Publishers Weekly
★ 04/03/2023
This excellent study by New York Times Magazine contributor Schoenfeld (The Match) explores how data analytics has transformed professional sports. He suggests that the success of the Oakland Athletics’ strategy of using sophisticated statistical analysis to identify and recruit undervalued players to the cash-strapped team and determine its game plans turned sports franchises from “glorified hobbies” into booming businesses. One consequence, Schoenfeld contends, is that sports have become less fun to watch; he cites how the rise of data led to “more strikeouts and home runs than ever, and fewer extra-base hits and acrobatic fielding plays,” even though baseball fans say they would prefer to see the latter. Schoenfeld provides keen insight into how analysts upended traditional means of evaluating players, telling how in 2006 the Boston Celtics drafted college point guard Rajon Rondo after recognizing that his high number of turnovers indicated his coach played him frequently enough to accumulate them. Schoenfeld demonstrates a perceptive understanding of what draws fans to sports, and his sharp analysis illuminates what’s lost in big data’s takeover; he warns that overreliance on data sometimes misleads coaches and that the corporatization of teams risks turning fans’ emotional connections into transactional ones. A worthy spiritual sequel to Moneyball, this makes for a bracing look at a fundamental shift in professional sports. (June)
Christine Brennan
"Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Game of Edges delivers a sweeping look at one of the most significant developments in worldwide sports: the new generation of investors fueling the stratospheric rise in the value of pro sports franchises. Bruce Schoenfeld has written a story rich in detail, taking readers into the boardrooms and brainstorming sessions of the teams they love. To read this book is to understand the intriguing dynamics of global sports as they exist today, while peering into their fascinating but uncertain future."
The Deal - David Marcus
"Schoenfeld skillfully connects the rise of a new class of owners who’ve made fortunes in finance or technology with the increased use of analytics."
New Scientist - Chris Stokel-Walker
"Fascinating… Schoenfeld is a canny storyteller, and his portraits of the big beasts (and the almost-rans) are vivid."
Ben Reiter
"[Game of Edges is] a panoramic, intercontinental tour of sports’ newest battlegrounds: the executive suites perched high above the playing fields and the data rooms buried beneath them, where true success is measured not in wins but dollars. Buoyed by Schoenfeld’s insider access to some of the industry’s most secretive chieftains and power brokers, Game of Edges is an essential book for sports fans and business readers alike."
L. Jon Wertheim
"A superb storyteller, Bruce Schoenfeld is the master of finding—and then explaining—the secret dynamics of sports. Exquisitely readable and expertly reported, Game of Edges is a joy—though it ought to come with a warning label: fans will never view sports the same way again."
New York Times bestselling author Ben Reiter
“[Game of Edges is] a panoramic, intercontinental tour of sports’ newest battlegrounds: the executive suites perched high above the playing fields and the data rooms buried beneath them, where true success is measured not in wins but dollars. Buoyed by Schoenfeld’s insider access to some of the industry’s most secretive chieftains and power brokers, Game of Edges is an essential book for sports fans and business readers alike.”
Jon Wertheim
"A superb storyteller, Bruce Schoenfeld is the master of finding—and then explaining—the secret dynamics of sports. Exquisitely readable and expertly reported, Game of Edgesis a joy, though it ought to come with a warning label: fans will never view sports the same way again."
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-03-29
An account of how professional sports is now “driven by data.”
Schoenfeld, the author of The Match and The Last Serious Thing, chronicles how high-tech, public relations–savvy, cutthroat entrepreneurs have turned professional sports into engines of profit. The author admits his debt to Michael Lewis’ 2003 bestseller, Moneyball, which tells the story of how the manager of an underfunded Major League Baseball team hired a mathematical analyst to mine the game’s vast statistics and tease out player attributes that won games without showing up in conventional metrics. For several years, he enjoyed spectacular success until other teams caught on. Having followed how analytics affected the game, Schoenfeld turns his attention to the franchises themselves. For decades, rich business owners bought teams like they bought yachts or racehorses. “You didn’t buy a sports team to make money,” writes the author, “you did it because you had money and wanted to do something fun with it.” Galvanized by the Moneyball story, a new generation of owners and front-office experts has turned teams into superefficient mega-corporations resembling those in which the owners had originally made their fortunes. Winning remains important, but many devoted fans will note that strictly following the numbers takes away much of the thrill. As dynamic agents of capitalism, modern sports franchises seem obsessed with keeping fans engaged (i.e., spending money) rather than entertained. Formerly verboten, sports betting has exploded, and franchises have expanded into real estate, fashion, concessions, and digital content. Combining in-depth research and illuminating interviews, Schoenfeld describes the transformation of a dozen organizations, emphasizing baseball and basketball but casting his net widely. He shows clearly how soccer, the world’s most popular game, has become the poster child for the transformation of professional sports—and the rebellion of dissatisfied fans. Read Moneyball first and then turn to this one.
A timely and eye-opening look at the current and future landscape of sports.
