{"product_id":"players-how-sports-became-a-business-9781476716961","title":"Players: How Sports Became a Business","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Provocative...terrific stories\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e) of the people who transformed sports--in the span of a single generation--from a job that required even top athletes to work in the off-season to make ends meet into a massive global business.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt started, as most business deals do, with a handshake. In 1960, a Cleveland lawyer named Mark McCormack convinced a golfer named Arnold Palmer to sign with him. McCormack simply believed that the best athletes had more commercial value than they were being paid for--and he was right. Within a few years, he raised Palmer's annual income from $5,000 to $500,000, and forever changed the landscape of the sports industry, transforming it from a form of entertainment to a profitable and fully functioning system of its own. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A remarkable saga...filled with insights not only into sports, but also into human nature\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Dallas Morning News\u003c\/i\u003e), \u003ci\u003ePlayers \u003c\/i\u003efeatures landmark moments, including the multiyear battle to free Palmer from a bad deal with the Wilson Sporting Goods Company; the 1973 Wimbledon boycott, when eighty-one of the top tennis players in the world protested the suspension of Nikola Pilic; baseball pitcher Catfish Hunter's battle to become MLB's first free agent; and how NFL executives transformed pro football from a commercial dud to the greatest show on earth. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"An entertaining, illuminating read\" (\u003ci\u003eNew York Journal of Books\u003c\/i\u003e), \u003ci\u003ePlayers \u003c\/i\u003eis a riveting, fly-on-the-wall account of the rise and creation of the modern sports world, and the people who made it happen. \"No part of the media and entertainment industry has seen a more substantial economic transformation than sports....A half-century tour spanning a variety of widely recognized and lesser-known sports figures and competitions that have played roles in the industry's development....\u003ci\u003ePlayers\u003c\/i\u003e could not be more timely\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Simon \u0026amp; Schuster\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/18\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781476716961\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.30h x 5.40w x 0.90d","brand":"Matthew Futterman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42531029188789,"sku":"9781476716961","price":16.14,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_9690bc7d-5db6-49b8-9d56-714d03f7dbea.jpg?v=1669735326","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/players-how-sports-became-a-business-9781476716961","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}