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o Sports and Business: Is Sport Business or Is Business Sport? The secret to winning is constant, consistent management. —Tom Landry, former NFL Head Coach [Red Auerbach] wasn't just talking basketball. He was talking about any en- terprise where people are making products, where they have to compete, where they have to win. —Lee Iacocca, former Chrysler CEO Sports creates a diversion away from the other aspects of life. Whether playing a game or watching one, these events supply entertainment. Beyond the attention devoted to the playing of games and beyond the entertain- ment value of the games, sports permeates the culture in all kinds of ways. Children as well as adults engage in all kinds of competitive settings where objectives are identified, boundaries are set, order of play is identified, and so on. In many ways, these games of play mirror and are mirrored by com- petitive activities in nonsporting settings such as everyday business. The lack of understanding of this visceral appeal of sports has led many to underestimate its influence and value. For instance, the famous sports- caster, Howard Cosell, derisively referred to sports as the "toy department" of life and sought to move beyond sports and into more serious broad- casting jobs his whole life. Sports grips American culture in a way that far exceeds the amount of money spent by fans attending games or by the dol- lars that advertisers pay for time during telecasts. Even when these dollars include merchandising revenues tied directly to professional sports teams or indirectly to colleges and universities because of their athletics programs, 1