Players: The Story of Sports and Money--and the Visionaries Who Fought to Create a Revolution

by Matthew Futterman Narrated by George Newbern

Overview

“Provocative...terrific stories” (The New Yorker) 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.

It 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.

“A remarkable saga...filled with insights not only into sports, but also into human nature” (The Dallas Morning News), Players features 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.

“An entertaining, illuminating read” (New York Journal of Books), Players is 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....Players could not be more timely” (The New York Times).

Editorial Reviews

NOVEMBER 2016 - AudioFile

Anyone who follows sports knows money is at the crux of, well, everything. What Matthew Futterman details, and what George Newbern clearly describes, is the genesis of how money took root in the games we love. Newburn’s storytelling abilities help give an identity to the real-life characters in many athletic, marketing, and contractual endeavors. Futterman’s narrative is fascinating; it’s not bogged down in too many statistics. Newbern’s narration fits the story well—with the right amount of intonation, surprise, and inflection. Chapters include a variety of topics: Catfish Hunter’s battle over an annuity in baseball, the founding of a sports academy, and the biography of vanguard agent Mark McCormack are three of the best ones, with Newbern keeping perfect pace. M.B. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

Sports is big business. We all know that today, but how and why did football, baseball, basketball, and the Olympics become so big? And what does that mean to athletes and fans? Matthew Futterman provides the answers in this revealing and wonderfully readable book. Players is a winner.”
—David Maraniss, author of When Pride Still Mattered, Clemente, and Rome 1960

“The magnitude by which athletes have become bigger, faster, and stronger is dwarfed by the degree to which they have become richer. Players is a deeply reported expose of the forces that have so often morphed sports from pure fun into pure business. It’s a fascinating read whether you’re interested in big time sports, big time business, or the intersection of the two.”
—David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene

“A smart, rollicking read about the business of sports, with fresh insight into the breathtaking financial boom that has revolutionized every sport we love and every game we watch. Populated with the boldest pioneers, from Mark McCormack and Arnold Palmer to George Steinbrenner and Marvin Miller, Matt Futterman has written a landmark book that will be consulted, and cherished, for years.”
—Don Van Natta Jr., ESPN investigative reporter, Pulitzer Prize winner, and New York Times bestselling author of First Off the Tee, Wonder Girl and coauthor of Her Way

NOVEMBER 2016 - AudioFile

Anyone who follows sports knows money is at the crux of, well, everything. What Matthew Futterman details, and what George Newbern clearly describes, is the genesis of how money took root in the games we love. Newburn’s storytelling abilities help give an identity to the real-life characters in many athletic, marketing, and contractual endeavors. Futterman’s narrative is fascinating; it’s not bogged down in too many statistics. Newbern’s narration fits the story well—with the right amount of intonation, surprise, and inflection. Chapters include a variety of topics: Catfish Hunter’s battle over an annuity in baseball, the founding of a sports academy, and the biography of vanguard agent Mark McCormack are three of the best ones, with Newbern keeping perfect pace. M.B. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171263997
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	04/26/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

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