Playing ball: evaluation, valuation, and accountants in Major League Baseball

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how professional sport clubs value their players and the roles of accounting and accountants in the process. Additionally, it highlights the distinction between financialization and assetization. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on extensive qualitative data, notably 47 semi-structured interviews, professional baseball in North America was used as the empirical context. Findings Major League Baseball clubs have developed tools to evaluate and value players and their contracts. One of these tools, player asset value, is a financialized valuation that contribute to reconceive players as assets. Yet, assetization – the process of turning things into assets – entails more than financialization. It is mostly a mode of governance, conditioned by real actions. Moreover, clubs’ accounting executives are mostly estranged from the financialization–assetization process. Originality/value This paper contributes to the emerging literature on accounting in the sport business. It is an industry where different value conceptions interplay. Clubs’ success depends largely on players performing on the field, and financial decisions on players are crucial. How accounting is involved in this industry and what matters from an accounting perspective are themes mostly overlooked.