Coming soon · Book Profile
Game of Edges The Analytics Revolution and the Future of Professional Sports
The story of how professional sports franchises transformed from casually run hobbies into data-driven, optimized businesses—and how the very analytics that made them win threatens the emotional, aesthetic, and communal appeal that made sports beloved in the first place.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
Once dismissed as toys for wealthy hobbyists, professional sports teams have become some of the most valuable and innovative businesses on earth. In Game of Edges, journalist Bruce Schoenfeld traces the analytics revolution—sparked by Moneyball and carried forward by a new generation of hedge-fund, tech, and venture-capital owners—as it swept from baseball to basketball, hockey, football, and soccer, and from the field into ticketing, marketing, gambling, social advocacy, and global corporate empire-building. Drawing on decades of firsthand reporting and access to owners like John Henry, Joe Lacob, Steve Ballmer, and Ryan Smith, plus executives like Theo Epstein, Daryl Morey, and Ian Graham, Schoenfeld shows how the relentless hunt for tiny competitive 'edges' optimized franchises into billion-dollar equities—while making the games themselves less exciting to watch and eroding the intimate, tribal bonds between teams and their fans. It is a sweeping, sharply observed account of what optimization gives and what it takes away.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- A sports fan, executive, investor, or curious reader who wants to understand how the teams they love became giant optimized businesses—and what that means for the future of the games.
- The problem
- Professional sports have been transformed by data analysis and business optimization in ways that are hard to see, understand, or evaluate from the outside. They feel a nagging sense that something intimate and joyful about following sports is being lost even as the product becomes slicker and more profitable.
- The plan
- Trace the origins of the analytics revolution through Moneyball and the arbitrage mindset.
- Follow the new generation of owners who treated franchises as rational investments and integrated outside expertise.
- See how data analysis spread from the field to ticketing, marketing, gambling, advocacy, and global corporate structure.
- Weigh what optimization delivers (wins, revenue, growth) against what it costs (entertainment, intimacy, community).
- Decide for yourself where the future of sports should draw its lines.
- The payoff
- A reader who can see the hidden business and analytic logic behind every roster move, ticket price, and rule change. · A deeper appreciation for both the power and the limits of data in sports. · An informed perspective on where sports are headed and what is worth preserving.
See our guide
Additional reading
- Professional Practice in Sport Performance Analysis · Andrew D. Butterworth (Editor)
Cited frequently as a key resource for understanding the role of the analyst within interdisciplinary teams, career development, and the application of emerging technologies like multimedia profiles.
- Qualitative Diagnosis of Human Movement · Duane V. Knudson
Presented as the foundational text for the four-phase process of analyzing and coaching technique, a key component of performance analysis.
- Various works on coach recall and notational analysis · Ian M. Franks (often with M. Hughes or G. Miller)
The work of Franks is cited throughout as providing the original rationale for performance analysis (e.g., poor coach recall) and for foundational concepts in notational system design.
- The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball · Tango, T. M., Lichtman, M. G., and Dolphin, A. E.
Cited as a detailed treatment of how analytic methods can be used to answer specific questions about baseball strategy, representing a deep application of the book's principles.
- Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won · Moskowitz, T. J., and Wertheim, L. J.
Recommended for showing how analytic methods can be used to address a wide range of sports issues, similar to the scope of the author's own book.
- Mathletics: How Gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics in Baseball, Basketball, and Football · Winston, W. L.
Referenced for its applications of analytic methods to a variety of sports, including football-specific examples like expected points.
- The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives · Mlodinow, L.
Suggested for its excellent non-technical description of the intuition behind probability and randomness, which is a foundational concept of the book.
- Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences · Agresti, A., and Finlay, B.
The author's favorite introductory statistics text, recommended for its wide range of topics and emphasis on applications closely related to those in sports.
- Baseball between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game Is Wrong · Keri, J. (Ed.)
Mentioned as a collection of interesting essays where analytic methods are used to study specific sports issues, such as comparing players from different eras.
- The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action · Donald A. Schon
Provides the foundational theory for experiential learning and reflective practice, which is presented in Chapter 5 as a crucial method for coaches to develop their knowledge.