The Media and the Economics of Sport - Essay Example

? The Media and the Economics of Sport Contents Introduction 3 Media needs Sports 4 Sport organization attractive to Media 5 Global coverage through Television 5 Conclusion 7 Reference 9 Bibliography 10 Introduction Sports have gained a high position with respect to media and with some popular sports such as the Olympics, Football World Cup, Cricket World Cup has become more attractive and the media has been utilizing the best possible actions against these big events. And the medicated sport has the ability to generate mass appeal. The attraction that the value of sports is receiving is increasingly important in the development and commercialization of sport as well as media (HELLAND, 2007, p. 105). Sport along with culture and economics have continued to fuse in conjunction with international culture, economy, political and social flows which constitute in the process of globalization. In addition the sports, culture and the media tends to represents entrenched and a taken for granted feature of the concept of late capitalism. There is no or little evidence that states that the blend of sports and media along with culture and the growth and emergence of new media would slow or decline in the future (Scherer, n.d, p. 84). During the nineteen century sports and media had become mass phenomena and therefore the two, sports and media have been parallel over the years. There exists a mutual relationship in between the two factors. However today’s in the modern world sports and media complex are a result of social developments and new technology. The system was developed through television as a means of conveyor of exhibition and exposure. With the commercialization of the television along with the growing competition from the audiences in new media have played a crucial role in enhancing the new media for sports. The appeal of sports has become so significant that it tends to fuel the changes which take place within the social institution such as journalism and broadcasting. Thus the value of sports has helped shape the structure and practice of media and similarly media facilitates the reformation of sports. It was in Britain that the relationship between media and sports was first developed. Media needs Sports Modern sports and the media are both multibillion businesses. Elite sports functions require mass media in order to underwrite and publicize them accordingly. The huge market of sport along with the equipment and merchandise to a very large extend is sustained by the media and its 24/7 sports coverage along with the economic infrastructure of the media which depends largely on the sports in order to make it large, create loyal readers, listeners, interactive consumers and also viewers. But the dynamics of synergy between sports and media is not without problems. The media has an influence only in ways how events are staged but also time of taking place. The media decides on the time and lace of an event to take place. When the Olympics sprinters started to run the race at 5 in the morning so that the people of New York could watch them in prime time which took place in the summer games in South Korea in the year 1988. This shows that the media have clearly exercised a certain degree of influence over sports which was not possible or unthinkable in the olden days. Thus the economic interest of media is evident from the advertisement which keeps on interrupting the event covered by television networks. But there are occasional backlash between sports and media. Some athletes sometimes accuse the media in particularly the television for taking things out of sports and altering the rules, structure and ethos. Corporate sponsorship is one of the key areas where the brand value of the sports is central to the relationship between sports and media. This has helped the sports organization along with the competitions to be funded in the process of expanding identification, brand recognition and also loyalty from the sponsors. Thus the key to commercialization of sports with the help of celebrity endorsement, sponsorship, is the media whose showcase of events have propelled sports from local ground to a global phenomena (Britannica, 2012). Sport organization attractive to Media Sports and sports organization have always been attractive to media. Any news with regards to the sports is made immensely big for the sake of its popularity and media does it for its own source of revenue. Sports is one of the most important source to media organization that the sport department irrespective of size operates as a part of the editorial teams mainly staffed by journalist mainly covering sport activities. In the newspaper sector, sports are among the three traditional departments (Andrews, 2005, p.7). Media needs information to fill up the pages but the sports organization have used the media to increase the revenue not just from the media but also from merchandising, advertising, and sponsorship. The media has offered a free publicity to the sport organization in order to attract the crowds. Sports over the years have emerged as marketable product and sales of these events to the media tends to increase more with finals such as Melbourne cup, AFL grand final, Olympics games and the Australian open tennis. The sponsors are attracted towards sports which receive exposure to prime media. Sports tends to relay on the media in order to popularize it and get sponsorship and the media gains from the sports organization with respect to advertising revenue and exposure of products. It can be concluded that there are mutual benefits for both media and sports (Hernandez, 2002, p.151). The interdependent relation between the sports organizations, media are fundamental for the survival for commercialization. Global coverage through Television Television is one of the most leading modes of medium in the context of sports and sports related activities. Similarly to radio it allows live reporting but it transmits not just sounds but also images. Hence the feeling of being present is much stronger than that of radio. With television some of the major sporting contests are just not made available to the spectators attending the event but also to millions of people who are able to view it through the television sets. The added value which arises from viewing from television is evident. Some of the factors include replays, close ups, views from different angles from different cameras, slow motion and other factors. It is more exiting for a viewer in front of a television screen than the spectator in stadium. And most importantly television shows people live, players who are well build, attractive, fit and trained people. Due to its added value television has reached a more number of individuals than on site sports. With the mass consumerism in the sector of televised sport had created a different affect and feel for sports than in the past. People are more enthusiastic towards sports and this has happened through media and particularly television. Television on its way has supported the sports, made it popular and in away dominates the sports. In an away it has contributed in the globalization of sports. Television has been able to fuel in new sports and live reports from the international events such as Soccer’s World Cup, the Olympics, and The football world club have introduced viewers from across the world to something new. Thus some sports tend to own the popularity to television. But at the same time most of the countries fear that with the development of media and new sports it could hamper the sporting traditions. In addition to this another disadvantage is the fear that the opportunity to view a major event on television prevents people from attending local games. Several sports have made changes in their rules in order to suit the time and requirements of the television. The marriage between sports and the media more precisely the television is to tight that a divorce would indicate bankruptcy for athlete as well as clubs. Thus it can be said that with an increase in the TV coverage it leads to a decrease in attendance of the viewers to view it live on the respective ground. Also due to an increase in tickets rate people prefer to watch in the television. It is said to be a love hate relation between sports and media-television. Hence it can be stated that no television means any publicity and no publicity means any sponsors (Beck & Bosshart, 2003, p.10-11). Therefore television does have disadvantages along with certain advantages. With a growing demand made from the television sector, it has succeeded in changing the competition in the sporting activities. Thus the excitement and tempo of various different games have been heightened with the changes made through television. Changes such as six balls over in cricket, basketball divided into quarters, penalty in soccer and tie breakers in tennis. In the need of making televised appear appealing and entertaining to the relevant spectators has produced innovation as in cricket the introduction of colored uniform in ODI, the evolution of Twenty20 matches and so on. One of the examples of global impact of sports is the Summer Olympics games along with the Winter Olympics games hosted in Georgia has attracted a quarter million of people along with the media representatives in the city during pre and post game. It was estimated that the city has attracted an additional 1.5billion people to watch the game with the help of network and television. The Sydney Olympics was broadcasted to about 220 countries making I the most television watched sports. The growth of modern day sports is an example of globalization; it brings people together and attracts media. According to reports the Olympic drew about 28 broadcasters from across the world. The televised sports events have gained revenue from advertising and a number of channels are dedicated towards sports and the events and the media packages tend to satisfy the people needs (Chiu & Wang, 2012). Conclusion Sports and media are the two most prevalent factors which tend to relay on each other to proper and get ingrained in daily lives. The relationship between media and sport has influenced the institution. Sports were perceived as ideal way to capture the audience for advertisers. Sports generate news and also entertainment which makes it attractive in the media. With the addition of television which added to the personal experience of originality and authenticity has offered the facility of witnessing the sporting events even without going to the stadium or the arena. In addition to the facility, it created new realities with respect to media. It can be said that in today’s world television has changed sports into a money making business. It is the media which had popularized sports to such an extent and it is sports which has influenced the media in doing so. Thus media and sports go hand in hand are interdependent to each other. Reference Andrews, P., 2007. Sports journalism: a practical guide. California: SAGE. Beck, D. and Bosshart, L., 2003. Sports and Media. [Pdf]. Available at: http://cscc.scu.edu/trends/v22/v22_4.pdf. [Accessed March 20, 2012]. Britannica., 2012. Sports. Available at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/561041/sports/253576/Mass-media-and-the-rise-of-professional-sports. [Accessed March 20, 2012]. Chiu, P. K. and Wang, C. H., 2012. Impact of Media Coverage of the 42nd World Archery Championships on Audience Attendance and Purchases. [Online]. Available at: http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/impact-media-coverage-42nd-world-archery-championships-audience-attendance-and-purchases. [Accessed March 20, 2012]. Helland, K., 2007. Changing Sports, Changing Media. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.nordicom.gu.se/common/publ_pdf/248_248_helland1.pdf. [Accessed March 19, 2012]. Hernandez, R. C., 2002. Managing sport organizations. USA: Human Kinetics. Scherer, J. No Date. Sport and the Media. [Pdf]. 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