This book’s title raises a question: what sports are to be saved—professional, university, school, children’s, community? Reed's answer is all, for both participants and fans, by keeping sport policies and social responsibilities from being dominated by profit/political interests and a win-at-all-costs philosophy. Topics discussed include the “ego and greed” of professional franchises that receive taxpayer-provided arenas and ongoing tax benefits and then move their teams if further demands are not met; concussions suffered by athletes; the role of adult egos in youth sports; treatment of student-athletes and other problems in college sport; content and philosophy of school physical education; undesirable coaching styles; needs in women’s sports; opportunities for disabled athletes; and the symbiotic relationship between sports media and commercial interests. For each area, the author outlines and analyzes the existing situations and proposes solutions to improve them. He advocates the establishment of a national sports commission, which would play an important role in development of the nation’s sport policy and a national code of sports ethics and coordinate research on sports issues. . . .Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Choice Reviews

How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan, by Dr. Ken Reed, a former college athlete, coach, longtime sports marketer, sports management instructor and sports issues columnist, and now the sports policy director for our League of Fans, is unlike any other sports book I've seen. There are plenty of books on the market about each of our most popular sports – football, basketball, baseball, hockey, tennis, golf, etc. There are numerous books that profile our well-known sports figures. And there are a few books on specific sports issues like concussions and taxpayer-financed stadiums and arenas. But Reed's book is different. It covers the whole waterfront of sports issues and looks at how they're all interconnected. It's basically a sports manifesto that looks at nine of the most important sports issues we face today and the red thread that weaves through them all, from youth sports to the pros.

The Huffington Post

What Reed does well in this 'sports manifesto' is capsulize the biggest problems into well-reasoned, readable, and exceptionally well-resourced accounts, using academics and journalists both in and out of sport who have weighed in on these issues to bolster his case. Then, he provides a handful of recommendations at the close of each chapter. Befitting any manifesto worthy of that label, the recommendations are really the soul of the book. . . .There were many times in these pages where I thought to myself that I would have liked to have written this book. Maybe Reed’s effort will make it that much easier for subsequent books, articles, and policies to be written by those who care, and most importantly lead to sustained action that will not just save sports but also create a more physically active and healthy society.

Sport, Spirituality, Service

There is no more wonderful celebration of our humanity than athletics, whether it is walking our dogs, playing a pick-up softball game, or enjoying the NBA finals. Sports also bring people together and help us to end our conflicts. When we look at the world of big-money sports, we realize that we’ve lost ourselves somewhere. Thank you to Ken Reed for giving us directions back to what is essential in his book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan.

Gerry Chidiac, Troy Media columnist

If you see yourself as a citizen more than a spectator, this book provides a game plan for organizing and preserving sports that are ethical, fair, and humane. Beyond identifying the major challenges confronting sports today, Ken Reed outlines strategies that will revive and sustain sports as a source of pleasure and meaning in our lives. His call to action is hard to ignore if you care about sports.

Jay Coakley, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, author of Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Reed's litany of problems and issues besetting American sport – from grassroots to professional levels – is not new. What is new and worthy of a careful read, are the author's compelling ideas on what individuals can do about them and why such actions are important. Those with power and a financial self-interest in sport will not be the engineers of reform. Rather, the only hope for a return to "good" sport will be the activism of those with a moral compass and love of sport who are willing to step forward in their own communities to make change happen one small action at a time.

Donna Lopiano, President, Sports Management Resources; Former CEO, Women's Sports Foundation