BY JOE COZART
The Amateur Has Left the Building
Money, Power, and the Invention of Modern Sports
College sports built a commercial empire around a participant expected to remain an amateur. This book follows the invention of that arrangement—and the struggle over what replaces it.
From the British gentleman amateur and Jim Thorpe to the Black Sox, television economics, athlete mobility, and the future of digital identity, Joe Cozart examines how sporting ideals become institutions—and how institutions organize economic power.
The inquiry reaches into the questions beneath familiar arguments about compensation: who may profit from talent, who defines loyalty, what makes a contest honest, and which traditions deserve to endure as the arrangement changes.
The amateur has left the building. The interesting question now is who—or what—moves in next.
From the preface
For readers of sports, history, economics, and institutional behavior, The Amateur Has Left the Building offers several ways into one consequential transformation.
Joe Cozart is the founder of GMJoe™ Consulting, an independent strategic intelligence and clarity consulting practice examining institutional structures, economic power, governance, and organizational change.
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