[Commlist] New Book: Front Office Fantasies: The Rise of Managerial Sports Media

The book Front Office Fantasies: The Rise of Managerial Sports Media by 
Branden Buehler was released through the University of Illinois Press 
earlier this month.

Book Description:
Front Office Fantasies argues American sports media has increasingly 
centered around management – a phenomenon evidenced everywhere from 
sports films that heroize front office executives to sports radio and 
television programs that fixate on drafts and free agency to sports 
video games that feature gameplay revolving around salary cap 
management. The book not only details the industrial logics behind this 
managerial interest, like sports media companies’ desire for 
inexpensive, year-round content, but also explores how this managerial 
fixation represents a key manifestation of broader cultural and societal 
shifts, like the increasing hold of financialization and the ongoing 
refiguration of hegemonic masculinity. More information can be found on 
the publisher's website:
https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p087745 
<https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p087745>

Table of Contents:
Introduction: “The Age of the General Manager”
1. The Managerial American Dream: The Administrative Fantasies of 
Managerial Sports Films
2. “He’s looking like a depressed asset”: The Financial Logics of 
Managerial Sports Talk
3. Datavisuality: The Quantified Aesthetic of Managerial Sports Television
4. White-Collar Play: Managerial Sports Games and the Modeling of 
Neoliberal Capitalism
Conclusion: The Banality of Managerial Sports Media

Endorsement:
"In this sharply written and impressive book, Branden Buehler provides 
compelling new insights into the social, cultural, and visual 
consequences of sports media’s preoccupation with managerialism, 
financialization, and quantification. A vital and necessary work, this 
sophisticated account of managerial sports media is a must-read for all 
sports, film, and media scholars." - Samantha N. Sheppard, author of 
Sporting Blackness: Race, Embodiment, and Critical Muscle Memory on Screen

Ordering Information:
The University of Illinois Press is offering the book 50% off through 
December 31 with the code HOLIDAY50. After that date, the book can be 
ordered with a 30% discount using the code F23UIP. Those promo codes can 
be used while ordering here:
https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p087745 
<https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p087745>
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