David M. Carter

On his book Money Games: Profiting from the Convergence of Sports and Entertainment

Cover Interview of May 03, 2011

In a nutshell

Money Games chronicles how sports and entertainment have continued to converge throughout history. The pace at which this convergence has been happening is covered in the book’s nine chapters. My special focus is on how brands have been built and money has been made.

The book is organized in three sections; each chapter details the story of an important moment in the convergence of sports and entertainment. Money Games is part sports business playbook and part cautionary tale.

Throughout each chapter, readers will find a narrative-driven case study that epitomizes that area of convergence. Following each case study, a historical accounting of the seminal moments that have led to the present-day environment provides—for fans and industry professionals alike—an insider’s view of the business of sports and entertainment.

Chapters conclude with the words of industry patriarchs, in Q&A format. Each patriarch offers his thoughts on the convergence and how it has impacted his particular industry. This includes what they have experienced throughout their tenures, and what they believe to be compelling future developments—not only for their companies, but the sports business industry at large.

From ESPN President George Bodenheimer’s thoughts on the Internet’s impact on his business and EA SPORTS President Peter Moore’s detailing of the future of video gaming, to FOX Sports Chairman David Hill’s take on the direction of TV and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Owner Arte Moreno’s perspective on corporate marketing, the reader is provided a big picture look at how the convergence of sports and entertainment has and will continue to evolve.

media studies / business / marketing / sports / business history / entertainment / hill david / moore peter / moreno arte /

[T]he Holocaust transformed our whole way of thinking about war and heroism. War is no longer a proving ground for heroism in the same way it used to be. Instead, war now is something that we must avoid at all costs—because genocides often take place under the cover of war. We are no longer all potential soldiers (though we are that too), but we are all potential victims of the traumas war creates. This, at least, is one important development in the way Western populations envision war, even if it does not always predominate in the thinking of our political leaders.

Carolyn J. Dean,
Interview of February 01, 2011

The dominant premise in evolution and economics is that a person is being loyal to natural law if he or she attends to self’s interest and welfare before being concerned with the needs and demands of family or community. The public does not realize that this statement is not an established scientific principle but an ethical preference. Nonetheless, this belief has created a moral confusion among North Americans and Europeans because the evolution of our species was accompanied by the disposition to worry about kin and the collectives to which one belongs.

Jerome Kagan,
Interview of September 17, 2009