The Implication of Commercialisation of Sports - Essay Example

Sport Is No Longer a Pastime, Run and Organised By Amateurs: It Is a Business That Competes For Scarce Resources and Uses Professional Management Techniques Table of Contents Introduction 3 Sports as a Business 4 Root to Sports in Society 4 Development of Modern Sports 5 The Commercialisation of Sports 8 The Commercialisation of Football 9 The Implication of Commercialisation of Sports (Football) 11 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction The modern world has been experiencing rise of professionalism in numerous segments of life. The education, science, technology, business and sports which were previously the activities of amateur have become more structured, classified and regulated. As professionalism has developed, frequently with hierarchical groups and official systems for recognising knowledge, ‘amateurism’ has become a term of disdain. In the last two decades, a new type of amateur has appeared who performs with professional principles. In the 20th century, the pastime activities such as sports were shaped by large hierarchical organisations with high concentration on business (Leadbeater & Miller, 2004). The essay intends to concentrate on sports which have turned into a profitable business, run by various organisations. Furthermore, the essay describes the impact of commercialisation of sports with particular focus on football. The prime objective of the essay is to recognise how modern sports have developed and how it has become a business where organisations compete for resources and apply professional management techniques in order to gain success. Sports as a Business The sporting world has changed significantly in present days. What was previously an activity of leisure time, has become a business with players being provided huge pay, investment in franchisee, stadium expenditures (Oxford University Press, n.d.). Revenue sharing in altering level has arrived in professional team sports throughout the world. In sports business, broader media concern, particularly the television has become significant which impacts on the income of professional team groups, individual sports and college games. Apart from this, more attention is given on matters of employment market such as ethnic discrimination and consumption of drugs in sports (Sheard, 2009). Whenever a player is traded from one club to the other, or they sign an agreement above US$10 million per year, economists instantly try to distinguish inadequacy in those agreements, but media attention is obviously concentrated on the converse query about how the athletes make huge revenue (Rosen & Sanderson, 2000). The impact of soaring salary of players can be viewed on the high price of public tickets issued for watching the matches. Along with these matters, the fee of per player itself is the imperative issue of the sharing of skill or competitive equilibrium within leagues (Golby & Sheard, 2003). Root to Sports in Society Traditionally, the individuals with spare time on leisure activities were generally involved in sports. Sports require relaxation time and additional money in order improve and expand. For numerous people, money and time had become available throughout the middle part of the 19th century. With the commencement of industrial revolution, remuneration of majority of people had increased. During 1850s, there was also a tendency of spending the leisure time through sports. That was the time when sports really started to develop. The improvement of transportation allowed people to grow new sporting events. The industrialism has transformed the sports essentially. Pre-modern sports were overseen by cultural and seasonal themes, but modern sports are structured in a more consistent method. Sports themselves is greatly organised and are played in ways which often replicate an industrial society. For instance, modern industrial technique is applied in football sport. Amateurism certainly provided a benefit to the organisations which had enough money about attaining income from sports. The amateur model in sports has significant influence on the sports development. With Britain spreading the team games and sporting philosophy to other nations, the traditional sports started to change (InfoBritain, 2006). Development of Modern Sports The development of modern sport is destined with the procedures of economic and cultural change related with the international dispersion of entrepreneurial activities of consumption. The characteristics of modern sports became ostensible towards the end period of 19th century and then shifted to a truly international occurrence with the progression of 20th century. In modern days, the consideration is given to the development of global sports and organisations which deal in sports materials. The international dispersal of modern sports which gathered thrust in the beginning of 20th century includes number of networked components, comprising provisional communications media and commercial organisations for which sports, particularly through the iconic amount of the international celebrity sport star, establishes a universally pleasing social practice. Sports in modern days not only help to generate revenue for sporting clubs, but also help to make way for generating revenue for other business organisations. In connotation of business organisations with international broadcasting of sporting events and sporting stars, funding and authorisation activities started providing business organisations unique access to international culture (Smart, 2007; Szymanski, 2006). The communication plays a significant part in the growth and the establishment of modern sports. The modern sports have been developed in three phases which are: Development Phase: In Europe, the mass communication media had developed in the 19th century. However, at that time the media did not feature the sports regularly and it formed a part of social discovery. The development of sports began from an occurrence associated with certain social classes to be transformed to a public activity (Schierl & Bertling, n.d.). Establishment Phase: Due to increase in audience, sports had become a part of significant business activity, progressively addressed through mass media and extended to the mass audience. In the establishment phase of sports, the mass media played a noteworthy part and augmented the improvement of sports as a business activity (Schierl & Bertling, n.d.). Mediatisation Phase: The huge improvement and penetration of television technology throughout the world and growing financial associations between media and sports systems, along with globalisation inspired the mediatisation of sport. The modern sport is impacted as well as shaped by media (Schierl & Bertling, n.d.). Diffusion Theory Diffusion theory provides perspectives on the spread of sports through the social system. The diffusion activities are probably accepted when they are made consistent with the native cultural structures or understandings and are thus condensed as noticeable, acquainted and convincing. The diffusion theory depicts that the traditional view of sports is changed by social alteration as much as it generates social transformation. The moment, sports become a public entertainment activity; it turns into a subject of community discourse. In communication media, sports are imitated as corroboration i.e. themes and thoughts are possibly revisable within discussion (Kaufman & Patterson, 2005). In present days, the idea of popular team sports (such as cricket, football and rugby among others) is mainly the creation of western culture which is expanded internationally. The spread and the transformation of sports and creation of modern sports have occurred due to mass media. The media has changed the form of sport from a pastime activity to a business. Mass media is continuously increasing the attention of sports among the public and thus their responsiveness has become the most important factor for organisations which invest in sports (Rowe, 2004). The publicity has changed the sport and its self-perception to the level to which it is recognised as an essential element of economy and business in its new form. Sports have transcended to be considered as a genuine requirement of people and this element of sports has made it to be recognised from a pastime to a business in its connection with the media. At present, the link between sports and business has become stronger and with association of the mediatisation, a distinct field has been developed in the modern sports also termed as media sports which follow its own directions and regulations (Schierl & Bertling, n.d.). The Commercialisation of Sports The commercialisation of sport has resulted in transforming it from an amusement activity to a business activity. Commercialisation has brought about high anxiety for business organisations’ philosophies regarding the utilisation of sports events for profitable purposes. The commercialisation procedure has changed sporting activities to be coincided with market based strategies which follow functioning aspects in order to increase the income. Sports organisations also have become quite reactive to the requirements of customers (Helland, 2007). There are two characteristics of commercialisation of sports. The first is to raise the profitable aspects of sport. Sports enterprises have become highly concentrated on increasing revenue. Due to this reason, expenses on sponsorship, amount of athletes’ pays and sport gambling have increased significantly and sports organisations pursue for enhancing their growth prospects in order to produce higher income through accepting a business method for the administration of sport. For instance, in the year 2004, “Fox Television Company” had made a business contract worth US$ 712 million which was 30% more compared to the previous agreement of the company (Houlihan, 2008). The second characteristic of commercialisation comprises changes in operations of non-profit organisations or public sports enterprises. These organisations have experienced considerable national and operational transformation within last decade as executives have shifted towards business oriented approach in the administration of an organisation. Any significant decision in those organisations reflects upon strategic preparation, performance management and quality administration. The commercialism of sport industry is not limited to commercial organisations; rather it has expanded to other profit as well as non-profit organisations. Traditional transformations in management among the commercial, national and charitable segments of the sport industry are no longer visible (Crawford, 1992). The commercialisation is being debated as to be purging the true spirit of sport. Professionalism and specialisation have destabilised the entertainment aspect of sport, and it is obvious that commercialisation has stimulated match fixing, betting and viciousness. It is apparent that commercialisation is the major factor behind the transformation of sport as a business. It has led to a new industry which offers revenue for domestic and native economies by arranging sport events, tax base, job opportunity, tourism business and sponsorship business. The commercialisation is brought about chiefly by the activities and the relations of four aspects which are tendency towards sport observation, changes in technology, growing competition and professionalisation of game (Houlihan, 2008). The Commercialisation of Football In present days, the commercialisation of football has accompanied radical transformations to the game, converting what initially was a pastime into a billion Pounds business for organisations. The commercialisation of game has decreased the real competition among players. Among every top club of Europe, one can convincingly observed to be challenging for winning the league or a cup title. The sports clubs strive for gaining resources in order to involve themselves in business activities. Numerous clubs have scarcity of resources and thus are unable to compete with the best teams. The reason is that the major sponsors always spend more money on the attractive leagues and clubs. Investors along with the proceeds from television sponsorship generates vicious cycle where top clubs utilise their extensive resources in order to get fresh talents, thereby significantly lessen the risk from smaller clubs which can hardly manage to get high amount of finance. A significant issue in majority of Europe’s top leagues is the absence of cooperative television agreements. Majority of sports clubs are permitted to discuss about their own television funding, which ensures that the maximum money is allocated to the best global clubs such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United among others and the smaller clubs face difficulties in gaining money. In order to reduce the difficulties among clubs regarding securing resources, there is need for introducing cooperative television contracts. It will assist in allocating the sponsorship correspondingly among different leagues (Gürtler, 2004). The modern day sports business also confronts with the challenge of high wage demand of the best athletes. The football players can earn more compared to common public by playing a 90 minutes game in a week. Clubs face challenges to find and to entice the best players from the industry. The elite sports club are at a disadvantaged position by providing extreme salaries to the best athletes. A steady implementation of a pay control system throughout Europe would certify that players would not leave clubs for salaries as everybody would be on a level playing ground (Kahn, 2000). Numerous sports clubs are organising the game by focusing on the business part rather than on pastime aspect. It is the globalisation of the beautiful game that in numerous circumstances has simply turned it into a profit generating industry. Obviously, every sports club requires certain amount of income in order to run a game, however with respect to football, the sole purpose frequently appears to be increasing the income. Certain sports clubs create an impression that they would prefer to generate income rather than pleasing the fans. The money driven nature of sports business is impacting the real characteristics of sports. Presently, the only method for smaller clubs to challenge the top clubs appears to be by inoculation of large amount of money, as every club does not have the capability to gather resources and money, as the rich clubs do. Thus, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and other organisations should take particular initiatives in order to ensure a fair playing field for the future of sport (Financial Action Task Force, 2009). The Implication of Commercialisation of Sports (Football) In various ways, the commercialisation of sports and invasion of additional money have enhanced the game of football significantly. It is being argued that football is becoming largely commercial. The expenses on stadium improvements, major television agreements, high amount of salaries to the players and high sum of ticket prices have altered the enjoyment aspect for the most accessible sport in the world away from several common individuals. Presently, players are often treated like commodities for business organisations rather than the homeland idols. The football fans, who pay for watching the game, are viewed as sources of money for sponsors of the game (Huh & et. al., n.d.). The positive outcome of commercialisation of football has been for business persons. The increasing profitable strength of major football clubs has amplified through both television incomes and strong associations with local businesses. The increase of profitable television has raised competition among media companies for live broadcasting authorisations of top football games. Therefore, the major football clubs are becoming increasingly conscious about the fact that this media planning would allow themselves to collect majority of revenues (Beck & Bosshart, 2003). Presently, the high commercialisation of football is not only damaging the sport itself but also harming the supporters. At times, it has been observed that the business organisations that arrange the football games only concentrate on making profits and care quite less about the football game itself. Occasionally, the profit generating activities of business organisations essentially damage the very principle of football while promoting themselves towards the mass audience. Business organisations compel popular athletes to join advertisements and moneymaking events by completely overlooking the players’ requirements. It makes them quite exhausted to provide good performance. Business organisations spend significant amount of money on star players and while doing so they broaden the gap between star players and standard players. This aspect hinders the future improvement of youth players as they are unable to cope up with the star players and fail to perform effectively in the real arena. The commercialisation has developed a new rule for games by providing much importance to the money. This in turn has impacted on the loyalty of players. For this reason, it can be observed that majority of players do not remain loyal towards a specific club. As long as a particular club provides high pay, certain players stay and whenever other clubs present more attractive deals they leave. Commercialisation has generated many fake football fans, who hardly care for the attractiveness of the game of football (Hudson, n.d.). Conclusion It is an undeniable fact that commercialisation has created various optimistic effects on sports because it is the commercialisation which has made certain sports such as football a popular game for people. However, with respect to money, commercialisation has also generated numerous negative impacts on the sports. It has dented the true essence of sports where in reality, sports itself is much important than generating profit. Nowadays, commercialisation has changed the situation of sports. Once which was considered only as a pastime operated by amateurs, now has become a part of business for many organisations. In order to gain the advantage from a popular game such as football, majority of organisations are engaged in competition for getting resources in order to make money. Sports have significantly changed the management techniques used by profitable clubs, which attempt towards gathering sponsorship and contracting best players for the club. References Beck, D. & Bosshart, L., 2003. Sports and Media. A Quarterly Review of Communication Research, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 4-43. Crawford, S. A. G. M., 1992. A Speculative Paradigm on the Birth of the Modern Sport Spectacular: The Real Madrid (Spain), Eintracht-Frankfurt (Germany) European Cup Final of 1960 at Hampden Park, Scotland. Eastern Illinois University. [Online] Available at: http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/NASSH_Proceedings/NP1992/NP1992g.pdf [Accessed May 15, 2012]. Financial Action Task Force, 2009. 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