ABSTRACT
Introduction Every business owner understands that pro‰tability depends on delivering to their customers exactly what they want in the manner in which they want it. ere are some particularly unique elements to the sports industry that make its business a¦airs and the assessment of consumer demand unlike any other. For example, car manufacturers or computer makers would love to be the only purveyors of their product in a given market. If all competitors were eliminated from a particular market, then it becomes in‰nitely easier to be pro‰table. No computer maker or car company needs a competitor in the market to ensure that their product is purchased. While competition between companies might improve the quality of a product and lower the price, these bene‰ts accrue more to consumers than to business owners. Yet, every sports team and every athlete in an individual sport, such as golf, tennis, or boxing, needs other competitors to sell their product. e need for competitors is what makes sports unlike most, if not all, other businesses. Furthermore, people involved in the business of sports need to ‰gure out how much competition fans want.
