Which sport is the best business?

THENBAUEFAFAAC 2023 finals of America’s National Basketball Association () and Europe’s football Champions League were both history-making events, in rather different ways. On June 12th the basketball contest crowned a small-city team that had never before won a championship, the Denver Nuggets. They defeated an unlikely challenger in the Miami Heat, the last-seeded team among the eight playoff teams in its conference. Had Miami won, that would have been a first for such a lowly side. Meanwhile, the Champions League final, held on June 10th, featured a powerhouse from Britain, Manchester City, defeating a mainstay of European football, Italy’s Inter Milan.European and British football leagues generally let teams spend as much as they want on players, as long as they do not lose too much money. More successful sides tend to earn more money, and so have more cash to splurge on star players—which in turn translates into more success on the pitch, and so on. The week before its Champions League triumph, Man City snatched the English Cup, beating Manchester United, another deep-pocketed team. Man United and Man City have won 20 out of the past 31 English Premier League titles; the Champions League (or its predecessor, the European Cup) has been won by Real Madrid and Milan, Inter’s arch-rival, 21 out of 68 times.