How did the professional baseball, basketball, football, and hockey leagues become the most successful sports organizations in the United States? Jozsa investigates the major leagues' histories with unparalleled depth and rigorous economic analysis. He marshals relevant data, facts, statistics that measure the performance of professional sports teams and players, the strategies of franchise owners, and the loyalties of fans. Delineating the development, maturation, and revitalization of the leagues throughout the 20th century, he highlights significant events and reforms of the era and discusses the future of sports leagues in the marketplace.

Sports fanatics, casual fans, professional coaches and players, journalists, economists, administrators, and owners will discover a goldmine of information in this unique volume. Readers will learn about key owners, investors, coaches, managers, and players of teams that won divisions, conference titles, and league championships from the 1950s through the 1990s. The book includes information on attendance, operating incomes, payrolls, win-loss percentages, and the estimated market value of individual teams. Specific franchise owners are noted for their wealth and success factors. The author also predicts that league commissioners, franchise owners, local business and community leaders, and government officials will be forced to bargain in good faith and compromise on the question of whether to use taxpayer money to invest in sports facilities.