. After 1950, soccer continued to become more popular and expand as an American team sport.To highlight that trend, several new amateur and semiprofessional alliances, associations, and leagues had existed in the sport for one or more seasons in the United States, but then dissolved or merged with each other. In 1961, FIFA authorized the creation of the Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) so that this organization could become the official governing body of the sport in that region of the world. Finally, various US national men and/or women soccer teams prepared and qualified for, and then competed in an assortment of international football events such as the Algarve Cup, Chiquita Cup, CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament, FIFA World Cup, Olympic Games, FIFA World Championship, Four Nations Tournament, and the FIFA World Youth Championship. Then in 1996, Major League Soccer (MLS) became the nation’s first and most prominent Division I outdoor professional league since the North American Soccer League had folded for financial reasons during the mid1980s. For its 2007 season, MLS consisted of seven franchises in the Eastern Conference and six in the Western Conference, and furthermore, the league had expanded into Canada by locating a team in Toronto. In short, because soccer teams and programs are now provided in most of America’s elementary schools, high schools, and colleges, the US national men and women teams have the potential of becoming increasingly more competitive during the early- to mid-2000s. Consequently, they may win a majority of their games and some championships in the sport’s international tournaments, and thereby earn a number of medals in future Olympic Games and various Cup events. In the following sections of this chapter, the topic shifts to when football emerged and developed as a sport in Brazil, England, and Germany, and why the game became extremely popular among athletes and other people and groups within these three countries. Furthermore, the sections include the years and performances of these nations’ men and/or women football teams in different domestic and international events. As a result of this discussion, the reader will understand and learn the reasons for how the sport became the most enthusiastic, well-known, and widely played game especially among the populations of Brazil, England, and Germany, and also within several other countries of the world. After those contents are discussed, some specific commercial elements of soccer, and their important
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business and economic implications, are highlighted and revealed for these nations.
SOCCER IN BRAZIL During the late 1800s, Englishman John Miller — and other expatriates and immigrants from the British Isles — had worked on a railroad construction project in the area of Sao Paulo, Brazil. While there with his family, he decided to send his young son Charles Miller to the Bannister School in Southampton, England, for an education. After Charles became skilled athletically as a winger and striker on football teams during his years in school, he eventually returned to South America in 1894 with a book of rules and some equipment to establish, play, and promote the sport in Brazil.As a result of Charles’ actions, that year the first football match was played in Sao Paulo and four years later, the Sao Paulo Athletic Club was organized and then proceeded to win three consecutive championships among various teams in the Club’s local community. Thus, football had become a successful sport in Brazil before the early 1900s primarily because of Charles Miller’s efforts and his dedication, interest, and perseverance to introduce the sport into this relatively large nation of South America.3 Although football became very popular as it expanded into urban cities, small towns, and rural areas throughout Brazil from the 1910s to 1950s, there were serious administrative and internal problems with operating the sport in the country despite the founding of the Brazilian Football Confederation in 1914. This confusion, mismanagement, and struggle of the sport, in part, had erupted in 1950 at a men’s World Cup competition played in Rio de Janeiro within a new football facility that was named the Maracana Stadium. At this event, Uruguay had defeated Brazil 2–1 in a final match before a rambunctious and unruly crowd of approximately 200,000. In turn, Brazil’s loss 3
See the following articles. These are “Football in Brazil.” http://en.wikiepedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]; Andrew Benson and John Sinnott. “Why Are Brazil so Good?” http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk [cited 19 June 2007]; “Sports in Brazil: Football.” http://www.v-brazil.com [cited 19 June 2007]; Sebastiao Votre and Ludmila Mourao. “Women’s Football in Brazil: Progress and Problems.” Soccer & Society (Summer/ Autumn 2003): 254–267; Jack Epstein. “Brazil Tries to Kick Soccer Violence.” Christian Science Monitor (15 February 1995): 13. For a book about the early history of the sport in Brazil, see Josh Lacy. God Is Brazilian: Charles Miller, the Man Who Brought Football to Brazil (Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: Tempus Publishing, 2005).
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to Uruguay portrayed the sport’s intensity and passion among its fans across the nation, and thereby, caused hundreds of people in attendance at the Stadium and elsewhere to attempt suicides, incur heart attacks, and/or brawl with each other and their opponents after the game. Even so, eight years later Brazil won its first of five World Cups and thus began to earn respect and a reputation for being a nation with football’s greatest athletes and coaches, and the sport’s superior international teams. In retrospect, the game’s culture, image, and tradition are reflected within Brazil’s multiracial society. That is, most domestic players on the nation’s football teams have dynamic, graceful, and unique characteristics that feature great creativity, physical coordination, and rhythm.As such, these traits were originally developed by generations of Brazilian youngsters, teenagers, and adults who engaged in the martial arts and had enthusiastically performed in Latin American dances and other social activities. Basically, this style and tempo of athleticism evolved from people of African descent who were disenfranchised, poor, and had lived in low income areas of urban and rural communities of Brazil. Hence, as a result of a national interest in — and avid passion for — the game, all segments of Brazil’s society have been affected by and involved with the sport.Thus for decades, football has been played for fun and competition by thousands of kids in the streets and on dirt fields. Meanwhile, members of households watch domestic and international football matches and tournaments on their televisions at home, and during these events, many employees are encouraged by their employers to stop working and root for Brazil’s national men and women teams to win. It is universally recognized, therefore, that although football was invented by the English, it has been exploited and brilliantly performed by Brazilian clubs and their athletes. Since the early 1900s, many of Brazil’s football teams and their players have been glorified, idolized, and treated as celebrities by the media and sports fans of many countries.With respect to the success of these athletes, a few of them became so popular during seasons and after retiring from the sport that they were appointed to lucrative business jobs and important political positions, and also elected to powerful federal and local government agencies. Indeed, some former players who had excelled in the sport for Brazilian teams in domestic championships and/or global tournaments include Arthur Friedenreich, Carlos Alberto Torres, Leonidas de Sylva, Nilton Santos, and of course, the great Pele (see the sources in Tables B.7 and B.8 of Appendix B).
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Meanwhile, the country’s most successful former and current national soccer teams are never forgotten or ignored by their fans. Moreover, these teams have rights, privileges, and opportunities, and therefore, they receive and enjoy special economic and social benefits, which are not necessarily provided to the country’s small- and medium-sized businesses, and also to its large corporations and other institutions. The most competitive and talented of these Brazilian clubs played soccer in seasons from 1958 to 1970. In fact, that group won three of four World Cups and included — besides Pele — such brilliant athletes as Garrincha, Rivellino, and Tostao. Accordingly, the next portion of this section identifies and highlights the accomplishments of Brazil’s most memorable men and women football teams that had competed, excelled, and triumphed in a number of domestic, regional, and/or worldwide events. However, before discussing and contrasting the performances of these great teams from Brazil and then those from England and Germany throughout future parts of this chapter, it seemed appropriate and worthwhile for me to prepare Table 4.1. Basically, this chart indicates the number of championships won by the men and women soccer teams from these three nations in a few international tournaments that were held during various spans of years. As the table reveals in column three; however, Brazil’s men and women soccer teams were ineligible and therefore did not play in six of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) events while the football clubs from England and Germany tended to participate in most of them. Thus, when comparing the results of these three nations in events that they had each qualified for and entered into, Table 4.1 shows that Brazil’s men football teams were the most productive of the groups since they had won a total of 27 championships while participating in nine non-UEFA tournaments. Alternatively, in these nine events England’s men clubs had succeeded to win five titles and Germany’s eight. For the women teams of each nation, Table 4.1 further reveals that in three non-UEFA events, the clubs from Brazil and England had won zero — and Germany three — championships. Meanwhile, for the men and women football teams that had participated in UEFA-sanctioned tournaments, England finished with a total 19 titles and Germany 35. In short, except for the Olympic Games, Brazil’s men soccer teams have outperformed those from England and Germany in all of the non-UEFA events. With respect to performances of the nation’s women clubs, Germany was superior to Brazil and England in each of the two FIFA tournaments and to England in UEFA events, but not to them in the Olympic Games.
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Event
Year
Brazil
England
Germany
Men FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup FIFA Confederations Cup FIFA Club World Cup FIFA Futsal World Cup FIFA U-17 World Cup FIFA U-20 World Cup FIFA World Cup Intercontinental Club Cup Olympic Games UEFA Cup UEFA Champions League UEFA European Championship
2005–2006 1992–2005 2000–2006 1989–2004 1985–2007 1977–2007 1930–2006 1960–2004 1900–2004 1971–2006 1955–2007 1960–2004
1 2 3 3 3 4 5 6 0 NA NA NA
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 8 10 0
0 0 0 0 0 1 3 3 1 12 6 3
Women FIFA U-20 World Cup FIFA World Cup Olympic Games UEFA European Championship UEFA Women’s Cup UEFA Women’s U-19
2002–2006 1991–2007 1996–2004 1984–2005 2001–2006 1997–2006
0 0 0 NA NA NA
0 0 0 0 1 0
1 2 0 6 3 5
Note: Futsal is an indoor version of soccer. Source:“FIFA Tournaments.”http://www.fifa.com [cited 24 September 2007];“UEFA Tournaments.” http://www.uefa.org [cited 24 September 2007];“World Cup Soccer Winners.”http://mistupid.com [cited 18 September 2007]; “UEFA European Football Championship.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]; “UEFA Cup.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]; “European Cup and Champions League Finals.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]; “Intercontinental Cup (Football).” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]; “FIFA Confederations Cup.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]; “FIFA Club World Cup.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]; “Futsal.” http://www.hickoksports.com [cited 2 October 2007].
To focus exclusively on Brazil in its regional soccer competitions, the results in Table 4.2 are interesting and useful to review because they show how well Brazil’s men and women soccer teams have performed against their rivals from different nations in Central and South America. Interestingly,Argentina and Uruguay have each won more total men’s titles
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Soccer in Brazil, England, and Germany 113 Table 4.2 Brazil Soccer Team Champions and Runners-Up, by Event, Selected Years Event
Year
Champion
Runner-Up
Men Copa America Copa Libertadores Pan American Games South American Championships
1975–2007 1960–2006 1951–2003 1916–1967
5 13 4 3
3 13 2 8
Women Pan American Games
1999–2003
1
0
Note: The men’s South American Championships final year was 1967, but eight years later it resumed as Copa America. The Copa America, Copa Libertadores, and South American Championships were not scheduled for women’s football. Source: “Copa America.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]; “Copa Libertadores.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]; “Brazil National Football Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]; “Pan American Games Soccer Medalists.” http://www.hickoksports.com [cited 2 October 2007].
than did Brazil if the Copa America tournament and South American Championships are combined. Nevertheless, Brazilian teams have dominated these two nations in a multiple of the non-UEFA global events that were listed in Table 4.1. These performances suggest that Brazil’s most talented soccer players and thus the country’s national men teams tend to successfully prepare for and play their best matches against competitors in events sponsored by FIFA rather than against opponents in the regional events contained in Table 4.2. Anyway, besides Brazil and clubs from Argentina and Uruguay, the men football teams from Paraguay, Peru, Columbia, and Bolivia had also won championships in Copa America and/or the South American Championships, but not in the Pan American Games. As of 2006 in the Copa Libertadores event — which was organized by the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) in 1960 and includes the top clubs from South America and recently from Mexico — Argentina’s men teams lead with 20 titles followed by Brazil’s 13, and then by Uruguay’s eight, Paraguay’s three, Columbia’s two, Chile’s one, and Mexico’s zero. More specifically, the Brazilian men clubs with at least two championships in the Copa Libertadores are Sao Paulo and then Cruzeiro, Gremio, and Santos. Then in the Pan American Games, Brazil’s men and
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women teams have finished, respectively, with four gold and two silver medals, and one bronze medal during a total of 14 years in entering the event, and for the women, they have won one gold medal and zero silver and bronze medals in two years of competing in the event.Thus, Brazil’s football clubs have been moderately successful as medalists in the Pan American Games that were played between 1951 and 2003. To highlight football as it exists in Brazil, there are some important characteristics, facts, and insights that reveal the unique culture, environment, and special role of the sport. First, there seems to be no obvious, simple, and/or straightforward reasons that completely explain why the sport is a national obsession among female and male athletes and other people in Brazil. Even so, such intangible and tangible factors and/or emotions as high personal expectations and team innovation, and also national identity, planning, physical training, pride, and tradition have, in part, contributed to the sport’s longevity, popularity, and success in this South American nation. Second, young Brazilian athletes have a chance to escape a life of boredom, misery, and poverty by excelling in the sport of football.Thus, they play the game with desire, passion and vigor, and therefore practice it for hours each day, week, and month of a year. Moreover, kids in Brazil are given opportunities by their coaches, parents, and peers to be creative and free, and enjoy themselves while playing football. In other words, the nation’s children and teenagers get fun and pleasure from the sport until they mature and become more serious, and begin to compete with each other for a position on a team that will play in local, regional, and/or international football matches and tournaments. Third, Brazil’s football stadiums are relatively elaborate and expensive buildings, and thus they are large, modern, and well-maintained as facilities. Indeed, these venues have various amenities like live-in accommodations for players on teams, dental and medical rooms, and plenty of space for seats, recreation activities and restaurants. Being located in Rio de Janeiro, the 49-year-old Maracana Stadium, for example, has more than 150,000 seats. Besides being surrounded by ample parking lots, most football stadiums also contain suites for Internet, radio and television coverage, and the transmission of games. Fourth, the country’s national soccer team has several nicknames, which may be interpreted differently in other parts of the world. In Brazil, the team has been called such nicknames as A Selecao — which means The Selection — or as Selecao Brasileira, Selecao Brasileira de Futebol, and Canarinho — which means Little Canary — or as Amarelinha
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(Little Yellow), Verdeamarelo (Green–Yellow), Pentacampeao (five-time [World Cup] champion), and as Esquadrao de Ouro (The Golden Squad). In other nations, Brazil’s top soccer team has been referred to as Auriverde — which is derived from the Portuguese words verde and amarela — which mean, respectively, green and yellow (or gold). And fifth, because of various political, social, and/or sport-specific reasons, the Brazilian national team’s colors and clothing kits have changed during several years. Historically, these color schemes and apparel of the players include such colorful and identifiable home and/or away combinations as white uniforms with blue collars, as yellow jerseys with green trim and blue shorts with white trim, and as blue shirts with emblems stitched on from yellow shirts.4 For a recent overview of the problems in the sport, a person from the Embassy of Brazil in London provided this insightful commentary in a published article. This individual stated: “The country [Brazil] continues to produce an extraordinary number of talented players, especially midfielders and forwards. However, the domestic game continues to be poorly administered and most fans have little disposable income, so matches between all but the biggest clubs are watched by crowds which are small by European standards. Clubs lack the resources to keep their stars from pursuing most of their careers in other parts of the world, particularly Europe. Though most Brazilian fans wish it were not the case, footballing talent will remain one of the country’s major exports for the foreseeable future.” Despite these issues and other difficulties, Brazil’s national teams will continue to be a world superpower in football for many years — and perhaps decades — beyond the early 2000s.5
4
Nicknames of the nation’s team and colors of uniforms worn by Brazilian football players were discussed in “Brazil National Football Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. See also “Brasilia.” http://users.carib-link.net [cited 19 June 2007], and “Football in Brazil” for football’s culture, popularity, and style in that South American country. 5 This quote and an overview about Brazil’s success in various World Cups and the team’s players during these events are contained in “Embassy of Brazil in London: Sport.” http://www.brazil.org.uk [cited 3 June 2007]. Other relevant information about the sport in Brazil is in Soccer For Dummies and Keir Radnedge. The Complete Encyclopedia of Soccer: The Bible of World Soccer (London, England: Carlton Books, 2002), and in Janet Lever. Soccer Madness: Brazil’s Passion For the World’s Most Popular Sport (Long Grove, IL:Waveland Press, Inc., 1995).
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SOCCER IN ENGLAND Because of the country’s longstanding experience, history, and tradition of team sports, England is known as the home of outdoor football. In fact, some references to aspects of the “kicking ball game” and “foteball” were made during the 1200s–1500s by local citizens in British public schools and small towns. Then between 1850 and 1950, a number of significant events and other matters occurred for the first time in England and these, in turn, helped to further establish, organize, and promote the sport throughout areas of Western Europe. During these 100 years, for example, the English Football Association in London officially classified the game as a sport; also, different ways of passing a round ball on the ground by players were initially developed by English teams for soccer games while the world’s oldest football clubs had originally formed in England; then, competition to win an FA Cup started in Great Britain and a 12-team Football League began to operate there; finally, such tournaments as the European Cup and World Cup were played between football teams from England and other foreign nations.6 After 1950 the sport continued to develop and expand globally, and especially with respect to its growth, popularity, and success in England. That is, during the 1960s and 1970s, such great English football teams as Arsenal, Aston Villa, Everton, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, and Tottenham Hotspur excelled in domestic football games and also, some of them won various titles in international tournaments. Even so, a number of problems arose in the 1980s when a lack of security, and poor police protection and weak infrastructure at English and other European football stadiums, in part, contributed to hooliganism, violence, and a decline in attendances at clubs’ matches. As a result of 39 deaths that occurred in 1985 before a European Cup final had been played at Belgium’s Heysel Stadium, English football clubs were penalized and then banned from competing in the sport within Europe for five years. Nevertheless, the sport recovered its image and reputation throughout the 1990s. In retrospect, this revival in the game’s prosperity happened in England because of the increases in revenues of football teams from their 6
Several publications discuss aspects of football in England. For example, see “Sports in England.” http://england.costasur.com [cited 20 June 2007]; Chris Gratton. “The Peculiar Economics of English Professional Football.” Soccer & Society (Spring 2000): 11–28; “Football in England.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007].
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events being broadcast on television, and due to public investments by governments that improved conditions at the nation’s stadiums, achievements of British teams in World Cup competitions, and the adoption of restrictions and enforcement of rules by the English Football Association to eliminate hooliganism and riots at football games played in stadiums within the country. Finally, it was the worldwide exposure, marketing, and success of the Premier League’s (PL) Manchester United franchise that had further contributed to the sport’s popularity in England during the 1990s and early 2000s. Given this brief history about different aspects of the game, the next portions of this section will highlight and discuss a number of elements that relate to the significance of football and its activities in England.These topics include, for example, the names, years, and types of former and current leagues in the country, the performances of some English football clubs in domestic leagues and the accomplishments of the country’s national men and women teams in global tournaments, and other matters related to the sport. In total, this historical information reveals and also confirms why football’s home had originated in England — and then developed and has continued to exist there — for centuries.
Leagues and League System Established in 1888 at a place on Fleet Street in London by Scotsman William McGregor, the English Football League (EFL) and its 12 clubs were the first organization and type of structure formed to arrange and conduct home and away fixtures (or scheduled matches) in the sport. Throughout the late 1800s and early- to mid-1900s, the EFL devised and implemented many effective innovations and reforms that improved the game. Some of these included, for instance, the promotion and relegation of clubs, use of a pure white ball in matches, award of a Cup to the league champion, revision of player substitution policies, and financial benefits for teams that added new corporate sponsors. Furthermore, the EFL reorganized itself into divisions while several other prominent English football teams joined it to become members. It was in 1992, however, that the group’s top clubs decided to boost their current and potentially future incomes by seceding from the EFL in order to establish a FA PL. As a result, in recent years the EFL has consisted of teams in three divisions that are each named — from the highest to lowest level in quality — as, respectively, The Championship, League One, and League Two.
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Ranked below and inferior to the EFL in England is an organized but intricate pyramid structure of football groups and subgroups known as the National League System (NLS). During the early 2000s, the NLS had consisted of seven steps (or levels) whose clubs each covered less and less of a geographic area or land space as steps declined from one to seven.These levels from the top (step one) to bottom (step seven) were recently named the Football Conference in step one; Conference North and Conference South in step two; Isthmian, Northern, and Southern PLs in step three; Isthmian League Division One, Northern League Division One, Southern League North and Southern League South in step four; and then in steps five to seven are a series of different leagues that consisted of alliances, counties, and combinations of them. As such, some football clubs in these various steps may be classified as professional while others may exist and perform as semiprofessional or amateur organizations. Also, there are a number of reserve football teams in a few of the NLS’ leagues, and some clubs sponsor youth teams that operate in U-16 and/or U-18 events. In fact, during the majority of the sport’s seasons, England’s top group in youth football is the FA Premier Academy League and then the Football League Youth Alliance and FA Youth Cup. As briefly mentioned earlier in this section of the chapter, England’s PL was established as a limited company in 1992 when — for important business reasons —first division clubs had resigned from the EFL. Originally the PL included 22 teams but in 1994, the group consisted of 20 because four of them were relegated (or demoted) while only two had been promoted from lower football leagues. During 2006, the Reading team was promoted and thus became the 40th club to join and be a member of the PL since 1992. Interestingly, to upgrade its image, marketing strategies and reputation, and to compete globally as a commercial enterprise, the league’s multiyear television contract with Sky Television has gradually boosted its teams’ revenues because these amounts had increased from 191 million pounds during the early 1990s to a total of 1.7 billion pounds for the rights to broadcast the group’s matches in the 2007–2010 football seasons. Moreover, the PL’s cash flows from sponsors have recently soared. To illustrate, in 1993 the Carling Company paid 12 million pounds to be a primary sponsor for four years. As a result, the organization was renamed the FA Carling Premiership. However, in 2001, Barclays replaced the Carling Company and six years later spent an estimated 65 million pounds to sponsor the PL for three seasons. In turn, this inflow of income meant that some of the league’s teams had the wherewithal to pay higher transfer fees and
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salaries to recruit and sign outstanding domestic and foreign football players, and also to hire excellent managers from overseas such as Arsene Wenger and Gerrard Houllier from France and Ruud Gullit from Holland. Consequently, as of 2007, the PL is considered by many experts as one of the most prestigious, competitive, and lucrative organizations in professional sports and a league that appeals to football fans and households located in numerous nations of the world.
International and Domestic Events Table 4.1 indicated that, between 1908 and 2007, England’s national men teams earned 23 total titles in various global football events while the women’s Arsenal LFC team succeeded to win a championship in the 2006 UEFA Women’s Cup. Nonetheless, the British men’s soccer teams have been less successful in FIFA tournaments and the Intercontinental Club Cup than those from Brazil and Germany. Meanwhile, England’s women teams have been inferior because they performed well below expectations in each of the six tournaments that are listed in column one of Table 4.1. According to some officials who are knowledgeable about the sport’s history in Europe, for various reasons British football clubs have tended to fail and not win many championships in global competitions. First, their players committed ill-timed mistakes and unnecessary errors and infractions that unfortunately resulted in penalties and poor performances in matches and tournaments against competitive teams from Germany and other European nations. Second, England allowed an environment for hooliganism to occur at its stadiums and thus the nation’s clubs were banned from international events in Europe during the mid- to late-1980s.And third, the country contributed to the sport’s dilemmas because some British football teams had experienced financial problems and ultimately bankrupted in various seasons of the 1990s and early 2000s. In short, there is bitter, fierce, and passionate competition between clubs within the EFL, PL, and among those in levels of the NLS. Even so, England’s national men and/or women football teams have had their share of difficulties in winning crucial matches and tournaments when they play the best clubs from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and other foreign countries in prominent global events. It may be necessary and worthwhile, therefore, for England to reorganize and then devote more resources and financial capital to prepare, develop, and upgrade its national teams in order for them to better perform and excel in such competitions as FIFA
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tournaments, Intercontinental Club Cups and UEFA Championships, and/or in the Olympic Games. Since the late 1800s, football in England has consisted of official leagues and their teams who have attracted large and boisterous crowds, and millions of spectators to their matches. Furthermore, the sport has provided for thousands of young and middle-aged British athletes to participate on clubs at different amateur and professional levels and in a variety of formats and season-by-season game schedules. Because of these incentives and opportunities for English fans and the public to interact with athletes and become involved with — and engaged in — football activities, several interesting men and women events have emerged and been played throughout the sport’s history in this country. To highlight a majority of these events, Table 4.3 was prepared from a combination of data, dates, and titles of tournaments in the literature. As such, in column one it lists — according to the event’s first year in existence or in chronological order — the different types of domestic men and women competitions that have contributed, in part, to England being arguably the nation with football’s most well-known and prestigious attractions, legends, and traditions. Briefly, the following is some factual, historical, and/or noteworthy information about 11 of these football events as they were performed by English male teams and then three played by female teams. The men’s FA Cup was established in 1871 when the FA’s honorary secretary Charles Alcock decided that a challenge cup tournament of all men’s clubs in the group should be played within the country. During its 100-plusyears of matches, the number of entries in the FA Cup has expanded from 15 to 600 while more than 40 different clubs have won at least one of its championships. Besides Manchester United and Arsenal, other outstanding champions include Liverpool and Chelsea who, respectively, won the Cup in 2006 and 2007.According to a former Ipswich Town manager,“The FA Cup final is the greatest single match outside the World Cup final — and it’s ours [England’s].”7
7
For information about the FA Cup and other football events in England, see “History of the FA Cup.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007]; Hunter Davies. “Decline and Fall.” New Statesman (19 February 2007): 47; “History of the Football League.” http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk [cited 24 September 2007]; Stuart Barnes.“Europe is Now the Pinnacle.” London Sunday Times (29 April 2007): 11.
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Soccer in Brazil, England, and Germany 121 Table 4.3 English Football Events, by Year and Champions, Selected Years Event
Year
Championship Teams
Men FA Cup FA Amateur Cup FA Trophy Anglo-Italian Cup Watney Cup Texaco Cup FA Vase Anglo-Scottish Cup FL Full Members’ Cup Super Cup FA NLS Cup
1871–2007 1893–1974 1969–2007 1970–1996 1970–1973 1971–1975 1974–2007 1976–1981 1985–1992 1985–1986 2003–2006
Manchester United (11),Arsenal (10) Bishop Auckland (10), Dulwich (4) Telford United (3), Scarborough (3) Modena (2), Genoa (1) Stoke City (1), Bristol Rovers (1) Newcastle United (2), Ipswich Town (1) Brigg Town (2),Tiverton Town (2) Chesterfield (1), St. Mirren (1) Chelsea (2), Nottingham Forest (2) Everton (1) Isle of Man (1), Mid Chesire (1)
Women FA Cup FA Premier League Cup FA Community Shield
1970–2007 1992–2006 2000–2006
Arsenal (8), Southampton (8) Arsenal (8), Croydon (3) Arsenal (4), Fulham (2)
Note: In column three the number of victories for each event is listed in parenthesis. FA is Football Association. FL means Football League and NLS is the National League System. The men’s Super Cup was played only in the 1985–1986 season. In 2000, the FA Community Shield was known as the FA Women’s Charity Match. Source:“History of the FA Cup.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007];“History of the FA Trophy.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007]; “About the FA Vase.” http:// www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007];“History of the NLS Cup.”http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2006]; “Football League Full Members’ Cup Special.” http://www.fchd.btinternet. co.uk [cited 24 September 2007]; “Super Cup (English Football).” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 24 September 2007]; “Anglo-Italian Cups.” http://www.rsssf.com [cited 24 September 2007]; “Texaco Cup & Anglo-Scottish Cup 1971–1981.” http://www.rsssf.com [cited 24 September 2007]; “Watney Cup.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 24 September 2007];“About the FA Women’s Cup.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007]; “FA Women’s Premier League Cup History.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007]; “FA Women’s Community Shield.” http:// www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007].
Because England’s professional teams had dominated the FA Cup from the 1870s into the late 1880s, the Association agreed to start the FA Amateur Cup tournament in 1893. Accordingly, this event consists of domestic football clubs that use nonprofessional players. Anyway, in 1974 the distinctions between amateur and professional clubs were abolished
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by the Association and thus, the incentive for teams to enter into and win an FA Amateur Cup had ended. However, while the event existed, the most consistent winners of it were from the Isthmian League — which is located near London — and a few teams from the Northern League in northeast England. Nonetheless, as the FA Amateur Cup gradually faded in popularity and fan support during the mid- to late-1960s, a new football event began in 1969.Titled the FA Trophy, it was originally founded by the Association as a knockout competition and a way for non-EFL clubs to appear in the FA’s finals and play at Wembley Stadium. In 2007, the former Grays Athletic boss Mark Stimson guided his Stevenage Borough team to an FA Trophy title by defeating the Kidderminister Harriers 3–2 before a crowd of 53,000. In 1970, the Anglo-Italian Cup and Watney Cup were established as football tournaments in England. Although it is somewhat similar in format to sports competitions named the Coppa Ottorino Barissi (1968–1976), Gigi Peronace Memorial (1970–1973), Anglo-Italian Semiprofessional Cup (1975–1976), and the Anglo-Italian League Cup (1969–1976), the AngloItalian Cup eventually replaced each of these four events during the earlyto mid-1970s, and it continued to exist until 1996. Basically, the latter Cup featured amateur and/or quasi-professional English and Italian football teams that had won various divisions and/or leagues in their respective countries. Indeed, there have been numerous clubs besides Modena and Genoa who have won a championship during the Anglo-Italian Cup’s 27-year-old history. With respect to the Watney Cup, it was an event scheduled before the start of England’s football season and included eight of the nation’s many teams.To qualify for the tournament, these competitors had scored the most goals in each of the EFL’s four divisions during the previous season, and they had not been promoted — or were admitted to — a European football championship. Although the teams’ games were televised in England, the Watney Cup terminated as a competition in 1973 due to fans’ lack of interest in the event and also because of sponsorship problems. Besides Stoke City and the Bristol Rovers, Colchester United and Derby County had also won titles in the Watney Cup. Between 1971 and 1976 inclusive, the Texaco Cup, FA Vase, and AngloScottish Cup were introduced as football competitions in England.To identify the first and third of these events, the Texaco Cup included the top English and Irish — from Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland — clubs that had not qualified for a European Championship. However, one year
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after Newcastle United defeated Southampton 3–1 in the finals to win a Texaco Cup, the Texaco Corporation decided not to continue sponsoring this event. As a result, in 1976 the Anglo-Scottish Cup began to exist as a football tournament. Although it was similar in structure to the Watney Cup, this new event involved soccer clubs who had visited England from Scotland and also teams from lower football divisions in England. After competing for six seasons, Scotland’s teams became disinterested in the event and thus withdrew from the Anglo-Scottish Cup. Although the tournament was reorganized several times, it continued to be active into the early 1980s as the Football League Group Cup, then as the Football League Trophy, and finally as the Associate Members Cup. Meanwhile, when the FA Amateur Cup ceased to exist as a tournament in 1974, the FA Vase replaced it that year. More than 200 English football clubs had participated in this new event during its first season, as did approximately 450 of the nation’s clubs in 1999. Since the mid-1970s, the FA Vase tournament — which includes amateur and professional clubs — has been won by various English teams. Because of the great parity among clubs who have participated in this competition, the FA Vase should be viewed by critics as a relatively successful event in the history of English team sports. When English football clubs were banned from playing in Europe during the mid- to late-1980s, the FL Full Members’ Cup was introduced in England as a sports event.Although the tournament consisted of clubs from the FL’s North and South Divisions, after a few years it failed to generate enough financial support from its sponsors to sustain the interest of its leading teams and their sports fans.After Nottingham Forest won its second title by defeating Southampton 3–2 in 1992, the event folded. Seven years before that incident occurred, the FL decided to establish the Super Cup. Indeed, this tournament was organized in 1985 to recover some of the income foregone because of the tough penalty that was placed on English clubs in Europe. As it was structured, the Super Cup included six top-level clubs such as Manchester United, Norwich City, and Tottenham Hotspur. Unfortunately, the tournament did not receive much interest and support from English football fans and the media and sponsors, and from owners and managers of the respective teams. For example, when Everton manager Howard Kendall led his team to play a game against Norwich City, he stated:“What a waste of time this is — out you go.” Consequently, the tournament was abolished in 1986 after Everton defeated Liverpool and won
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a championship. Simply put, the Super Cup will be remembered “as a misguided, if well intentioned attempt by the Football League to offer some consolation to the English clubs deprived of European football after the Heysel tragedy, at a very difficult time for English football.”8 The final men’s football event discussed in Table 4.3, and discussed in this section, is the FA NLS Cup. Established in 2003, this competition was created as an opportunity for an outstanding English team to qualify for the UEFA Regions Cup. Specifically, the FA permits clubs from leagues at level seven of the NLS, and those from a few other English leagues, to compete for this Cup.The latter group includes teams at the county level — or 11th tier — of England’s NLS. For this event’s results, a Cambridgeshire County League team lost 2–0 to a competitor of the Mid Cheshire League in 2004, and two years later, it was defeated 4–0 by a club from the Isle of Man League. Therefore, during English football’s 2007 season, the Isle of Man winner had qualified to play a Czech Republic team in the UEFA Regions Cup. Before discussing the three women’s soccer events that are listed in the lower part of Table 4.3, the following facts briefly highlight the historical development of this sport, in part, for females in England. Between the 1890s and 1920s, there were some football matches and international games played by women teams in England. Even so, in 1921 females were considered by English football officials to be unsuitable for the sport. Thus, the FA prevented them from competing on the FL’s grounds. Although there was a relatively modest decline in interest by British women to participate in the sport during the 1930s–1950s, enough enthusiasm, momentum, and financial support existed for more than 40 clubs to organize a Women’s Football Association (WFA) in November of 1969. Two years later, the FA removed the restriction it had imposed on women’s football in 1921. Consequently, the sport expanded for females during the 1970s–1990s and early 2000s when, for example, the FA and English women athletes, teams, and officials jointly formed a national football league, established a WFA National Cup competition, hosted a UEFA Championship, and played for a World Cup. 8
The format and competition history of this tournament in England is discussed in “Super Cup (English Football).” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 24 September 2007]. A similar competition to the Super Cup was the Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy. This event celebrated the English Football League’s 100th birthday. Accordingly, it lasted one season (1988–1989) and the championship was won by Arsenal.
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Hence, with respect to each of the women’s domestic events that are listed in Table 4.3, the competition for an FA Cup began in the 1970–1971 season when about 71 of the nation’s female clubs participated in it. Despite little media coverage, an exciting 4–1 victory by Southampton in beating a team named Stewarton and Thistle started an era of women’s football events in England. After the FA Cup was renamed the Women’s Challenge Cup in 1994 by the FA’s Competition Department, the three most dominant clubs in the event — from 1970 to 2007 — have been Arsenal and Southampton who each won eight championships, and the Doncaster Belles who earned six titles. When the FA assumed organizational control of women’s football events in England during the early 1990s, the FA PL Cup was introduced. As such, this tournament has included members of the Women’s PL — which consists of clubs in the National Division, Northern Division, and Southern Division. While they compete to win this Cup, the women teams have received enthusiastic support from local fans and increasing attention and exposure from the country’s print media and television networks. For this tournament’s results between 1992 and 2006 inclusive, the two most successful teams have been Arsenal with eight championships and Croydon three. Such clubs as the Doncaster Belles, Everton, and Fulham have also won titles in this event. Based on the sport’s growth in England throughout 2007, the FA PL Cup will continue to exist especially if Britain’s national women’s football teams win a FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championship, and/or they earn medals in one or more Olympic Games. The most recent women’s football tournament listed in Table 4.3 is the FA Community Shield. Organized prior to when the 2000–2001 English football season had begun, this event was originally titled the FA Women’s Charity Shield until it was renamed in 2001. Being a two-team event, it occurs before England’s annual football season starts and the opponents in the tournament are the women’s FL champion and FA Cup winner. During its initial seven years in existence, the event’s winning clubs have been Arsenal with four titles, Fulham two, and Charlton Athletic one. Furthermore, some runners-up include the Doncaster Belles in 2001 and 2003, and Everton in 2006. Again, the FA Community Shield will attract more fans and larger crowds to its matches if Britain’s national women football teams compete for championships in the primary international soccer tournaments that are being played at stadiums in Europe and other nations across the world. Since the mid- to late-1990s, the sport of European football has become an increasingly costly and risky business for domestic and foreign entrepreneurs
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and organizations to evaluate, invest in, and operate for profits. Nonetheless, a few wealthy Americans — who formerly or currently own US professional sports franchises — have purchased majority and/or minority shares of such competitive, prominent, and traditional English football clubs as Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. For sure, these accounting transactions had occurred for several reasons. That is, there are only a limited number of US professional sports franchises currently for sale in the marketplace; there are some attractive business opportunities that exist in Europe’s sports industry for rich Americans to add scarce and valuable assets to their global investment portfolios; there are diversification effects and the potential benefits of reducing risk and increasing returns from controlling and owning one or more foreign football teams; and there are positive cash flows and lucrative tax advantages for investors. Finally, these deals also indicate soccer’s popularity and above-average growth and success as a sport in nations overseas.9 Consequently, based on a significant inflow of financial capital and economic resources, in recent years the present (discounted) values of these four well-established English football clubs — and other elite teams of the sport in Europe — have skyrocketed.As a result, there is more inequality in revenues and differences in competitiveness between these successful football franchises and the majority of other clubs in the same league, and in lower leagues and their divisions. Furthermore, during the 2000s, the most marketable, popular, and talented English soccer players have tended to renegotiate their salaries and/or sign contracts with a few of the nation’s top teams rather than with those in the second, third, and lower tiers of England’s league system. In short, the incentive for sports businesses to generate more cash, revenue, and profit has created such problems for administrative officials and leagues, and teams and athletes in English football, which a government exemption from the country’s antitrust rules — and other legal methods — is being considered by the sport’s authorities as a way to fix the situation. 9
The business facts, issues, and problems of soccer in England and with respect to English clubs are highlighted in Stephen Grocer. “England’s American Invasion Continues.” http://www.wsj.com [cited 2 July 2007]; Robert Frank. “The Other Football Game.” http://www.wsj.com [cited 2 July 2007]; Adam Cohen. “Money Divides Europe’s Football Leagues.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 22 May 2007].Also, see Steven Tischler. Footballers and Businessmen: The Origins of Professional Soccer in England (Teaneck, NJ: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1982).
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These issues and other matters conclude the section about soccer as it exists as a team sport in England.The next topic of interest to explore in this portion of the chapter is the game’s culture and its emergence, development, and growth in Germany.
SOCCER IN GERMANY Before 1900, some primitive FAS had emerged and briefly existed in the Berlin and Frankfurt areas of the Federal Republic of Germany, which in those years was named West Germany. Then in 1900, the representatives of more than 80 football clubs met in the City of Leipzig and officially established the German Football Association or Deutscher FuBball-Bund (DFB). Within a few years, a number of the DFB’s amateur — and some local semiprofessional — soccer teams from leagues throughout Germany began to play the game in regional championships and also against some foreign rivals who, for example, included a few superior football clubs from England. Anyway, as a result of such events, Germany’s football teams were defeated by their competitors in a majority of the matches.These losses, in turn, embarrassed and then aroused German sports officials who decided to unite in 1908 by organizing the country’s first national men’s football team. Even so, in 1908–1909 the country’s new team had continued to flounder and lose games by relatively large margins against competitive football clubs from Great Britain and Switzerland. Nevertheless, it was during the late 1800s and early 1900s that football had originally formed and began to expand within Germany, and thus became an increasingly entertaining, competitive, and popular sport there and elsewhere in Europe.10 10
This sport in Germany is discussed in various articles. Some of these readings include “Football in Germany.” http://wm2006.deutschland.de [cited 20 June 2007]; “The History of German Soccer.” http://www.soccer-fans-info.com [cited 29 September 2007];“German Football.” http://www.soccerphile.com [cited 20 June 2007]; Gregg Gethard. “How Soccer Explains Post-War Germany.” Soccer & Society (Spring 2006): 51–61; Uwe Wilkesmann and Doris Blunter. “Going Public: The Organizational Restructuring of German Football Clubs.” Soccer & Society (Summer 2002): 19–37; Gertrud Pfister.“The Challenges of Women’s Football in East and West Germany: A Comparative Study.” Soccer and Society (Summer/Autumn 2003): 128–148. Furthermore, see Alan Tomlinson and Christopher Young. German Football: History, Culture, Society and the World Cup 2006 (Abingdon, Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2006).
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Because of hostility, instability, and turmoil caused by the Great Depression in America and two World Wars, between the early 1910s and mid-1940s soccer and many other team sports were, in part, restricted and/or suspended for years by the government of Germany. Yet during this period, German national football teams continued to engage in several international events. These activities included, for example, the 1934 and 1938 World Cups, and in 1936, the Olympic Games in Berlin. Then during mid-1939 to late 1942, a team composed of Austrian and German athletes gathered together to perform in more than 30 global soccer matches. Eventually this group of athletes was forced to cease playing football for a number of seasons. However, even in the years after World War II, soccer continued to struggle as a sport among several European nations and especially since Germany’s territory was split roughly in half — that is, between the nation’s East and West areas. Furthermore, many German sports clubs had to disband or were used by the federal government for political purposes, and finally, the country’s national football team was banned as a qualifier for the 1950 FIFA World Cup that was played in Brazil. Despite these problems and other issues, the sport had almost recovered in popularity among European nations by the early- to mid-1950s when various German teams from the East (or the German Democratic Republic) and West (or the Federal Republic of Germany) succeeded to qualify for — and increase their participation in — various international football competitions. Nonetheless, besides the sport being played among domestic groups and interactions with other nations in global events, there was a need for a toplevel organization to be established within Germany that would assist, promote, and subsidize the development of independent soccer clubs and their players as had previously been accomplished in such countries as England, Italy, and Spain. Consequently, at the DFB’s 14th General Assembly meeting in Dortmund — where it convened in 1963 — German football officials approved the organization of a central league that consisted of the nation’s most competitive teams, and named it the Bundesliga. Interestingly, an important aspect of this Assembly’s decision to form a superior sports league was that it involved an original allocation of licenses to 16 regional teams and two years later, to two more of them.This action, in turn, meant that all regions of Germany would be equally represented within the new group of teams. However, another significant requirement of the decision was that if two or more elite football
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teams had existed in the same area, only one of them was selected to be in the Bundesliga.11 From a sport’s organizational perspective, the formation of Bundesliga resulted in a restructuring of power within German football, and that affected a number of the country’s leagues, divisions, and their respective clubs. That is, after the early 1960s, some West — and only a few East — German football teams continued to consistently win matches while others declined in their performances and merged or disbanded, or had to temporarily withdraw from the league because they were relegated to lower divisions but then were later re-promoted to it. Since 1963, Hamburger SV has been the Bundesliga’s only original team to exist into the 2000s. Even such popular clubs as Borussia Dortmund, FC Kaiserslautern, and VfB Stuttgart had to make major adjustments in their operations and thus, they were absent from the league for one or more seasons. In winning championships, the Bundesliga’s most successful teams, as of 2007, have been Bayern Munich with 16 titles, Borussia Monchengladback five, and Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen each with three. An aside, when East and West Germany reunited and formed one country during the late 1980s to early 1990s, a large majority of the football clubs from the Eastern portion of the nation eventually failed to exist for several reasons. First, they had no experience in, or little knowledge of, the football business and therefore their best players eventually migrated to other teams in Western European countries and elsewhere. Second, they lacked economic resources and financial capital and thus, did not have the know-how or wherewithal to effectively compete in Germany’s top sport’s divisions. The FC Dynamo Dresden team, for example, experienced money problems and was relegated to a regional league during the mid-1990s, while BFC Dynamo Berlin struggled to win matches, but evolved and then became known as FC Berlin. 11
Among the references about Germany’s primary football league, there is “The Bundesliga History FAQ.” http://www.the-shot.com [cited 29 September 2007]; “Deutche-Fussball-Bund Regulation.” http://www.soccercrew.com [cited 29 September 2007]; “Bundesliga: How Everything Got Started.” http://www.bundesliga.de [cited 20 June 2007]; Jack Ewing.“Germany’s League of Limping Football Teams.” http://www.businessweek.com [cited 25 April 2008]; “Strong Financially, Bundesliga Seeks Improvement in Pitch.” http://www.eufootball.biz [cited 25 April 2008].
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International Football Events To expose the performances of Germany’s national men and women teams in various global competitions, Table 4.4 was prepared. For each event in column one, the table indicates whether these teams had finished among the top four against their rivals from those nations that had participated during the specific span of years listed in column two. However, it is important to recognize three differences about some of these teams and their events. First, the national German men’s teams have competed in one football tournament (Olympic Games) since the early 1900s while the nation’s women’s clubs did not become active in international football events until the early 1980s. Second, besides the country’s national men and women teams — which had represented both areas of Germany — some independent or unaffiliated East and West German sports clubs participated in and won,
Table 4.4 German Men and Women Football Teams, Results by Event, Selected Years Event
Years
Winner Runner-Up Third Fourth
Men FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup FIFA Confederations Cup FIFA Club World Cup FIFA Futsal World Cup FIFA U-17 World Cup FIFA U-20 World Cup FIFA World Cup Intercontinental Club Cup Olympic Games UEFA Cup UEFA Champions League UEFA European Championship
2005–2006 1992–2005 2000–2006 1989–2004 1985–2007 1977–2007 1930–2006 1960–2004 1908–2004 1971–2006 1955–2007 1960–2004
0 0 0 0 0 1 3 3 1 12 6 3
0 0 0 0 1 1 4 3 1 13 6 2
0 1 0 0 1 0 3 NA 2 NA NA 0
0 0 0 0 1 0 1 NA 2 NA NA 0
Women FIFA U-20 World Cup FIFA World Cup Olympic Games UEFA European Championship UEFA Women’s Cup UEFA Women’s U-19 Cup
2002–2006 1991–2007 1996–2004 1982–2005 2001–2006 1997–2006
1 2 0 6 3 5
0 1 0 0 2 2
1 0 2 0 NA NA
0 1 0 1 NA NA
Source: See the sources in Tables 4.1 and 4.3.
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or nearly won, a few worldwide football competitions.And third, the national men’s team of Germany was barred from competing in global football events during most years of the mid- to late-1940s. In total, the table denotes that the combined groups of German teams had won 46 championships in 18 events and also were runner-up in 36, while finishing third in 10 of them and fourth in six. Regarding specific results in the men’s events, Germany’s teams have been moderately successful in the FIFA World Cup, Intercontinental Club Cup, UEFA Cup, and UEFA Champions League, but not in the other FIFA events and Olympic Games. However, against their primary competitors such as England, Italy, and Spain in the UEFA European Championship, Germany’s men teams have occasionally won a championship or finished as a runner-up. To achieve these results, since the 1950s some of the greatest German football players during various seasons have included Uwe Seeler (1954–1970), Franz Beckenbauer (1965–1977) and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1976–1986), and most recently they were Christian Ziege (1993–2004), Oliver Kahn (1995–2006) and Michael Ballack (1999–2007). Besides these outstanding athletes, other famous footballers from Germany were Lothar Matthaus (1980–2000), who played in the most World Cups and match appearances, and Jurgen Klinsmann (1987–1998), who scored the highest number of goals in the European Championships — and tied with Thomas Habler (1988–2000) — to make the most appearances in matches of that event. Given their relatively brief history in competing in global soccer events, Germany’s national women teams have been relatively impressive. Indeed, among their 17 titles were winning two FIFA World Cups, that is, one earned in 2006 and then for defeating Brazil 2–0, another in 2007. Interestingly, that is the first time in history a national women’s soccer team had successfully defended its title in a World Cup or the Olympic Games. Furthermore, in the 2007 event, Germany outscored its opponents 21–0 and thus had not allowed a goal in 619-minutes of World Cup competition.As a result of these achievements and other victories in UEFA events, the women’s soccer team from Germany will contend for a title in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and for championships in future FIFA and UEFA tournaments.12 12
After a scoreless first half, German players Birgit Prinz and Simone Laudehr each scored one goal in the second half of the game to earn their team a victory in the 2007 World Cup. See “Germany Beats Brazil to Win Second Consecutive Title.” http://www.cnnsi.com [cited 1 October 2007].Also, the US team defeated Norway’s 4–1 for third place in the tournament.
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Despite the nation’s mediocre to excellent results in various competitions, some sports analysts sincerely believe that Germany’s football clubs have been below-average performers, or even inferior, during the history of international soccer events in Europe. For example, when compared with the national football teams from England, Italy, and Spain, Germany ranks fourth to them in winning a number of championships in the European Champions Cup, UEFA Cup, and European Cup-Winners’ Cup. According to a European journalist and long-time fan of the sport, a primary reason that Germany’s weak performances have occurred in these events is because some German conservatives consider football’s origins and traditions to be located and centered in another foreign country, that is, in England. Indeed, there are some football officials who — having studied the sport during its emergence and development in nations across the world — suggest that in Germany the game has been poorly administered and managed by the DFB and therefore, lacks a central authority to effectively enforce the sport’s policies, rules, and standards; involves corruption and illegal activities because of under-the-table and side payments made to German coaches, players, and/or referees; and is a sport whose most popular heroes reside, train, and perform for national soccer teams in Brazil and other nations. In short, some critics maintain that German football is flawed, overrated and mismanaged, and certainly not as glamorous or successful as one expects when it is compared with the performances of other countries’ men teams in several international tournaments. This section completes the research, study, and discussion of soccer from when it was established as a sport in Brazil, England, and Germany.As such, various cities, governments, and populations within these three countries have each been involved in some way with the sport for more than 100 years. Consequently, football is an important element of their histories and an integral part of their cultures and identities. Moreover, it is a passion for millions of these nations’ sports fans and thousands of athletes, and also a fun activity for kids and teenagers and for pre-adult and adult men and women players who are members of amateur, semiprofessional and professional leagues, divisions and teams. In fact, many of them have participated in and competed for titles and championships at soccer grounds in large cities and smaller communities throughout the world before and during the 21st century.
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BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS Besides nations’ cultural, political, and social conditions and environments, the conduct, operation, and performance of amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional football events and programs within and between countries are related to — and affected by — current and future business and economic matters.That is, similar to other team sports that are especially popular and played in local, regional, and international markets, there are commercial and intra-industry conflicts, controversies, and other general and specific issues with respect to fans, governments and sponsors, and also to soccer leagues, teams, and their coaches, owners, and players.Thus, as discussed previously in Chapter 2 for baseball and Chapter 3 for basketball, and later in Chapter 5 for ice hockey and Appendix A for cricket, this section of the chapter focuses exclusively on the business and economic implications of soccer and how well the sport prospers in Brazil and England, and then in Germany. For this game’s existence in these and perhaps other nations, some factors and commercial issues that are relevant and of particular interest include (a) the types of economies and growth rates of these economies; (b) prosperity and success, if any, of various local and national football leagues and whether financially their member franchises earn profits or incur losses; (c) revenue streams of football clubs from attendances at their matches and from television network contracts; (d) extent of revenuesharing in collective bargaining agreements between leagues and their player’s associations; (e) football players’ salaries and transfer rights; (f ) opportunities for investors in teams to generate above-average economic returns; (g) public and/or private ownership of franchises and the control, management, and operation of them; (h) a number and type of licensing and marketing deals, and different kinds of partnerships and sponsorships; (i) amounts of government subsidies for the sport; (j) and the demand, income, and passion of football fans and households within each nation. In short, there are aspects and levels of these variables within the sports environment of all countries whose populations in some way participate in soccer. To research for topics about the business and economic implications of amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional soccer as it exists within and among countries, there is information contained in such literature as sports books, journals, magazines, and periodicals, and in newspapers.
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Nevertheless, it is articles, readings, and reports posted on various American and foreign websites that provided me with much of the history and current data, facts, and opinions regarding the sport in these three nations and other countries. In total, this group of sources was explored by me to comprehend and discuss elements of business, finance, and economics that are related to this popular global sport. However, before any specific elements are discussed,Table 4.5 provides four interesting characteristics to reflect upon and remember about Brazil, England, and Germany, and for comparison, to the United States. In 1822, this South American nation won its independence and thus became free from the country of Portugal.Then 67 years later a new republic was proclaimed by Emperor Pedro Joao and accordingly, it was called the United States of Brazil. However, in 1967, the United States of Brazil was renamed to Federative Republic of Brazil. Indeed, that is the nation’s official title. Because of Brazil’s climate conditions, natural resources, and numerous rivers, its economy is based on the production, consumption, and export of agricultural products like coffee, soybeans, and wheat, and on the outputs of such other industries as lumber, steel, and textiles. Despite it benefiting from a diversified and growth-oriented economy, for several decades the nation has periodically experienced serious financial crises because of excessive government spending, dependence on foreign loans and thus depletion of bank reserves to pay interest and the principle on its external debt, price and wage inflations, and currency devaluations. Furthermore, 83 percent of Brazil’s 190 million people live in urban places including the largest metropolitan areas of Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo. Finally,
Table 4.5 Demographic and Economic Characteristics, by Country, Selected Years
Country Brazil England Germany United States
Land Area (thousands of square miles)
Total Population (millions)
Population Density (persons/square mile)
GDP/Capita (thousands of US$)
3286.4 94.5 137.8 3718.7
190.0 60.7 82.4 301.1
58 652 611 85
8.8 31.8 31.9 44.0
Note: GDP/Capita is reported for 2006, and the other characteristics are reported for 2007. Source: World Almanac and Book of Facts 2008 (New York, NY:World Almanac Books, 2008).
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Roman Catholic and Portuguese are, respectively, the nation’s chief religion and principal language.13 Within Brazil, there are about 500 registered professional soccer teams and more than 100 million fans who love, respect, and support the game. For decades, the nation has fielded some of the world’s most competitive teams whose players had signed lucrative contracts to perform, and likewise, who earned millions in Brazilian Reals from advertising and promoting to consumers their brands of soccer equipment, uniforms, and other products. Thus, the fanaticism, greatness, and popularity of soccer among Brazil’s households and the football fans of many foreign countries have generated abundant cash flows and revenues during previous summer and winter seasons for such local clubs named Corinthians, Flamengo, and Vasco. Also, households and fans have provided significant amounts of income and wealth for these and other Brazilian clubs’ investors, coaches, and players. Since the mid- to late-1990s, the soccer system in Brazil has been compelled to develop and initiate some reforms. Consequently, the system adopted a number of changes to improve its economic viability, streamline managerial decision making, and revise the organizational structure. To Brazil’s soccer officials and organizations, it was obvious that the game was being poorly administered and regulated for investors in franchises and thus with respect to the sport’s accountability, control, and responsibility. For example, within the sport there evidently existed such extreme but wellknown problems as bribery, money laundering, and tax evasion. Moreover, there was irrational and unsustainable wage increases awarded to professional soccer athletes, obsolete rules regarding the transfer rights of clubs’ players, and an unfair allocation of league revenues. In total, these matters discouraged some local entrepreneurs and businesses from investing funds
13 For information about demographics and the economies of Brazil and other nations of the world, see the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006 (New York, NY: World Almanac Books, 2006). Also, for several reasons, the Brazilian Real gradually stabilized and then strengthened against the US dollar during 2004–2008.This event and other factors attracted foreign investors such that the nation’s economy expanded by 5 percent per year. Because of its vast reserves of American dollars, government officials in Brazil planned to establish a $10–20 billion sovereign fund in 2008 to invest the country’s excess cash into various domestic projects. See Matt Moffett. “Brazil Joins Front Rank of New Economic Powers.” Wall Street Journal (13 May 2008): A1, A10.
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in football teams. As a result, Pele’s Law in 1998 and then a Provisional Measure in 2001 were each passed by Brazil’s government to resolve the issues that plagued and undermined the sport.14 Generally these laws imposed regulations that were intended, in part, to increase the level of professionalism in Brazilian soccer relations and implement free agency for players, to provide additional incentives for the privatization of amateur football teams, and to generate opportunities for more business deals in the sport that involved alliances, licensing, merchandising, partnerships, and sponsorships. In other words, Brazil’s soccer leagues and their clubs were encouraged to operate as competitive enterprises and eventually as companies led by investors, executives, and managers who are ethical, industrious, and professional. As a result, many teams in Brazil now behave as profit maximizing businesses and thus make prudent, rational, and self-interest decisions regarding their cash flows, costs and revenues, and their marketing campaigns. In turn, adopting these goals reduced and perhaps eliminated such immediate concerns as kickbacks, mismanagement and scandals, and in the long run, are expected to benefit communities and football fans, soccer officials, and athletes throughout the country. Unfortunately, some financially weak and poor performing teams may ultimately fail and cease to operate which means there will be cities and areas within Brazil without a local, semiprofessional, and/or professional football club. After the Pele Law and Provisional Measure were approved and then some other important reforms implemented during the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Brazilian Football Confederation (BFA) and World Football Federation (or FIFA) each had disagreed with them and thus complained about and opposed the legislation. Basically, the BFA was concerned about the potential loss of its authority and power to oversee the activities of Brazilian soccer leagues and their teams while FIFA feared that the laws would weaken the BFA and therefore violate international rules. Interestingly, Nike had paid $200 million to the BFA to sponsor Brazil’s national soccer squad and for various reasons, denounced the two laws. In the end, these controversies exposed the conflicts, corruption, and disputes 14 These and other problems as related to Brazilian football are discussed in “Red Cards For the Bosses.” Economist (17 November 2001): 36–38;“Foul Play.” Economist (21 October 2000): 44–46; Jack Epstein. “Brazil Tries to Kick Soccer Violence.” Christian Science Monitor (15 February 1995): 13;“Minister Vows to Clean Up the Game.” The Australian (14 December 2001): 38.
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among officials in administering and governing Brazilian soccer programs, and also why the move from being amateurs to professionals, and therefore the privatization of teams, had represented a shift in power away from offices in the BFA, FIFA and Brazil’s government bureaucracy, to entrepreneurs, companies, and other organizations that were interested in owning and operating these clubs for profit.15 In 2006, a Brazilian soccer organization from the City of Porto Alegre that was named Internacional won the FIFA Club World Cup.This achievement, in turn, resulted in a financial bonanza for the team because of business strategies it had implemented before and after its victory that year. To illustrate, new corporate suites were installed at Beira-Rio Stadium and these facilities have generated more than $2 million per year for the team; participation in Internacional’s Sport Club was encouraged to the public and that action increased membership by more than 45,000 enthusiastic fans, and besides conducting football activities to promote and support Internacional, these new members were also required to pay a monthly fee to be active in the Club; and finally, different types of products and apparel associated with the team continue to be sold at stores and outlets in Brazil, and these sales have resulted in additional revenues that are used to improve Internacional’s training camps and its performances in local soccer games and global tournaments. In fact, Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup. As such, Internacional’s Sport Club seeks to participate as an organization in some of the Cup’s events including those that may be held at Beira-Rio Stadium.16 In short, one very important commercial issue that relates to sports in Brazil is the transition of some football teams from being amateur to professional organizations, and accordingly, to an increase in these teams’ resources and revenues so they are able to pay competitive salaries and retain their elite players. Another issue that was identified and briefly discussed in this
15 The BFA, FIFA, and/or other football organizations are, in part, mentioned or alluded to in “Facing Football’s Bald Facts.” Economist (20 December 1997): 33–35; William Echikson and Ian Katz. “Pele vs. Nike: Guess Who Won’t Score.” Business Week (16 February 1998): 59;“Free Kicks and Kickbacks.” Economist (3 November 2007): 43. 16 According to the article’s author, President of the Club Fernando Carvalho transformed one of the most respected soccer teams in Brazil into a global competitor. See Fernando Trein.“Sport Club Internacional — Winner of FIFA Club World Cup 2006.” Sport Marketing Quarterly,Vol. 16, No. 1 (2007): 61–62.
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section about Brazilian football is the implementation and enforcement of government laws that will eventually rid the sport of most, if not all, corrupt and criminal officials at the team and federation levels. Furthermore, these and other laws were designed to encourage transparency and accountability in soccer operations and especially with regard to financial documents and transactions that involve appropriation of football funds, deals in foreign exchanges, and payments of taxes. Nevertheless, if Brazilian officials permit these problems to continue as they exist and even expand within the sport, then affiliated business organizations in Brazil will earn less revenues from fans and the nation’s amateur and professional football teams may not improve enough to win more international tournaments by defeating other competitive clubs from Asia, Europe, and Central, North, and South America.
England In being grouped with Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, England is a traditional country within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. To be specific, England is a semiindustrial and partially manufacturing and export-oriented nation that is located on the northwest coast of Europe. London and then Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds are its largest cities while English and Christian are, respectively, the country’s principal language and chief religion. More prosperous but much smaller in size and denser in population than Brazil, England’s primary trading partners include France, Germany, and the United States. For various economic, political, and social reasons, England’s government — which is a constitutional monarchy — has resisted its allies and refused to join the European Union. This means that the pound, and not the euro, has remained the nation’s official currency. Consequently, England is a relatively semiprosperous and small-to-medium-sized country whose economy is cyclical, diversified, and also equal to about US$2 trillion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Among Europeans, England’s sports administrators, fans, and officials are very knowledgeable people and above-average in their educational levels and per capita GDPs.As such, these Englishmen and women consider themselves to be experts about international games and especially with respect to amateur, semiprofessional, and professional soccer events and their foreign competitors, and also about soccer teams, coaches, and players, and the commerce, history, and strategy of the game.
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For sure, there are several current, interesting, and provocative business and economic issues with respect to English soccer. That is, since recovering from an economic crisis during the early 1980s and despite a number of internal problems in the mid- to late-1980s, the sport’s professional leagues have become more competitive, entertaining, and prosperous. In fact, they have expanded the game domestically and also relative to leagues in other European nations if based on popularity, status, and wealth. From a commercial perspective, such superior English football clubs as Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, and Newcastle United are exceptionally rich because they have earned millions in revenues from television broadcasting contracts and match-day events. Indeed, some of these teams have formed lucrative, unique, and valuable alliances and partnerships with marketers, sponsors, and other business groups that are located in America, Asia, Europe, and elsewhere. As a result of these relationships, the brands and products of several English football teams have been identified, demanded, and promoted among soccer fans in countries throughout the world. Listed in no specific order, the following are a few examples that, in part, reflect the international economic success of the English football industry. First, it was during early 2008 that England’s PL agreed to consider proposals to expand its regular season in 2010–2011 and thus play some league games those years in other nations. Interestingly, nine PL clubs are controlled by foreigners while four of them are owned by billionaires from the United States. Hence, playing matches overseas is a terrific opportunity for English clubs to globally market their brands and also to show off their superstar players and meet the growing demand for the sport from groups of fans beyond metropolitan areas in central and northwest Europe.According to PL’s chief executive Richard Scudamore, “We can’t escape the fact that globalization of the sport is with us. By design we have become a global phenomenon. We cannot go on manifesting that phenomenon as a broadcast proposition only.”17 Second,there were six football clubs from England that ranked in the top 20 among all European teams based on their overall, broadcasting, match-day, and 17
Besides Scudamore’s remarks, Derby Football Club owner told the Associated Press that “I’m very positive about the proposal and very excited. It will provide more exposure for English football and in order to grow the whole league, per se, you have to do these initiatives.” For more details, see “English League to Announce Plan For Overseas Matches.” http://www.si.com [cited 8 February 2008].
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commercial revenues. For each of these four categories in US dollars, Manchester United’s revenues and the top 20 placed, respectively, second at $484 million, seventh at $141 million, first at $212 million, and fourth at $133 million. Besides the soaring cash flow, income, and profit of Manchester United, other English soccer teams increased in value.That was due, in part, to such transactions as Chelsea’s eight-year kit deal with Adidas, Liverpool’s contract with Carlsberg, and Arsenal’s agreement with Emirates Airlines. Consequently, it is because of more sponsorship money and revenues from higher ticket prices and merchandise sales, improvements in safety and security conditions at stadiums for local and foreign fans who attend matches, and fees from lucrative television network contracts that a few of England’s PL teams have financially succeeded and therefore prospered among European sports enterprises.18 Third, throughout the early 2000s several rich foreign entrepreneurs invested resources and millions of their currencies into English football teams. For example, the Derby County Football Club was acquired by the US’s General Sports and Entertainment Corporation in 2008, and before that year, a Russian businessman had purchased the PL’s Chelsea team while a former minister from Thailand bought a club named Manchester City. Furthermore,Americans moguls also own, control, and operate such popular professional teams in England as Aston Villa, Liverpool, and Manchester United. Apparently, these wealthy businessmen decided that some prominent English football clubs were undervalued as sports entertainment organizations and also that the demand for games and their teams’ brands, equipment, and merchandise had great sales potential to soccer fans living in many global markets. Nevertheless, whether these changes in ownership will ultimately result in greater revenues, and in higher profits and increased economic values for investors in the long run, are indeterminate.19
18 The
top European soccer clubs are becoming very competitive commercially and also wealthier. For the amounts of revenues per team and how this may affect other professional sports, see “Richly Rewarding Times For European Soccer.” SportsPro (April 2008): 30–33. 19 The implications of selling and purchasing various English soccer clubs by sports entrepreneurs are discussed in Rufus Jay. “Can US Investment Benefit English Football Brands?” Marketing Week (7 February 2008): 8. Other interesting features of owning, marketing, and/or promoting soccer franchises in England are reported in “Season’s Colours.” Design Week (2 February 2006): 15; Daniel Thomas.“Chelsea Plays the Global Game.” Marketing Week (15 July 2004): 24–27; Max Colchester.
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In regard to the financing and sale and purchase of professional football franchises to domestic and/or foreign individuals or groups, there are three intriguing questions for sports analysts to consider and evaluate about these transactions.That is, will the new franchise owner(s) become too involved in the organization and thus criticize, interfere with, and/or subvert the strategies of a football club’s coaches and managers? Are the new proprietors primarily concerned about the short- and long-run performances of their team(s) or simply investing in it (them) to earn a quick and nearly effortless economic return? And finally, does the new investor or investment group respect and understand a football club’s traditions and moreover, the dedication and passion of its fans within the local community and in international sports markets? Anyway, a foreign owner (or ownership group) of any English football franchise that plays in a league may be educated about sport business theories and become more confident as a decision maker if he and/or she (or members of the group) would read and study Chris Gratton’s article,“The Peculiar Economics of English Professional Football.” In the article, Gratton discusses such diverse topics about the game as the competitive balance between and among teams in various professional soccer leagues; restrictions on the competition in professional team sports; broadcasting demands and rights with respect to football leagues and teams; and lastly, the differences and similarities between an American professional team sports model and English professional football. Basically, the author concludes that further Americanization of European football organizations would not drastically increase the current or future economic returns of British professional leagues and their clubs. Instead, Gratton acknowledges, commends, and supports the current English football system even though within it there are some competitive imbalances among teams and also an inequitable distribution of television rights and revenues among franchises, unequal power whereby a few clubs in the system tend to dominate and win a majority of the championships, earn a disproportionate share of the league’s profits, and finally, immensely benefit in economic value from “One Team Gets 26,000 Owners — All With a Vote on Who Plays.” Wall Street Journal (1 February 2007): B1, B2; Jennie James and Julie Rawe. “United We Brand.” Time Europe (19 February 2001): 29; Richard Tomlinson. “Brand it Like Becker.” Fortune (7 July 2003): 18; Stephen Grocer. “England’s American Invasion Continues;” Steve McGrath.“Latest Private-Equity Triumph: U.K. Soccer.” Wall Street Journal (7 February 2007): C3.
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increases in the price of their shares listed on European stock exchanges. In short, Gratton believes that there are several factors that explain and differentiate the peculiarities in English professional football. Also, he denotes various reasons for why the sport continues to be extremely popular and especially prosperous throughout Great Britain and within other European nations.20 Besides such prominent issues as competitive imbalances, inequitable distribution of revenues and profits, and dominance by the most successful rich teams, there are costs, risks, and other problems that may adversely affect the current and future business environment of the football industry in England. Some incidents of anti-Semitic behavior and action, for example, have occurred at games between soccer clubs that are located within or near the London metropolitan area.These racial abuses include musical songs being openly sung by different people about concentration camps and gas chambers, and also the insults include the receipt of hate mail by some players on the rosters of one or more PL clubs. Although shocked and upset by these incidents, the Jewish community in London and elsewhere has been reluctant or unable to unite and complain to local police since they fear being attacked by groups composed of bullies, extremists, and thugs.21 In contrast, other controversial topics that are frequently involved with the commercial aspects of English football consist of increases in ticket prices for local fans to attend domestic games and tournaments; migration of the best soccer players from their amateur and professional teams in other 20
“Economists studying American professional sport pointed out over 30 years ago the “peculiar” nature of the economics of team sports and the need for leagues to control competition in order to maintain competitive balance or uncertainty of outcome. Research by economists since then has notably failed to establish any strong evidence in favour [favor] of this proposition.” See Chris Gratton. “The Peculiar Economics of English Professional Football.” 21 Such incidents are deplored by soccer officials like Chelsea manager Avram Grant and also by the chief executive of Maccabi GB Martin Berliner, comedian and author David Baddiel, and the FA’s director of corporate affairs Simon Johnson. Their statements are reported in “Alive and Unchecked — A Wave of Anti-Jewish Hate in British Football.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 2 November 2007]. Other business problems in the sport are discussed in Peter Sloane. “The Economic Crisis in Professional Football.”Journal of Economic Affairs (July 1983): 273–275; Adam Cohen.“Money Divides Europe’s Football Leagues;” Hunter Davies. “Decline and Fall.”
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English and European leagues and associations to the richest franchises in the PL; visible display of sponsorship logos on teams’ uniforms; unreasonable distribution of franchise profits to a club’s shareholders; stock market flotations and the volatility in equity prices of some soccer clubs; and the overexposure of the elite British football teams on the televisions of households in international sports markets. Accordingly, to reduce and/or at least minimize the major costs and risks associated with these issues, some British sports officials have recommended that local and regional governments in England intervene in the marketplace and thus impose some new and stringent regulations on the football industry. Meanwhile, other English sports experts and some practitioners have suggested that free-market forces and events in one or more nations’ economies will ultimately diminish or eliminate professional football’s problems throughout Europe. In part, the efficient and most effective solutions to these business, economic, and social issues in English football depend more on the supply and demand factors of sport markets and less on bureaucracies and the mandates of government regulators.
Germany Because its GDP in 2008 was approximately US$3 trillion, the Federal Republic of Germany has the largest economy among nations in the European Union. Given its rank in economic power, Germany’s labor force is primarily employed in the service sector and then, respectively, in manufacturing and agriculture. For many years, the average wage rates and social benefits of German employees have exceeded the average compensation and benefit levels of similar workers who live in other nations of the European Union.This total amount of income among households, therefore, has tended to stimulate Germans’ demand for goods and services, but also during some months and years, it has caused inflationary cycles and costly price increases for a majority of products made and distributed within the country. Alternatively, for several years the national unemployment rate among adult Germans has been reported at or above 10 percent. Nevertheless, because of the country’s diversified and relatively strong economy and the amounts of workers’ annual earnings and their accumulation of wealth, some Germans tend to spend a generous proportion of their disposable income on sport activities. And, those expenditures include them attending local and regional football matches and tournaments,and purchasing the apparel and merchandise
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of teams and players that perform and excel in the country’s most competitive and popular football leagues.22 Based on its history and partly on cultural, political, and social conditions, the significant business and economic implications of German amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional football leagues and their clubs are interesting subjects to research, expose, and analyze. In fact, for various reasons, Germans have been more cautious and less aggressive about the business development and economic expansion of the game in Germany than have Brazilians in Brazil or the British in England. Perhaps it was the dislocation and then integration of populations, and also the huge financial commitments and government debts associated with the reunification of East and West Germany during the late 1980s that required sports officials in the merged nation to be ultra-conservative and sensitive in modernizing the game and furthermore, in restructuring their leagues and other football organizations.23 Certainly there are some important, problematic, and/or unique commercial distinctions and characteristics related to the conduct, performance, and structure of German football and to the sport’s organizations and their markets. To illustrate, as of October 1998, the DFB has permitted German football clubs to be flexible such that they can legally organize and report themselves as a public limited company or limited liability company, or as a limited partnership with share capital. Consequently, these options essentially determine how any football club will raise capital, allocate and distribute 22
For the people, geography, finance, and other characteristics of Germany, see the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006, pp. 781–782. 23 Some different and interesting business and economic aspects of German football are discussed in such articles as “For Love or Money.” Economist (1 June 2002): 7–10; “Nike May Boot Adidas From Team Supply Deal.” Toronto Star (31 January 2007): F2; “That’s Not All, Folks.” Economist (27 October 2007): 78;“Why Football and Business Don’t Go.” Economist (20 December 1997): 98. For a sample of readings on one topic like the commercial effects and consequences of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, see Jeff Collin and Ross MacKenzie.“The World Cup, Sport Sponsorship, and Health.” http://www.thelancet.com [cited 17 June 2006]; Jake Ewing.“The World Cup Scores Big For Companies.” Business Week Online (7 July 2006): 13; Matthew Batham. “No Extra Time Allowed.” Estates Gazette (24 September 2006): 16–19;“Securing the World Cup.” Industrial Lasers Solutions (October 2007): 6; Boris Uphoff, Rohan Massey and Sarah Brown. “Kick-off to Ambush Marketing at World Cup.” Managing Intellectual Property (February 2006): 91–92; “World Cup Proves Half-Empty.” Country Monitor (17 July 2006): 5.
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its funds, and otherwise manage and control itself from a financial perspective. Indeed, the three of them are somewhat different types of legal and organizational structures than those adopted by professional soccer teams in Brazil and England. As a result, it appears that some German clubs have implemented a prudent and potentially profitable strategy.That is, to attract funds from current and new investors and thereby increase their wealth by being listed on a national or regional stock exchange. Even though that financing strategy is risky for some investors and outside shareholders, it must be implemented and succeed if Germany’s elite men and women football teams expect to seriously challenge the great Brazilian and British clubs in future global games and tournaments.24 Besides raising additional capital from selling shares of stock to investors, some German soccer organizations — including professional clubs and such football leagues as the Bundesliga — have contracted with and sold their marketing and television rights to large broadcasting and media companies.Although this strategy results in more cash inflows for teams within the various leagues, it may also cause short and long problems for them.That is, especially with respect to controlling operations and making their own managerial decisions without interference from executives and departments in the public companies who have leased these rights. Furthermore, various conflicts of interest may occur within the sport if a broadcaster has acquired the rights of more than one German team that competes in the same football league. Nonetheless, despite these and other issues, the sales of marketing and television rights are an increasingly common, lucrative, and prosperous source of revenues for soccer clubs in Germany and similarly, for football teams in Brazil and England. A recent but forward-looking business deal that involves various football organizations, and/or the affiliates of them, is an alliance such as the type established between domestic and foreign leagues. During early 2007, for example, America-based MLS and Germany’s Bundesliga agreed to form a multi-faceted and well-publicized partnership. Basically, this alliance provided that officials from each league will exchange their expertise and knowledge about television coverage, production and rights sales, stadium designs and corporate strategies, and the exchange and expansion of soccer 24 See Uwe Wilkesmann and Doris Blunter. “Going Public: The Organizational Restructuring of German Football Clubs.” Another reading about this topic is Adam Brown and Andy Walsh.“Football Supporters’ Relations With Their Clubs:A European Perspective.” Soccer & Society (Autumn 2000): 88–101.
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programs within and between the two countries. More specifically, MLS executives will coordinate with German broadcasters and football officials to improve their league’s telecasts of games, to verify and study the locations, playing surfaces, and hospitality areas of German football stadiums, and to learn how Bundesliga’s business model generates attendances at local matches and thereby increases revenues and profits from these events. In contrast, Bundesliga’s officials will seek advice from MLS decision makers about the selling of television rights to multiple carriers and also the advertising, branding, and promoting of football products for the global marketplace, and about designing and constructing American-style sports facilities in Germany, and finally, about determining the advantages and disadvantages of a salary-cap payroll system and how to apply it to professional German football teams.25 Besides partnerships between two or more leagues, another important interaction of different football interests occurred at conference in 2008 when personnel from the Los Angeles-based Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) met with executives of clubs in the Bundesliga. At the conference, AEG discussed and outlined the ways that teams in Bundesliga could be offered for sale in the marketplace and eventually being sold to outside investors. Since it is the world’s second largest presenter of live music and entertainment events, AEG provided data, facts, and financial information at the conference in order to, indeed, further commercialize and globalize this German football league. Although they rank first in average game attendances in comparison with teams in Europe’s other elite soccer leagues, Germany’s professional football teams have failed to extract a large amount of revenues from their operations when compared with the cash flows earned by the superior clubs that perform in English, Italian, and Spanish soccer leagues. In short, German football officials are aware of the need to place more emphasis on — and expand the business side of — the sport by developing and implementing new promotional programs, and also by establishing 25 There
were positive statements about this business deal from such soccer officials as MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Bundesliga Chief Executive Officer Christian Seifert. Garber stated that “We are all aware that this age of globalization means new challenges for soccer, the most global sport,” while Seifert commented “We are absolutely convinced there is more than a good chance that soccer has a bright future in the United States.” See Jeff Rusnak.“Knowledge Pact For MLS, Bundesliga.” http://web.mlsnet.com [cited 25 April 2008],“MLS, Bundesliga Announce Landmark Partnership.” http://sports.yahoo.com [cited 25 April 2008].
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such alliances as joint ventures, partnerships, and sponsorships with large, international media and marketing companies.26 As discussed in this section of the chapter, each of the three countries has unique business and financial conditions and economic environments that in the short and long run affect the local, national, and global development and popularity of their football events, leagues, and markets.That is, in order for them to be competitive and win one or more World Cups and other championships in international tournaments, football teams in Brazil, England, and Germany are gradually transforming themselves from being amateur and government-subsidized organizations to operating as profitoriented, commercial enterprises. As this transformation of teams continues to occur, I expect to read articles in the literature about more commercial agreements, alliances, and other deals between the superior football leagues and clubs of various nations. Moreover, I anticipate an increase in commitments and business transactions among these sports groups with American and foreign entrepreneurs and multinational corporations. Given these expectations for the future, this paragraph concludes this chapter.
26
Two articles reported this alliance. They were “Bundesliga Considering Foreign Club Ownership.” http://www.eufootball.biz [cited 25 April 2008]; Tom Dunmore. “AEG and the End of German Supporter Ownership?” http://www.pitchinvasion.net [cited 25 April 2008].According to Dunmore,“MLS would learn from the Bundesliga on all sorts of issues, and every forward thinking international football fan recognized MLS had picked perhaps the most supporter-friendly league in Europe to partner with.”
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Chapter
5 Ice Hockey in Canada, The Czech Republic, and Finland
ORIGINS OF ICE HOCKEY Several references and theories exist in the literature about the origins of ice hockey or simply hockey. Some historians, for example, believe that various forms of the sport had originated during the mid- to late-1700s to early 1800s as an Irish and Scottish game that was nicknamed hurley or alternatively ice hurley. And, it was initially played by athletes with a ball and stick in farmer’s fields. In his publications about the sport, author Thomas Chandler described how some boys from Kings College School in Windsor, Nova Scotia, had participated and enjoyed competing in “hurley on ice” during the early 1800s. In contrast, others contend that earlier in history, hockey-like games had occurred on frozen lakes and rivers in such nations of northern Europe as England and France. These historians suggest that an ice game named “kolven” became popular among Europeans in the 17th century. Accordingly, they said “kolven” had appeared as an activity in English marshland communities where it was renamed “bandy.” In this game, players swatted a round ball — and not a flat puck — with a wooden stick while they were roaming
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in their meadowlands. Interestingly, a broadcaster and journalist named Stan Fischler highlighted and discussed the latter version of the game in his book titled Fischler’s Illustrated History of Hockey.1 Another and equally plausible theory from historians about the origins of the sport is that it had evolved from a game called air hockey (now named lacrosse), which was played by Indian tribes in remote areas of Canada. In fact, these Indians called their game “Baggataway.”As such, it took place during the summers on dry, dusty plains, and in winter months on wet, frozen canals, and ponds. Furthermore, any of the Indians who were hit by a ball in the game shouted “ho ee” and thus the term hockey was derived from — and identified with — the yelling of that word. In short, historians have reported more than one explanation and source in the literature for the emergence and early beginning of ice hockey as a popular activity, competitive game, and/or sport event among populations of people in the world.
Ice Hockey in America Before discussing the origins, developments, and cultures of hockey in three foreign nations, it is worthwhile to briefly describe and relate its emergence, existence, and growth in the United States. To revisit hockey’s history in this nation, the game was originally played during the mid- to late-1800s by nonprofessional athletes in specific urban and rural areas of America.Then in the early 1890s, a number of undergraduate students from such elite schools as John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, competed against each other in hockey matches. 1
For the history of ice hockey and other aspects and information about the sport, see Steve Fischler. Fischler’s Illustrated History of Hockey (Toronto, Canada: Warwick Publishing, 1993); John Davidson. Hockey For Dummies, 2nd Ed. (New York, NY: Hungry Minds, Inc., 2000);“History.”http://www.nhl.com [cited 20 June 2007];“IIHF — History of Ice Hockey.” http://www.iihf.com [cited 20 June 2007]; “Ice Hockey.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007];“History of Ice Hockey.” http://www.sportsknowhow.com [cited 8 October 2007]; “International Ice Hockey History.” http://tbs.asu.ru [cited 3 June 2007];“Origins of Hockey.” http://library.thinkquest.org [cited 8 October 2007]; “World Cup of Hockey.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 8 October 2007]; David Whitson. Artificial Ice: Hockey, Commerce, and Cultural Identity (Aurora, Ontario, Canada: Garamond Press, 2006);Andrew Podnieks and Sheila Wawanash, (Eds.). Kings of the Ice:A History of World Hockey (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada: NDE Publishing, 2002).
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Meanwhile in 1896, the US Amateur Hockey League was established in New York City by sports enthusiasts and seven years later, a group from the state of Michigan had formed the Portage Lakers and thus it became hockey’s first professional team in the country. Indeed, this club played in the Michiganbased International Professional Hockey League for one or more years. Nevertheless, because of complex managerial problems and unfortunate financial issues, the league was forced to fold in 1907. Even so, between 1908 and 1930, hockey greatly expanded in areas throughout the United States because of the formation of such new sports organizations as the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (1911–1924) and Western Hockey Association (1920–1924). Moreover, in 1917 the National Hockey League (NHL) was organized and immediately began to operate its first season.2 Besides the emergence of these and several other major and minor US amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional ice hockey associations and leagues — which had existed and failed after one or more seasons of games — and due to the modest success of America’s national men and women hockey teams in the Olympic Games and other international tournaments, the game is not as popular among sports fans within the United States as several franchises in Major League Baseball (MLB), as most college and professional teams in basketball and American football, and as some amateur, community, and university soccer clubs. Indeed, the struggle for ice hockey to become increasingly popular and well-known and to dominate sports markets in the United States has continued to persist as a result of several circumstances and problems. Discussed in no specific order, the following are a few reasons for ice hockey’s difficult environment and its failure to be more entertaining and successful despite having a 100-year-old history in America. First, the NHL’s player strike and cancellation of the league’s 2004–2005 season caused many of its team’s local, regional, and national fans and business sponsors, and the club’s radio and television networks and local media to become disillusioned with the game and thus shift their attention, expenditures, and resources to support other professional team sports and their 2
Besides in Hockey For Dummies, the former and current American hockey leagues and teams are, in part, discussed in “American National Men’s Hockey Team.” http://www.answers.com [cited 20 June 2007];“American Soccer History Timeline.” http://www.soccerhall.org [cited 18 September 2007]; Frank P., Jozsa, Jr. Sports Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues (Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004).
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teams. To be sure, some franchises in Major League Soccer (MLS) and in the primary US sports leagues had likely benefited from the NHL strike and thereby marginally increased their market shares among fans during and after 2004. Second, only a small fraction of the US high schools, community colleges, and private and public universities have added hockey as a sport to their athletic departments before and during the 1990s and in the early 2000s. That occurred, in part, because these schools (a) lack the necessary funds to provide scholarships for hockey and players and trainers, (b) cannot and/or will not build such facilities as modern ice rinks and field houses for hockey matches and tournaments, and (c) are unable to generate enough interest and passion among their students for them to pay additional fees as a source of income for the establishment of male and female undergraduate hockey teams. Third, since winning a gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the US national hockey men team tried to win more tournaments but has earned only one award.That is, it won a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Consequently, the great athletes who excel in the sport’s international events primarily play for hockey teams in Canada and the NHL, and for clubs that compete in nations of Eastern and Western Europe. As a result, there are very few role models in US hockey leagues for American kids, teenagers, and young adults to root — and become excited about — during a given season or for a specific event. In short, ice hockey is unable to appeal and attract the grassroots support of sports fans in various age-group populations of the United States. Until it increases in entertainment value and popularity, hockey will co-exist with other winter games in the United States, but not improve its potential for growth in the marketplace and become a major spectator event south of the Canadian border. In the following sections of this chapter, the topics of interest are the emergence, development, and role of hockey as a team sport and cultural institution in Canada, in the Czech Republic — including the former Czechoslovakia — and in Finland. To be more specific, the contents will consist of specific types of historical information and tables of data about such matters as the origins of the sport in each of these nations, an overview of their former and current hockey leagues and international organizations, selected performances of the countries’ national men and women hockey teams in a few domestic and global tournaments, and some relevant dates
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and other facts about the sport.After those portions of this chapter are completed, there is a discussion of hockey and its business and economic implications and effects in Canada, the Czech Republic, and Finland. Because of these contents, the reader will appreciate, comprehend, and learn why ice hockey is one of the most compelling, entertaining, and popular sports within and among these three nations.
ICE HOCKEY IN CANADA As mentioned in the previous section of this chapter, there are a number of references and historical sources in the literature to verify that Canada is the birthplace of ice hockey. Rather than reconsider and then challenge, debate, and perhaps reject these readings and theories, versions of the sport were likely played in a crude form during the late 1700s and earlyto mid-1800s in or near such Canadian cities, provinces, and/or territories as British Columbia, Halifax, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Toronto. Even so, the modern era of hockey began during the late 1800s when students at McGill University in Montreal and other persons from the area played hockey games indoors and also had established rules for the sport and organized local hockey clubs. Then in 1885, North America’s first multi-team hockey league was supposedly launched in Kingston, Ontario.3 Meanwhile, across a period of several years, a number of revolutionary changes occurred that influenced aspects of the game, and in turn, these reforms had a profound effect and long-run impact on the sport during the 20th century. For example, a round ball that was used in matches became 3
There are several publications that describe the emergence, development, and maturity of ice hockey and the sport’s culture and role in Canada.These books and readings include, for example, Michael D’Arcy and Jenish D’Arcy. Canada On Ice: Fifty Years of Great Hockey (New York, NY: Viking, 1998); Vaughan Garth and McFarlane Brian. The Puck Stops Here: The Origin of Canada’s Great Winter Game: Ice Hockey (Fredericton, New Bruswick, Canada: Goose Lane Editions, 1997); Garth Vaughan. “Quotes Prove Ice Hockey’s Origin.” http://www.birthplaceofhockey.com cited [8 October 2007]; “National Hockey Association.” http://virtualmuseum.ca [cited 20 June 2007]; “Origins of Hockey;” Thomas D. Hinch. “Canadian Sport and Culture in the Tourism Marketplace.” Tourism Geographies (February 2006): 15–30; Andrew C. Holman.“Playing in the Neutral Zone: Meanings and Uses of Ice Hockey in the Canada–U.S. Borderlands.” American Review of Canadian Studies (Spring 2004): 33–57.
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a small, oval flat piece and player’s hockey sticks were lengthened and then their blades flattened. Furthermore, the number of players on the ice for a team during a game had decreased from nine to seven. As such, this number of athletes per team included one goaltender, three forwards, two defensemen, and a rover. Finally, a hockey rinks’ size was reduced to accommodate smaller squads and to generate more scoring from the two teams that competed in a match. While these and other changes were being implemented, the Governor General of Canada — who was named Lord Stanley of Preston — purchased a decorative bowl in 1892 and called it the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup. Then one year later, he awarded it to a Montreal AAA hockey team for winning a championship at the city’s Winter Carnival. Eventually that bowl was renamed the Stanley Cup and in 1915, it was awarded to the champion of the playoffs between the National Hockey Association (NHA) and Pacific Coast League (PCL). Then after these two groups had folded, the NHL split into two divisions and took control of the Stanley Cup such that in 1927, it was awarded for one year to the Ottawa Senators who had defeated the Boston Bruins in the NHL’s final series of games. With respect to the history of women’s hockey in Canada, in 1890 Lord Stanley’s daughter — Lady Isobel Stanley — was photographed by some sports journalists using a puck and stick while she skated on an ice rink in Ottawa. Subsequently, such newspapers as the Ottawa Citizen reported that women hockey teams had formed in Canada and played against each other in games. Then in 1894, Montreal’s McGill University introduced its first women’s hockey team to the country and world. Since the early 1900s, several women ice hockey leagues have been organized and then their teams competed for championships throughout Canada but not as much in other nations. However, despite this early progress of the sport, different rules exist in the game and these have been applied to discriminate between the sexes. Women hockey players, for example, are not allowed to body check and also, they must wear full-face masks for their protection. Moreover, relative to men hockey teams, women clubs primarily rely on clever skating tactics and movements of the puck to score their goals and win games. Nonetheless, and as a result of their continued participation in the sport, women’s hockey teams within Canada and in other nations were gradually permitted to enter into and compete for titles in international events across the world.
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Canadian Hockey Leagues Before the 1930s, Canada’s national men hockey teams had successfully organized and played games in several international tournaments. Indeed, the first of these groups was an amateur club team that in 1924 represented Canada in the original Winter Olympic Games that were held in Chamonix, France. However, before reviewing the performances of Canada’s national men and women hockey teams in the Olympics and other events that were held from 1910 to 2007, it is important to note here that an assortment of amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional hockey associations and leagues had decided to form and exist as sports organizations within Canada. In no specific order, the following is a description of these different hockey groups and furthermore, a brief overview of their histories and developments.4 Besides the formation of a five-team NHA, in 1909 the Canadian Hockey Association (CHA) was also established, and in turn, this league had expanded by admitting the entry of franchises from the defunct Eastern Canada Hockey Association (ECHA). When owners of teams in the NHA and CHA quarreled because they hired elite players from each other, there was speculation that a merger would occur between these two prominent hockey organizations. However, after the CHA had ousted a former ECHA team named the Wanderers and then refused to admit a popular hockey team from Renfrew, Canada, the former league failed to merge with the NHA. Ultimately these actions caused the CHA to cease its operations and disband.Then, when some of the NHA’s franchises were forced to relocate and a salary cap was implemented by the league’s teams, and when many hockey players volunteered for and joined the Canadian military and were shipped overseas, the NHA folded after the 1916–1917 season. Even so, during the summer of 1917 some officials from the defunct NHA met and unanimously agreed to organize a new professional league to be named the NHL. Founded in 1911 as the Beaches Hockey League, and then renamed the Metro Toronto Hockey League and later the Greater Toronto Hockey League
4
See “Professional Ice Hockey.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]; “International Hockey League.” http://www.virtualmuseum.ca [cited 20 June 2007]; “Category: Ice Hockey in Canada.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007];“Team Canada.” http://www.virtualmuseum.ca [cited 20 June 2007]; “Canada National Women’s Ice Hockey Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 7 October 2007].
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(GTHL), this sports organization has survived to become the largest and one of the most dominant minor hockey groups in Canada. Accordingly, it is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation and Hockey Canada, and also operates its leagues at the AAA, AA, and A levels with teams who use athletes that generally range in age from 9 to 21 years old. Besides those within the GTHL, there are a number of other small, medium-sized, and large hockey leagues that contain clubs who play throughout Canada at different levels of competition. Furthermore, there are a number of administrative organizations that control, manage, and support these leagues.To identify one of these entities, there is the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) — which was formerly named the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. As such, the CHL serves as the governing body for Major Junior Hockey in Canada, and this league’s members include the Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and the Western Hockey League. Organized for ambitious, eager, and potential athletes who are approximately 15–20 years old, the CHL hosts annual hockey events, provides scholarships and/or subsidies to players, and trains these young men to be increasingly competitive and more talented so that they will perform on teams as future professionals in the sport.Thus, the GTHL and CHL are two of the organized, traditional, and well-known groups that control the levels of hockey that exist within Canada. Another effective and well-respected Canadian hockey organization is the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). Founded in 1961 and originally named as the Okanagan-Mainline Junior A Hockey League, the BCHL is a Tier-II junior league that exists as a subunit of Hockey Canada. Indeed, its’ 17 or more teams play in either the Coastal or Interior Conference, while the final winner of the league’s playoffs continues to compete in the Doyle Cup against the champion club from the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL). Then during each hockey season, the winner of the Doyle Cup advances to compete in a Junior A National Championship for the Royal Bank Cup.Anyway, besides the BCHL and AJHL — which, respectively, cover the British Columbia and Alberta areas — there are eight other hockey leagues that represent different geographic regions within Canada. Specifically, these regions cover the eastern, northeastern, northwestern, and southern sections of Ontario, and the areas of Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. Besides the aforementioned organizations, there are a few other minor and major amateur, semiprofessional, and professional Canadian hockey associations, federations, and/or leagues. To briefly highlight five of them, there is
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first the Big 6 Hockey League — which is a senior men’s group of teams based on southeastern Saskatchewan. It started operating with four teams in 1959–1960, and since then has expanded to eight or more clubs who compete each season for a Lincoln Trophy. Then second, the Eastern AAA Hockey League is a minor-level governing group and a subdivision of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association. And third, a minor-level South Central Triple A Hockey League is located in Ontario, and it consists of approximately 10 teams. Fourth, the West End Hockey League is a nonbody-contact and recreational organization that provides basic hockey programs for players who are 5–17 years old, and these athletes live within the boundaries of District 7 — which is the West Ottawa area. And fifth, the Ligue Centrale de Hockey (LCH) is a senior AAA semiprofessional league with teams whose members were former professional hockey players, or they had performed on teams at the major junior levels. If any of them perform exceptionally well in hockey games, these players from the 10 or so clubs in the LCH may be promoted to the Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey, which is considered by some officials to be the roughest hockey league in the world. Hence in total, Canada has a complex, formidable, and multi-layered system of men’s hockey groups that for decades have successfully produced many of the world’s greatest coaches, executives, general managers, and/or players in the sport. With respect to some women’s ice hockey groups in Canada, the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) was formed in 1999. Generally, it has consisted of three to six teams each who play as members of the Central, Eastern, or Western Division. However in 2004, the Calgary Oval X-Treme and Edmonton Chimos teams withdrew from the NWHL because of extensive travel costs and other financial problems. Nonetheless, they then joined with five other clubs to establish the Western Women’s Hockey League (WWHL). Meanwhile, as a result of a dispute between team owners and their players about adopting and implementing a policy of free agency, the NWHL’s Eastern and Western Divisions decided to cancel the 2007–2008 season while a feasibility study was being performed to determine whether the league could continue to exist and remain intact. Besides the formations of the NWHL and WWHL during previous years, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) was organized in 2007. Each season, this league has contained approximately seven clubs that were based on the Ontario and Quebec regions of Canada. Before it had transferred from the NWHL to the CWHL sometime in mid-2007, the Brampton Canadettes
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Thunder team had won the Esso Women’s Nationals — which is the women’s senior hockey championship in Canada. An aside, in 2005 the Governor General of Canada — that is, the Right Honorable Adrienne Clarkson — announced the creation of a new hockey trophy, and she named it the Clarkson Cup.Although teams from the NHL have won a Stanley Cup since 1927, at least from 2006 to the present year, the Clarkson Cup has been awarded, in turn, to the world’s top women’s professional hockey team of a season. Consequently, Team Canada defeated Team Sweden by a score of 4–1 to win the first Clarkson Cup in 2006. Notwithstanding Team Canada’s title, there have been some rumors and speculation among Canadian hockey officials that after 2008, the Clarkson Cup will be awarded to the women’s team that becomes a champion of the NWHL.
International Hockey Events To identify, measure, and discuss the achievements of Canada’s national men and women hockey teams in a few global events during various spans of years, Table 5.1 was prepared. As such, it denotes that between 1920 and 2007, the nation’s teams collectively had won 107 medals in a total of eight hockey tournaments. Specifically, the numbers and proportions of medals awarded to the combined groups were, respectively, 67 or 63 percent in gold, 25 or 23 percent in silver, and 15 or 14 percent in bronze. Furthermore, the Canadian national women teams earned a much higher proportion of their medals than their counterparts by finishing first in their four events, while the nation’s men teams had equal or higher percentages than the women clubs in winning silver and bronze medals in their four tournaments. Hence because of such great competitiveness, desire, and skill in playing the game, Canada’s women teams have dominated their events and won far more gold medals than silver, and more silver medals than bronze. To provide some historical information regarding the events in Table 5.1, the following comments are a few key points about the performances of Canadian teams in these eight prominent ice hockey events. In the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships, Canada’s men clubs won 19 or 79 percent of their gold medals between 1920 and 1961 inclusive. However, after that period of years had ended, the national hockey men teams from the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia — and later from the Czech Republic — were more successful than those from Canada in winning medals in this Championship. In contrast, the women clubs from
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Ice Hockey in Canada, The Czech Republic, and Finland 159 Table 5.1 Canada Ice Hockey Teams, Medals by Tournament, Selected Years Event
Years
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Men IIHF World Championships Olympic Games IIHF World U20 Championships IIHF World U18 Championships
1920–2007 1920–2006 1977–2007 1999–2007
24 7 13 1
11 4 5 1
9 2 4 0
Women IIHF World Championships Olympic Games Pacific Rim Championships 3/4 Nations Cup
1990–2007 1998–2006 1995–1996 1996–2006
9 2 2 9
1 1 0 2
0 0 0 0
Note: The three Nations Cup was played in 1996–1999 and 2001, and then the four Nations Cup in 2000 and 2002–2006. Since these Cups were the same event, they are combined here and named the 3/4 Nations Cup. Source:“IIHF World Championships.” http://www.iihf.com [cited 6 October 2007];“Olympic Ice Hockey Tournaments, Men.” http://www.iihf.com [cited 6 October 2007]; “IIHF World U20 Championships.” http://www.iihf.com [cited 6 October 2007]; “IIHF World U18 Championships.” http://www.iihf.com [cited 6 October 2007]; “Canada National Women’s Ice Hockey Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 7 October 2007]; “Pacific Rim Women’s Hockey Championship.” http://www.whockey.com [cited 11 October 2007]; “3 Nations Cup.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 11 October 2007]; “4 Nations Cup.” http://en.wikipedia.org. [cited 11 October 2007].
Canada have won nine titles in this event since 1990, but nevertheless were defeated by a US national team in 2004. A similar pattern of victories between the two groups of Canadian teams has prevailed in the Winter Olympic Games. That is, Canada’s men teams won 6 or 85 percent of their gold medals in this tournament during 1920–1952, while the women clubs earned their two championships in 2002 and 2006, and also finished in second place with a silver medal in 1998. In short, these results indicate that the Canadian national men teams were the most competitive and successful hockey organizations in the world until the late 1950s to early 1960s, and so were the nation’s women clubs during the 1990s and early 2000s. Interestingly, there have been only five Canadian hockey players who performed on one or more of the teams that had won a title in an IIHF World Championship and the Olympic Games, and in a Stanley Cup. After counting
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their number of titles, these outstanding athletes were Scott Niedermayer with six, Brendan Shannon with five, Joe Sakic and Rob Blake with four each, and Chris Pronger with three. Along with six other players each from Sweden and Russia, and two from the Czech Republic, this unique group of 19 individuals in total is all of the members in the Triple Gold Club. Regarding each of the other two men’s international hockey tournaments listed in column one of Table 5.1, here are some highlights of them. In the IIHF World U20 Championships, the men teams from the Soviet Union dominated these tournaments during the late 1970s, and to a lesser extent, in the 1980s. Then, the men teams from Canada won consecutive titles during 1993–1997 and 2005–2007, and also finished with silver medals in 1999 and again in 2002–2004, and with bronze medals in 2000–2001. Consequently, Canada’s U20 men teams had performed much better in this event between 1990 and 2007 than from 1977 to 1989. Meanwhile in the IIHF World U18 Championships, the national men teams from the United States, Russia, and Finland have outperformed those from Canada. Apparently, there are greater efforts made to develop skills and provide more training to Canada’s teenage hockey players after the best of them mature and become at least 18 years old. With respect to the Canadian women teams’ performances in the two final hockey events that are listed in Table 5.1, they won the 1995 and 1996 Pacific Rim Championships and also earned titles in the three Nations Cup and four Nations Cup that were played during 1996, 1998–2002, and 2004–2006.The former tournament was a round-robin competition that featured — besides those from Canada — women hockey clubs from China, Japan, and the United States. In 1995, the event was hosted by the City of San Jose in California, and then in 1996 by British Columbia in Canada. The latter tournament — which has been a round-robin competition with one team playing one game against each of the others — had originally consisted of women teams from Canada, Finland, and the United States.Then a team from Sweden joined the tournament in 2000 and again in each year of 2001–2006. Because of the turmoil created by the terrorist attacks in America, the United States decided to withdraw its woman’s hockey team from the three Nations Cup in 2001. Since they had played excellent hockey in those games, the women teams from the United States beat Canada’s and won a three Nations Cup in 1997 and a four Nations Cup in 2003. Given their accomplishments in each of the four events that are listed in Table 5.1, the most consistent, dominant, and successful amateur hockey
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club in the world since 1990 has been Canada’s women national team. Furthermore, the Canadian national men teams also had played outstanding hockey in tournaments except in the IIHF World U18 Championships.Thus these great performances in international events prove, in part, why ice hockey is the most admired, exciting, and popular spectator sport for fans and also the general public in Canada.
ICE HOCKEY IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC After a provisional government was assigned in this region of central Europe, the Slovaks disassociated themselves from Hungary after World War I and in 1918, joined the Czechs of Bohemia to form the Republic of Czechoslovakia. Prior to that year, ice hockey in the Czech geographic areas was known as “bandy hokej” in which individuals — while skating on ice — had struck a ball with a stick in order to hit the ball into a net.Then during the early 1900s, the sport further developed and became more popular among people within central Europe such that Czech ice hockey teams were organized. They, in turn, played matches against their opponents in France and Germany, and in other nations of the world. Although these Czech teams had usually been defeated in games, they kept trying to improve and thus won a minor hockey title in 1911. Indeed nine years later, Czechoslovakia’s national men’s team earned a bronze medal in the Olympic Games and also in 1921, finished second in the European Hockey Championships.5
5 Ice Hockey in the Czech Republic is a very entertaining, popular, and respected sport. To learn about its growth, role, and status in that nation, see Jan Velinger and Katrin Bock.“A Brief History of Czech Ice Hockey.” http://www.radio.cz [cited 3 June 2007];“Ice Hockey — Czech Republic.” http://www.czech.cz [cited 22 June 2007]; Paul Grant.“Czech Republic.” Sporting News (4 February 2002): 38;“Czech National Ice Hockey Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]; James Drake.“Czech Mates Celebrate Golden Win. Christian Science Monitor (24 February 1998): 6; Paul Grant. “Czech Republic.” Sporting News (4 February 2002): 38; “Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 13 October 2007];“NHL Players Born in Czech Republic.” http://www.databasehockey.com [cited 13 October 2007]; “Women’s Hockey in the Czech Republic.” http://www.whockey.com [cited 11 October 2007]. For ice hockey’s culture and history in Slovakia, see “Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 13 October 2007]; “History of Ice Hockey in Slovakia.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007].
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During the 1930s and thereafter, other important milestones happened with respect to the sport in Czechoslovakia. For example, in 1931 a Czech hockey game was broadcast from the team’s new stadium, and between 1933 and 1947, the nation won four World Hockey Championships. However, in 1949–1950, a tragedy occurred when six Czech players died in an airplane crash and then — before departing from Czechoslovakia to defend their hockey title in London — a number of Czech hockey players were arrested by national security agents in Prague, convicted of espionage and treason for possessing fraudulent visas, and then sent to prison to serve terms of eight months to a dozen years. After being granted amnesty in 1955 by the Czech government, these players were released from prison and became completely rehabilitated within 15 years. Unfortunately, other hockey players in the group had died from forced labor conditions and illnesses while they were in prison. As a result, many citizens in the country blamed the sport for causing the tragedy and these deaths. From the early 1960s to the late 1980s, several national hockey teams from the Soviet Union tended to win a majority of the championships in international tournaments while the clubs from Czechoslovakia had finished these events with silver and/or bronze medals. Meanwhile, after a series of protests by activists during the 1970s and a number of political demonstrations in 1989, free elections were held and human rights advocate Vaclav Havel became president of a nation that was renamed the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic in 1990. Two years later, however, Havel failed to win reelection because of the political power of a Slovak coalition in government. Hence, when Slovakia had declared sovereignty during that year, some Czech and Slovak leaders agreed on a peace plan and so in 1993, Czechoslovakia was divided into two separate states. That is, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.As a result, each of these nation’s sports teams including those in ice hockey became affiliated with, and a part of, their respective countries. While and after the nation became independent from Slovakia in 1993, some improvements, reforms, and other interesting developments did occur for the Czech Republic with respect to the game of ice hockey and its events and organizations. First, the new nation started its first national men and women hockey teams. As a result, one or more of these clubs qualified for — and became increasingly competitive in — a number of local, regional, and/or global sports events. Second, some outstanding Czech players emerged to lead their domestic and/or foreign teams to victories in various hockey leagues, and in domestic
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and/or international tournaments.These performers include such former or current NHL athletes as Dominik Hasek, Jaromir Jagr and Patrik Elias. In fact, to officially honor those who have participated in the sport, the Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame was founded in 2004 and then located in the City of Prague.As such, it contains the names of coaches, players, referees, and other important individuals who have made significant contributions to the sport in this nation. Third, the Czech Extraliga — or alternatively known as the Czech Extraleague — was established as a national league in 1993 and since then, each season its teams have jointly become the premier hockey group in the nation. Although this organization had to change its nicknames and sponsors during some years, the league has generally consisted of 14–15 competitive Czech teams who play each other in a 52-game regular-season schedule. When a season concludes, the league’s top eight clubs then advance to the Czech Hockey Championships. Meanwhile, the league’s bottom two teams play the top two of the Czech Republic’s Division I group in a seven-game Extraleague Qualification series. As a result, the winner of the series advances to participate in the Extraleague during the following year. In 14 seasons of league competition, the most championships through 2007 have been won by Hockey Club (HC) Sparta Prague with five titles and HC Petra Vsetin with three. Fourth, the Czech Hockey Championship began in 1993. Each year, eight teams from the Extraleague are seeded and then they appear in the tournament. After the first- and eighth-seeded teams — and other such combinations — play each other in a series of games, the four winners compete in the semifinals until two of them are eliminated. Finally, the top two clubs play a best-of-five series in the finals from which a winner is declared to be the champion. Fifth, there have been several international hockey programs developed and implemented in the country for athletes by an organization named the Czech Hockey Adventure. These programs, for example, consist of hockey weekends, travel, and play events, and all-year-round training camps, clinics, and workshops.The purposes of these activities are for young hockey players to practice and improve their individual and game skills in a competitive environment, and to participate in cultural experiences and build their agility, power, speed, and strength while skating from various positions on the ice. Likewise, a Czech International Ice Hockey Camp was organized and started to operate in 1999. Being somewhat different in structure than the Czech Hockey Adventure, this special Camp provides facilities for Czech and
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foreign athletes — who range in age from 6 to 20 years old — to spend and enjoy hockey vacations together with their parents. During the three weeks of vacation, there is intense training for players with sessions conducted in English by educated and experienced hockey coaches and instructors. In short, the Czech Hockey Adventure and Czech International Ice Hockey Camp are two of the most innovative, modern, and publicized hockey training organizations in that country.6
Teams and International Tournaments Table 5.2 was prepared to expose and report the best performances of many national Czech men and women hockey teams — which includes those
Table 5.2 Czech Ice Hockey Teams, Medals by Event, Selected Years Event
Years
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Men IIHF European Championships IIHF World Championships Olympic Games IIHF World U20 Championships IIHF World U18 Championships Euro Hockey Tour
1910–1932 1920–2007 1920–2006 1977–2007 1999–2007 1996–2007
3 11 1 2 0 1
2 13 4 5 0 1
2 19 5 7 3 3
Women IIHF European Championships IIHF World Championships Olympic Games
1989–2007 1990–2007 1998–2006
0 0 0
1 0 0
2 1 0
Note: The final year of the men’s IIHF European Championships was 1932 when played in Berlin, Germany. The results for the Czech Republic also include medals won by ice hockey teams from the former Czechoslovakia. Source: See the sources in Table 5.1; “Women’s Hockey in the Czech Republic.” http://www.whockey.com [cited 11 October 2007];“Euro Hockey Tour.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 13 October 2007].
6 These ice hockey programs for young athletes with potential ability are discussed in “Czech Hockey Adventure.” http://www.hockeyadventure.cz [cited 29 June 2007]; “Czech International Ice Hockey Camp: About Us.” http://www.hockeycamp.cz [cited 22 June 2007].
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from Czechoslovakia (1910–1992) and the Czech Republic (1993–2007) — in selected international tournaments during various spans of years. In brief, the table indicates that between 1910 and 2007, the men clubs won a total of 18 gold, 25 silver, and 39 bronze medals in six events. Meanwhile, the Czech women hockey teams won zero gold, one silver, and three bronze medals in three tournaments since 1989, or during 19 years of competition. After an overview of these hockey performances as noted in the final three columns of the table, the results for Slovakia’s teams will be briefly discussed. For the Czech men’s performances in each of their six tournaments, the nation’s team finished in first, second, or third place during 1921–1926 and in 1929 while they played in the IIHF European Championships. Although this event was not scheduled in 1915–1920 because of the global political and social disruptions that were created by World War I, the Czechoslovakian men teams were outperformed by those from Sweden for the total number of gold medals, by those from Germany for silver medals, and by those from Belgium for bronze medals. Meanwhile, in the IIHF World Championships, Czechoslovakian and/or Czech Republic clubs won consecutive titles in 1976–1977 and again in 1999–2001. Furthermore, these two nation’s men hockey teams finished in second or third place consecutively during, respectively, 1965–1966, 1974–1975, and 1978–1979, and in 1982–1983 for a silver medal, and in 1963–1964, 1969–1970, 1989–1990, 1992–1993, and 1997–1998 for a bronze medal. Hence based on the results from these two events, the Czech men teams performed much better during the mid-1960s to early 1990s than they did from the late 1920s to early 1960s. In fact, for their achievements in winning many medals, it was the great hockey clubs from Sweden in the IIHF European Championships — and from the Soviet Union in the IIHF World Championships — that had provided the most consistent and powerful competition to Czech teams between 1910 and 2007. In the Winter Olympic Games, Czechoslovakia’s men teams had won zero gold medals and generally were outperformed by those from Canada, the Soviet Union, and United States. However, Czech teams did receive silver or bronze medals in six of eight Olympic years, that is, during 1964–1992. Interestingly, it was hockey teams from the Czech Republic that won a gold medal in 1998 in Nagano, Japan, no medals in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a bronze medal in 2006 in Turin, Italy. Thus, the 15-year-old Czech Republic will undoubtedly challenge — and be competitive
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against — other nations in ice hockey games played during future Olympic Games. In the IIHF World U20 Championships, the Czechoslovakian men teams won five silver medals between 1979 and 1987, and also bronze medals in 1977, 1984, 1989–1991, and 1993. Since 1993, the Czech Republic men teams have never finished second in this event, but did win championships in 2000 and 2001, and then had placed third in 2005. In short, the Czech Republic has been more successful at winning titles in the IIHF World U20 Championships after it had split with Slovakia in 1993, but less likely to compete for a silver or bronze medal in this event. For the latter two medals, the dominant countries were U20 hockey men teams from Canada, Finland, and Russia. Through 2007, there have been nine IIHF World U18 Championships played among men ice hockey teams.Three gold and two silver medals each have been won by Russia and the United States, while the Czech Republic and Sweden each have finished with three bronze medals. Therefore, between 1999 and 2007 inclusive, the Czech Republic men hockey teams have failed to finish first or second in this event. Perhaps the education, skill, and training received by hockey athletes at the Czech Hockey Adventure and Czech International Ice Hockey Camp have not been sufficient or intense enough for sub-18 year olds from the Czech Republic to compete on teams at the international level against their competitors from Sweden, Russia, and the US. Anyway, in the Euro Hockey Tour (EHT) — which is an annual tournament that includes the Czech Republic and such nations as Finland, Russia and Sweden — some of the Czech teams had won a gold medal in 1998 and a silver in 2000, and also bronze medals in 1999, 2003 and 2007. Regarding the women hockey team performances listed in Table 5.2, Czechoslovakia did not win a medal. Then during 1993–1996, the Czech Republic’s women clubs earned one silver and two bronze medals in the IIHF European Championships and in 2001, a bronze medal in the IIHF World Championships. Furthermore, in the latter event, Czech Republic women hockey teams had finished fourth in 1999 and seventh in 2000. As expected, the country’s national women teams performed in events but have been inferior in winning medals to the men clubs. In other words, the former group of teams is not likely to be competitive for many years in international hockey events and especially against the great Canadian women clubs and strong teams from Latvia, the Soviet Union, and the United States.
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Since 1993, the national hockey clubs from Slovakia should be ranked as being average to above average in their performances during global events. With respect to the nation’s men hockey teams and four of the six events that are listed in Table 5.2, thus far Slovakia has failed to earn any medals in the Winter Olympic Games and EHT. However, the country’s teams did win a gold, silver, and bronze medal in the IIHF World Championships, a bronze medal in the IIHF World U20 Championships, and silver and bronze medals in the IIHF World U18 Championships. Indeed, these awards suggest that Slovakian ice hockey teams and their players have become increasingly competitive in scoring goals and winning games in various international tournaments. Furthermore, after winning the IIHF World Championship in 2002, the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame was established and then located in the City of Bratislava. Through 2005, 20 of the nation’s players have been nominated and inducted into the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame. In retrospect and following the breakup of Czechoslovakia during the early 1990s, many sports officials and newspaper journalists in Eastern Europe have felt that the newly formed nation of Slovakia would be inferior in ice hockey and thus not successful at the highest level of the game.This perspective will exist, in part, until Slovakia wins one or more gold, silver, and/or bronze medals in an Olympic Games and additional awards in some of the other global hockey events. Otherwise, the country will be perceived as an excellent place to recruit talented, young, and veteran players who will be willing to sign long-term contracts and then perform for teams in the NHL and/or for clubs in the senior hockey leagues of such nations as Canada, the Czech Republic and Russia.
ICE HOCKEY IN FINLAND A Finnish university professor named Leonard Borgstrom cleared a skating rink near Helsinki in 1899 and then organized an outdoor game — which was a mixture of ice hockey and bandy — that included a round ball instead of a flat puck and 11 players assigned to a team.This game, however, failed to become popular in Finland until it was modified and then appeared as a sport in the 1920 Winter Olympic Games. Consequently, within 10 years after those Games, the nation had established a Finnish Skating Association and in 1929, an Ice Hockey Association. Meanwhile, Finland’s national men teams began to play abroad against competitors from other countries, and also they competed in such global events as the IIHF World Championships.
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Thus, it was before 1960 that Finnish hockey clubs had competed in the IIHF European Championships and Winter Olympics while an artificial rink was being opened for them in the City of Tampere.7 Between the 1960s and early 2000s, several important developments occurred that contributed to the expansion of the sport’s fan base and its growth and prosperity among various age groups within Finland. During the 1960s, for example, the country’s men hockey teams won medals in the IIHF European Championships and Finland successfully hosted a IIHF World Championship; in the 1970s, the nation formed its first official ice hockey league and a Finnish U18 team became a European champion; in the 1980s, a domestic women’s hockey league began to operate within Finland and the nation’s men team finished second in ice hockey at the 1988 Olympic Games in Oslo, Norway; in the 1990s, a Finnish Hockey Pool of national teams was founded and a few of the country’s clubs won gold, silver, and/or bronze medals while competing in some international tournaments; and during 2000–2007, ice hockey continued to expand and thrive as a sport throughout European nations, and thus it became Finland’s most entertaining, popular, and successful spectator event.
Finnish Ice Hockey Information As the sport evolved, developed, and matured within Finland throughout the latter decades of the 20th century and into the early years of the 21st century, there were some cultural and demographic circumstances and economic conditions during these periods that have made hockey’s progress to be interesting, special, and unique. Six specific examples of these elements and facts — with respect to ice hockey in Finland — are mentioned in the following paragraphs. 7
For the founding, development, and history of ice hockey in Finland, see Jukka Aarnio.“Breaking the Ice.” World & I (February 1994): 242–251;“Milestones of Finnish Ice Hockey.” http://www.finhockey.fi [cited 3 June 2007]; Juha Leskinen and Josu Takala. “How to Develop Holistic Satisfaction in Finnish Ice Hockey Business as a Special SME Business?” International Journal of Management & Enterprise Development, Vol. 2, No. 1 (2005): 38–45; “Finnish Ice Hockey Association.” http://www.sportsknowhow.com [cited 20 June 2007]; Grant Paul.“Finland.” Sporting News (4 February 2002): 40;“Women’s Hockey in Finland.” http://www.whockey.com [cited 13 October 2007]; “Finland National Women’s Ice Hockey Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org cited [13 October 2007];“Finnish National Men’s Ice Hockey Team.” http://www.answers.com [cited 20 June 2007].
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First, Finnish ice hockey leagues, teams, and their games became more abundant and especially available in cities rather than in rural areas because a large proportion of the nation’s athletes tended to live in these urban places — which have thousands of people and contain numerous ice rinks and other hockey facilities. Furthermore, a majority of the small towns in Finland have lacked the funds, markets, and resources necessary to generate sufficient revenues for ice hockey teams to locate there and play a season of home and away games. As a result, the excitement, pace, and power of Finnish urban life is clearly reflected in this outdoor sport that is being supported mostly by fans who dwell in such places as Helsinki, Tampere, and Turku. Second, male Finns tend to be aggressive, fit, and physical athletes even at a young age. Therefore, some sports experts believe that the nation’s hockey players rely too much on their brute strength, force and muscles, and not enough on finesse, logic, and team tactics. In turn, this style of play has frequently backfired and failed during international hockey tournaments when Finland’s national clubs had played rival teams from such countries as the Czech Republic, Russia, and Sweden. Third, because of price inflation in the economy and thus rising costs of salaries and fringe benefits during recent years, Finland’s hockey teams have substantially diminished their recruitment of coaches, general managers, and players from Canada and the United States, but nevertheless have increased the demand and employment of these hockey specialists from eastern European countries. This strategy explains, in part, why Finnish hockey teams and their players increasingly play the game with a combination of quick passing and free-skating, and then blends these methods with efforts to be intimidating, rough and tough.That is, the style of hockey in Finland is derived about one-third from its native culture and two-thirds from the sport as played by teams and players from eastern and western nations. Fourth, the hockey teams in Finland and elsewhere generate a majority of their revenues and profits from game attendances, advertising fees and sponsorships, and from concessions and the sales of equipment and merchandise within their stadiums. Also, many hockey leagues in Europe have switched lately from being amateurs and receiving government subsidies, to operating as semiprofessional and professional sports organizations. As a result, for business reasons some local and regional Finnish hockey teams that failed to win games and their tournaments experienced serious financial problems and thus went bankrupt, or had to relocate and/or merge with each other.
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Fifth, many intra-city rivalries exist between hockey teams in Finland and these events have increased in intensity across the country’s various leagues and associations. Locally, for example, sports fans are very emotional and passionate about their hometown clubs because of civic, ethnic, and personal reasons. As such, this situation causes hockey players on Finnish teams to be competitive, hard-nosed, and high-strung during games. Moreover, some hockey clubs and their fans are attached to different socioeconomic affiliations. These relationships are especially evident in the Helsinki area where people identify with the Swedish-speaking, white-collar culture while other citizens link themselves with the Finnish-speaking, bluecollar working populations. As such, these differences among groups are used by Finland’s teams to market the sport to fans, and also to promote it to the media, general public, and international community. Sixth, a Finnish company named Koho became a world leader in the production of hockey equipment. Founded during the 1960s by two men who were business-minded and familiar with types of carpentry and wood products, this company tended to specialize in exporting hockey sticks to amateur and professional teams in Europe and Asia, and to various players in the NHL. In Japan, Koho’s current market share of this equipment equaled approximately 50 percent even though American investors had purchased the firm in 1992. Such great hockey players as Mario Lemieux, Theoren Fleury, and Mats Sundina have used Koho’s sticks while playing in their games. Before I discuss the performances of Finland’s national men and women hockey clubs in a number of global tournaments during various years, the following contents are some basic information about the country’s three primary male hockey leagues.To replace a failing group of amateur teams collectively named SM-sarja, the SM-liiga (or Finnish Championship League) was established in 1975. Being the nation’s first professional hockey league, SMliiga usually consists of 10–14 clubs per season and since 2001, the league has been closed to the entry of any new members. After playing 56 matches from mid-September of one year to mid-March of the next year, the top six teams in the league enter directly into the quarterfinals of the playoffs.The winners of the quarterfinals then qualify for the semifinals and if successful there, compete in a best-of-five-game final series. The team that wins its regular-season schedule of games receives a trophy while the club finishing first in the final series is awarded a championship trophy and gold medals for its players. Also silver and bronze medals, respectively, are provided to the players of the second and third place teams in the playoffs.
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Between 1976 and 2007, the four teams with the most regular-season titles plus championships in the SM-liiga have been HC TPS Oy from the City of Turku with a total of 22 trophies, and then Tamhockey Oy from Tampere with 14, Jokerit HC Oyj from Helsinki with 10, and Oulun Karpat Oy from Oulu with 8.An aside, Oy in Finnish means that a team is a limited company while Oyj means it is a public limited company. After the SM-liiga, the second most prominent ice hockey league in Finland is named Mestis. Organized in 2000 to replace the nation’s first division group of clubs, this league is open to teams who have earned an adequate number of merits (or points) after playing a schedule of games. During the 2006–2007 season, 12 hockey teams had competed in Mestis. As in the SM-liiga, different medals are awarded to teams who successfully finish first, second, and third in the playoffs. Through 2007, a team titled Jukurit from the City of Mikkeli in Finland had won gold medals for five championships, and also two silver medals for second place. Other champions of Mestis include clubs like KalPa from the City of Kuopio and Hokki from the City of Kajaani. Ranked inferior to the SM-liiga and Mestis in ice hockey is a league named Suomi-sarja. As such, it is Finland’s third highest-rated ice hockey organization and during the early 2000s, Suomi-sarja’s competitive level was approximately one step below hockey’s second division. In the 2007–2008 season, the league consisted of four groups who each had consisted of five to six ice hockey teams. Furthermore, given their status within the sport, some teams from the Suomi-sarja have been relegated (or demoted) to divisions or perhaps promoted to Mestis. As international hockey fans may recall, Hayley Wickenheiser — a female athlete from America — played for a team in the Suomi-sarja after Sports Illustrated for Women had ranked her to be the best woman hockey player in the world. Even so, after a brief time spent competing in that Finnish league,Wickenheiser returned to the United States to continue her career as an athlete in sports. Formed by the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation in different years during decades of the 1900s, Finland’s national men and women ice hockey teams have been very competitive and prominent groups based on how they played against other nation’s elite clubs, and given their previous accomplishments in various global hockey events. The men’s team, which is known in Finland as “Leijonat,” played internationally during most of the 20th century and currently is a member of the “Big Seven” superpower hockey teams in the world — which include national clubs from Canada, the Czech Republic, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United States. When the
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2007–2008 season ended, Finland’s men team coach Doug Shedden was expected to be replaced by Jukka Jalonen. Alternatively, the Finnish women’s national hockey team has been involved in the sport since the early 1980s, and it rates marginally below the national female teams of Canada and the United States. Because of the sport’s development and importance in Finland, women’s games are well attended at home and the national team is popular and entertaining especially for the country’s ice hockey fans. In short, Finland’s men and women national teams are exceptional performers and well-coached clubs because they threaten their rivals by competing for and winning titles in any of the international matches and other events they train and qualify for within Europe and elsewhere. In the following section of this chapter, Finland’s worldwide achievements in ice hockey competitions are listed and examined.
Teams and International Events Similar to the information that was contained in Table 5.1 for Canada and in 5.2 for the Czech hockey teams,Table 5.3 indicates how successful Finland’s national men and women hockey teams have been in international events during various spans of years. According to the latter table, this nation’s clubs had won 15 gold and silver medals each, and then a total of 30 bronze medals in these ten competitions.The men, however, earned proportionately more gold and silver medals (66 percent) than bronze (34 percent) relative to the women, while the female teams won 4 or approximatley18 percent of their medals for finishing in first, 1 or about 5 percent for ending in second, and 17 or more than 77 percent for placing in third. In short, these percentages denote that medals among the Finnish men teams were more equally distributed than for the women teams — who may have played well — but nevertheless tended to finish behind two clubs from other countries at least in 3 or 75 percent of the events listed in the lower portion of Table 5.3. Some facts about these results for Finland’s men teams, and then for the women clubs, will follow next in this section. During the IIHF European Championships — which concluded in 1932 — the Finnish men teams were very inferior in several years because it was the ice hockey clubs from Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Sweden that had dominated and won most of the medals. Then in the IIHF World Championships, Finland finally became a world power in hockey during the 1990s after clubs from Canada, Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union, and Sweden
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Ice Hockey in Canada, The Czech Republic, and Finland 173 Table 5.3 Finland Ice Hockey Teams, Medals by Event, Selected Years Event
Years
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Men IIHF European Championships IIHF World Championships Olympic Games IIHF World U20 Championships IIHF World U18 Championships Euro Hockey Tour
1910–1932 1920–2007 1920–2006 1977–2007 1999–2007 1996–2007
0 1 0 2 2 6
0 6 2 4 1 1
0 1 2 6 1 3
Women IIHF European Championships IIHF World Championships Olympic Games 3/4 Nations Cup
1989–1996 1990–2007 1998–2006 1996–2006
4 0 0 0
0 0 0 1
1 7 1 8
Note: The final year of the IIHF European men Championships was in 1932. Source: These include the sources in Table 5.1; “Women’s Hockey in Finland.” http://www.whockey.com [cited 13 October 2007];“Euro Hockey Tour.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 13 October 2007]. See Table 5.2 for the 3/4 Nations Cup as a hockey event.
had won a majority of the tournament’s gold, silver, and bronze medals between 1920 and 1991. Interestingly, Finland did not rank in the final top three of men teams while the IIHF World Championships were being played in the Finnish cities of Helsinki,Tampere, and/or Turku during 1965, 1974, 1982, 1991, 1997, and 2003. Thus, based on these results, it appears that Finland’s men will win more medals in the IIHF World Championships during the early 2000s when the tournament is played at rinks in other nations of Europe. In the Winter Olympic Games, Finland’s men teams earned silver or bronze medals in 1988–1996, and again in 2006. However, to successfully win this prestigious worldwide tournament, the Finnish men teams must play superior hockey throughout each of the Games and perform above expectations against their rivals from Canada, Russia, and Sweden. Given Finland’s men teams’ accomplishments by finishing in second or third place in this event since the late 1980s, Finland’s national hockey clubs might win a gold medal in the Winter Olympic Games in 2010 or shortly thereafter. Since 1977, the Finnish men’s teams have won a total of four gold, five silver, and seven bronze medals in the IIHF World U20 and World
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U18 Championships. Because male teenage athletes in Finland are extremely competitive and also conscientious, intense, strong and well-trained, they have excelled as hockey players in the U20 and U18 international tournaments. However, these events are usually won by teams from Canada, Russia, and the United States because their players are fast on the ice and have better tactical maneuvers and more skills than do the Finns. Hence to compete and win additional gold, silver, and bronze medals, Finland’s 15-year-old to 19-year-old athletes must devote more energy, resources, and time to practice the game of hockey and thus become increasingly confident and sure that they can defeat their rivals in a particular event before a worldwide audience of fans and households. For some reason, Finland has been very outstanding when its teams have competed in the EHT. Since the 1996–1997 season, this event has consisted of the winners from four domestic tournaments played in these nations. These events include the Ceska Pajistovan Cup in the Czech Republic, Channel One Cup in Russia, LG Hockey Games in Sweden, and the Karjala Tournament in Finland. In 11 EHTs, the men teams from Finland have won a total of 10 medals while those from Russia earned nine, Sweden eight, and the Czech Republic five. In fact, Finland won five consecutive gold medals in this event between the seasons of 1999–2000 and 2003–2004 inclusive. Since the EHT is scheduled each year to prepare national hockey teams for the IIHF World Championships, many less-experienced and lower-skilled hockey players have received an opportunity to participate on these clubs for their respective nation. As such, the results of the previous EHTs indicate that Finland has a number of amateur and professional hockey players who are very talented.Therefore, these athletes play on teams that seriously compete in the Karjala Tournament. Consequently, Finnish national men teams have won more than 50 percent of the EHT’s gold medals. Except for the Winter Olympic Games, Finland’s national women teams have been competitive and somewhat successful in three global hockey tournaments. According to the results depicted in Table 5.3, they have won gold or bronze medals in 5 or 100 percent of the IIHF European Championships, in 7 or 70 percent of the IIHF World Championships, and in 9 or 81 percent of the 3/4 Nations Cups. Furthermore, Finland had finished in fourth place against their peers during other years of those three tournaments. Indeed, these remarkable performances denote that Finland’s national women teams were the best in Europe during the early- to mid-1990s and among the top three or four in the world in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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However, their most important challenge for the future is to excel and defeat the national women teams from Canada, Sweden, and the United States during the 2010 and/or 2014 Winter Olympic Games, and thus win a gold or silver medal in these events.
Hockey Coaches and Players To prepare for and overwhelm their opponents, and therefore win many medals and several ice hockey championships during the 20th and early 21st centuries, Finland’s national men teams have been led by a number of outstanding coaches and highly skilled players.Three individuals in the former group were coaches Alpo Suhonen, Kalevi Numminen, and Aarne Honkavaara. In order, each of them and their contributions to the sport is briefly highlighted as follows. First, Suhonen coached Finland’s national hockey team during 1982–1986 and also several of the nation’s teams like Jokerit in 1993.Ten years later, he was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame.8 Second, Numminen coached the country’s national teams in 1973–1974 and 1977–1982. Also, each year the SM-liiga awards the Kalevi Numminen trophy to the league’s best coach. For his achievements and great career in Finnish ice hockey, he was elected into the nation’s Hall of Fame in 1986. Third, Honkavaara had coached Finland’s national teams to three championships. Furthermore, he was the assistant coach to Finland’s Joe Wirkkumen at the Squaw Valley and Innsbruck Winter Olympic Games played in the United States, and assisted his country’s teams at the World Championships in 1963, 1965, and 1966. Consequently, in 1985 Honkavaara entered the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame, which placed him in the first group of its inductees. Three outstanding athletes who had excelled for Finland in ice hockey were Matti Hagman, Jere Lehtinen, and Lasse Oksanen. As they are listed here, Hagman was the first hockey athlete born and trained in Finland who played on a team in the NHL, and also had competed in a final series for the Stanley Cup. Furthermore, he played on the Helsinki IFK hockey team and during the 1980s, led the SM-liiga in points scored during four seasons. 8 The
greatest former, and some current Finnish ice hockey players and other officials are reported in “A to Z Encyclopedia of Ice Hockey.” http://www.azhockey.com [cited 11 October 2007]; “Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 13 October 2007];“SM-liiga.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007].
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Meanwhile, Finland’s Lehtinen was awarded one silver and two bronze medals while performing on Finnish teams in the Olympic Games and won a silver medal for his country at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. In the 1995 IIHF World Championships, he formed a legendary first line that helped his Finnish team earn a gold medal in that event. As of 2006, Lehtinen was the only Finnish player to win medals in the IIFH World Championships and Stanley Cup event. Besides the accomplishments of Hagman and Lehtinen, Lasse Oksanen played 19 seasons for the Ilves Tampere team in Finland and he scored a total of 498 points.This athlete has been elected to the Finnish and IIHF Hockey Halls of Fame, had won a Raimo Kilpio Trophy for being hockey’s most gentlemanly player, and for nine seasons made the SM-liiga’s all-star team.While being a forward on his clubs, Oksanen played in 282 games for Finland in 11 World Championships and three Winter Olympic Games. In short, these three players and several other athletes have become legends and role models in ice hockey for Finnish sports fans and also for others in the population of northern Europe. Between 1985 and 2006 inclusive, there were a total of 186 coaches, players, referees, and other personalities inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame.To be sure, during their lives these individuals made significant contributions to expand, improve, and promote the sport within Finland and in other nations throughout Europe. To learn more about these inductees and their achievements in ice hockey, and to see various sports displays and study hockey memorabilia, it is recommended that the reader visit the country’s Hall of Fame at the Vapriikki Museum Centre located in Tampere, Finland. In review, this chapter discussed the origins and growth of ice hockey and then focused on the emergence, development, and role of the sport within Canada, the Czech Republic (and Czechoslovakia), and in Finland. Such topics as these nation’s domestic amateur and professional leagues, the performances of their countries’ national men and women teams in selected international tournaments, and some information about hockey superstars are each mentioned in various sections of the chapter. After I researched and evaluated each of these nation’s relative to their history — and their experience, philosophy, and popularity — with respect to the sport, it is Canada and its ice hockey leagues, national teams, and native-born players that combined have more accomplishments, successes, and traditions into 2008 than those of the other two countries.Therefore, in reference to these facts and other pertinent historical dates and information
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in the literature, Canada has been superior to the Czech Republic and Finland in ice hockey, and thus the former country ranks as the most attractive environment, marketplace, and site for the game to exist.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS For decades, amateur and professional ice hockey has been an entertaining, popular, and traditional game in several developed — and a few emerging — nations of the world. Within the United States, however, the national demand for it among male and female sports fans is inferior to these groups’ interests in baseball, basketball, and American football, and to their increasing support of soccer teams that perform in elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, and local leagues. Even so, as the elite, professional, and senior hockey organization in North America, the NHL had expanded by a number of clubs during the 20th century and placed them primarily at sites in various cities throughout the United States. Nevertheless, the NHL and its franchises have struggled for years to increase their market shares, revenues, and profits in comparison to professional clubs in the other major team sports. In retrospect, the business and economic implications and consequences of ice hockey that occur within any country essentially result from the game’s semiprofessional and professional leagues and their affiliates, and among these leagues’ and affiliates’ various teams and their coaches, managers, owners and players. Furthermore, there are specific civic groups, consumer markets, and governments in local communities and also different types of commercial and social organizations — located in cities and towns of hockey teams — that especially engage and interact in some way with the sport. For sure, the majority of ice hockey organizations in such countries as Canada, the Czech Republic, and Finland are relatively important enterprises that certainly play an integral role in these nations’ popular culture, economic development, and business environment. In other words, it is good news for companies, sports fans, and the media in Montreal when the NHL Canadiens offer tickets to regular-season home games at discount prices; in Prague when ice hockey events are broadcast live on television networks in its metropolitan area; and in Helsinki when a Finnish men or women hockey team wins a major international championship and/or a World Cup. Given such information, this section of the chapter focuses on these and other events, news, and topics related to the sport.
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Table 5.4 Demographic and Economic Characteristics, by Country, Selected Years
Country Canada Czech Republic Finland United States
Land Area (thousands of square miles)
Total Population (millions)
Population Density (persons/square mile)
GDP/Capita (thousands of US$)
3855.1 30.4 130.5 3718.7
33.3 10.2 5.2 301.1
10 343 45 85
35.6 21.9 33.7 44.0
Note: GDP/Capita is reported for 2006, while the first three characteristics are reported for 2007. Source: World Almanac and Book of Facts 2008 (New York, NY:World Almanac Books, 2008).
Before I discuss some commercial aspects about — and a few facts, opportunities, and/or problems associated with — the history and existence of ice hockey in three specific nations,Table 5.4 was prepared from data that was contained in a recent edition of the World Almanac and Book of Facts. Basically, the table reveals how four characteristics are distributed among these countries, and also with respect to their totals in the United States. Indeed, with statistics about land areas, populations, and per capita incomes, this researcher has information to determine, in part, each nation’s current business and economic conditions and their relationship, if any, with the recent development, growth, and prosperity of ice hockey. In sequence, some business issues about the sport in Canada are identified and discussed first, and then these are followed by matters concerning commerce and ice hockey in the Czech Republic and Finland.
Canada Because of its huge land size, inclement weather, and uninhabitable areas, Canada is a sparsely populated nation whose three territories and 10 provinces each include a capital city and furthermore, these 13 areas are individually ruled by a government official whose title is Premier. Since the country is composed of an abundant supply of natural resources and acres of fertile ground to grow agricultural crops, its businesses export several food, mineral, and wood and paper products to America and also to various nations in Asia and Europe. After its population of citizens from England declined during the late 1800s and the colonial class structure crumbled, Canada gradually became more Americanized with respect to its culture,
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traditions, and types of team sports.As a result of these changes in society, ice hockey eventually replaced cricket and thus became Canada’s most popular and widespread game during the 20th century.9 With at least one million people each, such Canadian cities as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary are certainly among the most attractive and lucrative markets in the country for different amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional sports organizations. Certainly, most of these places have enough fans, households, and local businesses to support a number of hockey leagues and their clubs that play the game at various levels of competition and skill. Besides in large metropolitan cities, the sport also exists and played by teams that are based on small and rural communities throughout the country. In fact, ice hockey contributes some benefits to the growth, image, and status of local economies in Canada and moreover, it dominates these places’ sports environment as baseball does in Santo Domingo of the Dominican Republic, basketball in Manila of the Philippines, and football in Sao Paulo of Brazil. There are some intriguing, newsworthy, and specific business and economic conditions, issues, and/or events that involve hockey and the sport’s organizations located in Canada. For example, because of a favorable exchange rate for the country between Canadian and US dollars, and a salary cap that was included in the new collective bargaining agreement endorsed by the league and Players Association, the six NHL clubs from Canada have in total significantly improved their year-to-year operating incomes, net revenues, and estimated market values. In 2007, these three amounts in US dollars had, respectively, averaged $18 million, $97 million, and $235 million. Meanwhile, the averages for the other 24 NHL teams equaled about $3 million, $81 million, and $200 million. Since the domestic and foreign players on Canada’s professional hockey teams earn their salaries in comparatively weak US dollars while their clubs report expenses in basically strong Canadian dollars, it was not a surprise that the operating income, net revenue, and estimated market value of the Toronto Maple Leafs had recently ranked first among the group of 30 NHL franchises. Even the small-market Ottawa Senators had larger amounts than one or more clubs existing in the 9 Several interesting and relevant demographic and economic statistics about Canada are cited on pages 763–764 of the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006 (New York, NY:World Almanac Books, 2006).Also, see the readings and periodicals in Notes 3 and 4 above for how the sport emerged and then developed and matured throughout Canada.
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large markets of Chicago, New York City, and Washington, DC. Nevertheless, if for some reason the Canadian–US exchange rate reverses its direction, then all or some of the NHL hockey teams located in Canada will absolutely and relatively decline in value.10 In fact, economic conditions were very bleak and unfavorable for a majority of the NHL’s Canadian franchises during the late 1990s.Then, owners of the Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers, and a few other teams threatened to move their hockey operations from Canada to a city in America. Although these clubs had played many regular-season and postseason games before sellout crowds in their respective arenas, they were unprofitable and struggling to survive. It is noteworthy, however, that the hockey facilities of professional teams in Canada are generally financed with funds from investors and private syndicates while municipal taxpayers have tended to subsidize the construction of hockey arenas in Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, and other US cities. Hence to provide assistance for their six NHL franchises in the late 1990s, some prominent legislators in the Canadian Parliament proposed generous tax breaks for them. Nonetheless, many sports economists opposed this type of government assistance. According to American economist, author, and critic Mark Rosentraub,“Even if Ottawa had built a 100 percent subsidized stadium, in a few months we’d be having the same discussion. Except for Montreal,Toronto and Vancouver, Canadian cities are simply not big enough to support professional teams to compete with those of the big American cities.”11 Despite a change in economies and the financial success of Canadian NHL teams since the early 2000s, the Nike Corporation offered for sale in late 2007 its failing hockey division known as NikeBauer. After purchasing 10 The
2007 market valuations of — and other financial information for — one or more NHL teams are reported in Jeff Z. Klein and Lew Serviss. “Loonie Economics in the N.H.L.” New York Times (27 January 2008): 10; Ozanian, Michael K. and Badenhauser, Kurt. “The Business of Hockey.” http://www.forbes.com [cited 8 November 2007]; “NHL Team Valuations.” http://www.forbes.com [cited 8 November 2007]. 11 Some sports analysts said that because of economic conditions in 1999, Toronto was the only Canadian city not in danger of losing its NHL club to a city in the United States. Even so, a poll conducted in March 1999 denoted that 72 percent of Canadians agreed that hockey helped define Canada as a nation while 40 percent of the respondents approved of the nation’s government to financially subsidize NHL hockey teams. See Ruth Walker.“Money Woes Put Canada’s ‘National Game’ at Risk.” Christian Science Monitor (20 April 1999): 8.
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Montreal’s Canstar Sports for about $400 million in 1994, 12 years later Nike merged its Bauer and Cooper products with a division that sold in-line skates in the United States and overseas.Then, the company combined these marketing subsidiaries under the NikeBauer brand. Nevertheless, Nike continued to struggle with selling the brand to consumers while it competed in the hockey business. For sure, the sport in America had declined in popularity during some years of the early 2000s because of the players’ strike, which, in turn, caused a slowdown in the sales of in-line skates and other related equipment.Also, numerous Canadian and US retailers had returned an inordinate number of their skates to Nike because the shoes over the rollerblades did not comfortably fit on skater’s feet. As a result, the selling price of NikeBauer was estimated in the market at less than $200 million. In his sporting goods publication titled Jim Rennie’s Sports Letter, Rennie said,“It [that is, the number of in-line skaters and rollerblade assets] really went south. Skateboarding came on in popularity and they [Nike] marketed in-line skating wrong. They were too focused on the extreme rollerblader who was doing jumps and everything, not the average skater.” In short, these problems among consumers and retailers suggest that ice hockey is a risky investment even for big companies and that the sport may or may not expand commercially in North America for many years.12 For ice hockey to remain a viable business and thus have the games of its semiprofessional and professional teams increasingly being watched at arenas and on television screens by sports fans within Canada and the United States, the NHL should monitor and periodically audit its franchises’ performances. And if necessary, the league must adopt and implement rules to foster and encourage competitive balance among the teams in each division while faithfully and honestly honoring its collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association. During the 2007–2008 postseason, for example, the Stanley Cup playoff games that were broadcast on regional and national television stations received, for some reason, relatively high ratings in the United States but not in Canada. Indeed, such networks as the National Broadcasting Corporation and Comcast-owned Versus had decided 12 A
report from USA Hockey indicated that the number of registered hockey players in America had declined by 4000 from 2004 to 2006 and in Canada, these athletes decreased by about 8000 during 2005–2007. These data and the falling sales of hockey gear are discussed in Rick Westhead. “Nike Abandons Hockey.” http://www.thestar.com [cited 9 October 2007].
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to televise the league’s games while traffic reached an all-time high on the website nhl.com.13 Furthermore, the NHL must somehow ensure that owners of the six Canadian clubs as a group do not allow their players’ salaries to exceed the league’s salary cap. In other major team sports, it is not unusual for salary caps to be violated by teams when these franchises — unethically although legally — use such clever payment schemes as deferred compensation, performance bonuses, and contractual exceptions to reward their best players and pay them more compensation than is authorized, prudent, and reasonable. Since business cycles, exchange rates, and national economies are unpredictable in the long run and sometimes volatile in the short run, the commercial opportunities for hockey in Canada will decline if any of the country’s popular professional teams experience financial difficulties and bankrupt, or if one or more of them are forced to abandon their sites and relocate to American cities. In an article published in the Wall Street Journal, Allen St. John wrote about the game of professional hockey and how the sport had recently changed economically and successfully for Canada’s six clubs even though no Canadian team had won a Stanley Cup since 2001, and as a group, they failed to reach the NHL’s semifinals in the 2007–2008 postseason.To support his views, St. John remarked that most of the Canadian teams were on an upswing and therefore each of them may soon qualify for and compete for a Stanley Cup. He cited such reasons as the league’s salary cap, which benefits clubs in small- to medium-sized Canadian cities, and the increasing value of the Canadian dollar. In the article’s final paragraph, St. John stated,“Now [2007], discussions are taking place about the Nashville Predators actually heading north to a Canadian city such as Hamilton, Ontario; Kitchner-Waterloo, Ontario; or Winnipeg, Manitoba.” Given St. John’s statement and the previous paragraphs in this section of the chapter are there unique business relationships and economic conditions that involve ice hockey played in the Czech Republic or also similar to those issues and topics that were discussed for Canada?14 13
For more details about media broadcasts and the television ratings in various seasons and postseasons of hockey events played in Canada and the United States, see Andy Holloway. “Hockey Night in the U.S.A.” http://www.canadianbusiness.com [cited 25 April 2008]. 14 Recent improvements in the business environment of the NHL Canadian hockey franchises and also these clubs’ competitiveness and success in the league since the 1940s are topics briefly discussed in Allen St. John.“Canada’s Comeback.” Wall Street Journal (1 June 2007):W8.
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Czech Republic Since separating from Slovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic has benefited from its independence by focusing on the infrastructure and development of industry.That is, the nation gradually became more productive and prosperous because of its efficiencies and above-average economic growth relative to the economies of most countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Although being a relatively small but densely populated republic, the country’s manufacturing companies produce machinery, metallurgy components, and motor vehicles for domestic use, but also they export a portion of these and other types of durable goods to such nations as Austria, Germany, and Poland. During 2004, the Czech Republic was admitted to and thus joined the European Union. As a member of the European Union, this meant that investment, trade, and exchange rate barriers were initially reduced and then ultimately expired or should expire between it and other members of the group. Consequently, since 2005 the Czech Republic has prospered economically from an increase in business with its neighbors. Furthermore, these benefits have rewarded hundreds of Czech industries and thousands of their workers, and especially the economies of a few cities in the Republic with ports like Decin, Prague, and Ustinad Labem.15 Hence as its industrial and service sectors had become more modern and thus expanded with the introduction of new equipment, advanced technology, and renovated facilities during the early 2000s, the Czech Republic’s government officials then and now are compelled to allocate increasingly more inputs, national resources, and tax receipts to the development of amateur and professional sports programs, and that group of activities includes the expansion and operation of hockey events and organizations. Subsequently, if the nation’s sport improves its international reputation and existing hockey teams vigorously compete against their rivals for championships, some Czech corporations and small-to-medium-sized businesses in various cities will have an incentive to support local hockey leagues and accordingly provide money to sponsor these teams. In the end, these government and corporate expenditures should attract more athletes into the sport and therefore improve the nation’s ability, confidence, and opportunity to win some medals in ice hockey tournaments, and also to 15 Data about the Czech Republic’s people, geography, government, history and economy, and some of the nation’s other characteristics are included on page 772 of the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006.
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play competitively in prestigious global sporting events such as at a future Winter Olympics. In part, other aspects of business and economics are interrelated with ice hockey athletes, organizations, and programs within the Czech Republic. As described earlier in this chapter, there have been moderate amounts of funds and resources invested by sports entrepreneurs in the Czech International Ice Hockey Camp and Czech Hockey Adventure. For being excellent training facilities primarily for domestic and foreign kids and teenage athletes, these two sports companies denote that playing ice hockey games will be increasingly important and lucrative to the nation as a competitive, participatory, and popular sporting event. In other words, the sport will continue to be admired, loved, and respected by young men and women hockey players who dream of playing on a national Czech team in an Olympic Games and then for some of them, on a club in the Extraleague or NHL. For sure, the parents, relatives, and sponsors of these young athletes are capable and willing to pay hundreds of valuable korunas as fees to have them skate and improve their abilities, attitudes, and skills, and be able to join with teammates to score goals and defeat their opponents who perform on amateur and/or professional hockey clubs in associations, leagues, and schools within the Czech Republic and on hockey organizations in other countries.16 During early May of 2005, a unique but interesting economic situation occurred that indicated how the business of ice hockey had changed with respect to the sport itself and also relative to professional hockey teams in the Czech Republic. That is, 14 clubs in the Czech Hockey Federation (CHF) rejected the transfer amounts that were offered by the NHL to acquire players from teams in the CHF and then sign these athletes to multiyear contracts. Specifically, members of the CHF disagreed with the NHL’s minimum payment of $150,000 per player and furthermore, they opposed the US league’s five-year plan to pay the CHF in two separate installments. However, in the middle of May that year, the CHF negotiated and compromised with the NHL and subsequently accepted a new 16 As a result of hockey programs discussed in “Czech Hockey Adventure” and “Czech International Ice Hockey Camp:About Us,” the country was mentioned as a factor in NHL Stanley Cup competitions in such articles as Wayne M. Barrett.“Stanley Cup vs. Olympic Gold.” USA Today Magazine (May 1998): 49; James Drake. “Czech Mates Celebrate Golden Win.” Christian Science Monitor (24 February 2008): 6;Alexander Wolff.“The Cup to the Rescue.” Sports Illustrated (26 August 2002): 46.
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deal that increased the minimum amount to $200,000 per person for any Czech hockey players who had decided to transfer from their clubs in the CHF to franchises in the NHL. As a result of this deal, the NHL agreed to pay the CHL about $9 million each year for about 45 transfers of players. Basically, the settlement of this issue suggests that in 2005 and thereafter it would cost NHL teams more money to recruit elite Czech hockey players and sign them to contracts. In fact, some hockey federations in other European nations may seek similar payments from the NHL before they allow their players to migrate from domestic clubs and join the rosters of professional hockey teams in the United States and Canada.17 After the NHL began its 2007–2008 regular-season by scheduling a game between the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks in London, England, a rumor had spread among various Czech hockey officials and the sport’s European fans that Prague might be a potential site for an NHL game to be played sometime during the US league’s 2008–2009 season. Indeed, besides a few populated metropolitan areas in England and perhaps Germany, the Czech Republic’s largest and most wealthy city would be a primary site to promote and play an NHL game and also an excellent location if the league decides to organize and then establish a developmental or minor hockey division somewhere in Europe. Although the implementation of this strategy is not feasible or realistic in the very short run, it may or may not be an opportunity to evaluate for the long run according to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Hence in late 2007, Bettman stated,“There seems to be a quantum leap that’s being made that we [NHL] have this grand plan to put franchises on the continent here [Europe]. I’ll never say never to anything, but that’s not anything that we’re currently contemplating.”18
17 This
controversy about player’s transfer payments and its final outcome for Czech Republic hockey teams are the subject of “More Problems For NHL.” http://www.sportbusiness.com [cited 9 May 2008]; “Hockey Federations Miss Deadline.” http://www.sportbusiness.com [cited 9 May 2008]; “Czech Ice Hockey Teams Accept Deal.” http://www.sportbusinessnews.com [cited 9 May 2008]. 18 Despite NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s decision, a radio broadcaster named Bill Lindsay and other hockey observers questioned why London was selected as a site. In fact, it was mentioned in the article that “London’s not quite the same as hockey-crazy Prague, Czech Republic, rumored to be a possible site for an NHL game next season [2008–2009].” For more details, see Steve Gorten.“After London Experiment, is Prague Next For NHL?” Sun Sentinel (6 October 2007): 1.
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From a commercial perspective, another matter that has attracted media attention and caused controversy in the sport involved proposals to consider and then actually construct multimillion-koruna hockey stadiums at different sites within the Czech Republic.To illustrate, in four articles published during the early 2000s, the authors discussed some issues associated with a plan to build a modern hockey arena in Prague to host the 2004 World Hockey Championships. One author, for example, mentioned that the IIHF was extremely dissatisfied with the information submitted by the CHF in a report that included the estimated costs, deadlines, and guarantees for building, financing, and maintaining the arena. In other words, there were not enough details provided by the CHF to the IIHF about potential problems with the exact location of the stadium, identifying individuals and/or groups (as parties) that would invest capital and resources into the project, and whether cash and/or debt was the optimum method to pay for the arena’s construction and subsidize its operations. Meanwhile, in another article, the authors focused on specific economies of the proposed hockey arena and asked and then answered three key questions. These questions were as follows. What are the arena’s expected costs and benefits? How will these costs and benefits be allocated among the parties? Which parties will bear the risks of the arena? In being written by economists, the latter article exposed some of the hidden negative and positive economic aspects or externalities of the project that should be evaluated by hockey officials, investors, and the residents of Prague.19 In a third article about the ice hockey arena, a Czech magazine reporter analyzed the facility’s type of architecture, internal design and construction schedule, and also she stated that funds for it would be collected from a national lottery, various sponsors, and other related sources. Finally, the 19
These two articles were authored, respectively, by Zuzana Smidova. “Sazka Arena Plan Draws Criticism and Competitors.” Prague Business Journal (22–28 October 2001): 6; Daniel Munich and Brad R. Humphreys.“Ice Hockey Arena: National Pride or Normal Business?” Prague Business Journal (11–17 February 2002): 11. In an informal message to me dated May 2008, Professor Munich said that the Sazka Arena is funded by a monopoly lottery company, which redistributes profits from this facility among various public and private hockey clubs. Meanwhile, a stadium for the Karlovy Vary hockey team in the Czech Republic is jointly financed by a municipality and regional government with additional funds from the central government and European Union. Furthermore, for information about youth ice hockey programs in the Czech Republic and thus reasons to subsidize the sport, there is Brad R. Humphreys and Daniel Munich. “Sport Participation and Migration.” International Journal Sport Management and Marketing,Vol. 3, No. 4 (2008): 335–347.
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fourth article discussed what progress had been completed by the construction company in building the arena and the project’s eventual use as a site to play the World Hockey Championships in 2004. Besides information about finance, location, and size, the journalist of the latter article offered this comment regarding the project’s purpose: “Apart from the construction costs, one of Bielak’s [arena construction manager] main concerns is much more basic — how his team will find a home for four massive underground beer containers. The total necessary storage capacity in order to ensure that the beer stays cool is 70,000 liters.”In short, these four readings in total indicated that the data, information, and problems associated with building, financing, and operating a new and expensive ice hockey facility in the capital city of the Czech Republic are similar as challenges when compared with those confronted by local businesses, government officials, and hockey executives within the United States and other developed nations.20
Finland In contrast to the characteristics listed in Table 5.4 for Canada and the Czech Republic, Finland has a tiny population that is relatively homogeneous but also moderately prosperous and successful when the well-being of Finnish households is measured by their per capita incomes.With respect to demographics and a few important years in the country’s history during the 20th century, Finland declared its independence from Russia in 1917 and two years later formed a republic. After World War II, Finland and the Soviet Union signed a treaty of mutual assistance which existed until 1992.Then in that year, the treaty was mutually nullified by both nations and later replaced by a new pact. It was in 1995, however, that Finland decided to join the European Union and invest national resources and financial capital into the economy to improve, expand, and promote its internal development, commercial enterprises, and economic growth and international trade.21 20
For two readings about constructing and funding the sports stadium in Prague, see Irena Rysankova. “Hockey Fans Shouldn’t Hold Their Breath Waiting For Progress on Arena.” Prague Business Journal (6 January 2002):5;Petra Breyerova.“ECM Lays First City Stone, Sazka Scores Own Goal, and Retail Revamps.” Realty Czech (5–11 May 2003): 6. 21 Some facts about Finland and its economy appeared on page 778 of the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006, and in Vanda Carson,“Competition a Fight to the Finnish,” The Australian (28 April 2004): 25; According to Carson,“We [Finland] can’t compete with labour [labor] costs. Our strategy must be productivity in our economy, high education and high research and science and more and more investments in technology.”
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Because Finland’s economy is diversified, it has avoided — except during the early 1990s — any deep and troubling recessions. That is, the nation’s business cycle became relatively flat and tended to stabilize over several decades and also in recent years. Thus, Finland’s inflation, interest, and unemployment rates have not caused severe economic problems for the government and commercial sectors even though the country’s GDP now exceeds $155 billion and expands about three percent each year. Since its allocations for the defense budget and active and retired military personnel are minor and relatively insignificant amounts, Finland’s skilled labor force in part is employed in the electronics, metal products, and shipbuilding industries. As a result, the nation tends to manufacture and export some durable and nondurable goods and other products to such partners in the European Union as Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Consequently, while the national economy of Finland continued to diversify and moderately prosper throughout most decades of the 1900s, the game of ice hockey expanded to become the Finns’ dominant and most entertaining and popular sport. In fact, the sport’s World Championships appeared for the first time on Finnish television in 1965 and 11 years later, Finland’s hockey player Matti Hagman joined the NHL’s Boston Bruins in America. Hence before the early 2000s, Finland contained more than 100 indoor ice rinks while a minimum of three million spectators attended various amateur and professional hockey league games in the country during those years. In retrospect, it was a combination of subsidies from Finland’s government agencies and money from Finnish taxpayers and some local business organizations that was used to finance the construction of new hockey facilities and therefore the development, infrastructure, and growth of the sport in metropolitan and rural areas across the country.22 Similar to the sport’s emergence, history, and popularity in Canada and the Czech Republic, there are some interesting business and economic issues that relate to the existence of amateur and professional ice hockey events, organizations, and programs in Finland. First, an emphasis on commercializing and managing the sport is clearly reflected in the organizational chart of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association (FIHA), which was established in 1929. On the chart, for example, there exist such senior positions as Executive Director, Marketing and Administrative Director, Media Relations 22
Specific dates, events, and organizations that involve the historical development and growth of hockey in Finland are contained in “Milestones of Finnish Ice Hockey” and “SM-liiga,” and also discussed in Jukka Aarnio,“Breaking the Ice.”
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and National Team Management, and also Marketing Manager, Sales Manager, and Accountants. For sure, the executives and staff employed in these positions have experience, knowledge, and skill about when and how to advertise, promote, and expand the FIHA throughout Finland and elsewhere in Europe, to increase the organization’s memberships and funds, and to enforce its bylaws, procedures, and regulations. In other words, it is business administration, management, and marketing that are each critical functions within the hierarchy of Finland’s most powerful sports group.23 Second, a scholarly study was completed in 2005 by two economists, and then published in the literature. In their research, an EFQM Excellence Model was restructured into an AHP Hierarchy Tree that contained people, management, processes, and resources as internal factors and partnership as an external factor in the performance of professional ice hockey clubs (named as SMEs in the article). Then, these college professors interviewed clubs in Finland’s SM-liiga and Mestis hockey leagues, and also commercial sponsors and some representatives from the FIHA and Hockey Players Association. After applying a theoretical Sand Cone Model and quantifying information from the interviews, the authors constructed a new holistic satisfaction business model of professional hockey clubs that revealed some interesting results.That is, in order of importance, the study denoted that the performances of practical management methods ranked first in priority as an element in the Finnish ice hockey business followed by the application of resources and people, and then processes. Hence based on this research, Finland’s professional hockey clubs should each focus their efforts on being well-organized enterprises, accomplish what is expected of them by investors and sports fans, ensure their managers are capable, engaged, and interested in hockey as a national sport, and require that their employees are treated fairly and with dignity and respect.According to the article’s authors, “It is obvious that [ice hockey] clubs should concentrate on their performance of management and externally show it to the interest groups of their business environment.”24 23
See “Organizational Chart.” http://www.finhockey.fi [cited 14 May 2008];“Finnish Ice Hockey Association.” Besides business positions, the FIHA also includes important positions on its organizational chart for an Executive Assistant, Head Coach, Sport Director, and Study Counselor. 24 To read about this relatively new, impressive, and unique business model for professional ice hockey clubs in Finland, see Juha Leskinen and Josu Takala.“How to Develop Holistic Satisfaction in Finnish Ice Hockey Business as a Special SME Business?”
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For the third and final feature of this significant team sport’s game in Finland, some unusual business difficulties led to the early development and growth of semiprofessional and professional ice hockey leagues and their respective clubs. Interestingly, the transformation from one type of organization to another occurred when the sport’s amateur league nicknamed SMsarja became obsolete and unsuccessful among the Finnish people during the early1970s.Then, some of the nation’s most prominent amateur hockey clubs were reportedly operating as businesses and also secretly compensating their players and avoiding being taxed by the government.When domestic accountants and auditors exposed these teams’ actions, it was apparent that a need existed in the sport to establish one or more Finnish nonamateur hockey organizations. Furthermore, other crimes and/or violations had been happening within the sport. These included irregularities with respect to hockey player’s contracts and their sponsors, and regarding these athlete’s transfer lists, payments, and rights, and also about the distribution of awards, bonuses, and side payments to players from games they participated in during the playoffs. As a result of these and other infractions, the SM-liiga was started in 1975 and accordingly, since then it has become the nation’s most elite professional hockey league. In fact, the SM-liiga continues to use and enforce a system of promotion and relegation of its teams. Hence because of commitments to adopt business practices and introduce professionalism in the mid- to late-1970s, the sport has generated more interest and support from fans and marginally greater attendances at league games. These benefits, in turn, have caused the revenues and values of Finnish hockey clubs to increase along with the compensation paid to their coaches, managers, and/or players.25 In sum, the former section titled Business and Economic Implications completes this chapter. Hence to highlight, identify, and then contrast the primary and most relevant issues, themes, and topics from the previous three chapters and Appendix A, this book’s Conclusion is provided next followed, respectively, by the Appendices, Selected Bibliography, and Index.
25 In this book’s Selected Bibliography, the readings about Finland’s hockey leagues include “SM-liiga,”“Mestis.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 22 June 2007];“Suomi-sarja.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 22 June 2007].
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6 Conclusion
As stated in the Introduction (Chapter 1) of Global Sports, Chapters 2–5 and Appendix A each discuss a team sport that is allocated among three foreign countries. Or alternatively, this book includes a total of five team sports being represented in 15 nations of four chapters and an appendix. Based on the various types of literature sources and my research of them, these sports differed in their culture, development, and popularity, and in commercial success not only within each nation but also in comparison with each other. Indeed, these differences within and between nations existed, in part, for the following six reasons. First, baseball is more dominant as a team sport in the Dominican Republic than ice hockey in Finland; basketball is more respected in the Philippines than soccer in Germany; soccer is more businesslike in Brazil than basketball in Spain; ice hockey is more professional in Canada than cricket in Pakistan; and cricket is more intense in Australia than baseball in Japan. Second, the literature denotes that the most beloved, entertaining, and popular sport among several populations in the world during the 20th and early 21st centuries was soccer. And baseball and cricket, across nations, tended to be less important, prominent, and widespread as team sports than basketball and ice hockey. Thus, since they emerged and developed in their specific countries, each of these five sports had interesting 191
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origins and a combination of unique and special characteristics, and furthermore, business and economic issues that have affected their appeal and attraction within local, regional, and international markets of such large geographic areas as Asia, Europe, and Central, North, and South America. Third, it is likely that these five kinds of team sports will continue to exist and perhaps thrive for decades or even centuries in their respective countries. For example, a number of the readings listed in the Selected Bibliography of Global Sports suggest that baseball will perform as a sport for years and also gradually become more successful in Japan, and accordingly, so will basketball in China, soccer in England, ice hockey in the Czech Republic, and cricket in India. Moreover, the future development, growth, and prosperity of these five team sports will depend on their economic, demographic, and social environments, and also the involvement of — and relationship between — each of them and their nation’s consumer and industrial markets, and local and national government sectors. Fourth, before 2010–2015 at least two — and maybe four — of the major professional sports leagues that are based on the United States will likely relocate one or more teams from their sites in America and move them into cities of some of these countries, and/or into communities of other foreign nations.That is, there may be a Major League Baseball (MLB) club eventually existing somewhere in Japan and Mexico, and a National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise playing games at home in a city of China and another in a province of Canada. Moreover, there is a reasonable possibility of a current or new National Hockey League (NHL) club being located in central Russia and another in Canada, and also, of a Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise competing while in an area of England and Mexico. Consequently, if any of these expansions or movements of teams should occur, then the host nation’s semiprofessional and professional sports leagues, and their member teams, may experience a number of important business issues, marketing challenges, and financial risks because of the entry of competitors from organizations in the American sports industry. Fifth, it is unlikely any of the team sports that were discussed in four chapters and Appendix A of Global Sports will dominate others globally, and thus rank first in all but a few nations. As a result, baseball will not likely surpass soccer in popularity and success within Brazil, nor will basketball overtake cricket as sport in India. Meanwhile, soccer will not likely become more entertaining than baseball in the Dominican Republic, nor will ice hockey outperform basketball in Spain, or cricket exceed ice
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hockey in Finland. In short, these relative positions in power indicate that local, regional, and national sports fans within countries are dedicated groups of individuals and households who commit themselves to support their various hometown sports leagues and teams. That is, those are clubs that fans demand and enjoy, and for whom they cheer for to win games, matches, series, tours, and/or tournaments against opponents from other nations. Sixth, cricket is the least available, popular, and lucrative spectator team sport in countries of the Americas and especially in the United States. In fact, it only has a tiny fan base, which consists primarily of Asian and Middle Eastern students who attend a number of American colleges and universities, and also of some groups of people who had migrated into the United States from such nations as New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies. In this chapter’s next five sections, there are some brief but final facts, observations and statistics — and a few tables highlighting national teams’ results — provided about each sport within three nations and as depicted, respectively, in Chapters 2–5 and Appendix A. For sure, this discussion provides conclusions for each of these chapters and the appendix, and especially, it emphasizes the commercialization, globalization, and professionalization of five team sports distributed among a total of 15 countries.After these contents, some business and economic implications of each sport are presented to conclude the chapter.
BASEBALL IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, JAPAN, AND VENEZUELA Chapter 2 denotes that baseball is immensely popular among its fans, and a national sport within at least three nations. Specifically in these countries, there are amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional leagues of competitive baseball teams, and also of other related commercial organizations that have existed and succeeded for decades despite such recurring hardships as economic recessions, military conflicts, political changes, and social unrest. Indeed, there are thousands of young, poor, and uneducated athletes from the Dominican Republic that adore the game and eventually may become ballplayers who excel on the nation’s great nonprofessional and professional teams. In fact, some of these country’s clubs have dominated the Caribbean Series by winning numerous championships since 1970. Furthermore, MLB franchises have scouted and recruited — and will continue to sign contracts with — many Dominicans. In previous years, these role models in professional
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baseball leagues of America include such future Hall of Famers as Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, and Sammy Sosa. Similar to the Dominican Winter League, Japan’s and Venezuela’s domestic professional baseball leagues, and their superior teams and ballplayers, have been identified by sports officials for being among the most competitive in the world. Since the 1940s, these countries’ champion clubs have included the Yomiuri Giants and Seibu Lions in the Japan Series, and the Caracas Lions and Magallanes Navigators in Venezuelan baseball.And, several of the best players on these teams took advantage of business opportunities and joined the rosters of MLB franchises. However, as a result of losing their most popular, talented, and well-known athletes to American clubs, the three foreign nation’s baseball leagues and their teams have frequently experienced smaller attendances at home and away games and thus incurred financial deficits from their operations at ballparks within Tokyo of Japan and Maracaibo of Venezuela. To recap the results of five international baseball events, Japanese teams won more titles than the total of those won by the Dominican Republic and Venezuela (see Table 2.5 in Chapter 2 and Table 6.1). For certain, these victories had occurred primarily because of Japan’s outstanding performances in the Little League World Series, and also because the other two nations had failed to adequately prepare for — and enter any competitive teams’ in — the other four global tournaments. Furthermore, each season Japan’s professional baseball teams lose relatively fewer ballplayers to American MLB franchises than do baseball clubs from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
Table 6.1 International Baseball Championships, By Tournament and Country, Selected Years Tournament Little League World Cup Intercontinental Cup Olympic Games World Baseball Classic
Years
Dominican Republic
Japan
Venezuela
1947–2007 1938–2005 1973–2006 1992–2004 2006–2006
0 1 0 0 0
6 0 2 0 1
2 3 0 0 0
Source: Frank P. Jozsa, Jr. Baseball, Inc., 138–140;“Little League Organization.” http://www.little league.org [cited 25 July 2007];“International Baseball Federation.”http://www.baseball.ch [cited 25 July 2007]; “Ichiro Comes Up Big For Japan in Win Over Cuba.” http://sports.espn.go.com [cited 30 October 2007].
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Since Japan has the world’s second largest economy, its professional baseball leagues and their teams have relatively large amounts of income, resources, and revenues in yen to invest in domestic ballplayers. Thus, they discourage some gifted and popular athletes in baseball from migrating to the minor and major leagues in America. Even though such skillful Japanese ballplayers as Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, and Daisuke Matsuzaka perform for big-league clubs in the United States, it is more likely that replacements for them will be available in Japan than if they had abandoned any amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional teams from the Dominican Republic or Venezuela. Anyway, based on the origins, developments, and tenures of leagues, teams, and related commercial organizations, and the histories, traditions, and successes of this sport, baseball will be these three nations’ most active, entertaining, and prominent game for years and certainly throughout the early- to mid-2000s. Besides, the only other countries in the world — where the sport is extremely popular among children, teenagers, and adults — are Cuba, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Taiwan, whereas in the United States, baseball has been gradually losing its assets, fans, and markets to franchises in American football and basketball leagues.1
BASKETBALL IN CHINA, THE PHILIPPINES, AND SPAIN In contrast to other chapters and Appendix A in Global Sports, Chapter 3 describes when, why, and how basketball had evolved and became an increasingly competitive and important sport within the cultures, histories, and populations of three diverse nations. In turn, the origin, and recent development and growth of the sport in these countries provide information about its environment and also reveal a number of controversial economic problems and social issues. 1
Four excellent books about baseball and its history, expansion, and events are Peter C. Bjarkman. Diamonds Around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005); George Gmelch, (Ed.). Baseball Without Borders: The International Pastime (Lincoln, NB: Bison Books, 2006); Alan M. Klein. Growing the Game: The Globalization of Major League Baseball (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006); Frank P. Jozsa, Jr. Baseball, Inc.: The National Pastime as Big Business (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006).
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First, China is expanding as a power across the world and thus the nation’s people, regional governments, and local businesses are increasingly generous and prosperous, and therefore willing to support amateur and professional sports organizations, and especially the men and women teams of specific leagues. To illustrate, 4 or 66 percent of the country’s basketball leagues had started after 2001. Moreover, the nation has lowered some of its immigration, trade and investment barriers, and furthermore, allowed such superstar athletes as Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, and Wang Zhizhi to leave China and play for clubs in the NBA. Given its huge population and the growth of consumer and Internet, radio and television markets, and being the host country of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China’s largest cities are prime sites for one or more franchise owners to locate an existing or new NBA team. In other words, basketball games and tournaments are entertaining, popular, and in great demand as events within this nation of approximately 1.3 billion people. Second, people in the Philippine Islands have welcomed this sport’s existence and supported its events for more than 100 years. Indeed, the country’s first basketball league formed in 1938 while several of its national teams won championships in regional and international tournaments. Since the mid-1970s, semiprofessional and professional basketball leagues and their clubs emerged throughout the nation, and therefore, they have become entertaining and increasingly popular sport groups among kids, teenagers, and young adults who live in the country’s urban areas and rural communities. In short, basketball in the Philippines is an exciting, traditional, and well known sport, which will survive and grow as an institution within that country and probably across other populated areas of Asia. Third, for several decades Spain has been moderately successful in its performances within European basketball events. In fact, the nation’s amateur and professional teams are able to better compete in and win games against clubs from Croatia, France, and Italy, and also those from such emerging nations as Latvia, Lithuania, and Serbia. Spain’s domestic basketball leagues, however, have been dominated by two prominent and wealthy clubs.These teams are FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. As such, the most ambitious, tallest, and talented Spanish athletes play basketball from when they were young and learn the sport in gymnasiums during their school years, and then they perform on one of these two clubs and/or on other domestic or foreign professional basketball teams. If competitive enough, some Spaniards excel in the sport and successfully join American NBA franchises. That is, they accept an opportunity to
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improve their skills at dribbling, passing, and rebounding a basketball, and then at scoring points with it in professional games before large crowds. Currently, that group of athletes includes the Toronto Raptors’ forwardcenter Jorge Garbajosa, Los Angeles Lakers’ forward-center Pau Gasol, and Detroit Pistons’ forward Walter Herrmann. Table 6.2 indicates that several national teams of these three countries have been competitive.That is, they performed above-average in at least one regional and/or global basketball event during various years. Nevertheless, their performances have been below-average-to-inferior with respect to the Olympic Games and FIBA World Championships. Consequently, these results denote that the national men and women clubs from China and the Philippines and Spain are not consistently among the top performers in basketball events against other nations of the world. Thus, to improve their results in these and other international tournaments, the three countries’ clubs need to improve the skills of their players and make investments in training facilities, and also generate more cooperation, interest, and support from their local and national constituencies in order to better compete against the sport’s powerful teams from Argentina, Russia, and the United States.2
Table 6.2 Basketball Events,Total Medals by Country, Selected Years Event Olympic Games FIBA World Championships Asian Games Championships FIBA Asia Championships Eurobasket Championships
China
Philippines
Spain
1 2 18 32 NA
0 1 7 8 NA
1 1 NA NA 13
Source: See Tables B.1–B.6 in Appendix B.
2
For more information about the commercialization, globalization, and professionalism of this sport, see Walter LaFeber. Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism (New York, NY and London, England: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999); Alexander Wolff. Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure (New York, NY: Warner Books, 2002); Frank P. Jozsa, Jr. Sports Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues (Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004).
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SOCCER IN BRAZIL, ENGLAND, AND GERMANY In Chapter 4, the discussion focused, in part, on the origin — and also the culture, development, and growth — of soccer (stated hereafter as football, or simply soccer) in each of three countries where the sport has been a tradition and thus extremely popular there.As such, what does that chapter reveal about the game and this sport within these nations? First, Brazil is the world’s second largest country — besides Indonesia — in which football ranks as the major game of all its team sports. Indeed, several of the greatest players of all-time played on the country’s amateur and/or professional football teams that had won several world championships and numerous medals in regional and international tournaments. Brazilians tend to be enthusiastic, passionate, and a proud people who love football, and therefore, they study, respect, and understand the game. According to some readings in the literature, one of Brazil’s most important goals as a society is for the nation’s national clubs to win every football game, and particularly to defeat the most competitive teams from countries in the Americas, and in Asia and Europe. Second, there is an elaborate network and well-organized system of leagues, divisions, and tiers of teams at various levels of competition in English football. For sure, the English Premier League and its member clubs rank first in economic value and wealth among all soccer organizations in the world. Domestically, there have been several events played among England’s men and women football teams. These include, for example, the prestigious FA Cup, which started in 1871, and the FA Amateur Cup, which folded after 81 years of seasons. Because England is the birthplace of the sport, football has evolved to be the most dominant, enjoyable, and commercially successful team sport within that nation and especially among its clubs’ investors, managers, and players. Third, football within Germany is a historic, phenomenal, and relatively prosperous team sport. Despite the nation’s damaged infrastructure and its loss of people in World War II, and also the dislocations caused by the reunification of East and West Germany during the late 1980s to early 1990s, a central league named the Bundesliga has existed and thrived there since the early 1960s. As a result, the country’s soccer teams have gradually improved their performances and during the early 2000s, they vigorously challenged their rivals from Europe, and North and South America in regional and international football matches and tournaments.
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Table 6.3 Soccer Champions, by Event and Country, Selected Years Event FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup FIFA Confederations Cup FIFA Club World Cup FIFA Futsal World Cup FIFA U-17 World Cup FIFA U-20 World Cup FIFA World Cup Intercontinental Club Cup Olympic Games
Year
Brazil
England
Germany
2005–2006 1992–2005 2000–2006 1989–2004 1985–2007 1977–2007 1930–2007 1960–2004 1900–2004
1 2 3 3 3 4 5 6 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3
0 0 0 0 0 2 5 3 1
Note:Year is the range of years during which the first five events and the Intercontinental Club Cup had occurred for the nation’s men clubs, and for the nation’s men and women teams in the FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Cup, and Olympic Games. UEFA events were excluded from Table 6.3 since teams from Brazil do not participate in them. Source: See Tables 4.1 and B.7–B.8.
With respect to nine international events in the sport that were each played during various spans of years, Table 6.3 provides some specific performances of the teams from these three nations. The table denotes, for example, that since 1930 Brazil has won a total of 27 championships in various events because of its outstanding football clubs and their great coaches and players. Meanwhile, England has been very successful in more than one of the Olympic Games while Germany won a few FIFA U-20 World Cups, FIFA World Cups, and Intercontinental Club Cups. Nonetheless, England and Germany teams have failed to win any titles in, respectively, 6 or 66 percent — and 5 or 55 percent — of the events listed in column one of the table. In other words, Brazil’s football teams have been more focused, reliable, and consistent at winning championships across these events in the long run than did the clubs from England, Germany, and undoubtedly, from the majority of other countries. To finalize this section about the international sport of football, the next statement appeared at the end of Chapter 4 in Global Sports:“Consequently, football is an important element and integral part of these nations’ cultures, and also a passion for millions of their sports fans and thousands of athletes, and an activity for men and women players — and their leagues, divisions,
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and clubs — to participate in and compete for championships at soccer grounds in cities throughout the world during the 21st century.”3
ICE HOCKEY IN CANADA, THE CZECH REPUBLIC, AND FINLAND In retrospect, Chapter 5 discussed when ice hockey (or simply hockey) merged — and how the sport had tended to develop, expand, and succeed — in three foreign nations where it is very popular there among athletes and specific groups within the population.As such, the following are some significant facts about hockey in each of these countries. First, Canada has an historic, impressive, and vast assortment of ice hockey associations, conferences, and leagues composed of amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional teams. In turn, this combination of sports groups is scattered throughout the major cities and provinces within the country, and also among many of the nation’s remote areas, midsized communities, and small towns. Second, the Czech Republic has a major hockey league whose teams vigorously compete against each other in order for them to qualify for and win one or more domestic championships. Because of investments in hockey camps, clinics, and training facilities, some former and current athletes on these and other Czech clubs in the sport have become great players on the country’s national teams and also on franchises in America’s NHL. In fact, the Czech Republic is a primary place for scouts from elite professional teams across the world to recruit and sign young and experienced hockey players and then use them in games as centers, forwards, and/or goalies. Third, hockey is a vital, wonderful, and very successful game in Finland because of its excitement, history, and tradition in that north European nation.That is, such Finnish leagues as the SM-sarja, SM-liiga, and Mestis, and 3 There
are several books that discuss the game of soccer and its leagues and teams within and/or among nations of the world. These titles include Janet Lever. Soccer Madness: Brazil’s Passion For the World’s Most Popular Sport (Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc., 1995); Josh Lacy. God Is Brazilian: Charles Miller, the Man Who Brought Football to Brazil (Stroud, Gloucestshire, UK: Tempus Publishing, 2005); Alan Tomlinson and Christopher Young. German Football: History, Culture, Society and the World Cup 2006 (Abingdon, Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2006); Keir Radnedge. The Complete Encyclopedia of Soccer: The Bible of World Soccer (London, England: Carlton Books, 2002).
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their respective teams, have attracted the most skilled and talented athletes in the country to be hockey players who, in turn, have performed cooperatively as teammates with dedication and determination, and also with respect for opponents, and especially when they play in international tournaments against rival clubs from Canada, Sweden, and the United States. Certainly, the amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional hockey teams from such Finnish cities as Helsinki, Tampere, and Turku were — and currently are — a threat to excel in games and win a championship in any domestic and global hockey events they decide to enter and perform. To review and compare some performances of these three nations’ men and women hockey teams in a group of 11 international tournaments during different spans of years, see the contents in Table 6.4. In total, the table denotes that except in the men’s IIHF World U18 Championships and some Not Applicable (NA) events, Canada’s clubs have been relatively more successful at winning titles than their competitors from the Czech Republic and Finland. In part, this result infers that after their 18th birthday, Canadian men hockey players — who are deficient as athletes at playing the game — do
Table 6.4 Ice Hockey Team Tournaments,Total Medals by Country, Selected Years
Years
Canada
Czech Republic
Finland
Men IIHF European Championships IIHF World Championships Olympic Games IIHF World U20 Championships IIHF World U18 Championships Euro Hockey Tour
1910–1932 1920–2007 1920–2006 1977–2007 1999–2007 1996–2007
NA 44 13 22 2 NA
7 43 10 14 3 5
0 8 4 12 4 10
Women IIHF European Championships IIHF World Championships Olympic Games Pacific Rim Championships 3/4 Nations Cup
1989–1996 1990–2007 1998–2006 1995–1996 1996–2006
NA 10 3 2 11
3 1 0 NA NA
5 1 1 NA 9
Event
Note: The results in column four for the Czech Republic include those of Czechoslovakia. The final men’s IIHF European Championships event was held in Berlin, Germany in 1932. Source: See Tables 5.1–5.3.
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not advance and join the nation’s U20 clubs and/or any other of its national teams. Thus, those men and women who have competed on Canada’s elite clubs were among the most skilled players in the sport. Essentially, and in contrast to its strongest rivals, this suggests that Canada has a relatively large number of the world’s experienced, talented, and trained hockey players that cooperate and succeed — and who are especially great skaters and trustworthy teammates — on its international and professional teams.4
CRICKET IN AUSTRALIA, INDIA, AND PAKISTAN In part,Appendix A was about the history of cricket and its distinct role as a critical, special, and unique team sport in three distinct foreign nations. Specifically, it has been the national teams from Australia — and not India and/or Pakistan — that have tended to defeat their rivals and win various international cricket matches and tournaments. Indeed, the former country’s excellence in the sport has occurred because of its legendary players and traditional test grounds, and also because of its team’s great abilities, competitiveness, and outstanding performances in conquering previous and current English clubs in the Ashes. Moreover, the sports fans in Australia are interested, knowledgeable, and passionate with respect to the game, and so they enthusiastically support their local and national clubs in any domestic and global cricket events. Similar to the development, popularity, and success of baseball in the Dominican Republic, soccer in Brazil, and ice hockey in Canada, it is Australia who has the world’s top performing teams and experienced athletes that fervently participate and win awards in the sport of cricket. Among the sport’s 10 test nations, India and Pakistan teams generally rank each year below those of Australia. Even so, the two former countries’ national cricket teams have been very competitive and therefore capable of winning championships and medals in various global matches and tournaments. 4 This book’s Selected Bibliography contains a number of publications about ice hockey. For three of these titles, see Steve Fischler. Fischler’s Illustrated History of Hockey (Toronto, Canada: Warwick Publishing, 1993); Garth Vaughan and Brian McFarlane. The Puck Stops Here: The Origin of Canada’s Great Winter Game: Ice Hockey (Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada: Goose Lane Editions, 1997); Andrew Podnieks and Sheila Wawanash, (Eds.). Kings of the Ice: A History of World Hockey (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada: NDE Publishing, 2002).
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In evaluating these nations’ advantages and strengths, it is apparent that India and Pakistan have (a) been governed by eminent, longstanding, and respected cricket councils; (b) produced and trained many athletes who have excelled at being great cricketers as batsmen, bowlers, and fielders; and (c) scheduled and played a number of competitive, historic, and entertaining cricket events especially at the local and regional levels. In fact, India’s most impressive domestic cricket event began in the 1930s when it was named the Ranji Trophy, while Pakistan’s best tournament originated during the 1950s when it was titled the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy. Based on the data in Tables 6.5 and 6.6 and other information in Tables B.12–B.24 of Appendix B, I conclude that Australia’s men and women
Table 6.5 Cricket Events, Men Champions by Nation, Selected Years Event World Cup Australian Tri-Series NatWest Series ICC Champions Trophy Asia Cup
Years
Australia
India
Pakistan
1975–2007 1996–2007 2000–2006 1998–2007 1990–2007
4 8 2 1 NA
1 0 1 1 4
1 1 0 0 1
Note: India and Sri Lanka tied for the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002–2003. Source: See Tables B.12–B.24.
Table 6.6 Cricket Events,Won–Loss Results by Nation, Selected Years Event
Australia
India
Pakistan
Men Test Matches Twenty20 Internationals One-Day Internationals Total Combined Events
320–178 3–2 406–227 729–407
91–131 1–0 313–317 405–448
103–87 3–1 352–286 458–374
Women Test Matches Twenty20 Internationals One-Day Internationals Total Combined Events
18–8 2–0 161–36 181–44
3–6 1–0 80–67 84–73
0–2 NA 8–44 8–46
Source: See Tables B.12–B.24.
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national teams have played exceptional during a majority of years in cricket matches and tournaments as compared with rival clubs from India and Pakistan, that India’s women cricket teams have outperformed the men’s against their respective opponents, and especially in one-day internationals, and that Pakistan’s men teams had better results than the women’s in 3 or 100 percent of the same events. In short, Australian teams have tended to dominant those of India and Pakistan in the sport throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. Nevertheless, other countries that have won more than one championship in two of Table 6.5’s events include the West Indies in the World Cup and England in the NatWest Series. Furthermore, regarding the performances of the other five test nations — that is, Bangladesh, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe — they have posed less of a threat to defeating Australia in cricket events than have English clubs. Likewise, there is little competition to the 10 test countries in cups, matches, and internationals from such cricket nations as Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, Jamaica,Trinidad, and Saint Lucia. Consequently, it will be the men and women cricket teams from Australia and then England, India, and Pakistan who will win a major proportion of the sport’s regional titles and international championships during the early- to mid-2000s.5 To conclude the previous sections of Global Sports, readers learn that this title primarily focuses on the history, role, and success of team sports in various countries. In part, it reveals when baseball originated in Venezuela, why basketball exists in Spain, where soccer performs in Germany, when ice hockey developed in Finland, and how cricket dominates
5 To learn more about the game of cricket and its various matches and tournaments within India,Australia, and Pakistan, see, respectively, Rajan Bala. The Covers Are Off: A Socio-Historical Study of Indian Cricket, 1932–2003 (New Delhi, India: Rupa & Company, 2004); Mihir Bose. The Magic of Indian Cricket: Cricket and Society in India (London, England: Routledge, 2006); Chris Harte and Bernard Whimpress. A History of Australian Cricket (London, England: Andre Deutsch Ltd., 2003); Peter Roebuck. In It to Win It: The Australian Cricket Supremacy (Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin, 2006); Lateef Jafri. History of Pakistan Test Cricket (Karachi, Pakistan: Royal Book Company, 2003); Omar Noman. Pride and Passion: An Exhilarating Half Century of Cricket in Pakistan (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999).
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in Pakistan. Therefore, Global Sports proves that these five team sports are enthusiastically and vigorously played between clubs in domestic leagues and also in international games and tournaments. Most importantly, each sport has influenced in several ways the cultures, commercial institutions, and people who live in the cities, small towns, and remote communities of at least three foreign nations.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS The commercial environment of team sports within various countries is extremely difficult to research, measure, and predict. Nevertheless, there are a number of demographic, economic, political, and/or social factors, or reasons, that provide some insights into whether specific types of sports within nations will or will not expand and then either prosper or decline in the future. As denoted in Chapters 2–5 and Appendix A of this study, each of the five team sports of interest is currently and relatively popular in at least three countries. Hence, the prospects of them becoming even more important, well-liked, and widespread among male and female kids, teenagers, and adults in those nations are summarized next in this section. Consequently, based on the contents in other chapters and the appendices of Global Sports and selected readings from the literature, and also on my experiences, judgments, and opinions, here are a few conclusions about the business and economic implications of each team sport within their respective nations.
Baseball During the early- to mid-2000s, the business environment of — and investment of resources in — baseball will likely improve, and thus marginally increase the sport’s outlook in the Dominican Republic (DR), Japan, and Venezuela. However, for improvements in baseball’s development to actually occur in each of these nations, there are various elements to consider and evaluate.To illustrate, the worldwide demand for commodities — and that includes sugar and crude oil — must remain high in order to generate more capital inflows for, and expand the economies of, the DR and Venezuela.With more incomes for households to spend and revenues for companies to invest, the national sports industry — and especially baseball and its affiliated groups — may benefit from being allocated additional resources to fix and modernize the sport’s
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facilities within neighborhoods of the two nations and to provide baseball products and services for sale in the marketplace.6 If, for example, there is average or above-average economic growth in the DR and Venezuela, this researcher predicts that more local ballparks would be built and baseball academies renovated to, respectively, increase the home attendances of teams and the living conditions of players and their families. Furthermore, any economic growth will increase the taxes received by the federal and local governments of the DR and Venezuela. As a result, decision-makers within these governments may then decide to use the money and start additional grassroots sports programs that, in turn, involve Dominican and Venezuelan kids and teenagers who are interested in playing baseball games for fun and later, as a career. Finally, these countries’ professional baseball leagues may ultimately prosper from economic growth because they have commercial incentives to expand the number of baseball teams in their respective nation, and/or to move some of them from one city to another whose population is able and willing to support a semiprofessional or professional club in the sport. Besides their economies, other factors that may have some influence on the baseball business is the amount of funds that Dominican ballplayers on teams in the big leagues remit to their families and organizations at home, while in Venezuela, a factor is President Hugo Chavez’s political relationship with American government and baseball officials, and also with private-sector organizations. Meanwhile in Japan, a short-run goal is for owners — as investors in professional baseball franchises of the Central and Pacific Leagues — to become more businesslike and assume some economic and financial risks in their operations. For sure, they should advertise, promote, and further support their teams so that they generate more revenues from games and fees from licensees, sponsorships and television broadcasts, and then use this money
6
For a bit more information about the baseball business and/or economics of it in each of these three nations, see, respectively, such readings as T. Kepner,“Dominicans Display Their Power and Their Passion.” New York Times (8 March 2006): D1–D2; “Play Ball!: Baseball Gives the Island Added Appeal For Ardent Fans.” Travel Agent (18 December 2006): 1; L. Shecter,“Take Me Out to the Old Yakyu.” Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 238, No. 3 (February 1965): 82–84; Brian Bremmer, “In Japan, Baseball’s Chance to Homer.” Business Week Online (7 June 2005): 1; “History of Baseball in Venezuela: Development and Spread.” http://iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007]; Jim Souhan. “Latin America: Baseball’s Frontier.” Minneapolis Star Tribune (12 January 2003): 1C.
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to increase the salaries and benefits of their team’s coaches, and moreover, their best ballplayers. Otherwise, these elite athletes will continue to leave their clubs in Nippon Professional Baseball as they have in previous years, and join wealthier franchises in America’s American and National Leagues or even clubs in the US minor leagues. Also, Japanese sports officials need to design and implement an integrated system of television rights, and also adopt an equitable revenue-sharing program so that inferior baseball teams in small- and medium-sized Japanese markets have a better opportunity to be competitive and therefore win a championship. In short, it is these and similar business and economic factors that will determine the future of baseball in the long run within Japan, and also in the DR and Venezuela.
Basketball After late 2008, the game of basketball and its potential for revenues and profits as a business venture will be much greater within China than in the Philippines and Spain. Indeed, the numbers of Chinese amateur, semiprofessional, and professional basketball teams are likely to emerge, expand, and play games across the nation. Meanwhile, a subsidiary titled NBA China has been formed by American sports leaders to assist the Chinese Basketball Association to schedule regular-season games and market its teams to basketball fans within that nation and across others in Asia. And, such multinational corporations as McDonald’s and Nike have agreed to sponsor some local basketball clubs in China and, in part, help them to market their organizations and also operate as businesses and without subsidies of resources and yen from China’s government. If these types of initiatives are allowed to be freely implemented in China and also fully supported by Chinese sports officials, then there will be greater competition among clubs in that country’s basketball leagues which, in turn, will increase attendances at games and thus generate more revenues and profits for these sports enterprises.7 A significant problem of China sports programs, however, is that inflation of prices and wages from the nation’s high economic growth will 7
Business and economic implications for basketball are apparent in China, Philippines, and Spain. See, for example,Thomas Friedman,“Can China Make the Big Leagues?” San Diego Union (11 April 2001): 8;“ABC Strikes Deal With Star Sports For Philippines.” Media Asia (6 May 2005): 12; Herman L. Masin.“Bravo Barcelona.” Coach & Athletic Director (March 2007): 5–6.
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greatly increase the salaries, wealth, and other benefits of all players and especially those in professional basketball.As a result, this may cause political pressure among some socialists in government to react and thus overtax the income of these rich athletes and then redistribute the amounts to poor Chinese people or households in rural areas. Another potential issue that involves the privatization of team sports is the shift in control and power from government bureaucrats in China to investors in local basketball teams. Certainly that change in relations may create tensions among some bureaucracies within the country’s central sports agencies. Relative to the sport’s reforms, progress, and future in China, there are fewer opportunities for basketball organizations to emerge, expand, and become more business-oriented in the Philippines and Spain.That is, within the latter two countries, there seem to be very few imminent or overriding economic incentives for government officials to further commercialize the sport’s operations and therefore to increase the number of semiprofessional and professional basketball leagues and their franchises. Nonetheless, in both nations some local, national, and multinational corporations have decided to sponsor local basketball teams; a few of the countries’ television networks have signed agreements with various basketball leagues to broadcast more of their teams’ games during seasons and postseasons; and new online fantasy basketball programs have been developed and recently marketed by a group of entrepreneurs in each of these nations. Finally, a new European division has been formed by the NBA in which an attractive area to locate a new professional basketball franchise in the future is the city of Barcelona or Madrid in Spain. The operation of a European league would be an expensive project and furthermore a risky strategy for the NBA. However, if it is implemented and succeeds, the league may expand again and place additional franchises in other European cities such as Paris in France, Frankfort in Germany, London in England, and Rome in Italy. Consequently, for this sport to prosper, the most immediate and important and potential business opportunities exist within China and then in Spain, and least of all, in the Philippines.
Soccer Although the world’s most talented soccer players and successful national teams have tended to perform in international events for Brazil, the sport’s business environment there is backward, inferior, and obsolete in comparison with those that exist in England and Germany.As a result, some Brazilian
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sports officials and government decision-makers have initiated a few reforms to reorganize the country’s sports culture and accordingly to commercialize a major portion of the nation’s soccer programs, and some of its amateur leagues and their teams. Moreover, since the late 1990s, Brazil’s government has implemented a number of new laws and regulations to minimize the crimes, violations, and other illegal activities that have been detected and continue to occur with respect to the game of soccer.For one or more reasons,these are common and well-known problems that have prevailed for years despite the sport’s growth in popularity among the country’s fans and Brazil’s great victories in soccer matches and tournaments against their rivals from America, Asia, and Europe. In effect, it is the transition of leagues and teams from being amateurs to performing as semiprofessionals and professionals, and also reducing criminal actions that, in part, are the most important business aspects of the sport in Brazil.8 Meanwhile, the commercialization, growth, and popularity of soccer as a team sport are apparent, ongoing, and typical within England and Germany. In some ways, these trends have generated some benefits, costs, and risks for the game in both nations. For example, the incomes of soccer coaches and players, and the revenues and market values of franchises have each soared in recent years. Alternatively, the expenses of owners to operate a team in the English Premier League and Germany’s Bundesliga have significantly increased, but so have the ticket prices for fans to attend these and other leagues’ local and international soccer events.Thus, these and other types of business and economic problems are related to the sport within each nation. Furthermore, in England, some teams in soccer leagues have struggled with whether to display logos of companies on their players’ uniforms; how to equitably allocate, among their group, the revenues received from licenses, sponsorships, and media contracts; and, when their games are being overexposed from being frequently broadcast on television and radio networks, and cable channels. Meanwhile in Germany, soccer clubs are increasingly forced to become more businesslike and expected to earn additional 8
For sure, the commercial environment of soccer is evident in many countries across the world. It is briefly discussed, respectively, for Brazil, England, and Germany in such articles as Peter Fritsch. “Brazilian Soccer Seeks a Bounce on the Field of Finance.” Wall Street Journal (25 August 1998): B1; Chris Gratton. “The Peculiar Economics of English Professional Football.” Soccer & Society (Spring 2000): 11–28; Gregg Gethard.“How Soccer Explains Post-War Germany.” Soccer & Society (Spring 2006): 51–61.
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revenues and profits. Consequently, this means that they must bid for and hire the best soccer players in Europe and then negotiate to pay these athletes huge amounts of money in salaries and fringe benefits; to aggressively establish commercial relationships with businesses, other sports leagues, and especially marketing organizations of different countries; and to manage and operate their organizations based primarily on the philosophy of self-interest and maximizing short-run profits, and not for the purpose of goodwill, the general public, or social reasons. Even so, it is to win World Cups and other global championships in the sport that are the most important goals of elite soccer teams in England and Germany, and also for those in Brazil. Hence given various trends in the commercialization and globalization of team sports, the clubs of these three countries will require more and more financial capital and economic resources to play outstanding soccer in events. In the end, nations must gradually, prudently, and rationally invest in professionalizing their local and national soccer programs, and also their amateur leagues and teams.
Ice Hockey As a team sport, it is primarily amateur and semiprofessional — and not professional — ice hockey (or simply hockey) leagues and their teams that dominate the game in Canada, the Czech Republic, and Finland. Nevertheless, there are a few business and economic aspects and implications of the sport in each of these nations. To illustrate, the six NHL franchises located in Canada are the most competitive and popular hockey teams there, and obviously, they operate as professional organizations. Indeed, the Toronto Maple Leafs and five other Canadian-based clubs have been relatively prosperous in recent years because of a favorable exchange rate between the currencies of the United States and Canada.9 9 Ice hockey is an international team sport that involves business, finance, and/or economic topics in various countries. For a few of these matters in the three nations that are each featured in Chapter 5, see, respectively, Thomas D. Hinch. “Canadian Sport and Culture in the Tourism Marketplace.” Tourism Geographies (February 2006): 15–30; Ruth Walker. “Money Woes Put Canada’s ‘National Game’ at Risk.” Christian Science Monitor (20 April 1999): 8; Daniel Munich and Brad R. Humphreys. “Ice Hockey Arena: National Pride or Normal Business?” Prague Business Journal (11–17 February 2002): 11;“Czech Ice Hockey Teams Accept Deal.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 9 May 2008]; Jukka Aarnio. “Breaking the Ice.” World & I (February 1994): 242–251; “Milestones of Finnish Ice Hockey.” http://www. finhockey.fi [cited 3 June 2007].
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Certainly if the US dollar continues to decline in purchasing power relative to the Canadian dollar, then the profits and market values of the 24 NHL franchise that are based on America will decrease in comparison with these amounts of the league’s half-dozen teams in Canada. Besides a currency ratio, owners of the NHL’s Canadian teams have also benefited from a salary cap that was negotiated by the league and players’ association after the lockout in 2004. Still, these and any other professional hockey franchises with sites in Canada must remember to operate as business enterprises in their respective markets, and thus, they should focus on winning games in their domestic leagues and while playing in any regional or international events. For various reasons, the numbers and types of commercial issues among hockey leagues, clubs, and other organizations within the Czech Republic and Finland have tended to increase in recent years. Since the Czech Republic became an independent nation during the early 1990s, its professional hockey federation has been involved with the salaries paid by teams and the transfer rights and decisions of their players. Besides those matters, there are also more corporate sponsors who subsidize local Czech teams in the sport; some new sport facilities and private hockey camps, clinics, and workshops have been established in the Czech Republic to educate and train the nation’s young male and female hockey athletes; and the city of Prague has been mentioned as a site in Europe to host a future NHL club. Furthermore, the Czech Republic has built one or more modern arenas for ice hockey events. As a result, there have been frequent articles in the nation’s newspapers and other publications about how to finance and efficiently operate these arenas without public subsidies, or for the objective of earning an economic profit. Because some tenants of these facilities are semiprofessional and/or professional Czech hockey teams, fundamental business criteria are indeed the basis for any arena to earn above-average returns for local taxpayers and other investors in them. In Finland, several business and economic principles have played an important role in the decisions of hockey’s policy makers and government officials. First, the Finnish Hockey Association is structured to operate somewhat like a commercial enterprise as indicated in its mission statement and organization chart. Second, the owners of professional hockey teams are known to apply management and financial concepts with respect to satisfying the demands of their investors, coaches, players, and other staff. Third, the most entertaining, popular, and successful sports organization in the country is the 34-year-old SM-liiga, which is a professional hockey league that consists of various teams. In short, most of Finland’s many hockey enterprises are subsidized in some way by money from sponsors and/or funds from federal
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or local governments. Even so, these organizations are led by experienced hockey officials, former players, and perhaps business executives and managers who became entrepreneurs in manufacturing and service industries, and later, experts in the game of hockey.
Cricket As denoted in Appendix A, the game of cricket is the most common, popular, and widespread team sport within the nations of Australia, India, and Pakistan. For specific business issues about them, it is Cricket Australia that essentially governs and controls cricket’s media rights and sponsorships, and also initiates and implements reforms in the sport, schedules events of the respective cricket leagues and teams, and in part, monitors and oversees the contracts of teams’ players.To accomplish some of these tasks, this prestigious organization coordinates certain activities with the Australian Cricketers Association, which represents players in matters that are related to collective bargaining. For decades, a number of Australian cricket officials, players, and clubs have been implicitly and actually involved in crimes and unethical practices that, in turn, did adversely affect the culture and business side of the sport. In recent years, however, cricket administrators have adopted new regulations and rules to uncover and punish those found guilty of ignoring and violating the sport’s code of conduct and teams’ policies.Anyway, because Australian cricket teams are extraordinarily competitive and among the most ruthless and successful groups that play this sport, they have the financial support of the nation’s business community and government to sponsor them in such events as the Ashes, World Cups, and other international matches and tournaments.10 10
The game of cricket is entertaining, commercial, and popular in such nations as Australia, India, and Pakistan. For a reading about the business development of this sport in these countries, see, respectively, M. Bhattacharya, “The Game is Not the Same:The Demand For Test Match Cricket in Australia.” Australian Economic Papers, Vol. 42 (2003): 77–90; Braham Dabscheck, “Australian Professional Team Sports in a State of Flux.” International Sports Economics Comparisons (2004): 337–342;“Not Cricket.” Business India Intelligence (7 April 2004): 1–2; Joanna Slater. “One Man’s Drive Helps Make Cricket a Big-Money Sport.” Wall Street Journal (27 February 2003): A1, A2; “Musharraf Bowls a Bouncer.” Economist (20 March 2007): 42–43; “Pakistan Set to Follow Indian Premier League Suit.” http://economictimes.indiatimes.com [cited 20 May 2008].
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Despite its unique sports environment, India may soon challenge Australia and England to become the world’s most powerful nation that excels in the commercialization and globalization of cricket. Indeed, these actions can occur because of India’s booming economy and emerging middle class, and the investments currently being allocated to the sport by the country’s entrepreneurs and successful business enterprises involved in such industries as Internet technology and computer software. Interestingly, more money is being spent by them and other Indian groups for advertising, marketing, and sponsoring cricket’s professional teams and players, for funding operations and events of the newly formed Indian Premier League, and for expanding the broadcast of local matches and international tournaments into homes and entertainment outlets within India and in households of neighboring countries. For sure, India’s Cricket Board is the wealthiest organization in the sport and also, it has assumed a leadership role in extending the game across that nation and into other areas of the subcontinent. In contrast to cricket’s image, popularity, and progress in Australia and India, Pakistan has some very serious and internal cultural, economic, and security issues that will likely prevent this sport from ever becoming a highly commercial success in that country. Indeed, within Pakistan, there are frequent bomb attacks and threats by extremists and religious fanatics; and scandals by the sport’s players who occasionally try to fix cricket matches for criminals and the mafia, and then who bet on one or more of these matches, and also, there are conflicts instigated by top Pakistani military personnel who challenge the policies of India’s government officials and its army. Recently, Pakistan’s Cricket Board has feuded with a government committee of the nation about the types, returns, and risks of investments in its bank accounts. In total, these issues have slowed the commercial development and growth of cricket, and its potential as a business activity, within Pakistan. Perhaps the new Pakistan Premier League of cricket will become a success in the region and thereby improve the business environment of the game and other team sports in that country. To finish this part of the chapter, the five nations with the most advantageous commercial and economic conditions — and the five with the least advantageous — for each of the team sports highlighted in this book are, respectively, Japan and Venezuela in baseball, China and the Philippines in basketball, England and Brazil in soccer, the Czech Republic
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and Finland in ice hockey, and India and Pakistan in cricket. Alternatively, about the same commercial and economic conditions that exist today will continue to prevail into the future for the Dominican Republic in baseball, Spain in basketball, Germany in soccer, Canada in ice hockey, and Australia in cricket.
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Appendix
A Cricket in Australia, India, and Pakistan
ORIGINS OF CRICKET In the literature of sports, there are different theories and facts about the earliest dates when cricket was established in various regions of the world, and also when the game was played by athletes as a type of team sport. One theory, for example, refers to reports which indicated that shepherds, while tending sheep on their farms, had met for fun and defended wicket gates in a paddock fence from being hit by stones — as thrown by other shepherds — and used a crook to stop and knock away the stones. Alternatively, another theory suggests that the sport had originated in years of the 8th century.That is, it started from bat and ball games played by children in the Punjab region of southern Asia. Or, perhaps cricket emerged during the 9th century when Normans introduced the sport into England after a conquest of the Saxons. Despite these and other historical references, it was sometime in the mid- to late-1500s that a form of cricket had been played by pupils who attended the Royal Grammar School, which was located in England’s Borough of Guildford, Surrey County. As such, the game probably evolved over several decades into an adult sport and especially between the early 1600s and 1700s
215
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when matches were played within and near the London area by aristocratic gentlemen who learned to hit a small ball that was pitched by bowlers. In turn, these bowlers were known to be men from the lower classes of English society.1 Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, there were some significant developments that happened as the sport expanded and became more available, organized, and popular in Europe. During the former 100-year period, for example, clubs from Kent and Surrey Counties played the first game of cricket at Dartford Brent in 1709 and approximately 35 years later, sports officials established a number of laws and rules that were standards for such matters as the dimensions of a cricket field, size of wickets and weight of a ball, length of a pitch, and the distance between bowling, and popping creases. Consequently, as other significant innovations occurred in cricket that involved batting, bowling, and catching techniques, and also as the founding of important institutions like England’s Marylebone Cricket Club in 1787 were realized, numerous gentlemen as members of English sporting clubs, and many athletes from public schools, each began to play and enjoy the game. Thus, cricket gradually spread across the British Empire and into other areas of the world. Furthermore, within the 19th century, two events took place that increased participation and an interest in the game among the populations of various countries.These events were the sport’s first international cricket match — which was completed in 1844 at New York’s St. Georges Club between teams from the United States and Canada — and second, in 1877 some touring clubs from Australia and England met and competed in the sport’s first test match which was scheduled at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Australia. Anyway, between the late 1890s and mid- to late-1910s, cricket had entered a so-called “golden age” whereby foreign teams played with enthusiasm and pride in matches that were dominated by such great and charismatic batsmen as William Grace and Chares Fry and by superstar bowlers like Frederick Spofforth and Wilfred Rhodes. Moreover, after that era ended, 1 For the information in this section of the chapter, see “History of Cricket.” http://www.answers.com [cited 11 July 2007];“Origins of Cricket.” http://www.dangermouse.net [cited 11 July2007]; “Cricket, History of.” http://uk.encarta.msn.com [cited 11 July 2007]; “Was This How Cricket Evolved.” http://www.athleticscholarships.net [cited 11 July 2007]. Also, there are facts and statistics about the sport in “History of Cricket.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007].
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other countries eventually joined Australia and England as test nations while Australian Don Bradman developed his skills and played brilliantly to become the sport’s all-time greatest batsman and also, he excelled as a bowler until he retired in 1948. In fact, during some matches of the early 1930s, England adopted several disreputable and infamous “bodyline” tactics to prevent Bradman from scoring more runs for Australia. Nevertheless, as a result of the game’s famous players and increasing popularity, it was after World War II that cricket expanded geographically as a sport and especially into many cities and rural communities of India, New Zealand, Pakistan, and the West Indies. Although many national cricket teams from these and other countries had played competitively in the sport’s test matches during the late 1940s through 1950s, disputes and troubles arose during the early 1960s when apartheid caused South Africa to leave the Commonwealth of Nations and withdraw their organization and officials from the International Cricket Council (ICC). Then in the mid-1970s, Australian television mogul Kerry Packer had destabilized global cricket events when he decided to sign the world’s best players to lucrative contracts and then arranged for them to play in a series of televised matches called super tests. While Packer’s actions were considered controversial by officials and thus created major problems in cricket for years, the sport continued to expand and improve its image during the 1980s and into the early 1990s — which was believed to be the sport’s “new golden age.” That is, various countries’ national cricket teams began to play matches more aggressively; several talented and athletic cricket players excelled on clubs and performed for spectators after they had developed and refined their batting and bowling skills; the ICC introduced a test championship event and a oneday international competition; a twenty20 series of matches were invented and scheduled for play; and such inter-country cricket tournaments as the Asia Cup, Champions Trophy, International Cup, NatWest Series, VB Series, and World Cup became competitive, outstanding, and well-publicized events.
Cricket in America Before discussing its origins, traditions, and specific roles as a very entertaining and popular game within three of the world’s test nations, cricket has been regarded as a secondary sport in the United States since the mid- to late-1800s when baseball became this nation’s pastime. Even so, for a brief
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overview of how cricket had emerged, operated, and developed within America, the following are some key dates and historical events of importance to be remembered. During the 1700s, for example, cricket was mentioned as a sport by journalists in sections of their local newspapers while some matches had reportedly occurred between neighborhood teams who played in cities on the east coast such as in Savanna, Georgia, and New York City. Then in the 1800s, a few experienced cricket teams from Australia, Canada, and England toured the United States and played exhibition games there against competitors from US-based amateur organizations and clubs, and opponents from American colleges and universities. In approximately 1850, consumer surveys denoted that a total of 10,000 Americans competed in cricket games as the sport gradually spread from cities on the US east coast to a number of States in the nation’s Midwest, South and West. However, because it was perceived by the American people to be a dangerous, elitist and boring activity, cricket was replaced nationally in exposure, popularity, and participation by baseball. In fact, as of the early 1870s, the latter sport included about 2000 teams and 100,000 players in the United States, and it had attracted approximately 250,000 spectators per year to its games.2 While amateur and professional baseball leagues became increasingly more popular and widespread during periods of the late 1800s into decades of the 1900s and early years of the 2000s, people’s interest in cricket declined in the United States although the sport continued to exist in several urban areas and on college campuses as a minor type of activity. Nonetheless, some of the most important post-1900 developments in American cricket included the following years and matters: establishment of the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) in 1961; admission of the USACA as an associate member of the ICC in 1965; start of an American professional cricket league in 2004, and also that year, the participation of a national US cricket team in the ICC’s 6 Nations tournament with the team qualifying for an ICC Champions Trophy, and the announcement 2
See, for example, John Marder and Adrian Cole.“Cricket in the USA.” http://contentusa.cricinfo.com [cited 19 June 2007]; Simon Worrall,“Cricket,Anyone?” Smithsonian (October 2006): 56–64;“Howdy Pardner, Howzat?” Economist (6 October 1990): 27; Tom Melville, The Tented Field: A History of Cricket in America (Bowling Green University, KY: Popular Press, 1998); Tom Melville and Ian Chappell, Cricket For Americans: Playing and Understanding the Game (Bowling Green University, KY: Popular Press, 1993).
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of a multimillion-dollar plan named Project USA to expand the sport across the country; and in 2005, the suspension of the USACA from the ICC because the US national team had performed poorly in the 2005 ICC Champions Trophy tournament and thus, it was banned from the ICC’s official events in the future. When the ban on the USACA was lifted by the ICC, in 2007 a national US cricket team competed in one-day tournaments overseas with its primary players being West Indian cricketers who were living in the State of Florida. Furthermore, in 2007 cricket continued to be a club sport played at such prominent American universities as Cornell in Ithaca, New York, and Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. Generally these schools’ cricket teams have been composed of foreign students who emigrated from test nations that excel in and dominate the sport. Indeed, some student groups in the United States have enjoyed playing the sport given its challenges, and excitement and fun. It is my belief, however, that cricket will continue to exist but be a third-tier and underappreciated sport in America.This is because the game’s rules require strict civility, complete cooperation, and gentlemanly conduct, which are each contrary characteristics in a US sporting culture that is defined by individualism and the inflated egos of players, and also by an environment predominately based on commercialism, money, and the wealth of professional sports leagues and their franchises. Therefore, the following sections of this chapter will focus on cricket’s culture, history, and status within the societies of Australia, India, and Pakistan.To attain that goal for this study, I thoroughly researched the literature and then identified and selected these three nations because they each have been strong and longstanding competitors and tremendous superpowers in the sport. Furthermore, one or more of their national teams are frequently talented enough and successful at winning titles when they participate in any of the reputable, top notch, and well-known international cricket tournaments that were held abroad especially during years within the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
CRICKET IN AUSTRALIA In Australia, the first references to versions of a team sport similar to cricket appeared in the Sydney Gazette during the very early 1800s. Indeed, this newspaper mentioned in articles how weather conditions could adversely impact athletes and other participants who had played this sport.Then in the
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1830s and 1840s, some actions, places, and players of cricket games were painted as pictures and/or photographed by various artists and also displayed in some literature published within Australia. Consequently, before the late 1850s, the sport had rapidly spread throughout the nation while special matches were being played between clubs in such cities as Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth. It was a few years after the mid-1980s, therefore, that international cricket events started to occur while Australian and English teams began to tour and compete in matches within each other’s country.3 To coordinate, govern, and regulate the schedules of the country’s national cricket teams and their participation in regional and worldwide games and tournaments, the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket Matches was established in 1905. Sixty eight years later, the organization changed its title to Australian Cricket Board, and then in 2003, it became known as Cricket Australia. Throughout its history and long tenure, this administrative group has been challenged and threatened by several critical issues. These issues, for example, included disputes and other matters that arose between Australian cricket officials and teams’ senior players in 1912; by global sports fans who were outraged at England for using unethical and dirty “bodyline” series in 1932–1933 during matches against Australia; by the scheduling of tours of rebellious cricket teams from Australia in years of the 1980s; and by the threat of a player’s strike in 1997. Despite teams’ cash flow and revenue problems, and even with the high rate of turnover of numerous Board chairmen including Don Bradman in the 1960s, Cricket Australia has been relatively successful at centralizing, energizing, and leading the sport within the nation, and also at controlling it with respect to conflicts and interactions with foreign countries.
National Teams and Players Since the sport was introduced to the nation during the early 1800s, Australian cricket teams have been very competitive within their domestic 3 The sport is described for Australia in M. Bhattacharya,“The Game is Not the Same: The Demand For Test Match Cricket in Australia.” Australian Economic Papers, Vol. 42 (2003): 77–90; “Cricket Australia History.” http://www.cricket.com [cited 19 June 2007]; A. Mitchell,“Early Cricket in Australia.” http://www.atmitchell.com [cited 19 June 2007]; Idem.,“Cricket in Australia:The Great Rivals.”http://www.atmitchell.com [cited 19 June 2007]; “Cricket Australia.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]; Richard Beard, Many Pursuits: Beating the Australians (London, England: Yellow Jersey Press, 2006).
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leagues and extremely difficult to defeat by rivals in international matches. Four specific reasons for these Aussie clubs’ long-run achievements and power are as follows. (1) The country’s warm temperature and sunny climate encourages kids, teenagers, and young adults to play sports games and therefore practice outdoors with their teammates. (2) The sport is played by a majority of the best athletes who attend Australian schools, and these cricket players receive national recognition and also media coverage and some rewards for their accomplishments. (3) If successful at club cricket, the most talented players in the sport may advance and be included on the roster of a county team and then if qualified, to be selected for a regional or national team. Four, cricket teams from the country “Down Under” always strive to win because finishing second in events is not an acceptable option for them. In short, cricket players are proud of their athleticism, competitiveness, and sportsmanship, while almost all Australian teams play aggressively but conscientiously against foreign clubs they meet in matches. Based on popularity, status, and tradition, the most prominent and publicized sport group in Australia is its national men’s cricket team. Formed as an organization in the mid- to late-1800s, the club has won more than 65 percent of its test matches as of March 2007 (for more details about the achievements of this team, see Tables B.12 and B.14–B.15 in Appendix B). Besides that exceptional proportion of victories, there also have been great wins for Australian men teams in recent series played against such superpowers as Bangladesh, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, and South Africa. Even so, since a test match that was played in 1882, Australia’s most intense and strongest rivalry in cricket has been against England as its opponent in a tournament named the Ashes. This unique competition — which involves only the national teams of these two great nations — attracts large and enthusiastic crowds, and determines which of these two world-class clubs is superior that year.4 Indeed, there are a number of special factors that explain, in part, why the Ashes — which is the name of a trophy urn located in the Lords of London — has been, and perhaps always will be, the most important, popular, and sensational competition in cricket. First, as a conflict between countries since the colonial period,Australians have generally regarded the English to 4 To supplement the contents in “Cricket in Australia,”Tables B.14–B.16 in Appendix B provide the performances of Australia’s men cricket teams in various events against the other nine test nations for selected years. These tournaments include test matches, twenty20 internationals, and one-day internationals.
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be condescending and prudish, and in contrast, are themselves considered by the British to be a crude and uncultured people. Nonetheless, the two groups of teams, coaches, and players from each country always respect each other when they compete during the Ashes. Second, before the 1940s the two rivals played fewer test matches than they did after World War II. Hence, sports fans who have attended home matches in, respectively, Melbourne and London, have a tradition of passionately and vigorously rooting for their nation’s team. Third, Australia and English cricket fans read newspaper reports and also watch newsreels in movie theaters and sports on television for results of the Ashes.This great inquisitiveness, in turn, stimulates people’s interest and thus inspires them to be very aware and informed about the outcomes of national and global cricket events. Fourth, the tournament’s test matches between these countries’ teams have usually been dramatic, hard-fought, and evenly played contests.As a result, the series of Ashes have been important events for cricket fans in each nation to see at their home stadium, watch on television, and read about in the print media.5 Besides the great batsman Don Bradman, other Australians cricketers have become legends before, during, and/or after the Ashes. These athletes include, for example, Dennis Lillee. He was an accurate but fast bowler and during the 1970s and early 1980s, took a total of 355 test wickets in only 70 tests. Furthermore, there were such national team captains as Allan Border, Mark Taylor, and Steve Waugh who each had scored numerous runs in various matches against England and also led Australia to winning every Ashes’ in the series from 1989 to 2003. Finally, in 1993 the great leg-spin bowler Shane Warne spun “the ball of the century” to England’s best batsman Mike Gatting at the Old Trafford cricket ground in City of Manchester. Consequently, Warne became an alltime hero in the sport for Australians. Recently, some of the other fabulous players who have excelled on Aussie teams in various cricket tournaments include Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, and Ricky Ponting. Two of the world’s most historic and traditional cricket stadiums are located in Australia. Known for being as prominent a stadium as England’s 5
The Ashes are discussed — regarding Australia and its teams’ performances — in Julian Knight, Cricket For Dummies (West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2006). Another book about the competitiveness of the country in cricket matches and tournaments is Peter Roebuck. In It to Win It:The Australian Cricket Supremacy (Crows Nest, New South Wales:Allen & Unwin, 2006).
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Lords — which is considered in the sport to be “The Home of Cricket” or “Headquarters” — Australia’s MCG had hosted the first test match of all-time in 1877 when Australia defeated England by 45 runs. In contrast to the aesthetics and architecture of Lords, the MCG contains cricket’s largest playing surface where a Boxing Day test match is scheduled each year before a capacity crowd. Besides the distinguished MCG, the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) has also existed as a special building since the late 1800s. In this stadium, Australia beat England in a test match in 1882, and on the facility’s ground is the “The Hill at Sydney” where noisy crowds sit and harass their opponents, and thus divert the attention of players from the visiting foreign teams. In short, the MCG and SCG rank with Britain’s Lords and The Oval in London as the world’s four greatest cathedrals of modern cricket.
International Cricket Events To realize and measure the competitiveness and achievements of Australia’s national men cricket teams in various global tournaments, two tables were constructed using data and other information from online sources. That is, according to columns one and two of Table A.1, between 1975 and 2007 inclusive Australia’s men cricket teams were dominant by winning 4 or 44 percent
Table A.1 World Cup Cricket Champions and Runner-Up, by Scores, 1975–2007 Year
Champion
Runner-Up
Score
1975 1979 1983 1987 1992 1996 1999 2003 2007
West Indies West Indies India Australia Pakistan Sri Lanka Australia Australia Australia
Australia England West Indies England England Australia Pakistan India Sri Lanka
291–274 286–191 183–140 253–246 249–227 245–241 133–132 359–234 281–215
Note: Score is measured in number of runs scored for each champion and runner-up by year. Source: “Cricket World Cup History, Champions.” http://cricket-world-cup-2007.html [cited 1 September 2007]; “Gilchrist Takes Australia to Third Straight ICC CWC Triumph.” http://cricketworldcup.indya.com [cited 1 September 2007].
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of the World Cup cricket championships. And based on the table’s fourth column,the country had outscored its opponents as a four-time champion with a cumulative total of 1026 runs in comparison with the West Indies’ 577 runs scored in 1975 plus 1979, and as a four-time champion and two-time runner-up with a total of 1541 runs in contrast to the West Indies’ sum of 717 and England’s 664. For one expert’s assessment of Australia’s men cricket team prior to playing in the 2007 World Cup, he stated, “The team from down-under are [is] favourites [favored] to lift the trophy for a third consecutive time.They have fantastic batsmen and bowlers and their fielding is second to none.” Indeed, Australia defeated Sri Lanka 281–215 in April of 2007 by a Duckworth/Lewis method at the Kensington Oval in a game that was ruined for spectators because of extremely bad weather. Nonetheless, as a result of winning that World Cup, Australia had extended its unbeaten streak to 29 consecutive games in the tournament since the team’s last defeat was in a semifinal match to South Africa in 1999.6 Meanwhile,Table A.2 depicts Australia’s national men teams’ accomplishments in three other international tournaments.The competition listed first in the table is named the Australian Tri-Series. Being sponsored in some years by such businesses as Commonwealth Bank, Benson & Hedges, and Carlton & United Beverages, this event is a series of one-day internationals that are played each winter between three cricket teams and in which the top two of them qualify for the finals.To be specific, during a tournament the three teams compete against each other eight times and after this round robin of matches is completed, the top two sides battle one another in a three-match final series. As denoted in the table, Australia has won 8 or 72 percent of the TriSeries championships while finishing runner-up to England in 2006–2007 and ending in third place in 1996–1997 and 2001–2002. Of the nation’s several victories in this event, the most wickets have been scored by such Australian cricketers as Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, and Nathan Bracken. The next event reviewed in Table A.2 is the NatWest Series. For sure, it is a one-day international tournament played each summer in England between the home side and two of the cricket season’s touring teams. Essentially, each team competes against another six times at one or more of seven English test match grounds.When this round robin concludes, the two 6 For the quoted statement in the paragraph, see “Under starters orders for the 2007 World Cup” on page 223 of Cricket For Dummies. Beside the sources in Table A.1, there is “Australia National Cricket Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007].
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Cricket in Australia, India, and Pakistan 225 Table A.2 Three Cricket Tournaments, Results by Country, Selected Years Year
Winner
Runner-Up
Third Place
Australian Tri-Series 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998–1999 1999–2000 2000–2001 2001–2002 2002–2003 2003–2004 2004–2005 2005–2006 2006–2007
Pakistan Australia Australia Australia Australia South Africa Australia Australia Australia Australia England
West Indies South Africa England Pakistan Zimbabwe New Zealand England India Pakistan Sri Lanka Australia
Australia New Zealand Sri Lanka India West Indies Australia Sri Lanka Zimbabwe West Indies South Africa New Zealand
NatWest Series 2000–2001 2001–2002 2002–2003 2003–2004 2004–2005 2005–2006
England Australia India England New Zealand Australia/England
Zimbabwe Pakistan England South Africa West Indies NA
West Indies England Sri Lanka Zimbabwe England Bangladesh
ICC Champions Trophy 1998–1999 2000–2001 2002–2003 2004–2005 2006–2007
South Africa New Zealand India/Sri Lanka West Indies Australia
West Indies India NA England West Indies
India South Africa NA Pakistan NA
Note: New Zealand and South Africa were defeated in the semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2006–2007 by the winning and runner-up teams from, respectively,Australia and the West Indies. Source: “Australian Tri-Series.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 1 September 2007]; “NatWest Series.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 1 September 2007]; “ICC Champions Trophy History.” http://www.iloveindia.com [cited 1 September 2007]; “History of ICC Champions Trophy.” http://www.mapsofindia.com [cited 1 September 2007].
best clubs play each other to determine the winner in a final at the historic Lords stadium in London. Interestingly, Bangladesh shocked the world in the 2005–2006 NatWest Series by defeating Australia in at match at the Cardiff County grounds.
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The final, however, ended in a tie because Australia and England had each scored 196 runs. Even so, England — which is the host country of this event — has not been very successful in one-day cricket matches and thus had failed to make the finals in two or one-third of the NatWest Series. Finally, in the biennial ICC Champions Trophy, teams from the world’s test-playing nations join two associate members of the ICC in a series of round-robin group matches. Then the top team in each of the four groups qualifies for the semifinals with the winners of these competing in a final set of games. Generally, the cricket teams from such second-division countries as Ireland, Kenya, and the United Arab Emirates tend to be inferior in quality or unprepared to win, which means that most of the matches in this competition have favored the test nations and thus been one-sided. Furthermore, some nations chose not to participate in this tournament because they have previously committed to other one-day and/or international test cricket events. As a result, during 1998–2007, six different test countries have shared or won outright the ICC Champions Trophy. That is, only teams from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe neither have finished first or runner-up in this tournament nor have national teams from the three second-division nations mentioned before in this paragraph and also from the other five ICC associate members, who, respectively, are Canada, Namibia, the Netherlands, Scotland, and the United States. Besides the events in Tables A.1 and A.2, a relatively new global tournament titled the ICC World Twenty20 Championship was played, for example, in September 2007 between one dozen international cricket teams at venues located in the South African cities of Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg. Introduced in 2003 as an innovation of the national cricket boards of England and Wales, the tournament is unique because it limits matches to 20 overs and 75 min in each of the innings. In 2007’s ICC World Twenty20 Championship, there were four groups with teams from Australia, England, and Zimbabwe assigned to and competing in Group B, and a top-seeded club from South Africa in Group A, from New Zealand in Group C, and from Pakistan in Group D. The two top teams in each of the groups — whose winners were determined by the run rate if their total points had matched — further qualified to enter a second stage.Then, the best four of these teams played in the semifinals after which the top two battled each other in the finals. Given this format of matches, India won that Championship after defeating Australia by 15 runs in the semifinals and then Pakistan by five runs in the finals.
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During each summer of a year, a company named the Sweeneyy Sports Report (SSR) — also the title of a survey that has been published since 1988 — polls adults in Australia to reveal this nation’s most popular sport based on its population’s demand and need for it.As such, the SSR measures the level of interest for each of the country’s sports by consolidating the statistics from several types of data. These include measurements of each sport’s participation rate, attendances at its games, and the number of television viewers and radio listeners, print media readers and internet users. With respect to these criteria during 2006–2007, cricket outranked swimming 59–57 percent and thus, it was the sport for which Australians had the most interest. According to officials at SSR, the two reasons for cricket’s rise in popularity among people in that nation were, first, the exploits and successes of the Australian men’s test team in tournaments, and second, an increase in the number of fans who watch the sport on television and listen to matches on the radio, and also who play it for fun and/or as members of amateur, club, and professional cricket teams. Alternatively, swimming’s drop in interest in the SSR occurred in part because of Olympic champion and superstar Ian Thorpe’s absence from the sport, and his retirement from it in November 2006. After cricket and swimming, Australia’s third, fourth, and fifth most popular sports stated in percentages of interest were, respectively, tennis at 56 percent followed by golf at 31 percent and basketball at 26 percent. In short, for the first year since 1991–1992, Australians participated in, supported, and respected men’s cricket to a greater extent than they did swimming and the country’s other major and minor sports.7 Because of its historical events, teams, and traditions, cricket will continue to be a popular sport in Australia during the early- to mid-2000s. This prediction is based somewhat on two articles that were published in the literature before the 2007 ICC World Cup final had been played in Bridgetown, Barbados. One article revealed the reasons why cricket is an aggressive, fast-paced, and often violent international game that Australians have often dominated for years across the world. Indeed, it is this nation’s teams and their hardnosed methods and tactical strategies — which are each 7
See Martin Hirons, “Cricket Captures ‘Most Interest’ Cap.” http://www.sweeneyresearch.com [cited 20 June 2007].This reading includes Table 1: Interest 2006–07 and Table 2: Interest trends for selected sports 1988–89 to 2006–07. Furthermore, the Sweeney report discusses sports topics in Australia such as “swimming slips to second place,”“tennis rebounds” and “AFL continues to fend soccer.”
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aspects of the game of cricket — that are not fully understood by American and European sports fans. In contrast, the other article highlighted some dramatic performances of Australian cricket teams in previous World Cup competitions, and then analyzed the nation’s relentless motivation and obsession to excel against opponents in all test matches, and in global cricket series, tours, and tournaments. To clarify his or her views, the author of the first reading commented: “But if there’s one good thing that might come out of an Aussie victory [in the 2007 World Cup], it would be this:Americans might understand, at long last, that cricket isn’t played by a bunch of petunias.” Meanwhile in the second article, this statement had appeared:“The story of Australia’s dominance of world cricket is grist for non-fiction best-sellers of the “Secret of Success” variety. Yet, if it must be compressed, two words suffice: continuity and ruthlessness.” In other words, there is tremendous internal pressure and great expectations from local fans and regional officials within Australia for its national teams to be successful in international cricket events despite the lack of information and statistics about how the sport affects its popularity among various businesses, governments, and populations of people who are located in other regions of the world.8
CRICKET IN INDIA During the early 1700s, groups of British sailors introduced a new sport in India.That is, these men played games of cricket against their compatriots for entertainment while they had enjoyed shore leave on the country’s west coast. Hence as the sport expanded there, it was in the 1790s that the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club became an important organization. Meanwhile, some cricket matches continued to occur and being played between British military personnel and natives of Bombay (a city renamed Mumbai in 1995) during the early- to mid-1800s.Then India’s Parsees — who were the first locals in a community to actively participate in the sport — established the Oriental Cricket Club in 1848. Sixteen years later, some Hindus set up the Bombay Union Hindu Club, and it preceded by decades the founding of the Parsee Gymkhana in 1884. Besides the formation of these different sports organizations, it was during the mid- to late-1800s that 8
In part, Australia’s ambition, dedication, and quest for cricket championships are expressed in Prem Panicker. “We Just Need to Win.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 4 May 2007];“Cricket Politics.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 15 May 2007].
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members of the Madras Cricket Club in the city of Chennai, and later in Chepauk, also played matches against teams of Englishmen who were then living in southern India.9 Beginning in the early years of the 20th century, a few important developments about cricket in India became newsworthy events from a social perspective. For example, during the 1910s some opposing cricket teams that each consisted entirely of Muslims, Parsees, Hindus, or Europeans, competed in a Bombay Quadrangular tournament while the caste system had existed throughout India. This situation meant that many domestic cricket players were being discriminated against because they were isolated and prejudiced when off-the-grounds and out-of-uniform. Furthermore, during these years some competitive cricket teams from India had travelled to England and played amateur matches there against Britain’s elite clubs while in a hostile environment. Nevertheless, as these sporting events and interactions increased in number, India joined cricket’s global governing organization — which was originally named the Imperial Cricket Council and later the ICC — in 1926 and three years later, the nation formed a Board of Control for Cricket (BCC) and started playing home and away test matches in cricket against clubs from Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. Finally, to avoid the communalism of the Bombay Quadrangular tournament, the Ranji Trophy originated as an important cricket event in 1934. Since then, the Ranji Trophy has become the nation’s leading and most prestigious regional cricket competition partly because teams are usually involved in the event from each Indian state. Meanwhile, the India national men’s cricket team — which finished restructuring itself in the early 1900s — improved its performances while playing international test series during the 1930s and early- to mid-1940s.
9
Besides the chapters in Cricket For Dummies that discuss this sport in India, also see Polly Umrigar, “History of the BCCI — Part I.” http://www.cricketforindia.com [cited 19 June 2007]; Salil Tripath,“India at Bat.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 22 June 2007]; “Not Cricket.” Business India Intelligence (7 April 2004): 1–2; “Cricket in India.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]; “India National Cricket Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. Three books about this topic are Mihir Bose’s A History of Indian Cricket (London, England:Andre Deutsch Ltd., 2002), and his The Magic of Indian Cricket: Cricket and Society in India (London, England: Routledge, 2006); K. R. Wadhwaney, Indian Cricket and Corruption (New Delhi, India: Siddharth Publications, 2005).
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As these types of games further emerged, developed, and prospered within the region, the environment and opportunity for international cricket events changed when, in 1947, India won its independence from Great Britain. Even so, India remained divided by religions and also politically such that its national cricket teams were primarily composed of Hindus, who historically have been the nation’s largest spiritual group. Before reviewing the accomplishments of India’s national cricket teams and the performances of these and other Indian clubs in a number of different kinds of domestic and international tournaments, it is worthwhile to briefly discuss three topics that are interesting and relevant to the history of the sport, and how these topics, in part, have impacted the nation’s culture and commercial environment. First, the 80-year-old BCC is the richest and most powerful sports organization in India. With respect to the country’s national cricket teams, the BCC sells rights for the media to televise and broadcast these teams’ matches, negotiates and endorses sponsorships with corporations and other clients, schedules the current and future tours of the teams, and even selects each club’s players. Given its dominance, reputation, and amount of wealth, the BCC has frequently challenged the ICC’s policies, regulations, and standards on various matters. These include, for example, India’s preferences for specific tours and types of sponsorships, and the legitimacy and process of winning an ICC Champions Trophy. In short, the BCC is one of the world’s most influential, outspoken, and prominent institutions in cricket. Second, despite the country’s longstanding experiences with the caste system and also religions, riots and military conflicts, cricket has been a popular and special sport in India for about 100 years.This is because the game tends to generate a sizable amount of revenue for the government while the sport’s insiders and best players are among the highest paid in the world, and because Indian officials have some authority to stipulate how other test nations’ cricket events are administered, organized, and scheduled. A managerial issue, therefore, is whether India can extend its influence and power in cricket’s global markets and increase the sport’s business opportunities and results. Third, there were and continue to be significant differences and inequities between the rewards of India’s national men and women cricket teams. That is, each season players on the former team earn much higher salaries, participate in more test matches and international tournaments, and receive greater subsidies from the government and financial support from local entrepreneurs than do athletes who participate on the latter team.
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Thus, these inequalities between the two national groups suggest that India’s men cricket teams and their coaches and players assume more risks and therefore, they are provided greater economic returns and higher social benefits in comparison with those that have performed in the sport on women’s clubs.
India’s Cricket Events and Champions To expose and examine the various types of domestic cricket tournaments, series, and/or championship matches that have existed within India, and to highlight the winners of these events, Table A.3 was prepared. As such, for more information in this section of the chapter about cricket in India, a brief overview of these events reveals their histories and competitiveness, and why they are important elements of the country’s culture and its sports industry.
Table A.3 Five Domestic Cricket Events, by Champions, Selected Years Tournament
Years
Champions
Ranji Trophy Irani Trophy
1934–2007 1962–2007
Duleep Trophy
1961–2007
Deodhar Trophy
1973–2007
Challenger Trophy
1994–2007
Mumbai (37)/Delhi (6)/Karnataka (6) Rest of India (19)/Mumbai (14)/ Karnataka (4) North Zone (15)/West Zone (13)/ South Zone (10) North Zone (11)/South Zone (8)/ West Zone (8) India Seniors (7)/India A (3,1 tie)/ India B (1 tie)
Note: The Rest of India champions included players from teams other than those of the previous year’s Ranji Trophy winner.The numbers in parenthesis are the total championships won by these teams during, respectively, the tournament’s Years.The Irani Trophy was cancelled in the 1979–1980 season, and the champion teams of it are not available in the literature from 1959–1960 to 1961–1962. For the Duleep Trophy, the West and South Zones tied in 1963–1964, as did the North and West Zones in 1988–1989 and the Central and West Zones in 1997–1998. The Challenger Trophy tournament was not played in 2002–2003 while two teams tied for the Trophy in 1998–1999 and 2006–2007. Source: “Ranji Trophy Statistics.” http://uk.cricinfo.com [cited 6 September 2007]; “Irani Trophy Statistics.” http://uk.cricinfo.com [cited 6 September 2007]; “Duleep Trophy Winners.” http://uk.cricinfo.com [cited 6 September 2007];“Deodhar Trophy Winners.”http://uk.cricinfo.com [cited 6 September 2007];“Challenger Trophy Winners.” http://uk.cricinfo.com [cited 6 September 2007].
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Since it is listed first in column one of the table, the Ranji Trophy was founded in 1934 and accordingly, it has been recognized by national officials as the “Cricket Championship of India.” Indeed, it is a first-class annual event between teams that represent some of the elite cities, states, and zones within India. There have been, however, certain areas of India with more than one team playing in the tournament while other competitors in the event are independent and thus have no regional affiliation. Before 2002, the nation’s cricket teams were grouped into five zones and the winners from these zones competed in a knockout competition to establish a champion. However, beginning in 2002, Indian cricket officials restructured the composition of the Ranji Trophy by replacing the five zones with two divisions of teams. During the 2006–2007 season, the divisions were renamed the Super League and Plate League, and each of these leagues consisted of clubs in Group A and Group B. With respect to the different phases of competition in the Ranji Trophy, the two top teams from each of the leagues’ two groups advance to a knockout stage. If this stage does not determine a winner, then the champion is decided based on the team with a first-innings lead.As indicated in Table A.3, between 1934 and 2007, teams from Mumbai had dominated the Ranji Trophy by winning more than 75 percent of the event’s titles including 15 of them consecutively from the 1962–1963 to 1976–1977 seasons. The Irani Trophy, which was named in memory of former BCC organizer and Treasurer Z. R. Irani, is played each year between the previous season’s Ranji Trophy winner and a Rest of India team. Originally, the match took place at the end of India’s domestic cricket season. But in 1965–1966, it was rescheduled and then played at the start of each new season. Historically, the Irani Trophy has been an entertaining, popular, and prominent event for many Indian fans, officials, and teams, which are involved in the sport.That interest was generated and has been sustained, because India’s best cricket players participate in the tournament and as a result, some of them have been chosen to represent the nation in its foreign tours. Unlike the Ranji Trophy — which has been dominated by one club — a team titled Rest of India and those from the Mumbai area have won a majority of the matches although the former club was champion or runner-up in each cricket season between 1999–2000 and 2006–2007 inclusive. Moreover, the Ranji Trophy’s previous winners include clubs from such cities as Delhi, Haryana, Hyderabad, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. The BCC’s purpose of starting the Duleep Trophy — which originated with the 1961–1962 season — was to increase the domestic competitiveness
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of Indian cricket clubs and also to help the nation’s selection committee assess the abilities, experiences, and leadership qualities of players as potential candidates for India’s national cricket team and the country’s tours and international tournaments. Regarding how the Duleep Trophy has been structured, from 1961 to 1992 inclusive the top teams from each of the nation’s five zones played each other in a knockout type of competition. Then in the 1993–1994 cricket season, the event changed to a league format. Besides the three seasons when two teams from zones had tied for the Trophy (see the Note below Table A.3), the Trophy’s most consistent winners through the 2006–2007 season were the North Zone with 15 titles, West Zone with 13 and South Zone 10. Other champions include the Central Zone with four titles and Elite C with one, while the East Zone has failed to win any titles. In short, the number of champions is more equally distributed among teams who have competed for the Duleep Trophy than those who played for the Ranji Trophy and Irani Trophy. In 1973, the BCC organized the Deodhar Trophy.As such, this event has become India’s premier one-day competition of all its domestic cricket tournaments. Basically, it is played on a league basis among teams in five different zones. Between the cricket seasons of 1973–1974 and 2006–2007 inclusive, the winning teams were from the North Zone with 11, South and West Zones with eight apiece, and from the Central and East Zones each with four. Thus, since the early 1970s there has been a relatively normal distribution of wins among the different zones that have competed for India’s Deodhar Trophy. The final event listed in column one of Table A.3 is the Challenger Trophy. It was adopted and implemented by the BCC in 1994.This unique tournament includes each year three teams that, in total, consist of the top 36 cricket players in India. In 2002–2003, the Challenger Trophy was not scheduled and ties occurred between two teams in 1998–1999 and again in 2006–2007. Since the 2002–2003 season is excluded from the table, the most successful teams in the event have been the India Seniors with seven titles and India A three, although India A and India B had tied for a title in 1998–1999 and so did the India Blue and India Red teams in 2006–2007.
International Tournaments Besides the five domestic events listed in Table A.3, various Indian national cricket teams have competed in global one-day matches and also in tours
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and tournaments. In fact, since the 1930s some Indian cricket clubs have played in test and other matches against teams from such countries as Australia, England, New Zealand, and Pakistan. Indeed, as India’s reputation improved when it became a threat and more powerful in the game of cricket, the country’s national teams began playing in international events during various years.Three of these competitions, and the final results for a number of Indian teams, are presented in Table A.4. (For other performances by Indian cricket clubs, see the events, opponents, years, and won–loss records in Tables B.12 and B.17–B.19 of Appendix B.)10 To promote goodwill and the sport between Asian countries, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) formed in 1983 and one year later, the Asia Cup was organized as a biennial one-day international tournament. In the first eight editions of this event, Indian teams’ best performances were four championships and one runner-up — in Table A.4 only the top results during each group of years are reported — so India’s runner-up team in the 1997 Asia Cup is excluded. Interestingly, India’s strongest opponent in the Asia Cup has been Sri Lanka. That nation defeated Indian teams to win the Asia Cup in Table A.4 India Team Performances in Three International Tournaments, 1970s–2000s Years 1970–1979 1980–1989 1990–1999 2000–2007
Asia Cup NA Champion (2) Champion (2) Runner-Up (1)
ICC Champions Trophy NA NA Semifinal (1) Champion (1)
World Cup Round 1 (2) Champion (1) Semifinal (1) Runner-Up (1)
Note: NA means Not Applicable and/or Not Attended by cricket clubs from India. The entries in columns two–four are India’s teams’ highest finishes in these tournaments during the respective years listed in column one.The values in parenthesis are — in descending rank — the number of India’s championships, runners-up and semifinalists, and the rounds played before being eliminated. Source:“Asia Cup.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 6 September 2007];“ICC Champions Trophy History.” http://www.iloveindia.com [cited 1 September 2007]; “History of ICC Champions Trophy.” http://www.mapsofindia.com [cited 1 September 2007]; “Cricket World Cup History, Champions.” http://cricket-world-cup-2007.html [cited 1 September 2007].
10
In Appendix B, Tables B.17–B.19 denote how successful India’s men cricket teams have been in tournaments against rivals clubs from the other test nations for various years. These events include test matches, one-day internationals, and twenty20 internationals.
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1997 and again in 2004. However, then teams from Sri Lanka were defeated by Indian clubs and finished runner-up in 1984, 1988, 1990, and 1995, and also, India was eliminated in the Asia Cup by Pakistan in 1986 and 2000. Regarding the ICC Champions Trophy — whose history was described earlier in this chapter — Indian teams’ best results in the respective groups of Years in column one were to finish as a semifinalist in 1998, and four years later, in a tie with Sri Lanka for the championship. In other seasons of the tournament, Indian clubs ended runner-up to New Zealand in 2001 and more recently, they were eliminated in Round 1 in 2004 and at the group stage in 2006. In short, India’s teams and their players have been moderately successful since the late1990s while attempting to win or place second in an ICC Champions Trophy tournament. Indian cricket teams have also achieved limited success when they had competed for a World Cup. After being eliminated in Round 1 of the World Cup’s played in 1975 and 1979, India’s national men teams practiced and gradually developed an aggressive offense and efficient scoring attack. Consequently, as a result of the outstanding batting and bowling performances of its national clubs, India defeated the West Indies to earn a World Cup in 1983. However, after that victory, the team failed to win in 28 consecutive test matches that were played during the mid- to late-1980s. Then in the 1990s, Indian cricket teams did not succeed in any of their 33 test matches played outside of the subcontinent. Nevertheless, they won 17 or 56 percent of them at home. Subsequently, some improvements occurred for India’s clubs during the early 2000s when the country hired a foreign coach named John Wright. In turn, he inspired his teams to dominate their opponents and especially to be competitive in test matches against Australia, England, and Sri Lanka, and also the West Indies and Zimbabwe. Finally, in 2003, India finished runner-up to Australia in a World Cup of cricket tournament played in South Africa. Unfortunately, India’s 2003 performance was short-lived because the team then lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the 2007 World Cup, and thus failed to qualify for the quarterfinals. In an election among India’s state cricket associations in 2005, a group led by entrepreneur Latit Modi won enough votes to be a majority, and for him, control of the BCC. Within a few months of the election, Modi and his colleagues implemented changes in the sport that focused on developing business opportunities and extracting additional revenues from domestic cricket matches and tournaments. These commercial innovations,
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for example, included a number of lucrative merchandise and sponsorship deals, and also the completion of a four-year, $619 million broadcasting contract. Thus, with a payment from the contract of approximately $2,300 per game to employ and retain each of the top cricket players in the country, perhaps the BCC will invest more financial capital and economic resources into the sport. If that investment occurs, then Indian teams will once again be very competitive in global test matches and successful in foreign tours when they play outstanding teams from Australia and England, and also when the nation performs in home and away matches against talented clubs from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies.11
CRICKET IN PAKISTAN When Pakistan became an independent dominion after it separated from India in 1947, cricket was a game primarily played by groups in the major cities of Karachi and Lahore, and by college students and athletes on their clubs’ teams.As the sport succeeded to develop, expand, and become more popular during the next several years, Pakistan was awarded its test match status by the ICC in July 1952 at the Lords Cricket Grounds in London, England.That year, Pakistan’s national men’s cricket team formed and began to play home and away matches and also in tours against teams from Australia, England, India, and the West Indies.Traditionally, Pakistan’s cricket teams have been strong, unpredictable, and composed of players who are experienced but undisciplined. As a result, the nation’s teams are frequently competitive in some cricket events, but not in others. Furthermore, to control, organize, and schedule cricket matches and tournaments within and outside the country, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was formed during the early 1950s. Basically, the PCB governs a group of Pakistani teams that are
11
About the business, finance, and economics of cricket in India, there is “Walt Disney’s ESPN to Buy Cricket Web Site.” Wall Street Journal (12 June 2007): B6; Joanna Slater,“One Man’s Drive Helps Make Cricket a Big-Money Sport.” Wall Street Journal (27 February 2003): A1, A2; Rahul Bhatia. “India’s Cricket Revolution.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 16 November 2006];“ESPN Buy Scores With American Cricket Fans.” Toronto Star (12 June 2007): B5; Shamni Pande. “ESS, Zee in Clash Over Cricket Rights in India.” Media Asia (24 September 2004): 4; Tunku Varadarajan, “India vs. Pakistan: Cricket’s Tribal Intensity.” Wall Street Journal (27 February 2003): D8.
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sponsored and promoted by some of the country’s businesses, city associations, civic organizations, and sports clubs.12
Domestic Cricket Events In 1953, a first-class domestic cricket tournament titled the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy was established in Pakistan. Being named after the country’s founder — who was Mohammad Ali Jinnah — this event is held, in part, to assist sports officials and help them select Pakistani players for a cricket squad that competes in a test match against England during the following season. Throughout the years, a combination of regional teams and local clubs that represented cities, provinces, and rural areas — and/or a mixture of them — have participated in the tournament. Between the cricket seasons of 1953–1954 and 2005–2006, the most prominent winners of the Quaid-EAzam Trophy have included such domestic teams as the Karachi Blues and Karachi Whites, and the National Bank and United Bank. Besides that tournament, during 1960 the Ayub Trophy — which was renamed the BCCP Trophy in 1970, then the BCCP Trophy in 1972 and finally the PCB Patron’s Trophy in 1995 — was organized as a competitive cricket event to be performed within Pakistan. Because it has served as a qualifying event for the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy and/or for other reasons, the PCB Patron’s Trophy was not a first-class tournament between 1979 and 1983, and in 1999–2000. Generally, the latter Trophy is played between teams that are sponsored by businesses located in large communities and populated areas of the country. These include such champions as, respectively, the Allied Bank and Habib Bank, and other winning cricket teams from the cities of Karachi and Lahore. 12
For the history and other facts and information about this sport in Pakistan, see Omar Kureishi,“Cricket in Pakistan.” http://www.the-south-asian.com [cited 19 June 2007]; “Cricinfotravel — Pakistan.” http://www.cricinfo.com [cited 20 June 2007]; “Pakistan Cricket Board.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 19 June 2007]; “Pakistan National Cricket Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007];“Test Matches in Pakistan.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 10 September 2007]. Three books about this topic are Lateef Jafri, History of Pakistan Test Cricket (Karachi, Pakistan: Royal Book Company, 2003); Omar Noman, Pride and Passion: An Exhilarating Half Century of Cricket in Pakistan (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999); Shaharyar Khan, Cricket: A Bridge of Peace (Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 2005).
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To continue this section, the third domestic tournament identified and highlighted within Pakistan is the Pentangular Trophy. Organized by the PCB in 1973, this tournament usually — but not every year — includes each cricket season’s top three teams of the PCB Patron’s Trophy and the winner and runner-up of the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy. In 1974, for example, six teams had competed in the tournament and during some years in the late 1970s, a group of 10 clubs played against each other in a round-robin of the event with a winner being the team that had scored the most runs. For various economic, political and/or social reasons, the Pentangular Trophy was discontinued in 1976–1977, and again in 1985–1989, 1991–1993, and 1996–2004. Even so, through the 2005–2006 season, it was the Habib Bank, National Bank, and United Bank that had won 10 or 66 percent of the Trophy’s titles. Another champion was the tournament’s first business sponsor. That is, the Pakistan Automobile Corporation whose team triumphed in the 1984–1985 season. A final set of cricket matches in Pakistan to be reviewed next are a number of domestic one-day tournaments. Since they were organized, many of these competitions have been unstructured and thus are not successful events because they lacked continuity and organization. To illustrate, there was a 45-overs-a-side contest named the Wills Cup that was played in 1980–1981 and also during the early 1990s. However, after it completed five seasons, the Wills Gold Flake League folded, which meant that the Wills Cup was discontinued.Then in 2004–2005, the Netherland’s ABN-AMRO banking group became a sponsor of a few domestic cricket events and, in fact, this company hosted three limited-over tournaments in Pakistan. Besides a regional ABN-AMRO Cup, these one-day events also included an inter-departmental Patrons Cup and a new Twenty20 competition. Anyway, if more businesses such as Habib Bank and ABN-AMRO became sponsors of local and regional cricket teams and their events, then Pakistani players would become experienced and improve their domestic performances while more fans attend cricket matches and support their leagues and national tournaments.To continue highlighting cricket in Pakistan, the next portion of this chapter discusses some results of the nation’s teams in various international events.
International Cricket Events Several tables of data — which include two in this chapter and a few in Appendix B — were developed to denote the performances of Pakistan’s cricket teams against those from other nations in various events and years.
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Cricket in Australia, India, and Pakistan 239 Table A.5 Pakistan Men and Women Results, by Event, Selected Years Event
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
Other
Men Test Matches Twenty20 Internationals One-day Internationals
1952–2007 2006–2007 1973–2007
103 3 352
87 1 286
0 0 6
140 0 15
Women Test Matches Twenty20 Internationals One-day Internationals
1998–2004 NR 1997–2007
0 NR 8
2 NR 44
0 NR 0
1 NR 1
Note: NR means No Results.The column labeled Other includes draws and No Results in these events. Source: “Test Matches.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]; “Twenty20 Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]; “One-Day Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]; “Women’s Test Matches.” http://stats. cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]; Women’s Twenty20 Internationals.” http://stats. cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007], “Women’s One-Day Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo. com [cited 13 September 2007].
As such, it is apparent in Table A.5 that Pakistan’s men teams have an extensive and successful history especially when they play test matches and one-day internationals,while the nation’s women cricket teams have net losses in two of three events. Even so, the table does not include the performances of Pakistan’s men teams in other important, global cricket events.The best of these excellent results were winning a World Cup in 1992,Asia Cup in 2000,Australasia Cups in 1986, 1990, and 1994, and an Asian Test Championship in 1999. Besides these titles, the men teams also were runner-up in the 1986 Asia Cup, 1999 World Cup, and 2002 Asian Test Championship, and furthermore, they had finished once each in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy. In short, from the mid-1970s to early 2000s, Pakistan’s men teams have been competitive in a number of international cricket events because of such great bowlers as Imran Khan, Shoaib Akhtar, and Wasim Akram, outstanding all-rounders as Aamer Sohail, Moin Khan, and Shahid Afridi, and effective batsmen as Hanif Mohammad, Inzamam-ul-Haq, and Javed Miandad.13 13 These
championships and a few famous cricket players of Pakistan are mentioned in Cricket For Dummies, while some performances of the nation’s men’s teams are reported in Tables B.20 and B.21 of Appendix B.
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Table A.6 Pakistan Teams in Test Matches, Results by Opponent, Selected Years Opponent Australia Bangladesh England India New Zealand South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
Draw
1956–2005 2001–2003 1954–2006 1952–2006 1955–2003 1995–2007 1982–2006 1958–2006 1993–2002
11 6 12 12 21 3 15 15 8
24 0 19 8 6 7 7 14 2
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
17 0 36 36 18 4 10 15 4
Source: “Pakistan — Test Matches.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 10 September 2007]; “Pakistan National Cricket Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007].
In contrast to the previous information and statistics about certain events,Table A.6 and also Tables B.20–B.24 in Appendix B each provide some interesting and insightful results about the relative performances of Pakistan’s men and women teams in international matches and tournaments. Specifically, Table A.6 shows that as of late 2007, Pakistan had a net loss record against Australia, England, and South Africa in combined home and away test matches. However, when playing only at home, Pakistan’s won–loss performance is 56–21 in test matches against the nine opponents in the table, but a net loss or even record with respect to each of them in away matches (see Table B.21). In turn, these results clearly denote that in most test cricket matches, Pakistan’s men teams have been competitive such that they win proportionally more matches at home than away. These differences in wins have occurred, in part, because the pitch conditions at the grounds in Karachi, Lahore, and other domestic cities do not help Pakistan’s players to readapt their styles in other environments, that is, when they play matches at the grounds of teams in foreign nations. Thus, for Pakistan to win more World, Asia, and/or Australasia Cups, and another Asian Test Championship, its national cricket teams must be increasingly confident, disciplined, and flexible when they play in any events hosted by other countries. Meanwhile,Table B.12 denotes that as of 2007,Australia and Pakistan are the only test countries listed with net wins in each of three global cricket events. That is, these two nations’ teams have excelled at winning test
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matches, twenty20 internationals and one-day internationals. In fact, besides Australia and Pakistan, cricket teams from England and the West Indies also had more wins than losses in test matches, as did Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka in twenty20 internationals, and England, South Africa, and the West Indies in one-day internationals. As a result, for the number of victories in three major events that have been won by these 10 nations, Pakistan’s men teams ranked fifth with less total wins than Australia, England, South Africa, and the West Indies in test matches, but tied for first in wins with Australia in twenty20 internationals, and second in wins to Australia in oneday internationals. Since the 1950s, some cricket administrators, coaches, teams, and/or players in Pakistan and elsewhere have been associated or involved with — or accused of — such infractions as ball tampering, betting, bribes, illegal drugs, match fixing, and political interference. During March 2007, for example, Pakistan’s 58-year-old head cricket coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in a Jamaican hotel room after his team had suffered an embarrassing and unexpected defeat to low-ranked Ireland in a World Cup of cricket tournament. Because of Woolmer’s blood, vomit, diarrhea and diabetes, and rings around his neck that resembled strangulation marks, various law enforcement officials have speculated that he had been murdered by the mafia or criminals, by fanatical sports spectators, or by disappointed insiders who were investors in Pakistan’s team at this event. As of late 2008, Woolmer’s tragic death was being further investigated.14 In total, these and other unfortunate issues in domestic and world cricket events may be blamed on several factors. Some pundits, for instance, have suggested that recent problems may have occurred in the sport because the game is an expanding and prosperous business, and thus, increasingly dependent on finance and money since the world’s most talented cricket players earn $500,000 or more each season in salaries and endorsements. Others have stated that these debacles in the sport developed 14
For more details about crime and other problems and issues associated with Pakistan’s cricket programs and teams, see Cathy Gulli, “It’s Just Not Cricket.” Maclean’s (9 April 2007): 44; Ivo Tennant,“Woolmer Struggled to Cope With Snake Pit That is Pakistan Game.”The United Kingdom Times (26 June 2007): 74; Bruce Loudon, “Religion Blamed For Pakistan’s Cup Failure.” The Australian (9 April 2007): 1–2; Osman Samiuddin, “A Cricket Legend’s Strange, Sudden Exit.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 26 March 2007]; “Musharraf Bowls a Bouncer.” Economist (20 March 2007): 42–43.
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from such factors as the extreme pressure being placed on coaches and players to perform above expectations; from connections between the game and underworld bookmakers; from fans being aroused, overanxious, and unruly by the excitement and competition of single matches and tournaments especially when these events are played between test nations; and finally, from people and those groups who are rebellious and religious fanatics. Undoubtedly each factor is, in part, responsible for the sport’s decline in ethics, ethical behavior, and trustworthiness. Kevin Boller — who was the public relations officer of the Canadian Cricket Association in 2007 — once said this about the seedier side of the sport: “Anything can happen at any moment. The fortunes of a game can change dramatically. A Frenchmen described [cricket] as a war between two nations.” In summarizing all sections, the research for and study of Appendix A revealed the origins, developments, roles, and some traditions of cricket within the test nations of Australia, India, and Pakistan. Furthermore, several tables in this appendix highlighted the performances and results of these and other nations’ amateur and/or professional cricket clubs during various years in a few of their most popular domestic events, and also in various international matches, series, and tournaments.Therefore, as a result of these contents, readers of Global Sports will acknowledge, appreciate, and understand how cricket has emerged, developed, and been reformed since the 18th century and also why it has been a popular team sport before and during the early 2000s within these three nations and among other countries of the world.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS Besides the history of leagues and the performances of these three nations’ domestic clubs in local, regional, and international cricket events as previously discussed in this appendix, it is commercialism, globalization, and professionalism that have become increasingly important factors to the development, operation, and success of the game worldwide, and especially since the mid- to late-1990s. To be specific, the inflow of money and economic resources into the sporting industry of certain countries has influenced many aspects of cricket. The effects of these inputs relative to the sport include, for example, the decisions and powers of countries’ national cricket boards and the markets, revenues, and profits of television broadcast companies, and the advertising, marketing, and promotion of the sport across nations, and the millions of dedicated domestic and foreign cricket
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fans who enjoy, support, and understand the game. Furthermore, the owners of cricket teams and many of their coaches, managers, and players have received lucrative salaries in recent years and also other types of social benefits and rewards. Thus, it is commercial organizations, financial capital, and the growth of sports markets within and/or among nations that have changed the game in several significant and realistic ways. Before I identify and discuss some business and economic implications about topics in cricket within three special countries, some interesting data are displayed for readers in Table A.7. As such, this information denotes the absolute numbers and/or amounts of four characteristics for selected years which, in turn, reveal how these countries are different from each other and to the United States with respect to land area, population, and per capital Gross Domestic Product (GDP).To some extent, the types of organizations that have emerged, existed, and succeeded as sports enterprises in these places reflect their cultures and also their demographic and economic profiles. Thus, the readers of Global Sports should compare the distribution of these variables and relate them to the demand for cricket and its growth, maturity, and prosperity in the great test nations of Australia, India, and Pakistan. Unlike the four major team sports that, respectively, were examined in Chapters 2–5 of this title, there are fewer and less significant historical issues to highlight — and problems to analyze — about the globalization, privatization, and/or professionalization of cricket events, organizations, and performances. These differences among the sports are because aspects of business and economics in baseball, basketball, soccer, and ice hockey have existed, changed, and reoccurred for decades while nonprofessional matters and amateur competitors tended to dominate cricket leagues and their clubs,
Table A.7 Demographic and Economic Characteristics, by Country, Selected Years
Country Australia India Pakistan United States
Land Area (thousands of square miles)
Total Population (millions)
Population Density (persons/square mile)
GDP/Capita (thousands of US$)
2967.9 1269.3 300.6 3718.7
20.4 1129.8 164.7 301.1
7 984 548 85
33.3 3.8 2.4 44.0
Note: GDP/Capita is reported for 2006, while the first three characteristics are reported for 2007. Source: World Almanac and Book of Facts 2008 (New York, NY:World Almanac Books, 2008).
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and the sport’s identity during most years of the 20th and 21st centuries. In other words, there have been primary and secondary commercial topics of cricket reported and discussed in articles of the literature but not as frequently and/or in great detail as business issues of the four other team sports.
Australia After this island/continent won its independence from Great Britain to become a commonwealth in 1901, eight territories each with a capital city were established during the early years of the 20th century. Given this nation’s abundance of land for establishing large farms and for the location of major mineral deposits and areas for grazing livestock, the Australian economy usually expanded in decades of the 1900s to early 2000s because of exporting such products as beef, lamb, and wool to China, Japan, and the United States, and also from investing domestic resources and applying its technologies into the development of local industries like chemicals, steel, and transportation equipment. Typically, Australia’s economy grows at least 3 percent each year while the country’s population has increased in its largest cities of Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. In fact, the majority of Australians are white, and they speak English and belong to the Roman Catholic or Anglican religions. However, in contrast to the nation’s stable and democratic government, and its efforts to be efficient, diversified, and thereby achieve above-average growth in per capita GDP, Australia’s population includes an estimated 200,000 total aborigines and post-aborigines who, in part, live in tribes and remain economically disadvantaged as a group. Besides these basic demographic and economic facts about the mainland of Australia, the nation also includes a few external territories that consist of small islands whose inhabitants are employed as farmers and/or miners. In short, Australia’s economic conditions, business environment, and historical development are each elements in the emergence, growth, and popularity of cricket on its continent.15 A number of fascinating business and economic issues about cricket have appeared, and/or currently exist, within the nation. Being incorporated as a public company, Cricket Australia — which is referred to in the literature as the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) — has been the country’s official 15 An overview of Australia’s economy and other general information about the country are reported on page 754 of the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006 (New York, NY:World Almanac Books, 2006).
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governing authority of amateur and professional cricket since the early 1900s. The funds for officials to administer and operate this organization are obtained primarily from the sport’s licenses, media rights, and sponsorships. With respect to one of its roles, the ACB is involved with Australia’s States to establish contracts with professional players who perform for the country’s cricket teams in various events including domestic matches and international tournaments. Before the 1980s, some of the sport’s players criticized the ACB because they had received inadequate payments and poor treatment from it.As a result, a cricket players’ association was formed in the late 1970s that intended to represent these athletes in bargaining with boards and commissions for fair wages and other labor rights. However, after it experienced organizational and leadership problems and also received minimal fees from clubs’ players, the association folded during the early 1980s. Because the nation’s cricket players continued to earn relatively small amounts of compensation and other minor benefits from the ACB, these athletes decided to organize the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) in 1995. Nonetheless, it was two years later that the ACB recognized the existence of the ACA and thus accepted the new organization as the players’ bargaining agent.After months of negotiating about financial matters and work rules, these two groups compromised during their bargaining period and therewith successfully signed a four-year agreement in 1998 and again in 2001. Basically, these agreements included such controversial elements of the sport as the players’ percentage share of cricket’s total revenues, and the monetary bonuses for players based on a pro rata basis. As a result of such deals, Australia’s contracted and state cricket players earn substantially more than they did before the mid-1990s. In turn, the payments to them have served as incentives for Australian teams to excel in the sport and against their opponents in domestic and global events.16 As more money is being generated by the sport from advertisements and the fees charged to spectators for attending games, and from licenses, television broadcasts, and sponsorships, it is crucial that the ACB and ACA maintain accurate and updated accounting statements to verify their financial status, and also to avoid any disputes while they bargain to establish agreements in the future. Alternatively, if a lockout and/or players strike 16 The
history of and negotiations between the ACB and ACA in Australia is discussed in “Australian Professional Team Sports in a State of Flux,” which is Chapter 20 in Rodney Fort’s and John Fizel’s International Sports Economics Comparisons (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2004).
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would happen to occur in the sport, then the work stoppage will damage the ACB’s image and ACA’s reputation with fans as did the stoppages in America’s Major League Baseball in 1994 and the National Hockey League in 2004. Meanwhile in international cricket events, a bitter, divisive, and lengthy ACB–ACA confrontation could result in Australian teams being unable to compete and then defeat their rivals in tournaments such as against England in the Ashes, India in the World Cup, Pakistan in the Australian Tri-Series, South Africa in the NatWest Series, and the West Indies in the ICC Champions Trophy. Besides current and/or future differences, disagreements, and disputes between a players association and a nation’s cricket board, corruption, and political problems are also issues that occasionally impact the game and cause repercussions regarding the popularity and potential business opportunities of the sport. During 2007, for example, the Australian men’s cricket team cancelled a tour in Zimbabwe because of that African country’s repressive regime that was then (and in 2008) headed by dictator and President Robert Mugabe.The decision by Prime Minister John Howard to cancel the appearance of his nation’s cricket team in Zimbabwe supposedly cost Australia an estimated $2 million in fines. Interestingly, ICC rules specify that visiting foreign teams may escape the payment of fines if their governments prevent them from playing in such events. As a result of this rule and Australia not being penalized by the ICC, Zimbabwe Cricket was denied any compensation or other benefits for its losses even though the country had forfeited millions in revenue from the cancellation of that event. According to a statement made to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Howard replied:“We don’t do this lightly, but we are convinced that for the tour to go ahead there [that] would be an enormous propaganda boost to the Mugabe regime.The Mugabe regime is behaving like the Gestapo toward its political opponents.”17 In a chapter of Cricketing Cultures in Conflict, which was published in 2004, the author discusses why and how competing in a World Cup is viewed differently than other events in the sport by Australia and the nation’s government and cricket officials and teams.That is, the World Cup tends to arouse the patriotism of domestic sports fans and provides a 17
See “Cricket Politics.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 15 May 2007].At the end of the article, the author states: “We don’t pretend to comprehend the game of cricket, which is the sport of choice in many parts of the Commonwealth. We do, however, understand the dangers of dealing with dictators.”
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means for Australian cricketers to be rewarded with sponsorships, lucrative contracts, and other types of remuneration. In fact, the World Cups in cricket that occurred during the 1990s and very early 2000s were related to and influenced such business matters as the distribution of television markets, payments and rights, and to conflicts between different sponsors who tried to attract the greatest cricket players and sign them to contracts. Hence in a section of the chapter titled “Finance,” the author commented about the cricket business and its flaws and their consequences among fans of the sport in Australia. Indeed, he or she stated: “The new financially encumbered game has been a double-edged intrusion for the purist cricket supporter. Clandestine money activities have affected the World Cup through betting scandals. This has also induced a loss of seriousness by Australian cricket supporters. The cricket carnival has given way to mendacity.”18 Although they performed in events for their country on outstanding teams during various years, some Australian cricket players have been accused, denounced, and penalized or not penalized by national authorities because of their unethical actions and/or suspicious deals that involved the use of money in the sport. In 1981, for example, Australian teammates Dennis Lillee and Rodney Marsh betted at odds of 500 to one on England to win the Headingley Test. For this obvious conflict of interest, these players were not punished by the sport’s officials. Apparently such infractions did not necessarily apply to Australia’s popular cricketers during the early 1980s, and/or cricket administrators in the country were not familiar with, or ethically able to interpret, this type of illegal activity. Then in 1994, Australian cricketers Mark Waugh and Shane Warne each accepted $5000 from an Indian bookmaker who was stationed in Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka. Although these two athletes were simply fined a modest sum by the ACB for violating their contracts rather than them breaching a code of conduct, their incident was not revealed to the international cricket community until 1998. In other words, cricket officials who serve on national boards, commissions, and committees in Australia and perhaps elsewhere have tended to tolerate various 18
Besides the section titled Finance, in Chapter 6 the author also discusses such interesting subtopics of Australian cricket as a cricket dynasty, security and politics, and historical stigmas and noble defeatism. See Binoy Kampmark, “An Ambiguous Legacy: Australia and the 2003World Cup.” In Boria Majumdar, and J.A. Mangan, (Eds.). Cricketing Cultures in Conflict: World Cup 2003 (London, England: Routledge, 2004).
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crimes and forms of corruption within the sport in order to prevent their teams from forfeiting and thus losing matches and tournaments to clubs from other nations.19 In short, the ACB and some other prominent cricket boards of nations have implemented a number of reforms to rid the sport of illegal gambling, match fixing, and other kinds of crimes. But fortunately or unfortunately, it is to succeed and became famous by winning important games and tournaments that is the top priority for the majority of national cricket organizations in the world. Meanwhile, these groups have placed less emphasis on the strict enforcement of rules to identify, condemn, and punish those players who violate them. Recently, a managing director of Raj Sports in India made these remarks about match-fixing in cricket: “The [cricket] boards shirked from punishing their stars with a lengthy suspension for fear of affecting their teams’ fortunes. Consequently, information was swept under the table, hushed up and, in some cases, even ignored. To be fair, cricket administrators, particularly those in Australia and England, were unsure how they would cope with any legal actions against them by the players.”20 Given these and other types of issues,Australia and its cricket programs, leagues, and enterprises will be challenged in the future because of the economic development and growth, and prosperity of such nations as India, Pakistan, and South Africa. Therefore, to remain competitive in the game, Australia’s government officials and sports administrators must persuade local businesses and various leaders in manufacturing and service industries to invest in and further support the country’s amateur, semiprofessional, and professional cricket teams.
India Even with its ancient civilization and peculiar customs and traditions, and despite its history of ethnic, political, and/or religious conflicts, hostilities, 19 For various facts and views about the sport’s betting and fixing, corruption, and cricket administrators being silent conspirators, there is G. Rajaraman,“Match-Fixing: A Dead Enemy.” In Cricketing Cultures in Conflict:World Cup 2003, pp. 212–224. 20 This and other statements about historical indifferences and neglects of cricket officials toward match-fixing were contained on pages 220–221 of “Match-Fixing: A Dead Enemy.” In fact, some of these officials had been administrators within such organizations as the ACB, BCCI, and ICC.
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and wars, this dense and immensely populated federal republic has become an economic power in the world especially since the late 1900s.Although a large proportion of the nation’s population tends to be poor and live as peasants in rural areas or as neighbors in slum districts of big cities, tremendous business developments have occurred within the Indian economy in recent years. This happened because of private and public sector investments in education and improvements in the quality of products and the export of low-cost services, and commitments to encourage a strong work ethic of those employed in the business community, and also the research, discovery, and application of technological advancements. For sure, the country’s principal languages include Bengali, English, and Hindi, and among India’s most productive industries are food processing, software, and textiles. In its quest for economic power, India willingly trades its goods and services with such partners as Belgium, China and the United States as it adapts, conserves, and supports some commercial enterprises that utilize agricultural outputs, natural resources, and mechanical components.21 In regard to the recent commercialization and globalization of its sports programs, most of India’s important home events in cricket are played within or near the cities of Mumbai (Bombay), Delhi, and Kolkata (Calcutta), and also in Bangalore, Chennai (Madras), and Chepauk.And similar to other nations whose national sports teams compete in domestic cricket matches and international tournaments, India has experienced a number of business and social benefits and opportunities from these events. But also, the country has incurred and dealt with a few problems associated with games played in amateur, semiprofessional, and/or professional cricket. During recent years, the business environment and commercial development of cricket have significantly improved within India and especially among the sports fans that are located in the nation’s metropolitan and/ or rural areas. Besides generating huge inflows of money and resources from various supporters, the sport has become economically successful and thus more attractive and less risky as an investment opportunity for Indian corporations and wealthy entrepreneurs. In 2006, for example, the cricket market within India penetrated a mass audience that consisted of an estimated 500 million fans, and moreover, involved such amounts as advertising 21 Additional data and statistics about demographics, economics, and historical facts for the Republic of India are contained on pages 787–788 of the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006.
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expenditures equaling about $280 million, merchandise deals and sponsorships valued at $113 million, and global broadcasting rights that totaled more than $600 million.And since 2006, the sport has further expanded as a business within India while the nation became more competitive internationally in matches and tournaments and especially with respect to its professional cricket clubs and their players. Consequently, this sport’s progress in India has dealt with a number of issues that are interrelated with business, financial, and economic concepts and topics.22 To illustrate, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which was established during the late 1920s, is in US dollars the richest association in the sport among nations. Indeed, in 2007 this organization was valued at $1.5 billion while the boards of Cricket Australia and Cricket Pakistan ranked, respectively, third at $225 million and fourth at $100 million — meanwhile, the England and Wales Cricket Board placed second in the group because it was worth $270 million. Furthermore, between 1992 and 2005, the BCCI’s profits had changed from a deficit of $150,000 to a surplus of $7 million. For the most part, it has been the revenues from advertisements, merchandise sales and sponsorships, and the fees from licensing rights to television networks for them to broadcast India’s domestic and international cricket matches and tournaments that, when grouped, have significantly increased the annual cash flow, and income and wealth of the BCCI. Thus, if the gaps in financial values continue to spread among nations’ cricket boards in the future, then India will dominate these and other countries by winning more cricket championships and also be the most likely nation to succeed in the commercial side of the sport.23
22 For business information and other details about the commercialization of cricket in modern India, see Rahul Bhatia, “India’s Cricket Revolution”; Joanna Slater, “One Man’s Drive Helps Make Cricket a Big-Money Sport;” Soumitra Bose, and Sujay Gupta, “Money Tames Cricket.” In Cricketing Cultures in Conflict: World Cup 2003, pp. 176–197; K. K. Ramachandran,“Sports in the Country of a Billion: A Study of the Marketing Possibilities and the Resulting Development of Less Popular Sports in India.” In Rodney Fort’s and John Fizel’s International Sports Economics Comparisons, pp. 165–177. 23 Some insightful and relatively current articles that reported financial values and also discussed different aspects of commerce and economics, and politics of the BCCI are “Cricket in India: It’s Big Business But Not Businesslike.” http://www.littleindia.com [cited 18 April 2008],Abhijit Chatterjee and M. S. Unnikrishnan,“Currency of Power:The Business of Cricket.” http://www.tribuneindia.com [cited 20 May 2008].
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During 2007, an Indian cricket administrator established a new and innovative event in this team sport. That is, BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi decided to form the Indian Premier League (IPL). Somewhat modeling the structure of the highly successful English Premier League, the IPL is a 59match, 44-day tournament involving a total of eight interdependent franchises that individually had been purchased by companies or sports entrepreneurs from the BCCI. In turn, each franchise represents a team based on a different but major city of the nation. And according to a planned schedule that was launched in April 2008, these teams were assigned to compete against their rivals in a series of five-day test matches. Reportedly, the bids from the eight franchise owners had equaled $731 million while sponsors signed a deal with the IPL valued at $50 million. Furthermore, the league finalized a $1 billion contract with a broadcasting company for the sale of television rights to its matches. To acquire cricket players for the teams, an auction was conducted and the respective owners had to each submit their bids for these athletes. Specifically, the highest winning bid for players was about $111 million from the RIL Pvt. Ltd. Company in Mumbai and also from the UB Group in Bangalore, while the lowest winning bid of $67 million was received from the Emerging Media Group in Jaipur. Interestingly, foreign players will represent about 35 percent of each franchise’s rooster. An individual team, however, can play no more than four of these athletes per game.24 An aside, during early 2008 a few owners of IPL teams had imported from Eastern Europe and the United States some groups of female cheerleaders who had been hired to bounce, jump, and whirl in their skimpy miniskirts on the sidelines during the league’s matches. Because public displays of sexuality are taboo in India and also considered to be obscene, a number of conservative politicians in Mumbai officially banned the use of these cheerleaders’ uniforms from home games of the IPL’s Mumbai Indians. About this incident, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s president for the state of Maharashtrar said:“See the pictures of these girls in the newspapers? This is not something you can allow inside your house, or something that you can 24
The purpose, organization, and market of the IPL were, in part, reported in such readings as Neil Heathcote,“Indian Premier League Changes Cricket.”http://newsvote. bbc.co.uk [cited 18 April 2008]; “India’s Innings.” http://www.economist.com [cited 18 April 2008];Tariq Engineer,“Cricket Gets Lively.” Wall Street Journal (9 May 2008): W4; Raghu Krishnan, “Watching IPL is Tuned in to a Midsummer Night’s Dream.” http://economictimes.indiatimes.com [cited 20 May 2008].
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look at in the presence of your sister or daughter. It may be a good thing for America, for the U.S.A. [and Eastern Europe], it’s not a good thing for India, [and] for our kind of culture.” Consequently, as a result of a temporary compromise between politicians in the Indian government and the owners of franchises in the IPL, a visiting team’s cheerleaders were allowed to wear during matches a costume of tartan miniskirts with black full-body stockings underneath them. Even so, an IPL team named the Delhi Daredevils decided to replace its cheerleaders with a troop of traditional Indian drummers.25 In retrospect, the establishment of the IPL reflects India’s economic boom and the emergence of a new middle class that has enough disposable income to spend on many types of goods and services including professional sports entertainment. Besides that fact, the success of this new cricket league will depend, in part, on the competitiveness and excitement generated by its teams at matches; by the ability of league officials to retain corporate sponsors and conclude lucrative franchising deals; and by the business strategies of franchise owners who, individually and also as a group, must learn how to maximize their ticket sales. Indeed, for the IPL to succeed beyond one or a few cricket seasons, Lalit Modi made this statement: “The ICC [International Cricket Council] is run by businessmen for profit, whereas the BCCI and IPL are non-profit organizations. Anything we do goes [go] back into the development of the game and enhancing of infrastructure.” In short, Modi has created a new world-class cricket tournament, which has signed multimillion-rupee deals to take effect the next few years but nevertheless, the league may not exist in India in the long run if the game fails to entertain and excite the sport’s fan base in that nation. For not operating in a businesslike manner, some Indian and foreign sports officials and pundits have criticized the BCCI and its administrators, policies, and/or responsibilities.Their complaints are important, interesting, and relevant to note about how the sport exists in India. Generally, these critics have suggested in their comments to the media that the BCCI’s business model, with respect to the game of cricket, needs to be improved. In other words, the model’s system of governance and its delegation of authority 25
Two articles that discussed the controversy of cheerleaders for IPL team are “Gimme a C, Gimme an R ... ah, Forget it.” Charlotte Observer (1 May 2008): 2C, and Ramola Talwar Badam, “Not Everyone Pleased With Indian Premier League Cricket Cheerleaders.” http://canadianpress.google.com [cited 1 May 2008].
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is ineffective and outdated, and thus they say the model should be restructured and then fully implemented. Hence rather than the organization being administered and controlled primarily by aloof and busy industrialists and politicians, the BCCI should also include in its hierarchy a few cricket experts and other sportsmen who had played the game as professionals, and perhaps excelled in it. Another problem that some critics have mentioned in articles is about the compensation of elite cricket players.That is, these athletes receive relatively too much money from endorsements and sponsors, and not enough for their performances in matches; players, who for one reason or another, tend to evade the tournaments that are scheduled by their domestic cricket leagues and not play in them; and players who compete in local and international cricket events exclusively for money and publicity and not in honor of the game’s traditions and values.26 In short, some criticizers of the sport complain that the system of incentives for players should be revised by BCCI officials to challenge these men and encourage them to be committed athletes and more disciplined, loyal, and professional as cricketers. According to Wharton University’s professor of management Saikat Chaudhuri, “In Indian sports [including cricket], the biggest weakness is that whenever money flows into a sport, it ends up with individuals rather than in a system that can help build the sport.” Finally, other critics have demanded that the BCCI must expose and eliminate all forms of corruption, immoral behavior, and illegal betting on cricket matches within India. That is, the Indian Cricket Board must adopt policies and enforce rules that severely penalize those individuals who ignore any of their club’s standards and decide to cheat or lie by participating in criminal activities.27 As a final topic which highlights the business environment and economy of cricket in India, it was during 2007 that Asia’s premier sports network
26 The unique way cricket players were allocated among IPL teams is specifically mentioned in such articles as Huw Richards,“Indian Auction Transforms Economics of Cricket.” http://www.iht.com [cited 18 April 2008], Robert Macdonald, “Indian Premier League Cricket — Player Auction.” http://www.thesportseconomist.com [cited 1 May 2008]. 27 For Professor Chaudhuri’s comment, see “Cricket in India: It’s Big Business But Not Businesslike.” Besides his concerns about the sport, other critics mentioned in the article have similar views when they said:“We value the individual a lot more than the team,” and “There is a distinction between individual incentives and collective incentives.”
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ESPN STAR Sports announced the launch of a new television channel that would appeal to cricket audiences located in local markets of the Indian subcontinent. Essentially, the channel was designed to showcase live India and non-India cricket events for dedicated fans of the sport, and also feature broadcasts about cricket that includes news, magazine, and reality shows, and archival programming. In other words, there will be a variety of cricketing information from most of the competitive test nations and furthermore, some content customized for Indian audiences such as one-day internationals and twenty20 games. To promote the mission of this venture, the ESPN Software of India Pvt. Ltd.’s Managing Director R. C. Venkateish remarked: “With lots of cricket and other sporting properties with us, we decided to give the Indian fans the unmatchable joy of enjoying their cricket with the depth they would like to see.While ESPN and STAR Sports will also continue to broadcast live cricket as well as other key properties [like F1 in motor sports, Euro 2008 in soccer, and Grand Slam Tennis from Wimbledon in London], STAR Cricket will be the one stop destination of all the cricket action, history, updates, views, and reviews.”28 So in order to comprehend its significance as a national sport, cricket has been a special athletic activity in India for nearly a century because the country is equal or even superior to others in the world at playing the game. Since Indian fans are passionate about and sincerely love the sport, more revenues are earned from the cricket business in India than they are in any other nation. Whereas the Indian government and BCCI officials have increasingly influenced how the sport is administered internationally, the commercialization and globalization of Indian cricket greatly benefits those who are connected to the game such as the country’s consumer goods industry, television companies, marketing agents, and perhaps most of all, the clubs in India’s professional cricket leagues and their respective coaches, owners, managers, and players.
Pakistan Since before and after it became an independent nation — but was divided into East and West when the British withdrew in 1947 — the Islamic 28 The
readings on this topic and the sport include “Walt Disney’s ESPN to Buy Cricket Web Site;” “ESPN STAR Sports Announces Launch of “STAR Cricket,” a Dedicated 24×7 Cricket Channel.” http://www.indiaprwire.com [cited 20 June 2007]; “ESPN Buy Scores With American Cricket Fans.” Toronto Star (12 June 2007): B5.
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Republic of Pakistan has experienced internal political disputes and unrest, military conflicts with India, extreme poverty, terrorism, and such problems with its economy as current account deficits, inflation, disinvestment of capital by foreigners, and the misallocation and unemployment of resources. However, despite these and other difficulties, the country’s economic performance has tended to moderately improve during recent years. Besides the development and further modernization of its agricultural sector, which employs approximately 50 percent of the nation’s labor force, Pakistan has also benefited because of such factors as economic growth and productivity, effective control of its monetary policy and thus the maintenance of a stable and stronger rupee, privatization of the banking industry, renewed access to global markets and expansion of investments abroad, reform of its service sector, and the emergence of a middle class.29 Other reasons for the country’s economic and social progress include, in part, efforts to efficiently use its natural resources, increases in remittances from Pakistanis working abroad, public and private investments in hydroelectric power and the construction of thermal power plants, and the opening of local business enterprises and deregulation of some consumer markets.Although these and other efforts have helped its economy, Pakistan is still a relatively poor nation when measured by financial indicators like per capita GDP, amount of international reserves, and net exports. Nevertheless, regarding the country’s sports industry, millions of Pakistanis are avid fans who support local and national cricket events and organizations, and especially the matches and tournaments of domestic amateur and professional cricket leagues and their teams and players. As discussed earlier in this section for Australia and India, there are a number of interesting, memorable, and unique business and economic matters that are associated with and affected by the game of cricket in Pakistan. In fact, some prominent cricket officials believe the sport has begun to decline in popularity within Pakistan because of recent incidents. During 2008, for example, an Australian world-champion cricket team cancelled a tour to play matches in communities of Pakistan due to potential bomb attacks, riots, and/or unsafe conditions within stadiums at some of these sites. Unfortunately, Australia’s decision to withdraw and not visit meant a loss of prestige and incoming revenue to Pakistan as the host country of the 29 Various statistics and other information about Pakistan and its economy, geography, and population are contained in the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006, and “Economy of Pakistan.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 22 May 2008].
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event. Furthermore, the decision put pressure on the PCB to restore confidence in the game especially with respect to other country’s sports teams who had planned to visit Pakistan and compete against the nation’s clubs in matches during future years. Besides financial problems and a tainted reputation, the pullout by Australia opened an opportunity for the country’s elite cricket players — who are eligible and willing — to reconsider their commitments to Pakistani teams and determine whether it would be advantageous for them to sign contracts with and join competitive clubs in the ICL, IPL, or in other professional associations located in South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies. For sure, Pakistan’s government needs to invest more of the nation’s resources into security equipment, and in law enforcement personnel and modern technology.30 Another current (mid-2008) — but more specific business topic — has been the accuracy and truthfulness of some documents formerly prepared and published by the PCB. Recently in Pakistan, the government’s Senate Standing Committee on Sports held meetings to obtain, examine, and then accept or reject the trustworthiness and values of the cricket Board’s 2004–2008 bank accounts and its various types of investments. Initially, PCB Chairman Nasim Ashraf justified his organization’s portfolio of financial assets during May 2008 by declaring that funds were invested only in securities of banks rated A or A+. Moreover, he emphasized in his statements to the media that no more than 15 percent of the group’s total amount of funds were deposited in one bank. In contrast, the Standing Committee claimed that some PCB money was deposited in such secondtier and less creditworthy institutions as Pakistan’s Bank of Khyber, Habib Metropolitan Bank, and Soneri Bank. Later that month, the dispute escalated when the Pakistani government alleged that some PCB officials had provided erroneous information in their press releases and thereby misrepresented the salaries of various Board members. Besides actual and reported payrolls, there were also substantial differences in amounts regarding PCB employees’ house rents and special allowances. In short, if the struggles between cricket officials and government committees in Pakistan continue and become more serious, they may potentially destabilize 30 The
action taken by Cricket Australia to cancel its team’s tour in Pakistan is briefly discussed in “A Tale of Two Countries.” http://content-usa.cricinfo.com [cited 22 May 2008]; Matthew Pryor, “Pakistan Play For Nothing to Close Book on Forfeit.” The United Kingdom Times (27 March 2007): 73.
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the sport and jeopardize its future popularity, profitability, and success in that country.31 For a number of reasons, there is an emotional and psychological interest to gamble and thus make legal and illegal bets on sports events within many countries of the world and that includes cricket organizations and players located in Southeast Asia. As a result, the fixing of cricket events has become a common and well-known economic and social problem that creates crimes and scandals in the sport, particularly in Pakistan. Supposedly in that nation, an informal but widespread network of bookies and bookmakers secretly exist, and who in combination, collect and exchange millions of illegal bets on cricket matches by using an unofficial transfer of money that bypasses the normal banking channels. To avoid detection, there is no paperwork involved between the participants, and moreover, all deals are communicated by word-of-mouth and taken on trust.Then, final payoffs are made by the bookies to their customers based on the outcome of a match or tournament. In fact, since the early 2000s, some prominent Pakistani cricketers have been discovered fixing their matches and subsequently found guilty in a court or by a government commission in a judicial inquiry. The majority of these players have received different penalties that ranged from them being banned for life from the sport to receiving a fine and suspension. Consequently, it is apparent from history and the evidence and rumors that illegal betting on cricket games is thoroughly embedded within the culture and society of Pakistan, and that these activities exist as a multibillion-rupee business. Since professional cricketers are available and susceptible to blackmail, bribery, and coercion, and because the mafia is a ruthless organization of killers who control an empire, the fixing of cricket events will probably continue to thrive as a business in Pakistan and elsewhere.32
31
For more about this issue in cricket, see “Senate to Grill PCB on Its Bank Balances.” http://content-usa.cricinfo.com [cited 22 May 2008]; “Senators Accuse Board of Financial “Misstatements.” http://content-usa.cricinfo.com [cited 22 May 2008]. 32 In part, this problem is examined in “Cricket in Crisis: How Match-Fixing Has Rocked the World.” Sunday Times (28 May 2000): 17; “Karachi Bookies on Sure Thing.” Sunday Times (19 November 2000): 17; John Goodbody,“Match-Fixing Back on Pakistan Agenda.”The United Kingdom Times (23 May 2001): 4;Tarquin Hall,“Dark World of Illegal Gambling.” The Australian (26 March 2007): 19.
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To elevate and further promote the game of cricket within Pakistan and among the country’s global competitors in the sport, the Pakistan Premier League (PPL) was formed by the PCB and scheduled to begin its games during late 2008 or perhaps in early- to mid-2009. During a cricket season, the new league will consist of at least six franchised clubs who are owned by various corporate groups. In turn, each club includes four each foreign and regional cricket players while the rest of their teammates will be active and less than 21 years old. As the PPL evolves, it may resemble soccer’s English Premier League in which players are allowed to move from one team to another in exchange for transfer fees. For its competitive event, the PPL will feature a twenty20 cricket tournament. Relative to the development of the league, in mid-2007 PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf had this expectation: “The Pakistan Premier League is part of the International Champions League which is approved by the ICC and will be run [administered] by five boards.33 The information about the commercialization and environment of cricket in Pakistan is the final section of the Appendix. In total, this appendix discussed the history and infrastructure of cricket in three nations and also how the sport affects, and otherwise relates to, several issues and/or topics in business, finance, and/or economics. Based on a number of different readings in the literature, there is undoubtedly more money and resources being invested in cricket events, organizations, and programs by entrepreneurs, governments, and corporation of a few countries. If these investments of funds and assets continue to soar, then the business side of the sport will expand and generate opportunities for cricket to become privatized and increasingly marketable and popular across other areas of the world as has happened to professional baseball, basketball, soccer, and ice hockey.
33 At least two articles were read about the formation and organization of the PPL. These were “Pakistan Set to Follow Indian Premier League Suit.” http://economictimes.indiatimes.com [cited 20 May 2008]; “Indian Cricket League Info: Pakistan Twenty20 Premier League to Start Next Year.” http://iclinfo.wordpress.com [cited 22 May 2008].
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Appendix
B Tables
Table B.1 Olympic Basketball Games, Medals by Country, Selected Years Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
Men United States Soviet Union Yugoslavia Brazil Lithuania France Italy Uruguay Argentina Canada Croatia Cuba Mexico Spain
12 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
1 4 4 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
2 3 1 3 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 0
15 9 6 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
Women United States Australia
5 0
1 2
1 1
7 3 (Continued )
259
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Country Soviet Union Brazil Bulgaria Yugoslavia Canada China Russia South Korea Unified Team
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0
1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0
3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1
Note: The men’s games include 1936–2004 and the women’s were in 1976–2004. The men’s teams from China and the Philippines and the women’s teams from Spain and the Philippines did not win medals in the Olympic Games. Source: “Olympic Games All-Time Results & Standings.” http://www.usabasketball.com [cited 7 August 2007].
Table B.2 FIBA World Basketball Championships, Medals by Country, Selected Years Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
Men United States Soviet Union Yugoslavia Brazil Argentina Chile Russia Serbia Croatia Germany Greece Philippines Spain
3 3 3 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1
3 3 3 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0
4 2 2 1 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 1 0
10 8 8 5 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1
Women United States Soviet Union
7 6
0 1
2 0
9 7 (Continued)
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Tables 261 Table B.2 (Continued) Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 3 0 2 0 1 2 1 0 0 1 1
5 2 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 0
6 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1
Czechoslovakia Australia Russia Brazil Bulgaria Canada China Korea Chile Cuba France Japan Yugoslavia
Note: The men’s results include 1950–2006 and the women’s were in 1953–2006. China’s men’s teams, and the women’s teams from Spain and the Philippines did not win medals in the FIBA World Championships. Source:“FIBA World Championship.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 6 August 2007];“FIBA World Championships for Women.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007].
Table B.3 Asian Games Championships, Medals by Country, Selected Years Country Men South Korea China Japan Philippines Israel Iran Taiwan Kazakhstan North Korea Qatar Thailand
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
3 6 0 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 2 2 1 1 0 2 0 0 1 1
3 1 5 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 0
11 9 7 7 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 (Continued )
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Country Women China South Korea Japan Taiwan
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
4 3 2 0
3 4 1 1
2 2 3 2
9 9 6 3
Note: The men’s games include 1951–2006 and the women’s were in 1974–2006. The Philippines women basketball teams did not win medals in the Asian Games Championships while Spain’s basketball teams were not eligible. Source:“Basketball at the Asian Games.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007];“Asian Games.” http://en.wikipedia.com [cited 6 August 2007].
Table B.4 FIBA Asia Championships, Medals by Country, Selected Years Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
Men Korea China Japan Philippines Taiwan Lebanon Qatar DPR Korea Iran Saudi Arabia
2 14 2 5 0 0 0 0 1 0
10 0 5 2 2 3 0 1 0 0
10 2 7 1 2 0 2 0 0 1
22 16 14 8 4 3 2 1 1 1
Women Korea Japan China Taiwan Thailand
13 0 9 0 0
7 8 6 1 0
2 10 1 8 1
22 18 16 9 1
Note: The men’s results include 1960–2007 and the women’s were in 1965–2007. The Philippines women basketball teams did not win medals in the FIBA Asia Championships and teams from Spain were not eligible. Source: “FIBA Asia Championship.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007]; “FIBA Asia Championship for Women.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007].
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Tables 263 Table B.5 Men’s Eurobasket Championships, Medals by Country, 1935–2007 Country Soviet Union Yugoslavia Czechoslovakia Italy Spain France Greece Lithuania Poland Serbia/Montenegro Hungary Bulgaria Croatia Egypt Germany Latvia Russia Israel Turkey
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
14 5 1 2 0 0 2 3 0 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
3 5 6 4 6 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1
4 3 5 4 2 5 1 0 3 1 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0
21 13 12 10 8 6 4 4 4 4 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1
Note: Men’s teams from China and the Philippines were not eligible for the Eurobasket Championships. Source:“Eurobasket.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007].
Table B.6 Women’s Eurobasket Championships, Medals by Country, 1938–2007 Country Soviet Union Czechoslovakia Bulgaria Hungary Russia Yugoslavia Poland Spain
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
21 0 1 0 2 0 1 1
1 7 5 2 2 4 2 1
0 8 4 5 2 2 2 3
22 15 10 7 6 6 5 5 (Continued)
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Global Sports Table B.6 (Continued)
Country France Italy Czech Republic Lithuania Slovakia Belarus East Germany Germany Ukraine
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1
3 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0
4 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1
Note: Women’s teams from China and the Philippines were not eligible for the Eurobasket Championships. Source:“Eurobasket Women.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007].
Table B.7 International Soccer Hall of Fame Players, by Country, Selected Years Name
Year
Country
Franz Beckenbauer Sir Bobby Charlton Pele [Edson Arantes do Nascimento] Stanley Matthews Garrincha [Manoel Francisco dos Santos] Bobby Moore Gerd Muller Didi [Waldyr Pereira] Zico [Artur Antunes Coimbra]
1998 1998 1998 1998 1999 1999 1999 2000 2000
West Germany England Brazil England Brazil England West Germany Brazil Brazil
Source:“International Football Hall of Fame Champions.” http://www.hickoksports.com [cited 2 October 2007].
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Tables 265 Table B.8 Men and Women Olympic Soccer Teams, Medalists by Country, 1900–2004 Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Men Brazil England Germany
0 3 1
2 0 1
1 0 3
Women Brazil England Germany
0 0 0
1 0 0
0 0 2
Source:“Olympic Soccer Medalists.” http://www.hickoksports.com [cited 2 October 2007].
Table B.9 Winter Olympic Games, Ice Hockey Medalists by Country, Selected Years Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Men Canada Czech Republic Finland Germany Great Britain Sweden Switzerland Unified Team United States USSR/Russia
7 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 2 7
4 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 7 2
2 5 2 2 1 4 2 0 1 2
Women Canada Czech Republic Finland Germany Great Britain Sweden
2 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0 0 1
0 0 1 0 0 1 (Continued)
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Global Sports Table B.9 (Continued)
Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
Switzerland United States USSR/Russia
Note:The span of years for men medalists was 1920–2006, and for women it was 1998–2006. The Czech Republic includes the results for Czechoslovakia. Source: World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006 (New York, NY: World Almanac Books, 2006).
Table B.10 Canada Cup, Ice Hockey Results by Country, 1976–1991 Country Canada Czech Republic Finland Sweden Soviet Union United States
Championships
Runner-Up
Semifinalists
4 0 0 0 1 0
1 1 0 1 1 1
0 2 1 2 1 2
Note: The Czech Republic includes Czechoslovakia. The Canada Cup was renamed the World Cup of Hockey in 1996. Source:“World Cup of Hockey.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 8 October 2007].
Table B.11 Number of NHL Players, by Team and Country of Origin, October 2007 Team Anaheim Ducks Atlanta Thrashers Boston Bruins Buffalo Sabres Calgary Flames Carolina Hurricanes Chicago Blackhawks Colorado Avalanche
Canada
Czech Republic
Finland
Other
16 12 13 8 14 11 11 10
0 1 1 2 0 1 3 2
1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0
9 10 9 10 8 11 9 11 (Continued )
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Tables 267 Table B.11 (Continued) Team
Canada
Czech Republic
Finland
Other
12 12 9 16 10 10 12 10 16 9 13 7 14 15 12 12 12 14 16 13 14 10
4 0 2 1 3 1 1 2 3 2 1 5 0 0 3 1 2 1 3 2 1 1
1 4 1 1 2 0 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 4 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0
7 9 12 6 7 11 9 10 4 14 9 9 8 4 9 8 12 8 6 8 6 14
Columbus Blue Jackets Dallas Stars Detroit Red Wings Edmonton Oilers Florida Panthers Los Angeles Kings Minnesota Wild Montreal Canadiens Nashville Predators New Jersey Devils New York Islanders New York Rangers Ottawa Senators Philadelphia Flyers Phoenix Coyotes Pittsburgh Penguins San Jose Sharks St. Louis Blues Tampa Bay Lightning Toronto Maple Leafs Vancouver Canucks Washington Capitals
Note: The column titled Other includes the number of NHL players on the rosters of teams from nations other than Canada, Czech Republic, and Finland.The total number of players on teams’ rosters varied from 21 to 26. The proportions of foreign players on teams include 51 percent from Canada, 7 percent from the Czech Republic, 4 percent from Finland, and 38 percent from other nations. Source:“Teams.” http://www.nhl.com [cited 17 October 2007].
Table B.12 Men’s Cricket Team Won–Loss Results, by Country and Event, Selected Years Country Australia Bangladesh England India
Test Matches
Twenty20 Internationals
One-Day Internationals
320–178 1–43 301–251 91–131
3–2 2–1 2–4 1–0
406–227 36–125 231–227 313–317 (Continued )
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Global Sports Table B.12 (Continued)
Country New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
Test Matches
Twenty20 Internationals
One-Day Internationals
62–131 103–87 105–115 50–63 149–141 8–49
2–2 3–1 2–3 2–1 1–1 0–1
226–273 352–286 239–133 245–266 317–235 79–231
Note: The spans of Test Matches varied, for example, from 1877–2007 for Australia to 2000–2007 for Bangladesh; of Twenty20 Internationals, for example, from 2005–2007 for England to 2006 for Zimbabwe;of One-Day Internationals,for example,from 1971–2007 for England to 1991–2007 for South Africa.Tied and draw matches and no results were excluded. Source: See the results summaries for “Test Matches.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007];“Twenty20 Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]; “One-Day Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007].
Table B.13 Women’s Cricket Team Won–Loss Results, by Country and Event, Selected Years Country Australia England India New Zealand Pakistan South Africa
Test Matches
Twenty20 Internationals
One-Day Internationals
18–8 18–11 3–6 2–10 0–2 1–4
2–0 3–4 1–0 3–3 Not Available 0–2
161–36 106–91 80–67 114–91 8–44 26–32
Note: Except for women’s Twenty20 Internationals in Pakistan, five nations published results for each event. The spans of Test Matches varied, for example, from 1934–2006 for Australia to 1976–2006 for India; of Twenty20 Internationals from 2004–2007 for New Zealand to 2007 for South Africa; of One-Day Internationals from 1973–2007 for England to 1997–2007 for South Africa.Tied and draw matches and no results were excluded. Source:“Women’s Test Matches.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007];“Women’s Twenty20 Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]; “Women’s One-Day Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007].
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Tables 269 Table B.14 Australia Men’s Cricket Team Combined Events, by Opponents, Selected Years
Opponent Bangladesh England India New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
Draw
No Result
1990–2007 1877–2007 1947–2006 1946–2007 1956–2005 1902–2007 1975–2007 1930–2007 1983–2007
16 184 83 99 67 81 54 101 28
1 135 42 37 38 44 20 89 2
0 2 1 0 1 3 0 3 0
0 88 20 17 17 18 6 21 0
0 2 5 3 3 0 2 2 1
Source: “Combined Tests, ODIs, Twenty20 Internationals Records.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007].
Table B.15 Australia Men’s Cricket Team Test Matches, by Opponents, Selected Years Opponent Bangladesh England India New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
Draw
2003–2006 1877–2007 1947–2004 1946–2005 1956–2005 1902–2006 1983–2004 1930–2005 1999–2003
4 131 32 22 24 44 11 48 3
0 97 15 7 11 15 1 32 3
0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
0 88 20 17 17 18 6 21 0
Source: “Australia Test Matches.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007].
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Table B.16 Australia Men’s Cricket Team,Two Events, by Opponents, Selected Years
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
No Result
One-Day Internationals Bangladesh England India New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
1990–2007 1971–2007 1980–2006 1974–2007 1975–2005 1992–2007 1975–2007 1975–2007 1983–2004
12 52 51 76 43 36 43 53 25
1 37 27 30 27 28 19 57 1
0 2 0 0 1 3 0 2 0
0 2 5 3 3 0 2 2 1
Twenty20 Internationals England New Zealand South Africa Zimbabwe
2005–2007 2005–2005 2006–2006 2007–2007
1 1 1 0
1 0 1 1
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
Opponent
Source: “Australia One-Day Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]; “Australia Twenty20 Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007].
Table B.17 India Men’s Cricket Team Combined Events, by Opponents, Selected Years
Opponent Australia Bangladesh England New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
Draw
No Result
1947–2006 1988–2007 1932–2007 1955–2005 1952–2006 1991–2007 1979–2007 1948–2007 1983–2005
42 19 51 50 48 25 59 46 46
83 2 64 44 76 44 40 83 10
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
20 1 45 21 36 6 13 41 2
5 0 2 4 4 2 9 1 0
Source: “Combined Tests, ODIs, Twenty20 Internationals Records.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007].
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Tables 271 Table B.18 India Men’s Cricket Team Test Matches, by Opponents, Selected Years Opponent Australia Bangladesh England New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
Draw
1947–2004 2000–2007 1932–2007 1955–2003 1952–2006 1992–2007 1982–2005 1948–2006 1992–2005
15 4 18 14 8 4 10 11 7
32 0 34 9 12 9 3 30 2
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
20 1 45 21 36 6 13 41 2
Source:“India Test Matches.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007].
Table B.19 India Men’s Cricket Team,Two Events, by Opponents, Selected Years
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
No Result
One-Day Internationals Australia Bangladesh England New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
1980–2006 1988–2007 1974–2007 1975–2005 1978–2006 1991–2007 1979–2007 1979–2007 1983–2005
27 15 33 36 40 20 49 35 39
51 2 30 35 64 35 37 53 8
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
5 0 2 4 4 2 9 1 0
Twenty20 Internationals Scotland South Africa
2007–2007 2006–2006
0 1
0 0
0 0
1 0
Opponent
Source: “India One-Day Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]; “India Twenty20 Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007].
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Table B.20 Pakistan Men’s Cricket Team Combined Events, by Opponents, Selected Years
Opponent Australia Bangladesh England India New Zealand South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
Draw
No Result
1956–2005 1986–2007 1954–2006 1952–2006 1955–2006 1992–2007 1975–2007 1958–2007 1992–2007
38 24 39 76 68 17 82 59 39
67 1 54 48 35 40 46 78 4
1 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 1
17 0 36 36 18 4 10 15 4
3 0 2 4 1 1 3 0 1
Source: “Combined Tests, ODIs, Twenty20 Internationals Records.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007].
Table B.21 Pakistan Men’s Cricket Team Test Matches, in Pakistan, Selected Years Country Australia Bangladesh England India New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
Draw
1956–1998 2001–2003 1961–2005 1955–2006 1955–2002 1955–2006 1997–2003 1982–2004 1959–2006 1993–1998
3 0 2 2 2 56 1 6 4 1
7 4 4 7 13 21 1 8 9 3
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 0 18 17 6 70 3 5 8 3
Source:“Test Matches in Pakistan.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 10 September 2007].
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Tables 273 Table B.22 Cricket Teams Test Matches, Performances by Country, Selected Years Country
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
Draw
Men Australia Bangladesh England India New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
1877–2007 2000–2007 1877–2007 1932–2007 1930–2006 1952–2007 1889–2007 1982–2007 1928–2007 1992–2005
320 1 301 91 62 103 105 50 149 8
178 43 251 131 131 87 115 63 141 4
2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
187 5 312 185 139 140 100 57 149 26
Women Australia England India New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies
1934–2006 1934–2006 1976–2006 1935–2004 1998–2004 1960–2007 1998–1998 1976–2004
18 18 3 2 0 1 1 1
8 11 6 10 2 4 0 3
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
40 57 25 33 1 6 0 8
Note: There were no statistics in test matches reported for the women cricket teams of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Source: “Test Matches.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]; “Women’s Test Matches.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007].
Table B.23 Cricket Teams Twenty20 Internationals, Performances by Country, Selected Years
Country Men Australia Bangladesh England India
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
No Result
2005–2007 2006–2007 2005–2007 2006–2006
3 2 2 1
0 1 4 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 (Continued)
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Global Sports Table B.23 (Continued)
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
No Result
New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
2005–2007 2006–2007 2005–2007 2006–2006 2006–2007 2006–2007
3 4 3 2 1 1
2 1 3 1 2 1
1 0 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
Women Australia England India New Zealand South Africa
2005–2007 2004–2007 2006–2006 2004–2007 2007–2007
2 3 1 3 0
0 4 0 3 2
1 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 0
Country
Note: Statistics for women cricket teams in Twenty20 Internationals were not reported for Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and Zimbabwe. Source: “Twenty20 Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]; “Women’s Twenty20 Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007].
Table B.24 Cricket Teams One-Day Internationals, Performances by Country, Selected Years
Country Men Australia Bangladesh England India New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
No Result
1971–2007 1986–2007 1971–2007 1974–2007 1973–2007 1973–2007 1991–2007 1975–2007 1973–2007 1983–2007
406 36 231 313 226 352 239 245 317 79
227 125 227 317 273 286 133 266 235 231
8 0 4 3 4 6 5 3 5 5
18 2 15 27 24 15 11 20 18 9 (Continued)
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Tables 275 Table B.24 (Continued)
Country Women Australia England India New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies
Years
Won
Loss
Tied
No Result
1973–2007 1973–2007 1978–2007 1973–2007 1997–2007 1997–2007 1997–2006 1979–2005
161 106 80 114 8 26 29 17
36 91 67 91 44 32 27 27
1 2 1 2 0 0 0 0
4 4 3 4 1 4 1 1
Note: Statistics for women teams in One-Day Internationals were not reported for Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Source:“One-Day Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007];“Women’s One-Day Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007].
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Selected Bibliography
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278
Global Sports
Bartholomew, Raphael.“Players From U.S. Face Added Pressure in Philippines.” New York Times (21 April 2006): D3. Batham, Matthew. “No Extra Time Allowed.” Estates Gazette (24 September 2006): 16–19. Bertie, Burlington. “Betting Bonanza in Lahore.” Sunday Times (28 March 2004): 29. Bezold, Thomas. “How to Use Naming Rights in the Business of Sport.” International Cases in the Business of Sport (2008): 317–332. Bhattacharya, Mita and Russell Smith. “The Game is Not the Same: The Demand for Test Match Cricket in Australia.” Australian Economic Papers,Vol. 42 (March 2003): 77–90. Blakely, Rhys.“Cricket Fat Cats on the Back Foot as Underdogs Hit them All for Six.” The United Kingdom Times (24 May 2008): 49. Bose, Soumitra and Sujay Gupta.“Money Tames Cricket.” Cricketing Cultures in Conflict:World Cup 2003 (2004): 176–197. Bremner, Brian. “In Japan, Baseball’s Chance to Homer.” Business Week Online (7 June 2005): 1. Breyerova, Petra. “ECM Lays First City Stone, Sazka Scores Own Goal, and Retail Revamps.” Prague Business Journal (5 May 2003): 6. Breyerova, Petra. “Game on for Arena, But Bets Are Off.” Prague Business Journal (17 February 2003): 1. Brown, Adam and Andy Walsh. “Football Supporters’ Relations with Their Clubs: A European Perspective.” Soccer & Society (Autumn 2000): 88–101. Campbell, Robert.“Party on! How Public Space Works When a Million People Show Up.” Architectural Record (September 2006): 28. Carson,Vanda.“Competition a Fight to the Finnish.” The Australian (28 April 2004): 25. Cary, P. “Where Ballplayers Are Born and Made.” U.S. News & World Report (26 March 2007): 44–45. Chadwick, Simon and Dave Arthur.“Mes Que Un Club (More Than a Club): The Commercial Development of FC Barcelona.” International Cases in the Business of Sport (2008): 1–12. Clough, Michael. “The (Multi) National Pastime: As Professional Sports Go Global, Will Local Communities be Shunted Aside?” The Los Angeles Times (31 March 1996): M1.
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Selected Bibliography 279
Cohen, Adam.“European Soccer’s Political Goal.” Wall Street Journal (23 May 2007): B3A. Colchester, Max.“One Team Gets 26,000 Owners — All with a Vote on Who Plays.” Wall Street Journal (1 February 2007): B1, B2. Collins, Jeff and Ross MacKenzie. “The World Cup, Sport Sponsorship, and Health.” Lancet (17 June 2006): 1964–1966. Conn, Malcolm.“ICC Set to Lose Billions as TV Deal Fades.” The Australian (23 May 2007): 18. Conn, Malcolm.“Indians Arrive as the World’s Heavy-Hitters.” The Australian (24 November 2003): 35. Cowley, Jason. “Cricket in Zimbabwe, Unlike in Apartheid South Africa, is Multiracial.” New Statesman (19 May 2003): 57. “Cricket in Crisis: How Match-Fixing Has Rocked the World.” Sunday Times (28 May 2000): 17. Crolley, Liz, David Hand and Ralf Jeutter.“Playing the Identity Card: Stereotypes in European Football.” Soccer & Society (Summer 2000): 107. Dabscheck, Braham.“Australian Professional Team Sports in a State of Flux.” International Sports Economics Comparisons (2004): 337–342. Davies, Hunter.“Decline and Fall.” New Statesman (19 February 2007): 47. Davies, Hunter.“Ok, so the England Team are Boring: But That’s a Fascinating Problem.” New Statesman (28 June 2004): 59. Deacon, James.“How to Get a Deal.” Maclean’s (27 September 2004): 34–36. Deveney, Sean. “These Names Shouldn’t be Foreign to You.” Sporting News (5 April 2004): 42−43. Donnelly, Peter. “The Local and the Global: Globalization in the Sociology of Sport.” Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Vol. 20, No. 3 (1996): 239–257. Drake, James. “Czech Mates Celebrate Golden Win.” Christian Science Monitor (24 February 1998): 6. Echikson,William.“A Melee Over European Soccer.”Business Week (16 February 1998): 8. Echikson,William and Ian Katz.“Pele vs.Nike:Guess Who Won’t Score.”Business Week (16 February 1998): 59. Edwards, E.“The Boys of Winter.” Fortune (12 January 1998): 170–171. Ellner, S.“Venezuela on the Brink.” Nation (13 January 2003): 5–6. Engineer,Tariq.“Cricket Gets Lively.” Wall Street Journal (9 May 2008):W4.
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280
Global Sports
Epstein, Jack. “Brazil Tries to Kick Soccer Violence.” Christian Science Monitor (15 February 1995): 13. “ESPN Buy Scores with American Cricket Fans.” Toronto Star (12 June 2007):B5. Evans, Roger and Mike Rowe. “For Club and Country: Taking Football Disorder Abroad.” Soccer & Society (Spring 2002): 37. Ewing, Jack. “The World Cup Scores Big for Companies.” Business Week Online (7 July 2006): 13. “Facing Football’s Bald Facts.” Economist (20 December 1997): 33–35. Fall, Steve.“The Real Deal.” Basketball Digest (February 2002): 44–48. Farber, Michael.“Swede Success.” Sports Illustrated (6 March 2006): 46–47. Fatsis, Stefan, Peter Wonacott and Maureen Tkacik. “A Basketball Star From Shanghai is Big Business.”Wall Street Journal (22 October 2002):A1, A10. Fatsis, Stefan and Suzanne Vranica. “Major League Baseball Agrees to $275 Million Deal in Japan.” Wall Street Journal (31 October 2003): B4. Fluke, Cecily, Michael K. Ozanian and Lesley Kump. “Goal, Man U.!” Forbes (12 April 2004): 126–128. Fong, Mei and Geoffrey A. Fowler.“Time Warner Tests China Curb on Magazines.” Wall Street Journal (16 August 2006): B1, B8. “For Love or Money.” Economist (1 June 2002): 7–10. “Foul Play.” Economist (21 October 2000): 44–46. Fowler, Geoffrey A. and Mei Fong. “Chinese Firm Drafts NBA’s Shaq.” Wall Street Journal (15 August 2006): B2. “Free Kicks and Kickbacks.” Economist (3 November 2007): 43. Freedman, Michael.“Madness of Crowds.” Forbes Global (19 April 2004): 22. Friedman, Thomas. “Can China Make the Big Leagues?” San Diego Union (11 April 2001): 8. Fritsch, Peter.“Brazilian Soccer Seeks a Bounce on the Field of Finance.” Wall Street Journal (25 August 1998): B1. Futterman, Matthew.“Goal:To Make Fans Love Hockey.” Wall Street Journal (23 May 2008): B1, B9. Futterman, Matthew.“Soccer’s Sounders Get a Microsoft Kick.” Wall Street Journal (28 May 2008): B7. Gaddis, Carter.“Baseball Remains Unifying Force in Japanese Culture.” Tampa Tribune (26 March 2004): 1. Gemmell, Jon. “South African Cricket: Revival and Turmoil.” Cricketing Cultures in Conflict:World Cup 2003 (2004): 17–32.
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Selected Bibliography 281
Gethard, Gregg.“How Soccer Explains Post-War Germany.” Soccer & Society (Spring 2006): 51–61. Gillis, R.“Cricket Moves Up the Order.” Marketing (20 July 2005): 30–32. “Gimme a C, Gimme an R ... ah, Forget it.” Charlotte Observer (1 May 2008): 2C. Giulianotti, Richard and Roland Robertson. “Sport and Globalization: Transnational Dimensions.” Global Networks (April 2007): 107–112. Gonzalez, G. Leticia. “The Stacking of Latinos in Major League Baseball.” Journal of Sport and Social Issues,Vol. 20, No. 2 (1996): 134–160. Goodbody, John. “Match-Fixing Back on Pakistan Agenda.” The United Kingdom Times (23 May 2001): 4. Gorten, Steve. “After London Experiment, is Prague Next for NHL?” Sun Sentinel (6 October 2007): 1. Grant, Paul.“Czech Republic.” Sporting News (4 February 2002): 38. Grant, Paul.“Finland.” Sporting News (4 February 2002): 40. Gratton, Chris. “The Peculiar Economics of English Professional Football.” Soccer & Society (Spring 2000): 11–28. Gulli, Cathy.“It’s Just Not Cricket.” Maclean’s (9 April 2007): 44. Guthrie-Shimizu, Sayuri. “For Love of the Game: Baseball in Early U.S.Japanese Encounters and the Rise of a Transnational Sporting Fraternity.” Diplomatic History,Vol. 28, No. 5 (November 2004): 637–662. Hall, Tarquin. “Dark World of Illegal Gambling.” The Australian (26 March 2007): 19. Hamil, Sean.“Manchester United:The Commercial Development of a Global Football Brand.” International Cases in the Business of Sport (2008): 114–134. Hignell, A. “England and Its Cricketscape: In Decline or on the Up?” Cricketing Cultures in Conflict:World Cup 2003 (2004): 33–50. Hinch,Thomas D.“Canadian Sport and Culture in the Tourism Marketplace.” Tourism Geographies (February 2006): 15–30. Holman, Andrew C. “Playing in the Neutral Zone: Meanings and Uses of Ice Hockey in the Canada–U.S. Borderlands.” American Review of Canadian Studies (Spring 2004): 33–57. Hong, Jaemin and Chanil Lee.“New Marketing Challenge of the South Korean Professional Baseball League and the Lotte Giants.” International Cases in the Business of Sport (2008): 389–403.
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282
Global Sports
Hookway, James. “More Bounce for Your Buck.” Far Eastern Economic Review (1 May 2003): 34–35. Hopwood, Maria and Allan Edwards.“The Game We Loved. Evolved: Cricket in the 21st Century.” International Cases in the Business of Sport (2008): 257–269. Howard, Dennis R. and John L. Crompton.“The Growth and Financial Status of Professional Sports in North America: Insights for English Soccer Leagues.” Managing Leisure (July 2002): 145–163. “Howdy Pardner, Howzat?” Economist (6 October 1990): 27. Humphreys, Brad R. and Daniel Munich.“Sport Participation and Migration.” International Journal Sport Management and Marketing,Vol. 3, No. 4 (2008): 335–347. “India-Pakistan Bus Diplomacy.” Washington Times (22 February 2005): A16. James, Jennie and Julie Rawe.“United We Stand.” Time Europe (19 February 2001): 29. Jay, Rufus. “Can US Investment Benefit English Football Brands?” Marketing Week (7 February 2008): 8. Joseph, Manu. “India: An Unnatural Cricketing Nation.” Cricketing Cultures in Conflict: World Cup 2003 (2004): 116–128. Kampmark, Binoy.“An Ambiguous Legacy:Australia and the 2003 World Cup.” Cricketing Cultures in Conflict:World Cup 2003 (2004): 99–115. Kang, Stephanie and Geoffrey A. Fowler. “A Big Shot in China.” Wall Street Journal (24–25 June 2006): A1, A8. “Karachi Bookies on Sure Thing.” Sunday Times (19 November 2000): 17. Kelly, William W. “Is Baseball a Global Sport? America’s ‘National Pastime’ as Global Field and International Sport.” Global Networks, Vol. 7, No. 2 (April 2007): 187–201. Kemp, Ed.“Nike Improves FA Terms to Secure Umbro Kit Deal.” Marketing (31 October 2007): 3. Kepner, T. “Dominicans Display Their Power and Their Passion.” New York Times (8 March 2006): D1–D2. Kiester, Edwin, Jr. and Sally Valente Kiester.“Yankee Go Home and Take Me With You!” Smithsonian (May 1999): 40–49. King, David and Loraine Page. “Lost in Transformation.” Information Today (February 2005): 23–24.
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Selected Bibliography 283
Kitchin, Paul.“Twenty-20 and English Domestic Cricket.”International Cases in the Business of Sport (2008): 101–113. Klein,Alan M.“Baseball as Underdevelopment:The Political-Economy of Sport in the Dominican Republic.” Sociology of Sport Journal, Vol. 6, No. 2 (1989): 95–112. Klein, Alan M. “Culture, Politics, and Baseball in the Dominican Republic.” Latin American Perspectives,Vol. 22, No. 3 (Summer 1995): 111–130. Klein, Jeff Z. and Lew Serviss. “Loonie Economics in the N.H.L.” New York Times (27 January 2008): 10. Kuchar, Vladimir.“Iron Man of Brno.” Prague Business Journal (15 October 2001): 1. Kuchar, Vladimir. “Luck, Pluck and the Perfect Puck Secrets to Moravian’s Olympic Success.” Prague Business Journal (4 February 2002): 1. Kurlansky, Mark.“Where Champions Begin.” Parade (22 July 2007): 4–5. Leskinen, Juha and Josu Takala.“How to Develop Holistic Satisfaction in Finnish Ice Hockey Business as a Special SME Business?” International Journal of Management & Enterprise Development,Vol. 2, No. 1 (2005): 38–45. Loudon, Bruce.“Religion Blamed for Pakistan’s Cup Failure.” The Australian (9 April 2007): 1–2. Maich, Steve.“No Hockey? No Problem.” Maclean’s (27 December 2004): 1. Majumdar, Boria.“Cricket in India: Representative Playing Field to Restrictive Preserve.” Culture, Sport, Society (Summer/Autumn 2003): 169–191. Marshall, S.“NBA Scores Big in China.” Crain’s New York Business (15 May 2006): 3. Masin,Herman L.“Bravo Barcelona.” Coach & Athletic Director (March 2007):5–6. McGrath, Steve. “Latest Private-Equity Triumph: U.K. Soccer.” Wall Street Journal (7 February 2007): C3. “Minister Vows to Clean Up the Game.” The Australian (14 December 2001): 38. Moffett, Matt.“Brazil Joins Front Rank of New Economic Powers.” Wall Street Journal (13 May 2008):A1,A10. Molinero, Olga, Alfonso Salguero, Conception Tuero, Eduarde Alvarez and Sara Marquez.“Dropout Reasons in Young Spanish Athletes: Relationship to Gender, Type of Sport and Level of Competition.” Journal of Sport Behavior,Vol. 29, No. 3 (September 2006): 255–269.
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284
Global Sports
Munich, Daniel and Brad R. Humphreys.“Ice Hockey Arena: National Pride or Normal Business?” Prague Business Journal (11 February 2002): 11. Murray, I. “Beefburgers, Cheerleaders, Zulus, Jools Holland. It’s Just Not Cricket.” Marketing Week (22 September 2005): 86. “Musharraf Bowls a Bouncer.” Economist (20 March 2007): 42–43. Narayanan, Chitra. “The Indian Spectator: A Grandstand View.” Cricketing Cultures in Conflict:World Cup 2003 (2004): 198–212. “NBA Names Investors in China Venture; New League is Possible.” Wall Street Journal (15 January 2008): B5. “Nike May Boot Adidas From Team Supply Deal.” Toronto Star (31 January 2007): F2. “Not Cricket.” Business India Intelligence (7 April 2004): 1–2. “On the Rebound.” Asiaweek (9 February 2001): 49. Organ, Dennis W. “Baseball and Global Capitalism.” Business Horizons (September/October 2002): 1. Overland, Martha Ann. “Studying Basketball’s Grip.” Chronicle of Higher Education (14 April 2006): A56. Padayachee, Vishnu, Ashwin Desai and Goolam Vahed. “Managing South African Transformation: The Story of Cricket in KwaZulu Natal, 1994–2004.” Patterns of Prejudice (September 2004): 253–278. Pakarinen, Risto.“They Live Among Us.” Blog Central (23 March 2006): 1. Pande, Shamni.“ESS, Zee in Clash Over Cricket Rights in India.” Media Asia (24 September 2004): 4. Paumgarten, Nick.“The Shadow Knows.” New Yorker (1 May 2006): 37–38. Peng,T. C.“The Yao Ming Story.” Chinese American Forum, Vol. XVIII, No. 4 (April 2003): 2–7. Perry, Alex.“Crazy for Cricket.” Time South Pacific (13 March 2006): 56−57. Petrecca, L. “MLB Turns Up Spotlight on Its Latino Ballplayers.” Advertising Age (20 March 2000): 8. Pfister, Gertrud. “The Challenges of Women’s Football in East and West Germany: A Comparative Study.” Soccer & Society (Summer/Autumn 2003): 128–148. “Play Ball!: Baseball Gives the Island Added Appeal for Ardent Fans.” Travel Agent (18 December 2006): 1. Porter, Adam.“Celebrity Spin.” New Internationalist (July 1999): 14–15. Price,S.L.“Diplomacy by Other Means.” Sports Illustrated (10 May 2004): 54–62.
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Pryor, Matthew. “Pakistan Play for Nothing to Close Book on Forfeit.” The United Kingdom Times (27 March 2007): 73. Rajaraman, G.“Match Fixing:A Dead Enemy.” Cricketing Cultures in Conflict: World Cup 2003 (2004): 212–224. Ramachandran, K. K.“Sports in the Country of a Billion:A Study of the Marketing Possibilities and the Resulting Development of Less Popular Sports in India.” International Cases in the Business of Sport (2008): 165–177. Ramsey, Andrew. “ACB Calls in New Sponsor.” The Australian (12 October 2001): 36. Rashid, Ahmed and Jonathan Karp. “Bowling for Dollars.” Far Eastern Economic Review,Vol. 158, No. 43 (26 October 1995): 68. “Red Cards for the Bosses.” Economist (17 November 2001): 36–38. “Richly Rewarding Times For European Soccer.”SportsPro (April 2008): 30–33. Ristow, A. M., T. L. Amos and G. E. Staude. “Transformational Leadership and Organisational Effectiveness in the Administration of Cricket in South Africa.” South African Journal of Business Management (March 1999): 1–5. Roden, D. “Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Meiji Japan.” American Historical Review,Vol. 85, No. 3 (June 1980): 511. Rumford, Chris.“More Than a Game: Globalization and the Post-Westernization of World Cricket.” Global Networks (April 2007): 202–214. Rysankova, Irena. “Hockey Fans Shouldn’t Hold Their Breath Waiting for Progress on Arena.” Prague Business Journal (6 January 2002): 5. Saayman, Melville,Andrea Saayman and Corrie du Plessis.“Analysis of Spending Patterns of Visitors of Three World Cup Matches in Potchefstroom, South Africa.” Journal of Sport Tourism (August 2005): 211–221. “Season’s Colours.” Design Week (2 February 2006): 15. “Securing the World Cup.” Industrial Laser Solutions (October 2007): 6. Segura, Melissa and E. M. Swift.“Unsafe at Home.” Sports Illustrated (7 March 2005): 56–63. Shecter, L.“Take Me Out to the Old Yakyu.” Saturday Evening Post,Vol. 238, No. 3 (February 1965): 82–84. Sidhu, G.“Branding a Sport: It’s Just Not Cricket.” Brand Strategy (November 2001): 12. Sims, Calvin. “Japanese Leagues Worry About Being Overshadowed.” The New York Times (30 March 2000): 3.
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Sinha, Gunjan. “Soccer Goes Green.” Scientific American (August 2006): 18–20. Slater, Joanna. “Cashing in on Cricket.” Far Eastern Economic Review, Vol. 166, No. 9 (6 March 2003): 32–34. Slater, Joanna.“One Man’s Drive Helps Make Cricket a Big-Money Sport.” Wall Street Journal (27 February 2003): A1, A2. Sloane, Peter. “The Economic Crisis in Professional Football.” Journal of Economic Affairs (July 1983): 273–275. Smidova, Zuzana. “Sazka Arena Plan Draws Criticism and Competitors.” Prague Business Journal (22–28 October 2001): 6. Souhan, Jim. “Latin America: Baseball’s Frontier.” Minneapolis Star Tribune (12 January 2003): 1C. Spencer, Jane. “Lenovo Signs Deal with the NBA in Bid to Build Brand Awareness.” Wall Street Journal (24 October 2006): B4. St. John, Allen.“Canada’s Comeback.” Wall Street Journal (1 June 2007):W8. Tennant, Ivo. “Woolmer Struggled to Cope with Snake Pit that is Pakistan Game.” The United Kingdom Times (26 June 2007): 74. “That’s Not All, Folks.” Economist (27 October 2007): 78. “The Creation of a Masterstroke.” SportsPro (June 2008): 46–48. Thomas, Daniel. “Chelsea Plays the Global Game.” Marketing Week (15 July 2004): 24–27. Thompson, Adam and Alan Paul. “NBA Uses Local Allure to Push Planned League in China.” Wall Street Journal (11 January 2008): B1, B2. Thompson, Adam and Mei Fong.“Can Half a Billion Chinese be Wrong? The NBA Hopes Not.” Wall Street Journal (25 September 2006): A9, A11. Thompson, Adam and Shai Oster. “NBA in China Gets Milk to Sell Hoops.” Wall Street Journal (22 January 2007): B1, B4. Tomlinson, Richard.“Brand it Like Beckham.” Fortune (7 July 2003): 18. Toutonghi, Pauls.“From Latvia, With Love.” Sports Illustrated (27 September 2004): Z6. Trein, Fernando.“Sport Club Internacional — Winner of FIFA Club World Cup 2006.” Sport Marketing Quarterly,Vol. 16, No. 1 (2007): 61–62. Uphoff, Boris, Rohan Massey and Sarah Brown.“Kick-off to Ambush Marketing at World Cup.” Managing Intellectual Property (February 2006): 91–92. Urrutia, Ignacio, German Robles, Kimio Kase and Carols Marti. “The Internationalization of Club Athletico de Madrid S.A.D.: Creating Value
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Williams, Quentin. “South Africa and the 2003 World Cup: A Nationalist Perspective.” Cricketing Cultures in Conflict: World Cup 2003 (2004): 147–162. Wolff, Alexander. “The Cup to the Rescue.” Sports Illustrated (26 August 2002): 46. “World Cup Proves Half-Empty.” Country Monitor (17 July 2006): 5. Worrall, Simon.“Cricket,Anyone?” Smithsonian (October 2006): 56–64. Yang, Zhou and Mei Fong.“NBA in China Gets Milk to Sell Hoops.” Wall Street Journal (22 January 2007): B1, B4. Yorio, Kara.“To Tell the Truth.” Sporting News (27 September 2004): 20–21.
BOOKS Alfred, Luke. Lifting the Covers: Inside South African Cricket (Cape Town, South Africa: New Africa Books, 2001). Bairner,Alan. Sport, Nationalism, and Globalization: European and North American Perspectives (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001). Bala, Rajan. The Covers Are Off: A Socio-Historical Study of Indian Cricket, 1932–2003 (New Delhi, India: Rupa & Company, 2004). Barros, Carlos Pestana, Muradali Ibrahimo and Stefan Szymanski (Eds.). Transatlantic Sport: The Comparative Economics of North American and European Sports (Cheltenham, England: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003). Beard, Richard. Many Pursuits: Beating the Australians (London, England: Yellow Jersey Press, 2006). Bidini, Dave. Tropic of Hockey: My Search for the Game in Unlikely Places (Toronto, Canada: The Lyons Press, 2004). Bjarkman, Peter C. Diamonds Around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005). Bocobo, Christian. Legends and Heroes of Philippine Basketball (Manila, Philippines: Christian Bocobo, 2004). Bose, Mihir. A History of Indian Cricket (London, England: Andre Deutsch Ltd., 2002). Bose, Mihir. The Magic of Indian Cricket: Cricket and Society in India (London, England: Routledge, 2006).
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Bottenburg, Maarten Van and Beverly Jackson. Global Games: Sport and Society (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2001). Breton, Marcos. Home is Everything: The Latino Baseball Story (El Paso,TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2003). Cardwell, Ronald and Roger Page. The Fifty Best Australian Cricket Books of All Time (Sydney, Australia: Cherrybrook, 2006). Chadwick, Simon and Dave Arthur (Eds.). International Cases in the Business of Sport (Oxford, United Kingdom: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007). Daniels, Jim. Dominican Diamonds (New York, NY: M. Shanken Communications, 1997). D’Arcy, Michael and Jenish D’Arcy. Canada on Ice: Fifty Years of Great Hockey (New York, NY:Viking, 1998). Davidson, John. Hockey For Dummies, 2nd Edn. (New York, NY: Hungry Minds, Inc., 2000). Dobson, Stephen and John Goddard. The Economics of Football (London, England: Cambridge University Press, 2001). Downward, Paul and Alistair Dawson. The Economics of Professional Team Sports (London, England: Routledge, 2000). Fischler, Steve. Fischler’s Illustrated History of Hockey (Toronto, Canada: Warwick Publishing, 1993). Fitts, Robert K. Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2005). Foer, F. How Soccer Explains the World (New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2005). Fort, Rodney and John Fizel. International Sports Economics Comparisons (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2004). Gemmell, Jon. The Politics of South African Cricket: Sport in the Global Society (London, England: Frank Cass, 2003). Gmelch, George (Ed.). Baseball Without Borders:The International Pastime (Lincoln, NB: Bison Books, 2006). Gmelch, George. Inside Pitch: Life Inside Professional Baseball (Lincoln, NB: Bison Books, 2006). Gmelch, George and J. J. Weiner. In the Ballpark: The Working Lives of Baseball People (Lincoln, NB: Bison Books, 2006). Guha, Ramachandra. A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport (London, England: Picador, 2002).
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Guttman, Allen. Games and Empires: Modern Sports and Cultural Imperialism (Chapel Hill, NC: Columbia University Press, 1994). Harte, Chris and Bernard Whimpress. A History of Australian Cricket (London, England:Andre Deutsch Ltd., 2003). Jafri, Lateef. History of Pakistan Test Cricket (Karachi, Pakistan: Royal Book Company, 2003). Johnson, Daniel E. Japanese Baseball:A Statistical Handbook (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1999). Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. American Sports Empire: How the Leagues Breed Success (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003). Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. Baseball in Crisis: Spiraling Costs, Bad Behavior, Uncertain Future ( Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2008). Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. Baseball, Inc.: The National Pastime as Big Business ( Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006). Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. Big Sports, Big Business:A Century of League Expansions, Mergers, and Reorganizations (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2006). Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. Sports Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues (Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004). Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. and John J. Guthrie, Jr. Relocating Teams and Expanding Leagues in Professional Sports: How the Major Leagues Respond to Market Conditions (Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 1999). Khan, Shaharyar. Cricket: A Bridge of Peace (Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 2005). Klein, Alan M. Growing the Game: The Globalization of Major League Baseball (New Haven, CT:Yale University Press, 2006). Klein, Alan M. Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991). Knight, Julian. Cricket For Dummies (West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2006). Kobak, Edward T., Jr. The International Sports Directory, 2nd Ed. (Santa Monica, CA: Global Sports Productions, Ltd., 2002). Lacy, Josh. God Is Brazilian: Charles Miller, the Man Who Brought Football to Brazil (Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: Tempus Publishing, 2005). LaFeber,Walter. Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism (New York, NY, London, England:W. W. Norton & Company, 1999).
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Larmer, Brook. Operation Yao Ming:The Chinese Sports Empire, American Big Business, and the Making of an NBA Superstar (New York, NY: Gotham Books, 2005). Lever, Janet. Soccer Madness: Brazil’s Passion for the World’s Most Popular Sport (Long Grove, IL:Waveland Press, Inc., 1995). Levermore, R. Sport and International Relations: An Emerging Relationship (London, England: Frank Cass, 2003). Lewis, Michael. Soccer For Dummies (New York, NY: Hungry Minds, Inc., 2000). Link, E. Perry. Popular China: Unofficial Culture in a Globalizing Society (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002). Majumdar, Boria and J. A. Mangan, (Eds.). Cricketing Cultures in Conflict: World Cup 2003 (London, England: Routledge, 2004). Marcano, Arturo J. and David P. Fidler. Stealing Lives: The Globalization of Baseball and the Tragic Story of Alexis Quiroz (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2003). Melville, Tom. The Tented Field: A History of Cricket in America (Bowling Green University, KY: Popular Press, 1998). Melville, Tom and Ian Chappell. Cricket for Americans: Playing and Understanding the Game (Bowling Green University, KY: Popular Press, 1993). Miller,Toby, Geoffrey Lawrence, Jim McKay and David Rowe. Globalization and Sport: Playing the World (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2001). Noman, Omar. Pride and Passion: An Exhilarating Half Century of Cricket in Pakistan (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999). Odendaal, Andre. The Story of an African Game (Claremont, South Africa: David Philip Publishers, 2003). Ohtake, Fumio. Testing the Matching Hypothesis: The Case of Professional Baseball in Japan with Comparisons to the US (Osaka, Japan: Osaka University, 1992). Oshima-Reeves, Joseph A. Taking in a Game: A History of Baseball in Asia (Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 2004). Podnieks, Andrew and Sheila Wawanash (Eds.). Kings of the Ice:A History of World Hockey (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada: NDE Publishing, 2002). Radnedge, Keir. The Complete Encyclopedia of Soccer: The Bible of World Soccer (London, England: Carlton Books, 2002).
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Radnedge, Keir. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Soccer: The Definitive Illustrated Guide to World Soccer (London, England: Carlton Books, 2004). Rodriguez, Freddy. America’s Pastime: Portrait of the Dominican Dream (Newark, NJ: Newark Museum, 2006). Roebuck, Peter. In It to Win It: The Australian Cricket Supremacy (Crows Nest, New South Wales:Allen & Unwin, 2006). Ross, Mike. England Soccer: The International Line-Ups & Statistics (Cleethorpes, DN, England: Soccer Books Ltd., 1995). Ruck, Rob. The Tropic of Baseball: Baseball in the Dominican Republic (Westport, CT: Meckler, 1991). Sandy, Robert, Peter Sloane and Mark Rosentraub. The Economics of Sport: An International Perspective (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). Shank, M. D. Sports Marketing: International Edition (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005). Stoddart, Brian and Keith A. P. Sandiford. The Imperial Game: Cricket, Culture, and Society (Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1998). Teehankee, Raul J. Dribblers: A Photograph Essay on Basketball Players of the Philippines (Manila, Philippines: PT Picturebooks, 1990). Thoma, James E. and Lawrence Chalip. Sport Governance in the Global Community (Morgantown,WV: Fitness Information Technology, Inc., 1996). Tischler, Steven. Footballers and Businessmen: The Origins of Professional Soccer in England (Teaneck, NJ: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1982). Tomlinson, Alan and Christopher Young. German Football: History, Culture, Society and the World Cup 2006 (Abingdon, Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2006). Vaughan, Garth and Brian McFarlane. The Puck Stops Here: The Origin of Canada’s Great Winter Game: Ice Hockey (Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada: Goose Lane Editions, 1997). Wadhwaney, K. R. Indian Cricket and Corruption (New Delhi, India: Siddharth Publications, 2005). Westerbeek, Hans and Aaron Smith. Sport Business in the Global Marketplace (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003). Whiting, Robert. The Meaning of Ichiro (New York, NY:Warner Books, 2004). Whiting, Robert. You Gotta Have Wa (Lincolnshire, IL: Vintage Publishing, 1989). Whitson, David. Artificial Ice: Hockey, Commerce, and Cultural Identity (Aurora, Ontario, Canada: Garamond Press, 2006).
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Wolff, Alexander. Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure (New York, NY: Warner Books, 2002). Woog, Dan. The Ultimate Soccer Encyclopedia (Chicago, IL: Lowell House, 2000). World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006 (New York, NY: World Almanac Books, 2006). World Almanac and Book of Facts 2008 (New York, NY: World Almanac Books, 2008). Yu, Junwei. Playing in Isolation: A History of Baseball in Taiwan (Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 2007). Zimbalist, Andrew. The Bottom Line: Observations and Arguments on the Sports Business (Philadelphia, PA:Temple University Press, 2006).
DISSERTATIONS Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. “An Economic Analysis of Franchise Relocation and League Expansion in Professional Team Sports, 1950–1975.” Doctoral Dissertation, Georgia State University, 1977.
MEDIA GUIDES Official Major League Baseball Fact Book 2005 Edition (St. Louis, MO: Sporting News, 2005). World Congress of Sports (New York, NY: Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal, 2003).
INTERNET SOURCES “A Tale of Two Countries.”http://contents-usa.cricinfo.com [cited 22 May 2008]. “A to Z Encyclopedia of Ice Hockey.” http://www.azhockey.com [cited 11 October 2007]. “About the FA Vase.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007]. “About the FA Women’s Cup.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007]. Adams, Russell. “The NBA’s Top Gossips: How Three Nobodies Built Basketball’s Most Powerful News Site — From Spain.” http://www.wharton. universia.net [cited 21 March 2008].
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Albright, Jim and Gary Garland. “The Baseball Guru — Japanese Baseball Primer.” http://baseballguru.com [cited 20 June 2007]. “Alive and Unchecked — A Wave of Anti-Jewish Hate in British Football.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 2 November 2007]. “American National Men’s Hockey Team.” http://www.answers.com [cited 20 June 2007]. “American Soccer History Timeline.” http://www.soccerhall.org [cited 18 September 2007]. “Anglo-Italian Cups.” http://www.rsssf.com [cited 24 September 2007]. “Asia Cup.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 6 September 2007]. “Asian Games.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 6 August 2007]. “ASK Riga.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 30 June 2007]. “Asociacion de Clubs de Baloncesto.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 17 August 2007]. “Australia National Cricket Team.”http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. “Australia Test Matches.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]. “Australia Twenty20 Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]. “Australian One-Day Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]. “Australian Tri-Series.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 1 September 2007]. Badam, Ramola Talwar. “Not Everyone Impressed with Indian Premier League Cricket Cheerleaders.” http://canadianpress.google.com [cited 1 May 2008]. Balachandran, Kanishkaa. “A Brief History: Patrons Trophy.” http://contentusa.cricinfo.com [cited 10 September 2007]. Balachandran, Kanishkaa. “A Brief History: Pentangular Trophy.” http:// content-usa.cricinfo.com [cited 10 September 2007]. Balachandran, Kanishkaa. “A Brief History: Quaid-E-Azam Trophy.” http:// content-usa.cricinfo.com [cited 10 September 2007]. “Baltic Women’s Basketball League.” http://www.bwbl.lt [cited 30 June 2007]. “Baseball:America’s Most Successful Export.” http://www.sg.emb-japan.go.jp [cited 3 June 2007]. “Baseball and the Dominican Republic.” http://www.hispaniola.com [cited 3 June 2007]. “Baseball Has Been Very, Very Good to the Dominican.” http://www.sports businessnews.com [cited 19 August 2003].
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Brady, Diane.“Heidi Ueberroth:The NBA Marketing Executive is Behind a Big Global Expansion.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 7 October 2007]. “Brasilia.” http://users.carib-link.net [cited 19 June 2007]. “Brazil National Football Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. “Bundesliga Considering Foreign Club Ownership.” http://www.eufootball.biz [cited 25 April 2008]. “Bundesliga: How Everything Got Started.” http://www.bundesliga.de [cited 20 June 2007]. “Canada National Women’s Ice Hockey Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 7 October 2007]. “Caribbean Series.” http://www.answers.com [cited 13 July 2007]. “Category: Ice Hockey in Canada.”http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. “Challenger Trophy Winners.”http://uk.cricinfo.com [cited 6 September 2007]. “Championship History.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. Chatterjee,Abhijit and M. S. Unnikrishnan.“Currency of Power:The Business of Cricket.” http://www.tribuneindia.com [cited 20 May 2008]. “China’s Basketball League.” http://www.china.org [cited 1 November 2007]. “China’s School Basketball Leagues Draw in Sponsors.” http://www.china.org [cited 14 August 2007]. “Chinese Basketball Association.”http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 6 August 2007]. “Chinese Basketball League.”http://www.china.org [cited 1 November 2007]. “Chinese University Basketball Association.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 6 August 2007]. Cohen,Adam.“Money Divides Europe’s Football Leagues.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 22 May 2007]. Collin, Jeff and Ross MacKenzie. “The World Cup, Sport Sponsorship, and Health.” http://www.thelancet.com [cited 17 June 2006]. “Combined Tests, ODIs, Twenty20 Internationals Records.” http://stats. cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]. “Copa America.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]. “Copa del Rey de Baloncesto.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 17 August 2007]. “Copa Libertadores.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]. “Cricinfotravel — Pakistan.” http://www.cricinfo.com [cited 20 June 2007]. “Cricket.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. “Cricket Australia.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007].
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“Economy of Pakistan.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 22 May 2008]. “Embassy of Brazil in London: Sport.” http://www.brazil.org.uk [cited 3 June 2007]. Engel, Gary. “A History of Japanese Baseball.” http://www.mlb.com [cited 22 March 2005]. “England National Football Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. “English League to Announce Plan For Overseas Matches.” http://www.si.com [cited 8 February 2008]. “ESPN STAR Sports Announces Launch of ‘STAR Cricket,’ a Dedicated 24 × 7 Cricket Channel.” http://www.indiaprwire.com [cited 20 June 2007]. “Eurobasket.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007]. “Eurobasket Women.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007]. “EuroBasket Women 2009 a Unique Opportunity For Latvia.” http://www. fibaeurope.com [cited 30 June 2007]. “Euro Hockey Tour.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 13 October 2007]. “European Cup and Champions League Finals.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]. Ewing, Jack. “Germany’s League of Limping Football Teams.” http://www. businessweek.com [cited 25 April 2008]. “FA Women’s Community Shield.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007]. “FA Women’s Premier League Cup History.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007]. Fainaru, Steve.“MLB May be Looking to Regulate Dominican Agents.” http:// www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 18 September 2003]. “Fewer Home-Grown Players, More Foreigners and Greater Professional Mobility.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 13 September 2007]. “FIBA Asia Championship.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007]. “FIBA Asia Championship for Women.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007]. “FIBA Europe: History.” http://www.fibaeurope.com [cited 30 June 2007]. “FIBA World Championship.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 6 August 2007]. “FIBA World Championship for Women.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 16 August 2007]. “FIFA Big Count 2006: 270 Million People Active in Football.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 3 July 2007].
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Grocer, Stephen.“England’s American Invasion Continues.” http://www.wsj.com [cited 2 July 2007]. Grossfeld, Stan.“Play Ball!” http://www.boston.com [cited 19 June 2007]. Gunther, Marc. “The NBA’s Full Court Press in China.” http://www. cnnmoney.com [cited 13 March 2006]. Heathcote, Neil.“Indian Premier League Changes Cricket.” http://newsvote. bbc.co.uk [cited 18 April 2008]. Hirons, Martin. “Cricket Captures ‘Most Interest’ Cap.” http://www.sweeney research.com [cited 20 June 2007]. Hiserman, Mike. “The Growing Globalization of MLB.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 25 November 2002]. “History.” http://www.nhl.com [cited 20 June 2007]. “History of Baseball in Venezuela: Development and Spread.” http://iml.jou. ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007]. “History of Basketball.” http://www.kansasheritage.org [cited 11 July 2007]. “History of Basketball in Europe Timeline.” http://www.fibaeurope.com [cited 30 June 2007]. “History of Cricket.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. “History of Cricket.” http://www.answers.com [cited 11 July 2007]. “History of ICC Champions Trophy.” http://www.mapsofindia.com [cited 1 September 2007]. “History of Ice Hockey.” http://www.sportsknowhow.com [cited 8 October 2007]. “History of Ice Hockey in Slovakia.”http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. “History of the FA Cup.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007]. “History of the FA Trophy.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007]. “History of the Football League.” http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk [cited 24 September 2007]. “History of the NLS Cup.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007]. “History of the Premier League.” http://www.premierleague.com [cited 24 September 2007]. “History of the Section.”http://www.fcbarcelona.com [cited 25 August 2007]. “History of World Cup Cricket.” http://www.mapsofworld.com [cited 1 September 2007]. “Hockey Federations Miss Deadline.” http://www.sportbusiness.com [cited 9 May 2008].
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“International Ice Hockey History.” http://tbs.asu.ru [cited 3 June 2007]. “Introduction to Latvian Basketball.” http://www.eurobasket.com [cited 3 June 2007]. “Irani Trophy Statistics.” http://uk.cricinfo.com [cited 6 September 2007]. Isidore, Chris.“By All Appearances, Japan is Living MLB TV.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 13 November 2003]. Isidore, Chris. “The International Pastime.” http://cnnmoney.printthis.clickability.com [cited 13 April 2004]. “Japan Series.” http://www.britannica.com [cited 20 July 2007]. “Japanese Baseball Has Problems.” http://www.globalconsumption.com [cited 3 June 2007]. King, David. “Baseball — The Global Game.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 25 November 2002]. Krishnan, Raghu.“Watching IPL is Tuned in to a Midsummer Night’s Dream.” http://economictimes.indiatimes.com [cited 20 May 2008]. Kureishi, Omar.“Cricket in Pakistan.” http://www.the-south-asian.com [cited 19 June 2007]. Lahman, Sean. “History of Baseball Part I The Baseball Archive.” http:// www.baseball1.com [cited 11 July 2007]. “Latvian National Basketball Team.”http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. “League Structure 2004–05.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 19 June 2007]. “Liga Espanola de Baloncesto.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 17 August 2007]. “Little League Organization.” http://www.littleleague.org [cited 25 July 2007]. Macdonald, Robert. “Indian Premier League Cricket — Player Auction.” http://www.thesportseconomist.com [cited 1 May 2008]. MacLeod, Calum. “China Embraces Basketball.” http://usatoday.com [cited 3 June 2007]. “Major League Soccer Unveils Latin American Advisory Board.” http:// www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 18 July 2007]. Marder, John and Adrian Cole. “Cricket in the USA.” http://contentusa.cricinfo.com [cited 19 June 2007]. Marino, Gordon. “Basketball’s Great Wall of China.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 3 November 2004]. Marshall, Samantha. “NBA Scores Big in China.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 21 May 2006].
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O’Brien, Kathleen. “In the Dominican is Baseball a Ticket to Paradise?” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 24 February 2004]. Odendaal,Andre.“An Ongoing Concern in Cricket.” http://www.cricket.co.za [cited 20 March 2008]. Oliva, Erwin. “Filipino Startup Develops Online Fantasy Basketball Game.” http://services.inquirer.net [cited 18 April 2008]. “Olympic Games All-Time Results & Standings.”http://www.usabasketball.com [cited 7 August 2007]. “Olympic Ice Hockey Tournaments, Men.” http://www.iihf.com [cited 6 October 2007]. “Olympic Soccer Medalists.” http://www.hickoksports.com [cited 2 October 2007]. “One-Day Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]. “Opening Day Rosters Feature 239 Players Born Outside the 50 United States.” http://www.mlb.com [cited 1 April 2008]. “Organizational Chart.” http://www.finhockey.fi [cited 14 May 2008]. “Origins of Baseball.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 11 July 2007]. “Origins of Cricket.” http://www.dangermouse.net [cited 11 July 2007]. “Origins of Hockey.” http://library.thinkquest.org [cited 8 October 2007]. Ozanian, Michael K. and Kurt Badenhauser.“The Business of Hockey.” http:// www.forbes.com [cited 8 November 2007]. “Pacific Rim Women’s Hockey Championship.” http://www.whockey.com [cited 11 October 2007]. Painter, Jill.“This Just in ...Yao Ming is Big Business.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 20 February 2003]. “Pakistan Cricket Board.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 19 June 2007]. “Pakistan Economy.” http://www.infoplease.com [cited 22 May 2008]. “Pakistan National Cricket Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. “Pakistan Set to Follow Indian Premier League Suit.” http://economictimes.indiatimes.com [cited 20 May 2008]. “Pakistan —Test Matches.”http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 10 September 2007]. “Pan American Games Soccer Medalists.” http://www.hickoksports.com [cited 2 October 2007]. Panicker,Prem.“We Just Need to Win.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 4 May 2007]. “Philippine Basketball Association.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 21 June 2007].
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“Philippine Basketball League.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. Posnanski, Joe.“Few Baseball Dreams Realized But Many Dashed in Dominican Republic.” http://www.kansascity.com [cited 8 April 2003]. “Professional Ice Hockey.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. “Ranji Trophy Statistics.” http://uk.cricinfo.com [cited 6 September 2007]. “Real Madrid Top Most of the Rankings in Spain.” http://www.realmadrid.com [cited 25 August 2007]. “Red Sox Announce an Alliance with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 5 July 2007]. Ressa, Maria.“Basketball Mania Rules the Philippines.” http://www-cgi.cnn.com [cited 18 April 2008]. Reynolds, Bob.“National Regulators Debate Global Regulation for Big Four.” http://www.accountancymagazine.com [cited 11 June 2008]. Rhoden,William C.“MLB and Japanese Baseball.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 3 December 2002]. Richards, Huw. “Indian Auction Transforms Economics of Cricket.” http:// www.iht.com [cited 18 April 2008]. Rusnak, Jeff. “Knowledge Pact for MLS, Bundesliga.” http://web.mlsnet.com [cited 25 April 2008]. Samiuddin, Osman.“A Cricket Legend’s Strange, Sudden Exit.” http://online. wsj.com [cited 26 March 2007]. Samiuddin, Osman.“How Many Leagues Can Cricket Sustain?” http://contentusa.cricinfo.com [cited 7 June 2008]. Sanchez, Jesse.“Winter Ball Player Shortage Not an Issue.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 16 September 2007]. Sandomir, Richard. “Its Good for MLB to Open Their Season in Japan.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 16 March 2003]. “Senate to Grill PCB on Its Bank Balances.” http://content-usa.cricinfo.com [cited 22 May 2008]. “Senators Accuse Board of Financial ‘Misstatements’.” http://content-usa. cricinfo.com [cited 22 May 2008]. Shankar, Ajay S. “IPL Eyes Global Network of Leagues.” http://content-usa. cricinfo.com [cited 7 June 2008]. “Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 13 October 2007].
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“SM-liiga.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 3 June 2007]. “Soccer: All-Century Teams.” http://www.hickoksports.com [cited 2 October 2007]. “Soccer History.” http://expertfootball.com [cited 11 July 2007]. “Soccer History and Information.” http://www.all-soccer-info.com [cited 11 July 2007]. “Soccer History FIFA.” http://expertfootball.com [cited 11 July 2007]. “Soccer History Football Origin.” http://www.all-soccer-info.com [cited 11 July 2007]. “Soccer in the United States.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]. Souhan, Jim. “Latin American Academies Becoming the Norm.” http://www. sports-businessnews.com [cited 14 January 2003]. “South Africa Cricketers’Association.”http://www.saca.org.za [cited 25 March 2008]. “South Africa National Cricket Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 20 March 2008]. “Spain National Basketball Team.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 17 August 2007]. “Sport in Latvia: Basketball.” http://www.answers.com [cited 3 June 2007]. “Sports in Brazil: Football.” http://www.v-brazil.com [cited 19 June 2007]. “Sports in England.” http://england.costasur.com [cited 20 June 2007]. “Strong Financially, Bundesliga Seeks Improvement in Pitch.” http://www. eufootball.biz [cited 25 April 2008]. Struck, Doug. “Japanese Appreciative of Their Exports.” http://www. sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 19 August 2003]. “Suomi-sarja.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 22 June 2007]. “Super Cup (English Football).” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 24 September 2007]. “Supercopa de Espana de Baloncesto.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 17 August 2007]. “Sutherland Questions IPL’s Future.” http://content-usa.cricinfo.com [cited 22 May 2008]. “Team Canada.” http://www.virtualmuseum.ca [cited 20 June 2007]. “Teams.” http://www.mlb.com [cited 20 July 2007]. “Teams.” http://www.nhl.com [cited 17 October 2007].
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“Test Matches.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]. “Test Matches in Pakistan.”http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 10 September 2007]. “Texaco Cup & Anglo-Scottish Cup 1971–81.” http://www.rsssf.com [cited 24 September 2007]. “The Bundesliga History FAQ.” http://www.the-shot.com [cited 29 September 2007]. “The Future — Venezuelan Summer League.” http://iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007]. “The History of German Soccer.” http://www.soccer-fans-info.com [cited 29 September 2007]. “The Past — History of Baseball in Venezuela.” http://iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007]. “The Philippine Basketball.” http://ccs.cla.kobe-u.ac.jp [cited 18 April 2008]. “The Russian Hockey League (RHL).” http://www.russianjerseys.com [cited 3 June 2007]. “The Special Economics of Cricket.” http://www.swaminomics.org [cited 20 May 2008]. “The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.” http://iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007]. “The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League: Current Structure.” http:// iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007]. “The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League: Early Days.” http://iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 18 July 2007]. “The World’s Most Popular Sports.” http://www.johann-sandra.com [cited 27 June 2007]. Thomsen, Ian.“NBA Mulling Idea of Five-Team Expansion in Europe.” http:// www.si.com [cited 13 February 2008]. “3 Nations Cup.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 11 October 2007]. Topkin, Marc. “Making MLB Heading to Japan — Feel Comfortable.” http:// www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 23 March 2003]. Tripathi, Salil.“India at Bat.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 22 June 2007]. “Twenty20 Internationals.”http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]. “Twenty20 World Championship.”http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 1 September 2007]. “Twenty20 World Championship 2007.” http://african-cultural-events. suite101.com [cited 1 September 2007].
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“2006 Caribbean Series.” http://www.answers.com [cited 13 July 2007]. “2007 Caribbean Series.” http://www.answers.com [cited 13 July 2007]. “UEFA Cup.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]. “UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup Finals.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]. “UEFA European Football Championship.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 18 September 2007]. “UEFA Tournaments.” http://www.uefa.org [cited 24 September 2007]. Umrigar, Polly.“History of the BCCI — Part I.” http://www.cricketforindia.com [cited 19 June 2007]. “U16 European Championship.” http://www.fibaeurope.com [cited 18 August 2007]. “U18 European Championship.” http://www.fibaeurope.com [cited 18 August 2007]. “U20 European Championship.” http://www.fibaeurope.com [cited 18 August 2007]. Varadarajan, Tunku. “It May Not Bowl Over Yanks, But Cricket is a Manly Game.” http://online.wsj.com [cited 7 March 2007]. Vaughan, Garth.“Quotes Prove Ice Hockey’s Origin.” http://www.birthplaceofhockey.com [cited 8 October 2007]. Velinger, Jan and Katrin Bock. “A Brief History of Czech Ice Hockey.” http://www.radio.cz [cited 3 June 2007]. “Venezuelan Baseball League.” http://www.geocities.com [cited 2 October 2003]. “Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.” http://iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 3 June 2007]. “Venezuelan Summer League.” http://iml.jou.ufl.edu [cited 3 June 2007]. “Was This How Cricket Evolved.” http://www.athleticscholarships.net [cited 11 July 2007]. “Was This How Soccer Was Introduced.” http://www.athleticscholarships.net [cited 11 July 2007]. “Watney Cup.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 24 September 2007]. Westhead, Rick. “Nike Abandons Hockey.” http://www.thestar.com [cited 9 October 2007]. “What is FIBA Europe?” http://www.fibaeurope.com [cited 30 June 2007].
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Whittell, Ian. “An All Euro NBA Division Would be Very Interesting.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 6 October 2006]. Wilson, Peter and Nick Benequista.“Not a Great Season for the Venezuela’s Professional Baseball League.” http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 20 January 2003]. “Women’s Chinese Basketball Association.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 14 August 2007]. “Women’s Football — A Brief History.” http://www.thefa.com [cited 24 September 2007]. “Women’s Hockey in Finland.” http://www.whockey.com [cited 13 October 2007]. “Women’s Hockey in the Czech Republic.” http://www.whockey.com [cited 11 October 2007]. “Women’s Olympic Games All-Time Results & Standings.” http://www.usabasketball.com [cited 16 August 2007]. “Women’s One-Day Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]. “Women’s Soccer World Cup.” http://www.hickoksports.com [cited 2 October 2007]. “Women’s Test Matches.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]. “Women’s Twenty20 Internationals.” http://stats.cricinfo.com [cited 13 September 2007]. “World Cup of Hockey.” http://en.wikipedia.org [cited 8 October 2007]. “World Cup Soccer Winners.” http://mistupid.com [cited 18 September 2007]. “World University Games Soccer Medalists.” http://www.hickoksports.com [cited 2 October 2007]. York, Geoffrey. “Live From China — The Legend of Yao Ming.” http:// www.sportsbusinessnews.com [cited 8 January 2003]. Zirin, Dave. “How Baseball Strip-Mines the Dominican Republic.” http:// www.commondreams.org [cited 3 June 2007].
REPORTS Daflon, Rogerio and Teo Ballve. “The Beautiful Game? Race and Class in Brazilian Soccer.” NACLA Report on the Americas (March 2004): 23–26.
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Index
Baseball, Inc. 3, 35, 36, 38, 39, 50, 194, 195 see also Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. Baseball Without Borders 6, 195 see also Gmelch, George Basketball in China 4, 65, 69, 70, 75, 91, 92, 95, 103, 192, 195 Basketball in Philippines 4, 75, 76, 78, 83, 99, 196 Basketball in Spain 84,100,103,191,192 Beijing 72, 73, 75, 95, 131, 196 Bidini, Dave 12, 13 see also Tropic of Hockey Big Game, Small World 8, 9, 76, 197 see also Wolff, Alexander Big Sports, Big Business 3 see also Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. Bjarkman, Peter C. 6, 7, 28, 30, 35, 40, 49, 52, 195 see also Diamonds Around the Globe Board of Control for Cricket (BCC) 229, 230, 232, 233, 235, 236 Bombay (Mumbai) 228, 229, 231, 232, 249, 251
A History of Australian Cricket 9, 204 see also Harte, Chris and Bernard Whimpress African American 25, 27 American Sports Empire 3 see also Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) 146, 147 Australian Cricket Board (Cricket Australia) 9, 21, 212, 220, 244, 250, 256 Bairner,Alan 14, 69 see also Sport, Nationalism, and Globalization Baseball Hall of Fame 27, 35 Baseball in Crisis 3 see also Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. Baseball in Dominican Republic 23, 26, 193 Baseball in Japan 36, 38, 45, 58, 191 Baseball in Venezuela 4, 45–47, 61, 206 311
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Bose, Mihir 10, 11, 204, 229, 250 see also The Magic of Indian Cricket Bottenburg, Maarten Van, and Beverly Jackson 15 see also Global Games Bradman, Don 217, 220, 222 Bundesliga 128, 129, 145–147, 198, 209 Buscones 32, 33, 56 Business and Economic Implications 53, 90, 109, 133, 144, 153, 177, 190, 193, 205, 207, 242, 243 Canadian Hockey Association (CHA) 155, 156 Cardwell, Ronald, and Roger Page 10 see also The Fifty Best Australian Cricket Books of All Time Castro, Fidel 29 Chadwick, Simon, and Dave Arthur 16–18 see also International Cases in the Business of Sport Chronicle of Higher Education 82 Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) 108 Cricket in Australia 4, 202, 212, 215, 219–221 Cricket in India 4, 10, 11, 192, 228, 229, 231, 236, 250, 253 Cricket in Pakistan 10, 191, 204, 236–238, 255, 258 cricket stadiums 222 Czech Hockey Adventure 163, 164, 166, 184 Czech International Ice Hockey Camp 163, 164, 166, 184 Czechoslovakia 89, 152, 158, 161, 162, 164–167, 172, 176, 201, 261, 263, 266
Diamonds Around the Globe 6, 7, 28, 30, 35, 40, 49, 52, 195 see also Bjarkman, Peter C. English Football Association (FA) 107, 116, 117 Eurobasket 19, 88, 89, 90, 197, 263, 264 european football teams 124, 125, 141, European Union (EU) 138, 143, 183, 186–188, FA Cup 116, 120, 121, 125, 198 Far Eastern Games 76, 81 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) 11, 12, 20, 106–108, 111–113, 119, 125, 128, 130, 131, 136, 137, 199 Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA) 73, 74, 76–78, 81, 82, 84–86, 88–90, 197, 260–262 Finnish Ice Hockey Association (FIHA) 168, 188, 189 Fizel, John 16–18, 245, 250 see also International Sports Economics Games and Empires 14, 15, 69 see also Guttman, Allen Gasol, Pau 84, 85, 101, 197 Global Games 14, 15, 145 see also Bottenburg, Maarten Van and Beverly Jackson Gmelch, George 6, 195 see also Baseball without Borders Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 54, 57, 91, 93, 99, 134, 138, 143, 178, 188, 243, 244, 255 Growing the Game 7, 195 see also Klein, Alan M. Guttman,Allen 14, 15, 69 see also Games and Empires
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Index Harte, Chris, and Bernard Whimpress 9, 204 see also A History of Australian Cricket Helsinki 167, 169–171, 173, 175, 177, 201 Hispaniola 26 Ice Hockey in Canada 4, 149, 153, 200, 202 Ice Hockey in Czech Republic 161, 178, 192 Ice Hockey in Finland 4, 167, 168, 191 In It to Win It 9, 10, 204, 222 see also Roebuck, Peter Indian Premier League (IPL) 212, 213, 251–253, 256, 258 International Baseball Federation (IBF) 7, 51, 194 International Cases in the Business of Sport 16–18 see also Chadwick Ronald and Roger Page International Cricket Council (ICC) 203, 217–219, 223, 225–227, 229, 230, 234–236, 239, 246, 248, 252, 258 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) 20, 150, 158–161, 164–168, 173, 174, 176, 186, 201 International Sports Economics Comparisons 16, 17, 212, 245, 250 see also Fizel, John Jordan, Michael 8, 67, 68, 71, 197 Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. 3, 14, 36, 51, 69, 151, 194, 195, 197 see also American Sports Empire; Baseball in Crisis; Baseball, Inc.; Big Sports; Big Business; Relocating Teams and Expanding Leagues in Professional Sports; Sports Capitalism
313
Kings of the Ice 13, 150, 202 see also Podnicks,Andrew and Sheila Wawanash Klein,Alan M. 7, 33, 34, 37, 57, 180, 195 see also Growing the Game LaFeber,Walter 7, 8, 197 Levermore, R. 15 see also Sport and International Relations Literature Review 3, 4, 5, 14 Little League 6, 31, 38, 39, 51, 194 Major League Baseball (MLB) 3, 4, 7, 19, 25, 28, 29, 31–35, 39, 41–44, 47, 48, 50, 51, 53, 55–62, 151, 192–195, 246 Major League Soccer (MLS) 3, 4, 11, 108, 145–147, 152, 192 Marcano,Arthur J., and David P. Fidler 7, 33 see also Stealing Lives McDonald’s 8, 68, 93, 207 Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism 8, 197 see also LaFeber Walter Ming,Yao 19, 69, 72, 74, 75, 93, 94, 196 National Basketball Association (NBA) 3, 4, 67–69, 72–75, 77, 78, 80, 83, 85, 92–96, 99–102, 192, 196, 207, 208 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 67, 68, 70, National Football League (NFL) 3, 124, 133 National Hockey League (NHL) 3, 4, 12, 20, 151, 152, 154, 155, 158, 161, 163, 167, 170, 175, 177, 179–182, 184, 185, 192, 200, 210, 211, 246, 266, 267, NBA China 92, 95, 207 Nike 8, 68, 70, 71, 93, 136, 137, 144, 180, 181, 207
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Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) 42, 43, 44, 58–60, 207 Olympic Games 2, 19, 20, 31, 38, 39, 43, 51, 52, 68, 73, 75, 77, 81, 82, 84, 88–90, 103, 105, 107, 108, 111, 112, 120, 125, 128, 130, 131, 151, 152, 155, 159, 161, 164–168, 173–176, 184, 194, 196, 197, 199, 201, 260, 265 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) 60 Pakistan Control Board (PCB) 236–238, 256–258 Pakistan Premier League (PPL) 213, 258 Pele 110, 111, 136, 137, 264 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) 77–82, 96–98 Podnieks,Andrew, and Sheila Wawanash 13, 150, 202 see also Kings of the Ice Premier League (PL) 117–119, 121, 125, 139, 140, 142, 143, 198, 209, 212, 213, 251–253, 258 Radnedge, Keir 11, 12, 115, 200 see also The Complete Encyclopedia of Soccer; The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Soccer Relocating Teams and Expanding Leagues in Professional Sports 3 see also Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. Roebuck, Peter 9, 10, 204, 222 see also In It to Win It Ruth, Babe 41, 42 Slovakia 5, 161, 162, 164–167, 171, 183, 264 SM-liiga 170, 171, 175, 188–190, 200, 211 Soccer in Brazil 105, 109, 198, 202
Soccer in England 4, 116, 126, 192 Soccer in Germany 127, 191 South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) 113 Spanish basketball teams 84, 85, 100 Sport and International Relations 15 see also Levermore, R. Sport, Nationalism, and Globalization 14, 69 see also Bairner,Alan Sports Capitalism 3, 14, 36, 69, 151, 197 see also Jozsa, Frank P., Jr. Sports Illustrated 8, 61, 84, 101, 171, 184 Stanley Cup 154, 158, 159, 175, 176, 181, 182, 184 Stealing Lives 7, 33 see also Marcano, Arturo J. and David P. Fidler subsidies 96, 100, 133, 156, 169, 188, 207, 211, 230 Summer Baseball League 19 Sweeney Sports Report (SSR) 227 The Bottom Line 16, 17 see also Zimbalist,Andrew The Complete Encyclopedia of Soccer 11, 115, 200 see also Radnedge, Keir The Fifty Best Australian Cricket Books of All Time 10 see also Cordwell, Ronald and Roger Page The Magic of Indian Cricket 10, 204, 229 see also Bose, Mihir The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Soccer 11 see also Radnedge, Keir Tropic of Hockey 12, 13 see also Bidini Dave Union of European Football Association (UEFA) 20, 111 Wall Street Journal 42, 58, 74, 92, 93, 95, 135, 141, 182, 209, 212, 236, 251
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Index Warne, Shane 222, 247 Whiting, Robert 44, 45 see also You Gotta Have Wa Winter Baseball League 28 Wolff,Alexander 8, 9, 76, 184, 197 see also Big Game, Small World World Almanac and Book of Facts 2, 25, 54, 68, 91, 93, 96, 100, 134, 135, 144, 178, 179, 183, 187, 243, 244, 249, 255, 266 World Baseball Classic (WBC) 2, 35, 38, 39, 43, 60, 194 World Championships 19, 20, 73, 74, 82, 88, 89, 90, 158, 159, 164–167, 172–176, 188, 197, 198, 201, 261
315
World Cup 2, 12, 20, 31, 35, 38, 43, 51, 52, 107, 108–112, 115–117, 120, 124, 125, 127, 128, 130, 131, 137, 144, 147, 150, 176, 177, 194, 199, 200, 203, 204, 210, 212, 217, 223, 224, 227, 228, 234, 235, 239, 241, 246–248, 250, 266 You Gotta Have Wa 44, 45 see also Whiting, Robert Young Mens Christian Association (YMCA) 65, 66, 69, 75, 84 Zimbalist,Andrew 16–18 see also The Bottom Line
