LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD

This provocative book combines the broad knowledge of an all-seasons
sports fan with the clarity of an antitrust lawyer.

Paul C. Weiler, the Henry J. Friendly professor of law at Harvard,
approaches major league sports as a special study in cartel theory.
''The very existence of a game to play, let alone a championship race
to savor, requires that the participants cooperate off the field to
create a fair and balanced matchup on the field,'' he writes.

To manage the problems of professional sports, Weiler prefers flexible
caps -- for example, on gambling, player salaries and stadiums --
instead of outright bans. He argues that ballplayers should be allowed
to bet on games so long as a bar on fixing games stays in effect;
players' contracts already offer bonuses for winning games
(effectively, a wager), and modern salaries have probably priced
players out of gamblers' reach.

Similarly, he rejects the current loophole-riddled policy against drug
use. Instead, because performance-enhancing drugs give users a secret
advantage, he would have league officials crack down on steroids and
androstenedione, while letting teams make case-by-case judgments on
players who use marijuana or cocaine.

To limit the ability of team owners to blackmail cities into building
new stadiums, Weiler would revise the tax code. He would reclassify
the bonds used to finance stadiums as ''private activity'' municipal
bonds, and because the federal government limits the amount of such
bonds any state may issue, legislators would have to weigh the demand
for new sports facilities against the need to aid small business or
subsidize first-time homeowners. Weiler writes lucidly and
persuasively; rarely has the surface of professional sports been so
revealingly pared away.