Sports are universally enjoyed around the globe.

Whether the sport is a team or individual sport, whether a person is a participant or a spectator, and whether the sport is played at the amateur or professional level, one way or another this kind of activity can be enjoyed by people of all ages and interests. Furthermore, professional sports today are a big business involving very large sums of money. And so, the second of the two minicases to be used throughout this book is the story of the professional Super Baseball League.

Like any sports league, the Super Baseball League wants to maintain information about its teams, coaches, players, and equipment, among other things. If you are not particularly familiar with baseball or simply prefer another sport, bear in mind that most of the issues that will come up in this minicase easily translate to any team sport at the amateur, college, or professional levels. After all, all team sports have teams, coaches, players, fans, equipment, and so forth.When specialized equipment or other baseball-specific items come up, we will explain them.

a. Using this introductory description of (and hints about) the Super Baseball League, list the things in the Super Baseball League’s business environment about which you think the league would want to maintain data. Do some or all of these qualify as

‘‘corporate resources,’’ where the term is broadened to include the resources of a sports league? Explain.

b. Develop some ideas about how the data that you identified in part a above can be used by the Super Baseball League to gain a competitive advantage over other sports leagues for the fans’ interest and entertainment dollars (Euros, pesos, yen, etc.)