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The Most Expensive Game in Town

The Rising Cost of Youth Sports and the Toll on Today's Families

Author: Mark Hyman

A look at how commercialization has transformed youth sports from fun into a heavily commercialized and profitable venture

Building on his eye-opening investigation into the damaging effects of the ultra-competitive culture of youth sports in his first book, Until It Hurts, sports dad and journalist Mark Hyman takes us behind the scenes for a startling look at the business of youth sports - the reasons for rapid changes in what gets bought and sold in this lucrative marketplace, and how these changes are affecting young Americans and distorting and diminishing family life. Through extensive interviews and original reporting, Hyman also unearths promising examples of individuals and communities bucking this destructive trend and using youth sports to uplift and enrich kids’ lives, rather than to fill their own pockets.

“An eye-opening look at yet another way that profit-driven adults are robbing kids of fun. Mark Hyman’s compelling exploration of the business of youth sports today is an important read for anyone who cares about children-or how the game is played.” —Susan Linn, author of The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World

“[Hyman] presents the numbers to prove that most folks who feel that clinics for eight year olds and private coaches for children too young to brush their own teeth are more likely to lead to burnout than to brilliant careers.” —Bill Littlefield, National Public Radio’s “Only a Game”.

Reviews

Review by: Gordon Marino, The New York Times - June 8, 2012

"Hyman—a recovering sports dad himself - adopts a refreshingly nonjudgmental attitude toward the parents who started out pacing the sidelines and ended up walking off the deep end… with a mix of facts and anecdotes, Hyman pivots to explore the supply side of the equation."

Review by: Doug Glanville, Time.com - March 21, 2012

"It is widely noted that youth sports have their problems, from the obsession with results to premature specialization. However, economics are at the heart of these problems, and what often gets left unsaid is clearly outlined in Mark Hyman's new book The Most Expensive Game in Town."

Introduction
Chapter 1: The Parent Trap
Chapter 2: Baby Goes Pro
Chapter 3: Youth Sports, USA
Chapter 4: The Sponsorship Game
Chapter 5: Exposed and Overexposed
Chapter 6: Selling Hope
Chapter 7: Making Progress, and Maybe a Fortune
Chapter 8: Beyond Commercialization
Postscript
Acknowledgments
Works Cited
Index

Click here to read a review of The Most Expensive Game in Town in the February issue of Publisher's Weekly

Click here to read a review of The Most Expensive Game in Town posted on IdeasTime.com

Click here to read a write-up of The Most Expensive Game in Town posted on Momsteam.com

Click here to read an interview with Mark Hyman posted on SportsLetter.com

Click here to read a write-up of The Most Expensive Game in Town posted on OurmaninBoston.com

Click here to read a write-up of The Most Expensive Game in Town posted on the blog StatsDad.com

Click here to listen to an interview with Mark Hyman on PRI's Marketplace

Click here to read a review of The Most Expensive Game in Town in Bloomberg Businessweek

Click here to read a review of The Most Expensive Game in Town on the New York Times' Well blog

Click here to read an opinion piece on "Room for Debate" blog

To read a review in the Boston Globe sports book round-up on September 1, 2012, click here

Click here to read an article by Hyman in the New York Times about The Most Expensive Game in Town
Click here to read an article featuring The Most Expensive Game in Town a recent New York Times article