Smart Ball: Marketing the Myth and Managing the Reality of Major League Baseball
Robert F. Lewis
Abstract
This book follows Major League Baseball (MLB)’s history as a sport, a domestic monopoly, a neocolonial power, and an international business. MLB’s challenge has been to market its popular mythology as the national pastime with pastoral, populist roots while addressing the management challenges of competing with other sports and diversions in a burgeoning global economy. The author argues that MLB for years abused its legal insulation and monopoly status through arrogant treatment of its fans and players and static management of its business. As its privileged position eroded in the face of inc ... More
This book follows Major League Baseball (MLB)’s history as a sport, a domestic monopoly, a neocolonial power, and an international business. MLB’s challenge has been to market its popular mythology as the national pastime with pastoral, populist roots while addressing the management challenges of competing with other sports and diversions in a burgeoning global economy. The author argues that MLB for years abused its legal insulation and monopoly status through arrogant treatment of its fans and players and static management of its business. As its privileged position eroded in the face of increased competition from other sports and union resistance, it awakened to its perilous predicament and began aggressively courting athletes and fans at home and abroad. Using a detailed marketing analysis and applying the principles of a “smart power” model, the author assesses MLB’s progression as a global business brand that continues to appeal to a consumer’s sense of an idyllic past in the midst of a fast-paced, and often violent, present.
Keywords:
Major League Baseball,
domestic monopoly,
neocolonial power,
international business,
popular mythology,
national pastime,
populist roots,
management challenges,
global economy,
union resistance
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2009 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781604732078 |
Published to University Press of Mississippi: March 2014 |
DOI:10.14325/mississippi/9781604732078.001.0001 |