Podcast appearances and mentions of Robert A Woods

The 2022 FIFA World Cup, the world's most popular sporting event, is hosted by Qatar, and over 5 billion viewers are expected to tune in. Even if you're not a diehard soccer fan, you might be familiar with some of the serious controversies surrounding this year's games. From allegations of corruption and bribery around Qatar's bid to the host's flagrant human rights abuses, the World Cup has already had a heavy financial and human cost.   Ray Suarez teases the tournament's most interesting storylines with Alex Kay-Jelski, the editor-in-chief of the Athletic UK. Kay-Jelski is England's first openly gay sports editor, and he shares what it's like covering the games in Qatar – where homosexuality is a crime. Then, economist Andrew Zimbalist tries to untangle FIFA's complicated ledger to explain why the games are so expensive.   Guests:   Alex Kay-Jelski, the editor-in-chief of The Athletic UK   Andrew Zimbalist, American economist, Robert A. Woods professor of economics at Smith College Host   Ray Suarez   If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

I am pleased to welcome Professor Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College. Dr. Zimbalist is a national leader in studying and writing about the money side of revenue-generating college sports—an enterprise that has migrated over the years from an amateur to a professionalized status with pro-like commercialization. His book titles include Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-time College Sports (1999), Equal Play: Title IX and Social Change (2007), Unwinding Madness: What Went Wrong with College Sports and How to Fix It (2017), and most recently, Whither College Sports: Amateurism, Athlete Safety, and Academic Integrity (2021, Rutgers University Press). Dr. Zimbalist is also president-elect of The Drake Group, a national network dedicated to defending academic integrity in higher education from the corrosive aspects of commercialized college sports. Michigan State University colleagues Ruben Martinez and Steven Miller join Dr. Zimbalist and me in today's program. (The program was produced in collaboration with FutureU: Conversations about Values and Change in Higher Education.)

Winning always feels good, even if being the only one left in the race does spoil the buzz a bit. So why was Brisbane the only city in contention to host the 2032 Olympics? And could it be that the rest of the world knows something Australia doesn't? Today on The Signal, we're often told that hosting the Olympics brings the host city fortune, fame and decades of bragging rights. But does the data back that up? And if it doesn't, what does that mean for the future of the Olympic Games? Featured: Professor Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, US, and Author, 'Circus Maximus'

Glen Taylor, the longtime owner of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, has agreed to sell both teams to former baseball star Alex Rodriguez and former Walmart chief executive Marc Lore for $1.5 billion. Basketball fans in Minnesota are buzzing about the implications of the sale. What will the new ownership group mean for these teams? Will they stay in Minnesota? Will Rodriguez and Lore ask for public dollars for a new arena? Why have valuations of NBA teams skyrocketed? Guest host Chris Farrell, senior economics contributor at Marketplace and MPR News, sat down with a basketball reporter and a sports economist to explore the potential effects of the sale and the value of sports franchises to regional identity and the economy. They also discussed the beginning of the NBA playoffs. Guests: Jon Krawczynski is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Minnesota Timberwolves, the NBA and the Minnesota Vikings. He joined The Athletic after 16 years at The Associated Press where he covered three Olympics, three NBA Finals, two Ryder Cups and the 2009 NFC championship game. Andrew Zimbalist is the Robert A. Woods professor of economics at Smith College. He has consulted in Latin America for the United Nations Development Program, the U.S. Agency for International Development and numerous companies. He has also consulted in the sports industry for players' associations, cities, companies, teams and leagues. Zimbalist has published 28 books, many on the economics of sports. Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation. Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

In 2008, when entertainment magnate Lalit Modi launched the Indian Premier League, he took a title that was new to the world of cricket: Commissioner. Modi’s idea for the structure of the IPL had American origins. He had studied in the United States in the mid-1980s, where he encountered the model of professional teams not as clubs rooted to their communities but as franchises held by wealthy owners, and thus saleable for handsome profit. In American professional sports, each cartel of these franchises is led by a single, powerful executive. Roger Goodell of the NFL and David Stern of the NBA represent the model of the Commissioner as CEO: they punish players, coaches, and even team owners for violations of rules, but more importantly, they work to increase the reach and revenue of the league and its teams. As Lalit Modi recognized, a league led by a single Commissioner, rather than a fractious governing board, ensured that decision-making would be streamlined, negotiations with sponsors and networks would be straightforward, and profits for all of the owners would increase. The model of the league Commissioner comes from America’s oldest professional team sport: baseball. Amidst scandal in the game and rancor among team owners, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed Commissioner in 1920 and given extensive powers, in an attempt to save baseball from itself. The title of Andrew Zimbalist‘s book, In the Best Interests of Baseball: Governing the National Pastime (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), refers to the mandate that Landis and his successors received from the owners: they were to ensure that the game would not be sullied by the corruption of players or the greed of owners. But there was one problem: baseball’s commissioners were appointed by and served at the pleasure of the team owners. In the decades following Landis’ appointment, there was constant struggle between the holder of the office and the owners who paid his salary over the power and role of the Commissioner. The story that Andy tells in his book is the evolution of this baseball institution, from Judge Landis to current Commissioner Bud Selig, a former team owner who now governs the game in the interest of the owners. Bud Selig has been much maligned by baseball fans, including the host of this podcast. But Andy offers a new view of the Commissioner. The Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College, Andy is the author of many books on the economics of baseball, and he has served as a consultant on various matters related to baseball, for teams, municipal councils, and even the Office of the Commissioner. He has been a strong critic of Selig, but his overall appraisal of the Commissioner is favorable. Baseball is stronger and more stable now than it was twenty years ago. The question is: what will happen when the current, strong Commissioner steps aside? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2008, when entertainment magnate Lalit Modi launched the Indian Premier League, he took a title that was new to the world of cricket: Commissioner. Modi’s idea for the structure of the IPL had American origins. He had studied in the United States in the mid-1980s, where he encountered the model of professional teams not as clubs rooted to their communities but as franchises held by wealthy owners, and thus saleable for handsome profit. In American professional sports, each cartel of these franchises is led by a single, powerful executive. Roger Goodell of the NFL and David Stern of the NBA represent the model of the Commissioner as CEO: they punish players, coaches, and even team owners for violations of rules, but more importantly, they work to increase the reach and revenue of the league and its teams. As Lalit Modi recognized, a league led by a single Commissioner, rather than a fractious governing board, ensured that decision-making would be streamlined, negotiations with sponsors and networks would be straightforward, and profits for all of the owners would increase. The model of the league Commissioner comes from America’s oldest professional team sport: baseball. Amidst scandal in the game and rancor among team owners, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed Commissioner in 1920 and given extensive powers, in an attempt to save baseball from itself. The title of Andrew Zimbalist‘s book, In the Best Interests of Baseball: Governing the National Pastime (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), refers to the mandate that Landis and his successors received from the owners: they were to ensure that the game would not be sullied by the corruption of players or the greed of owners. But there was one problem: baseball’s commissioners were appointed by and served at the pleasure of the team owners. In the decades following Landis’ appointment, there was constant struggle between the holder of the office and the owners who paid his salary over the power and role of the Commissioner. The story that Andy tells in his book is the evolution of this baseball institution, from Judge Landis to current Commissioner Bud Selig, a former team owner who now governs the game in the interest of the owners. Bud Selig has been much maligned by baseball fans, including the host of this podcast. But Andy offers a new view of the Commissioner. The Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College, Andy is the author of many books on the economics of baseball, and he has served as a consultant on various matters related to baseball, for teams, municipal councils, and even the Office of the Commissioner. He has been a strong critic of Selig, but his overall appraisal of the Commissioner is favorable. Baseball is stronger and more stable now than it was twenty years ago. The question is: what will happen when the current, strong Commissioner steps aside? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices