Commercialiation and Media

• Spectatorship - the act of watching someone without taking part

• Sponsorship - to support an event, activity, or athlete by providing money or goods

Factors causing commercialisation

• Growing public interest and spectatorship

  • more people play sport at least once a week

  • more people watch sports regularly

  • more money is attracted to sport

• More media interest

  • events are televised

  • companies want to sponsor events and their participants

• Professionalism

  • sporting professionals are more likely to attract sponsorship from commercial organisations

• Advertising

  • sport presents opportunities to sell more goods

  • the sport used will then likely have increased participation rates

• Sponsorship

  • increased publicity and sales for the sponsor

  • free clothing/ equipment for the athlete

Impacts of commercialisation on sport

Individual Sports

Positives:

• sports can promote themselves - more participants and spectators - increased revenue

• more money from sports can allow more facilities to be built and developed

• commercial investment can develop all areas in sport - grassroots to international elite

Negatives:

• less popular sports attract less sponsorship so cannot develop as much as other sports

• female and disabled events get less media coverage so attract less media coverage and may lose out on potential sponsors

Society

Positives:

• sponsorship supports the view that sport is about fair competition and everyone should have an equal chance to compete and win

Negatives:

• can be difficult to attract sponsors

• some sports/ athletes are more marketable than others - and this can determine whether or not they succeed

Performers

Positives:

• athletes can spend more time training and competing than going to work

• can fund athlete’s travel and accommodation

• can receive kit and equipment from companies who wish to promote their products

Negatives:

• pressure to perform well to keep sponsorship deals

• pressure could lead to deviant behaviour

• companies demand a lot of an athlete’s time to promote their product

• performers may have little control over their careers and have to enter specific competitions

Spectators

Positives:

• can provide more entertainment

• video play back can provide more information

• more competitions so more accessibility for a range of spectators

Negatives:

• the sport itself can become less important than the adverts

• advertising can spoil events

• spectators may not agree with the ethics of a company

• commercialisation does not make sport more affordable

Coverage of sport by the media

Types of media

• television

• printed press

• radio

• internet

• social media

• cinema

Reasons for change since the 80’s

• was little media coverag of female sport and predominatly male presenters

• hooliganism was rife and media was often dominated by reports of violent behaviour

• now companies have spent money to own the rights to broadcast a specific type of sport

• media is now available to more people and is more global - can be watched live or on demand

• - most sports are more accessible, but female and disability sports are still the least popular and accessible

Impacts of media on sport

Performers

Positives:

• can raise the profile of an athlete

• can help develop an athlete’s career

Negatives:

• can highlight and promote sensational news which can cause pressure to perform

Individual Sports

Positives:

• can raise the profile of a sport

• can boost participation numbers

• can increase financial revenue - better facilities

• can attract more funding for international team

• can give more coverage to minority sports

Negatives:

• can highlight negative aspects of a sport

Spectators

Positives:

• increases the numbers of people watching

• sport is now accessible to a wider audience

• different types of media are available 24/7

Negatives:

• can provide negative coverage

• cost of subscriptions to satellite television can be expensive

Relationship between sport and the media

• sport is viewed as a commodity by commercial organisations

• the link between sport, sponsorship, and media is referred to as the golden triangle