Football Business

Soccer is more than the world’s favorite sport. It’s more than the beautiful game. It’s a guide to successful living, at least if you know what you’re looking for. Ciaran McArdle has spent been an avid soccer fan his entire life. He’s even built his entire career around it: founding multiple soccer-based businesses. Over the years, he’s discovered all the life and business lessons you can learn from the game.

In this book, we explore the leadership principles the hit Apple TV series Ted Lasso can teach us. We look at the traits, actions, and tactics that made coach Ted Lasso such a successful leader. Ted Lasso's leadership philosophy places a strong emphasis on the value of teamwork, empathy, positivity, honesty, and ongoing personal as well as professional development. We learn important lessons from looking at his leadership journey that can be used in a variety of our own leadership scenarios, whether in sports, business, or any other area.

For 15 years, sports agent Josh Luchs made illegal deals with numerous college athletes, from top-tier, nationally recognized phenoms to late-round draft picks. Then, in October 2010, Luchs wrote a confessional article in Sports Illustrated, telling the truth about what he did and didn't do. Since then, he has taken on a new role: whistle-blowing, truth-telling reformer. In telling his own story, Luchs here pulls back the curtain on the real economy - and the broken system - of college football.

The year is 1981. And the Iowa Hawkeyes are struggling mightily to gain respectability on the football field after decades as a Big Ten Conference doormat. Hayden Fry, a larger-than-life character and river boat gambler with Texas roots, had arrived in Iowa City in 1979. Now, in his all-important third year as head coach, it’s make-or-break time for a man doggedly determined to transform a beleaguered program into a national powerhouse. Unexpectedly, Hayden and his staff sign a blonde-haired, six-foot-four quarterback named Chuck Long.