Sports Economists Fort, Rascher, and Zimbalist form Sports Business Simulations' Sim Development Advisory Board

First simulation advisory board for SBS at Sbs-world.com

Oakland, CA (PRWEB) March 14, 2005 -- Sports Business Simulations, the Oakland-based organization that developed the Oakland Baseball Simworld and the XFL Simworld has formed a new "Sim Development Advisory Board."

This new advisory board currently has three members: Sports Business Simulations' Co-Founder and University of San Francisco (USF) Professor of Economics Dan Rascher, Washington State University Professor of Economics Rodney Fort, and Smith College Professor of Economics Andrew Zimbalist.

SBS CEO and Co-Founder Zenophon Abraham explains the role of the new advisory board and the significance of the addition of the economists. "From the first time I sat down to develop the XFL Simworld and the Oakland Baseball Simworld, I have wanted to have online sims that reflect how sports organizations actually work and are therefore relevant to the matter of the resolution of real sports problems.

"When I met and then formed SBS with Dan Rascher, we had not only a team of sim producer in me and sim client in him, but two people who were interested in representing how sports businesses work online. We always talked about bringing more professors on in a special advisory board, and this board is an expression of that objective. But from my perspective I didn't think we would have the top two sports economists in the country so quickly. I think it speaks to the purity of our objectives and how good our sim products are. But Dan, Rod, and Andy will help make them better, just by offering their observations."

Each sports economist comes with a distinguished list of accomplishments. Rod Fort is on the board of the International Association of Sports Economists and is the author of the books "Pay Dirt" and "Sports Economics." Rascher is known as one of the top developers of sports management programs, coming to USF from the University of Massachusetts. Zimbalist is a well-known contributor to The Sports Business Journal and the author of the book "Sports and Economics," and has published thirteen books and several dozen articles primarily in the areas of comparative economic systems, economic development and sports economics.

Dan Rascher added his view "I've had the pleasure of knowing Rod and Andy for some time, and I'm looking forward to their input. Rod and I have already been pushing for the development of a simulation of Major League Baseball, and Zennie's working on that. I know Andy can bring more insight into the development of that simulation and the improvement of our Oakland sim."

Rod Fort has used the Oakland Baseball Simworld in his Econ 330 class at Washington State University and has won an award for his use of the sim in his curriculum "I think SBS has a very innovative tool for use in not just the sports economics classroom, but the business classroom period. I am happy to be a part of the continued development and improvement of SBS sim products, and see through the creation of the Major League Baseball Simworld."

Like Fort, Andrew Zimbalist is a tireless contributor to the debate on the reformation of the business of baseball. He thinks the Oakland Baseball Simworld is a unique product that only enhances the classroom experience. "I'm new to using the SBS sims but I've been impressed with not only what I've seen but the team of people that SBS is assembling."

The Sim Advisory Board will have its' own special page within the SBS environment which will not only present the board members, but also have a gateway to a private blog that they can use to trade ideas. "But we'll use e-mail too," added Abraham.

"The process that will evolve is that we will periodically make major changes based on what the board comes up with and any ideas presented to the board," said Abraham. "What's so great about SBS' online foundation is that we can upgrade our simulations sometimes within one day."

Visit SBS website at http://www.sbs-world.com to meet the SBS Sim Development Advisory Board.

About SBS
Sports Business Simulations is a private Delaware Corporation located in Oakland, California. SBS develops web-based sports business simulations for use in the classroom, as a sports fantasy game, and as a consulting tool. One product suite; three markets. SBS's multi-content site offers everything from sports business commentary to sporting goods, sports and concert tickets, and throwback jerseys.

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