Beyond the Scoreboard

About Beyond the Scoreboard

Every game has two scores. One goes on the scoreboard. The other goes on a contract. Beyond the Scoreboard follows the deals, rules, and incentives that turn a game into a business: why NFL teams split their TV money, what a salary cap really caps, who pays for the stadium, and how a rookie's sneaker contract rewrote athlete endorsements. Each episode takes one familiar sports puzzle and tells the documented story of the deal behind it. Hosted by Benjamin Hartenstone. Research sources in every episode's notes. A Narratique original.

Publisher

Narratique

Category

sports

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Sept 2026

Latest episode

30 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

20 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Sept 2026

   Trading Cards: How Scarcity Became the Product

   A nineteen fifty-two Mickey Mantle card sold for twelve point six million dollars in 2022. Around 1960, the story goes, the company that printed it dumped unsold cases off New York. This episode follows the trading card from a free picture in a cigarette pack to a product whose main ingredient is how few exist. Along the way: what the record really says about the Honus Wagner card, the five-dollar contracts that gave Topps a quarter-century monopoly, the antitrust case that opened the market and was then overturned, the overproduction of the late eighties, and the industry's answer, which was to print scarcity on purpose. It ends with one company, Fanatics, holding the licences again.Hosted by Benjamin Hartenstone. Beyond the Scoreboard is a Narratique original.Selected research sources: Fleer Corp. v. Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., 658 F.2d 139 (3d Cir., Aug. 25, 1981), opinion of Judge James Hunter I: https://static.case.law/f2d/658/cases/0139-01.json Fleer Corp. v. Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., 501 F. Supp. 485 (E.D. Pa., June 30, 1980), Judge Newcomer: https://static.case.law/f-supp/501/cases/0485-01.json Haelan Laboratories, Inc. v. Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., 202 F.2d 866 (2d Cir., Feb. 16, 1953), Judge Frank: https://static.case.law/f2d/202/cases/0866-01.json Topps Chewing Gum, Inc. v. Fleer Corp., 547 F. Supp. 102 (D. Del., Sept. 2, 1982): https://static.case.law/f-supp/547/cases/0102-01.json Fleer Corp. v. Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., 539 A.2d 1060 (Del., Apr. 6, 1988): https://static.case.law/a2d/539/cases/1060-01.json Topps Chewing Gum, Inc. v. Major League Baseball Players Ass'n, 641 F. Supp. 1179 (S.D.N.Y., Aug. 1, 1986): https://static.case.law/f-supp/641/cases/1179-01.json Wagner A Wonder: One Player In Game Who Is Not Money Mad, The Sporting News, October 1912 (scanned page): https://web.archive.org/web/20071009110746/http://www.explorepahistory.com/~expa/cms/pbfiles/Project1/Scheme40/ExplorePAHistory-a0b9s7-a_514.pdf Collectors Universe, Inc., Form 10-K for fiscal year ended June 30, 2005: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1089143/000108914305000027/maindoc.htm Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corp. II, Form 8-K filed August 20, 2021: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1820727/000119312521252037/d197244d8k.htm Fanatics Acquires Topps Trading Cards and Collectibles Business (press release, Jan. 4): https://www.fanaticsinc.com/press-releases/fanatics-acquires-topps-trading-cards-and-collectibles-business See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

2. 

   30 Sept 2026

   How Minor-League Baseball Changed Its Business Model

   For decades a minor-league baseball owner sold every ticket and hot dog but did not employ a single player. The big-league parent club paid the roster and the coaches; the local owner ran the night out. Benjamin Hartenstone traces that split from Branch Rickey's farm system to the standard contract in baseball's rule book, then follows what happened when the master agreement expired on September thirtieth, twenty twenty: one hundred twenty licensed clubs, dozens of towns moved to college, draft-showcase and partner leagues, a wage law written for ballplayers, the first minor-league union contract, and one private-equity-backed company buying more than a third of the affiliated minors. Who gained, who paid, and what it means from the grandstand.Hosted by Benjamin Hartenstone. Beyond the Scoreboard is a Narratique original.Selected research sources: The Official Professional Baseball Rules Book, Major League Rules, 2019 edition (Rule 56 Standard Player Devel: https://web.archive.org/web/20190731201536/https://registration.mlbpa.org/pdf/MajorLeagueRules.pdf 29 U.S.C. § 213(a)(19): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/213 H. Res. 815, 116th Congress, Supporting Minor League Baseball, and for other purposes (introduced Jan. 28, 202: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-116hres815ih/html/BILLS-116hres815ih.htm MLB announces new modernized Player Development System and the 120 Minor League Baseball teams (Feb. 12, 2021): https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-mlb-announces-new-modernized-player-development-system-and-the-120 MLB, USA Baseball announce new format for Appalachian League (Sept. 29, 2020): https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-mlb-usa-baseball-announce-new-format-for-appalachian-league MLB Draft League to begin in 2021 (Nov. 30, 2020): https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-draft-league-to-begin-in-2021 Pioneer League designated MLB Partner League (Nov. 30, 2020): https://www.mlb.com/news/pioneer-league-designated-mlb-partner-league Mark Feinsand, MLB ratifies new CBA for Minor League players (Apr. 3, 2023): https://www.mlb.com/news/minor-leagues-new-collective-bargaining-agreement Nathaniel Grow, The Save America's Pastime Act: Special-Interest Legislation Epitomized, 90 U. Colo. L. Rev. 1: https://lawreview.colorado.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/8.-Grow_revised.pdf Andy McCue, Branch Rickey: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/branch-rickey/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

3. 

   30 Sept 2026

   Sports Betting Sponsorships: Selling Access to the Fan

   In 1991 the NFL's commissioner told Congress the leagues did not want their games "used as bait to sell gambling." Thirty years later his league had three official sportsbook partners. This episode traces how that happened: the 1992 federal ban the leagues lobbied for, the Supreme Court's 2018 decision in Murphy v. NCAA, the NBA's failed request for a one percent "integrity fee," and the 2018 NBA and MGM agreement that replaced a mandatory fee with a voluntary sponsorship built on data and branding. We then follow the money to England, where Premier League clubs agreed in 2023 to take betting sponsors off the front of their shirts. A business history, not betting advice, including the documented concerns about problem gambling and integrity.Hosted by Benjamin Hartenstone. Beyond the Scoreboard is a Narratique original.Selected research sources: Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, No. 16-476, slip opinion, May 14, 2018: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-476_dbfi.pdf 28 U.S.C. § 3702, Unlawful sports gambling (Pub. L. 102-559, Oct. 28, 1992; effective Jan. 1, 1993): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/3702 Statement to New York State Senate Standing Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering, January 24, 2018 (Dan Sp: https://open.nysenate.gov/sites/default/files/1.24.18_testimony_of_national_basketball_association.pdf MGM Resorts International becomes official gaming partner of the NBA in historic alliance, July 31, 2018: https://pr.nba.com/mgm-resorts-international-nba-partnership Full transcript: Adam Silver press conference announcing partnership with MGM: https://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/24244567/nba-full-transcript-adam-silver-press-conference-announcing-partnership-mgm The impact of Adam Silver's sports betting op-ed five years later: https://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/28068000/the-impact-adam-silver-sports-betting-op-ed-five-years-later Documenting Sports Leagues' Backpedals On Sports Betting: https://sportshandle.com/documenting-sports-leagues-backpedals-on-sports-betting/ What's next in the fight for sports betting legalization?: https://abcnews.com/Sports/fight-sports-betting-legalization/story?id=33340183 NBA says don't call it an integrity fee; league argues it deserves royalty: https://cdcgaming.com/nba-says-dont-call-it-an-integrity-fee-league-argues-it-deserves-royalty-for-casinos-profiting-off-its-product/ NBA requests set of laws that would help legalize sports gambling in United States, Jan. 24, 2018: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-requests-set-of-laws-that-would-help-legalize-sports-gambling-in-united-states See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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