Brand NFL

“Oriard, a former pro player and current professor, makes the epic tale of the NFL’s touchdown drive from tainted image to powerhouse brand as intensely exciting as a Sunday game on a highlight reel.”—Robert Lipsyte, New York Times

“Brand NFL is the definitive account of America’s most compelling sport. Michael Oriard’s book is at once a powerful story and an erudite history, told by a writer whose authority is equaled by his flair.” — Sally Jenkins, Washington Post

“Brand NFL explains how [Oriard’s] old sport transformed within four decades from 'rinky-dink sideshow,' baseball’s thuggish kid brother, into arguably America’s favorite entertainment.”—Financial Times

“Oriard speaks about football from a unique perspective: an academic who has plied his trade in the trenches. His new book, Brand NFL tackles the game’s racial politics, labor disputes, and big-bucks marketing campaigns with candor and pungent critiques.”—Chronicle of Higher Education

“Detailed, compelling, and strangely fascinating. . . . This book’s signal contribution to our understanding of leisure, culture, and sport in America makes it highly recommended.”—Library Journal, starred review