Professional Baseball—Can You Join the League? Lesson for Grades 9-12
In this active learning lesson, students apply economic concepts to a professional baseball league. The lesson underscores the importance of incentives, control of supply, and potential market inefficiencies resulting from a cartel. Students assume one of two roles: either (i) a member of a team owner group trying to get its team into the Professional Baseball League or (ii) a member of the Professional Baseball League Expansion Committee deciding whether new teams are admitted.
Objectives of this Lesson:
Students will be able to
- recognize competition and incentives in professional sports,
- describe a cartel,
- describe a monopoly,
- explain how professional leagues exhibit behaviors of a cartel and a monopoly, and
- interpret the interdependent relationship between a professional sports league and the individual teams in that league.
Compelling Question:
How does economic competition affect professional sports leagues and teams?
This lesson plan is designed for teaching grades 9, 10, 11, and 12.
Related:
- Professional Basketball—Can You Join the Association? Lesson for Grades 9-12
- Professional Football—Can You Join the League? Lesson for Grades 9-12
Awards
This lesson received the 2019 Curriculum Gold Award of Excellence from the National Association of Economic Educators.
Read more about our award-winning resources »
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