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Organized sports in North America are expected to generate $83 billion in revenues this year, but decades of profit have come at the cost of athlete safety. High-profile tragedies and a growing outcry from prominent players who refuse to continue sacrificing their well-being for athletic success have spurred a national discussion on the need to better safeguard players. The public has demanded that high school, college and professional athletes be protected from brain injuries, mental health issues and sexual assault. As a result, sports medicine programs have undergone a paradigm shift, providing more doctors and emergency equipment on the sidelines, and leagues are offering mental health counseling and safer headgear, aided by technological innovations from private companies. Congress also authorized a national commission to hold sports organizations accountable for sexual predators in their midst. The new systems and programs are making a difference, but critics say players are still vulnerable and that major sports organizations have not done enough to protect the long-term health of athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Americans spend billions of dollars a year betting on sports, the vast majority of it illegally through offshore websites, local bookies and office pools. Some states are considering legalizing sports gambling in order to regulate and tax it. But an appellate court in August blocked a 2014 New Jersey law to legalize sports betting, saying it violated a 1992 federal ban on such gambling in states where it was not already legal. New Jersey's experience is at the heart of a growing debate over whether other states should be allowed to legalize sports betting. Proponents say doing so would produce additional tax revenues, discourage organized crime, protect gamblers from fraud and decrease match-fixing. But opponents challenge each of those arguments and also say legalized sports betting could increase gambling addiction. Meanwhile, professional sports leagues are investing in daily fantasy sports, which some states have legalized as games of skill and others have defined as an illegal form of betting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tax-supported subsidies aimed at luring companies to relocate or retain offices and factories in specific locations have proliferated. Local and state governments, engaged in fierce competition for jobs, are giving businesses up to $70 billion annually in tax breaks, new roads and training facilities and other incentives. Economic-development officials and companies that have relocated for subsidies say the incentives have spurred employment growth and helped some businesses stay profitable. But critics, who include many economists, argue that the incentives generate relatively few new jobs and instead lead many companies merely to shift operations from one place to another, depending on where they can broker the best deal. Among the most controversial subsidies are those supporting professional-sports stadiums. Supporters say new sports facilities help cities raise their profile and attract growth, while critics charge the subsidies fail to pay for themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Football is the most popular spectator sport in the United States, and with annual revenues topping $8 billion the National Football League is the country's wealthiest professional sports organization. But the league was on the defensive during the 2009-2010 season because of a jarring debate over its alleged indifference toward player safety and health. Medical research now indicates a connection between concussions that players routinely suffer during games and long-term brain disease, including dementia. Under pressure from the NFL Players Association, news media and Congress, the NFL is belatedly acknowledging a possible link and trying to minimize the risk to players by, among other changes, limiting a player's return to the game after a concussion. Despite football's popularity, the NFL is also facing economic difficulties. Attendance sagged during the 2009-2010 season, the future of lucrative TV contracts is cloudy and the league and the players' union start out far apart as negotiations begin for a new collective-bargaining agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wild world of so-called extreme sports ranges from motorcyclists executing double back flips to kayakers navigating deadly Class 5 rapids to mixed martial arts (MMA) — also known as "ultimate fighting" — where combatants use kicks, punches and stress holds. But many "extreme" athletes reject the label, arguing that the term marginalizes their sports as the sole province of adrenaline and violence junkies, when they actually require high degrees of skill. Now legislatures in New York and other states are considering bans on MMA. Proponents say the matches, legal at the pro level in 37 states, are safer than boxing and emphasize fighters' broad-based martial-arts training. But opponents argue that allowing such a wide variety of aggressive moves in a single fight is barbaric. However, skateboarders and other extreme athletes cite statistics showing that traditional sports such as boxing and football cause injuries and deaths at a higher rate than any of the extreme sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the World Series approaches, baseball shines in its archaic glory. But even the home run exploits of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa cannot hide the fact that other sports now rival the popularity of America's "national pastime." Baseball's problems -- most of them rooted in the economics of modern sports -- have diminished the quality of the game and the loyalty of its fans. As baseball executives ponder further expansion, as players' salaries continue to soar and as minorities turn to other sports, big league baseball seems increasingly distant from its sandlot roots. Before it is too late, critics say, baseball owners must stop diluting the quality of play and reduce costs so that the game doesn't become too expensive for its fans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional sports have grown too big for the sports pages. With the 107 franchises in pro baseball, basketball, football and hockey worth a combined $11.4 billion, sports developments also receive detailed coverage in the nation's business and financial press. Moreover, conflicts between team owners and players have made sports law an increasingly attractive specialty for attorneys. The recently ended National Hockey League lockout and the ongoing major-league baseball strike are only the latest in a long string of similar collective-bargaining showdowns. Sports fans, meanwhile, complain of neglect by both players and management. However, recent public opinion polls and the full houses that greeted the belated start of the hockey season suggest fans are eager to forgive and forget, as they have always done in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]