Sacrifice and Winning: The Difficult Reality of Players, Management, and Contracts

Abstract

As seriously as professional sports are taken in the world, often people forget that it is first and foremost a business. When decisions have to be made, they are not only sports moves, but business choices as well. Athletes are just as much employees as they are sports figures, and their lives outside of the sport are just as relevant as the one in it. This case study will look at an upcoming offseason for a star basketball player named Dalton who faces a tough decision about his pending free agency and future contract. There are many factors involved in this decision including the general manager, Ray, and the owner, Mark. Making a salary-related decision in the professional world involves losing as much as it does winning and this case study seeks to explore the complex difficulties involved in this process.