Last night while watching Agassi beat Baghdatis at the U.S. Open, I wrote,
Query:
How much would it be worth to the U.S. Open and its television partners to have Agassi progress to at least the quarter finals?
Enough to make large enough “side payments” to other players to let him win?
(note: I am making no allegations. I am just wondering about the possibilities.)
to which Skip added via e-mail:
That’s the demand side. The supply side question is what would they take to lay down in a major? History suggests there are gains from trade for some, but also that the price of scandal is high.
The history that Skip refers to includes, inter alia, sumo wrestling, as documented in Freakonomics.
