Predicting Seasonal Performance in Professional Sport: A 30-Year Analysis of Sports Illustrated Predictions

In 2017, Sports Illustrated (SI) made headlines when their remarkable prediction from 2014 that the Houston Astros (a team in one of the lowest Major League Baseball divisional rankings) would win the World Series, came true. The less-publicised story was that in 2017, SI predicted the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the Major League Baseball (MLB) title. Assessing the forecasting accuracy of experts is critical as it explores the difficulty and limitations of forecasts and can help illuminate how predictions may shape sociocultural notions of sport in society. To thoroughly investigate SI’s forecasting record, predictions were collected from the four major North American sporting leagues (the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and National Hockey League) over the last 30 years (1988–2018). Kruskal–Wallis H Tests and Mann–Whitney U Tests were used to evaluate the absolute and relative accuracy of predictions. Results indicated that SI had the greatest predictive accuracy in the National Basketball Association and was significantly more likely to predict divisional winners compared to conference and league champions. Future work in this area may seek to examine multiple media outlets to gain a more comprehensive perspective on forecasting accuracy in sport.

The Global Business of Sport in a Brave New World: Conceptualising a Framework for Alternative Futures

In July 1991, Sports Illustrated published a special issue featuring two articles that prognosticated about what sport would look like 10 years later. As the world entered the 21st century, Sports Illustrated writers, Oscar Johnson and Ron Fimrite, offered their visions of sport in the year 2001. Their analysis highlighted how a range of economic, social and technological changes in society would impact on how sport is structured, produced and consumed, but also offered insights into the future of the major professional sport leagues in North America. It has been 30 years since they publicised their views and, while technology continues to impact sport, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the world to pause and to consider a range of deep, soul-searching questions about the nature of society, including sport. Against this background, we consider the opportunities and challenges for sport in the 21st century. The paper is divided into three sections including: (1) a reflection on the meaning, value and significance of sport including its privileged position in society, or what we refer to as “sporting exceptionalism”; (2) a brief overview of a case study that illustrates the challenges facing the global business of sport; and, (3) a framework for conceptualising alternative futures in the global business of sport, drawing on examples from women's sport.

What Competitive Chess Can Learn From eSports

The purpose of this chapter is to explore what competitive chess can learn from eSport. The chapter begins with an examination of eSport based on a highly informative article on eSport in Sports Illustrated. Following that examination are a review of relevant scholarly articles on eSport and its relationship to chess and a brief introduction to standard chess. After that examination is a review of the PRO Chess League, which is an example of how eSport can influence competitive chess. The chapter ends with a commentary on future prospects of what competitive chess can learn from eSport. The chapter presents an optimistic perspective of competitive chess influenced by eSport, with certain cautions. However, the future of competitive chess influenced by eSport will depend on the capacity to obtain sponsors and on the capacity of fans to comprehend and appreciate the fast-paced moves in the games.

The Marshall Plan: How Diversity and Inclusion Transformed the Dallas Mavericks’ Organizational Culture

How does a professional sport organization with a toxic organizational culture transform its workplace to one built around equity, diversity, and inclusion? This article addresses that question in a case study that explores the aftermath of the Dallas Mavericks’ sexual harassment scandal. The case allows students to analyze the crisis the Mavericks faced after a Sports Illustrated article exposed the organization’s corrosive workplace culture. Students will discuss the strategies Mavericks’ chief executive officer Cynthia Marshall deployed to transform the Mavericks’ workplace culture. Furthermore, students will consider how those strategies have broader utility in improving organizational diversity throughout the sport industry. A theoretical framework, a case narrative, and teaching notes are provided to support implementation of the case study in sport management curricula.

Unraveling

During the Raiders Case, the Commissioner went to Congress seeking an anti-trust exemption for the NFL that would be retroactive and could be used as a way out of the LAMCC suits against the NFL. This was ill-advised and failed leaving Rozelle weakened in the process. In the middle of all this the USFL was persuaded by Donald Trump to move from spring to fall competition and sue the NFL. The USFL won the case and the NFL was ordered to pay the USFL three dollars sealing the fate of the USFL. The Drug issue was growing in the 1970s and came to focus in San Diego where Arthur Mandell was hired as team psychiatrist. Mandell became a scapegoat in the San Diego case as it was manipulated by the NFL and Rozelle who treated drugs in the NFL as a public relations issue. Sports Illustrated in 1982 did a cover story on drugs and focused on the case of Don Reese. Cocaine became a serious problem in the 1980’s particularly in San Francisco. Rozelle announced a drug-testing program and was found in violation of the collective bargaining agreement. In 1988 Commissioner Rozelle discovered the longtime steroid use in the NFL in another public relations move. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reported heart disease in NFL exceeded that in the general population. The NFL was found to have extremely low rankings on working conditions, income, and security. Rozelle’s control of the league was waning.

The NFL Comes of Age

The fifteen years following World War II were a period of prosperity and technological innovation on a scale that transformed American society and produced a consumer driven economy. The NFL rode this wave of change to unprecedented heights. As the war came to an end Arch Ward, Paul Brown and others founded the All-America Football Conference taking professional football to the West Coast and opening a battle with the National Football League. Brown’s success in Cleveland led Dan Reeves to move the Rams to Los Angles, and that move led to the desegregation of the NFL. Player salaries increased and the league became more competitive. The merger of the two leagues with the Browns, Colts, and Forty-Niners joining the NFL came in 1950. The professionalization of all facets of the game both on and off the field was led by Paul Brown, who transformed coaching techniques and dominated the AAFC and the NFL with such players as Otto Graham and Dante Lavelli, and by virtue of the desegregation of his team as he signed Marion Motley and Bill Willis. The New NFL caught the eye of the public and under the leadership of Bert Bell used, and then dominated, television to became a major force in American sport. The rise of television and the rise of the NFL went hand-in-hand and reached a crescendo when the large television audience watched the NFL Championship Game of 1958 go into “sudden death” overtime. The NFL’s growth also coincided with the start of Sports Illustrated and the magazine bet its future by focusing its coverage on the NFL. The other element of success was the NFL’s emphasis on a macho philosophy and the violence of the game. Players like Sam Huff and Bobby Lane were lauded in the media for their toughness and their off-field lifestyles.