HOT CORNER

A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, heard, observed, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here. One exception: No products will be endorsed.

What: “On the Ball.”

Authors: David M. Carter and Darren Rovell.

Publisher: Prentice Hall.

Price: $24.95.

Sports and business have become intertwined in our society. Business executives often use sports metaphors when making presentations. And sports has certainly become a big business.

This 291-page book is about the business of sports and lessons that can be learned and applied to other businesses. It’s a topic that sounds as if it could be tedious and boring. But this is not some boring business textbook.

Carter, a leading sports business consultant, founded the Sports Business Group in 1999 and teaches a class called the Business of Sports Entertainment at the USC Graduate School of Business. Rovell is a sports business reporter for ESPN.com.

In place of a foreword are endorsements for the book from prominent sports business people such as Dodger President Bob Graziano, Pat Haden, Gemstar-TV Guide International Chief Executive Jeff Shell, ESPN’s Bob Ley, and former Dodger executive vice president and general manager Fred Claire. There are 20 in all, which is a bit of overkill.

But once the reader gets past all the endorsements, he or she will find things move quickly. The authors use a tight writing style to cover a lot of ground and provide many interesting and fun anecdotes. They don’t dwell on any one topic too long.

The book is not just for those involved in business. Anyone who has attended a major league event will identify with the third chapter. It’s about customer service, and the lack of it at major league events.

“Gridlock, the $8 beer, and unappreciative team management seem to lurk around every corner. Parking lot attendants, ticket takers, ushers, concessionaires and even an athlete or two make fans feel as though they are inconveniencing them,” the authors write.

The authors go on to point out that is not the case in minor league baseball, where the focus is on “providing affordable, customer-service-focused, family entertainment.”

The book provides a lot of good advice for those running sports. Hopefully, some will take note.