Andrew Zimbalist
Smith College

Andrew Zimbalist received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1969 and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1972 and 1974 respectively. He has been in the Economics Department at Smith College since 1974 and has been a visiting professor at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan (1985) and a visiting research fellow at Harvard University (1980). He presently is the Robert A. Woods professor of economics at Smith College and a member of the Five College Graduate Faculty.

Dr. Zimbalist was editor of a book series on "The Political Economy of Development in Latin America" for Westview Press from 1987 through 1994. He chaired the Latin American Scholars' Association's Task Force on Scholarly Relations with Cuba during 1992-94. He testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the economic effects of U.S. policy toward Cuba in March 1994 and participated in the congressional program of the Aspen Institute as an expert on the Cuban economy.

Dr. Zimbalist has consulted in Latin America for the United Nations Development Program, the Atlantic Council, IRELA, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the U.S. Agency for International Development as well as for numerous companies around investment in Latin America. Dr. Zimbalist has served as a consultant to Weil, Gotshal & Manges in the litigation of the NFL Players' Association to obtain free agency rights, to Grippo & Elden in the broadcasting case between WGN and the NBA, to Williams, Youle & Koenigs in the Denver Zephyrs' arbitration case with the Colorado Rockies, to Robert Pearl in the Billy Martin case, to the Cunningham Law Group in the Morsani/MLB litigation, to Campbell, Maack & Sessions in the Portland Beavers/Pacific Coast League arbitration case, to Wendell, Chritton & Parks in the Florida State League/Florida Marlins arbitration case, to the Major League Baseball Players' Association in collective bargaining, to ABRY Communications in a baseball broadcasting suit, to Robert Bell in the Marianne Stanley v. USC case, to the United Baseball League, to Krendl, Horowitz and Krendl in Ehrhardt v. Colorado Rockies, to the Portland Oregon Mayor's Commission on bringing another professional sports team to the city, to Wolff Associates in an effort to purchase a sports franchise, to Husch & Eppenberger representing the St. Louis stadium authority in an antitrust case against the NFL, to Rose, Sundstrom & Bentley in Tampa stadium case, to the Connecticut Democratic Party in evaluating the economics of a proposal to build a new civic center, to the IRS in franchise asset evaluation, to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in drafting bill for partially lifting baseball's antitrust exemption as it applies to labor relations, to Davis, Scott, Weber & Edwards in a sports facility case, to the Los Angeles Mayor's office in an arena financing matter, to the Department of Justice in a sports franchise valuation case, to the National Basketball Players' Association in collective bargaining, to the City of New York Independent Budget Office in sports facility matter, to Rabinowitz, Boudin et al. in a copyright case, to the National Hockey Players' Association in a franchise financial analysis, to Weil, Gotshal & Manges as a damage expert in a challenge to the monopolization of the major league soccer labor market, to Leboeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae in a baseball franchise value case, to Kohrman, Jackson & Krantz in an NFL/consumer rights case, to Greenbaum, Doll & McDonald in a sports antitrust case, to Menard, Murphy and Walsh in sports facility/eminent domain case, to Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman in NFL antitrust case, to the Wisconsin Governor's office pertaining to public contribution to new stadium for the Green Bay Packers, to Sills, Cummis, et al. in tax case involving the New Jersey Nets, to U.S. Department of Justice in tax case involving several baseball teams, to Shugart, Thomson and Kilroy in NFL franchise valuation case, to Boies, Schiller & Flexner in NFL ownership/franchise valuation case, to Henry Klein in an NFL/consumer rights case, to Thorsnes, Bartolotta & McGuire in sports broadcasting antitrust case, to Modern Continental in a stadium construction matter, to Boies, Schiller & Flexner in a broadcasting case, to the Minneapolis Metropolitan Sports Facilities Corporation against MLB's contraction efforts, to Boyle et al. in sports injury case, to McLaughlin, Gouldborne & Cohen in minor league baseball facilities case, to the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in sports antitrust matters, as well as to several other companies in the area of sports economics. He also consulted for the nine-part documentary on baseball in America by Ken Burns. He testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in December 1992 in hearings on baseball's antitrust exemption, before the N.Y. State Senate on public policy toward minor league baseball in February 1993, provided written testimony to the House Judiciary Committee in its consideration of the Bunnings/Synar bill to limit MLB's anti-trust exemption in September 1994, testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in January 1996 at hearings on the future of professional sports leagues, testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in February 1996 at hearings on antitrust implications of professional sports franchise relocation, testified before the New York State Senate on the economic impact of sports franchises and stadiums on cities in April 1996, testified before the U.S. House Commerce Committee in May 1996 at hearings on the "Fan Freedom and Community Protection Act of 1996," provided written testimony to the Connecticut State Legislature in December 1998 on the proposal to bring the New England Patriots to Hartford, testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in June 1999 at hearings on sports antitrust policy and stadium financing, testified before the Springfield City Council in July 1999 on public subsidies for the construction of a minor league stadium, testified before the Philadelphia City Council in June 2000 on pubic subsidies for stadium construction, provided written testimony to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in November 2000 at hearings on the economics of baseball, testified before the Knight Commission on College Athletic Reform in November 2000, provided written testimony to the Ways and Means Committee of the Boston City Council on the economic impact of a new baseball stadium, and testified before the U.S. Department of Education's Commission of Gender Equity in College Athletics in November 2002.

Dr. Zimbalist has published thirteen books and several dozen articles primarily in the areas of comparative economic systems, economic development and sports economics. The second edition of his co-authored textbook Comparing Economic Systems was published by Harcourt, Brace and Javonovich in February 1989 and his The Cuban Economy: Measurement and Analysis of Socialist Performance (with Swedish economist, Claes Brundenius) was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in November 1989. His book Panama at the Crossroads: Economic and Political Development in the Twentieth Century (with Professor John Weeks of the University of London) was published in June 1991 by the University of California Press.
In September 1992 Dr. Zimbalist published his widely-acclaimed Baseball and Billions: A Probing Look Inside the Big Business of Our National Pastime, with Basic Books, a subsidiary of Harper Collins. Business Week listed Baseball and Billions as one of the top eight business books of 1992. The Japanese edition was published by Dobunshoin in July 1993 and an expanded paperback edition was published in March 1994 by Basic Books. In October 1997, Dr. Zimbalist published Sports, Jobs and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums with the Brookings Institution Press, which he co-edited and co-authored with Roger Noll, from Stanford University. The Wall Street Journal called Sports, Jobs and Taxes "must reading for people living in or around any city still targeted for stadium-building...." The National Tax Journal called it "a persuasive compendium of theoretical, empirical and case study evidence on the economics of subsidies for sports stadiums and teams." It was selected by Lingua Franca as a Breakthrough Book.

Dr. Zimbalist's articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, The Nation, The Brookings Review, The Washington Post, US News and World Report, Business Week, USA Today, Foreign Policy, World Development, Brill's Content, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Seton Hall Journal of Sports Law, Latin American Research Review, Journal of Latin American Studies, Journal of Sports Economics, Journal of Economic Perspectives, The Milken Institute Review, Wall Street Journal and the New York Times Magazine among other places. He has appeared on numerous national radio and television talk shows discussing both international economics and the economics of sports and is an active participant on the lecture circuit. He wrote the foreword to the second edition of Bob Costas' Fair Ball, is a contributing columnist for the Sports Business Journal and was chosen as the 1998 sports journalist of the year by the Village Voice. PBS' Wall Street Week with Fortune introduced him as the country's leading sports economist. He serves as a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Sports Economics. Presently, he is a regular commentator on the business of sports for NPR's Marketplace.

Dr. Zimbalist's 1999 book, Unpaid Professionals: Commercialization and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports, was published by Princeton University Press in September of that year. Business Week called it "complete and authoritative" and The New York Times wrote "In remarkably clear and clear-eyed prose (even his charts are readable), Zimbalist follows the money instead of the ball in the emotion-charged world of college sports." The Washington Post Book World wrote: "Zimbalist got game. This book ... is a solid analysis of a segment of American life that Zimbalist claims is in dire need of reform. After reading this book you'll find it hard to disagree with him. One of its virtues is its tone. Zimbalist's wry sense of humor is evident throughout." The Baltimore Sun called it "excellent ... readable, solidly researched and adds great clarity to a muddy debate .... Zimbalist proposes a sensible 10-part reform plan that would preserve a place on college rosters for genuine student-athletes." It has been selected by Lingua Franca as a Breakthrough Book. An expanded and updated paperback edition of Unpaid Professionals will be published in January 2001.
In the Summer of 2001 Zimbalist published The Economics of Sport I & II, which is part of the Edward Elgar series entitled The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics, edited by Mark Blaug. He was the guest editor and a contributor to the May 2002 special issue of the Journal of Sports Economics on competitive balance. Dr. Zimbalist's next book, May The Best Team Win: Baseball Economics and Public Policy, with a foreword by Bob Costas, will be published by Brookings in March 2003.