Staging the Sporting Spectacle

Argument #1:

Media plays a central role in staging “sporting spectacles” that entertain us, make us feel good, and inspire us in ways that often (but not always) reinforce dominant neoliberal values

According to French theorist Guy Debord, we now experience society through a series of spectacles: constructed images of reality

Biggest sporting Spectacles:

• Olympics

• World Cup

• NFL Super Bowl

• All-Star Events

Spectacles

Media Sport Performance Spectacle

• The mass mediation of the athletic performances/contests/competitions that constitute the Media-sport event. Generated across the full range of media technologies, the mediation of media-sport includes the live broadcast coverage and analysis of the event. Also includes how to performative spectacle is modified for the purposes of enhancing its qualities as a mass mediated spectacle

Media Sport Political Spectacle

• The mediated mobilization of Media-sport as a vehicle for constituting, and sometimes challenging, the dominant political order within a society. Includes the ceremonial/ritualistic and symbolic elements around the mass mediated meda-sport event, i.e. national anthem performances, anti-racism announcements, dignitary presentations, torch relays, opening and closing ceremonies, award ceremonies, and performance acts by athletes and politicians alike

Media Sport Promotional Spectacle

• Promotional elaboration of media-sport competitions, events, and participants which constitute standalone media texts, yet contribute to the narrative positioning and popular understanding of the Media-sport entity. Delivered across the full range of media technologies, includes narrative positioning and promotion of sporting events, sport-related programming, sport-related films, reality series, documentaries, podcasts, and computer games

Media Sport Embodied Spectacle

• Derived from various sanctioned and unsanctioned sources of media representation, the accumulated/intertextual symbolic meaning of celebrated individuals synonymous with Media-sport events

Media Sport Commodity Spectacle

• Mobilization of media-sport referents within advertising and marketing campaigns designed to enhance and brand identity and market appeal of sport and non-sport related commodities and services

Media Sport Prosumptive Spectacle

• Merging of production and consumption of sports culture and technology respond to and contribute to the constitution, understanding, and experience of the media-sport spectacle itself

Media Sport Journalistic Spectacle

• Media sport related outpourings of the journalism sector responsible for creating content for magazines, newspapers, radio, television, web based, and social media publications. This content takes on various forms, including, but not restricted to: news journalism; investigative journalism; feature journalism; and option/analysis

Sports media play a large role in “staging" sporting spectacles

Sports Media produces the imagery and narrative, and in doing so infuses meaning (and often ideology) into sporting spectacles

Sport + Entertainment = Sportainment

• “Episodic” Nature - The Sport Spectacle

Sport Spectacle Belief Systems

In order to attract the widest possible audience, sporting spectacles tend to promote “mainstream” views and values which are thought to resonate with “Middle America”

These often overlap with neoliberalism

The Boxing Film

“Boxing epitomizes individual achievement regardless of the circumstances, a narrative that triggers empathy and aspiration in societies where citizens are left to their own devices”

Spectacularized Embodiments of Neoliberalism

Celebrated/Responsible Neoliberal Subjects vs Demonized/Irresponsible Neoliberal Subjects

Staging Reality

Televisual media does not simply report or document reality… it represents (or re-presents) reality. The very nature of media requires a certain amount of manufacturing or “staging” reality

It involves choosing:

• what is “news” and what is not

• which narratives to promote and which to downplay

• who is spoken to, and who is spoken for

And that’s okay! But this needs to be remembered when critically producing and consuming media

Hyperreality:

• French theorist Jean Baudrillard believed that we now live in a culture of “hyperreality” , in which the boundaries between “real” and “fiction are increasingly blurred

• A situation where mass mediated models - or simulations - comes to represent and influence our perception and experience of reality

In other words, Baudrillard was concerned that we can no longer distinguish between real and fake

NBC’s Olympic Hyperreality?

In 2014, NBC signed a $7.75 billion contract with the IOC guaranteeing that the network will televise Olympic Games (summer and winter) until 2032

“These are NBC’s games, and by now we should know how they’re played. The network sees the Olympics less as sports than as spectacle, at least in prime time, and it packages them accordingly into a sort of athletic variety show. Events are delayed, results are hidden, and while bad news is not ignored, it’s not stressed, either. This is not Monday Night Football. The game is not the thing”

• “Soap Opera Games?”

  • Maximum sentiment → maximum ratings → maximum revenue

“The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans…more women watch the games than men, and for women, they’re less interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It’s sort of like the ultimate reality show and miniseries wrapped into one.”

Staging Drama and Emotional Investment through Individual Narratives

• “You have to familiarize people with the competitors. What are their back stories? How did they get there? Why should we care about them? What is at stake here?”

But…what is left out of the sporting spectacle?

What narratives or realities do not make the cut?

According to Baudrillard:

The televisual reality of media coverage of the Gulf War conflicted with the material reality of the Gulf war'

In Baudrillard’s Terms:

The televisual reality of the mediated Olympics sometimes conflict with the material reality of the 2008 Beijing Games

The televisual reality of the mediated Olympics sometimes conflict with the material reality of the 2016 Rio Games

The televisual reality of the mediated Olympics sometimes conflict with the material reality of the 2020 Tokyo Games

The televisual reality of the mediated Olympics sometimes conflict with the material reality of the 2024 Paris Games

• Televisual Representation vs Material Experience

  • Protests, people uncared for while their city looks perfect and beautiful over TV

Power and Global Sporting Mega Events

Sport and International Competition

• Through staging “hallmark events” such as the Olympics or World Cup, cities often attempt to boost their global reputation and become a “world-class city/nation”

• Sport is central to gaining (or losing) “soft power” within the international community

Mega-Events as Public Diplomacy

• Rather than traditional diplomacy (political meetings, conflict, war, etc.)… the 21st century has seen the rise of public diplomacy

  • Nations using culture, media, and imagery to positively influence their international perception

• Public Diplomacy is a “soft power” approach to international relations

Argument 2:

Sporting mega-events are the vehicles of soft power for host cities/nations, who use sport (and sports media) to stage a particular image to the international community

Case Study: United Kingdom

• According to the British Council, the universal appeal of sport makes it: “the most accessible of the UK’s soft power assets”

The mechanisms through which SPORT enhances the UK’s Soft Power:

1. UK Athletes achieving world-class success: Demonstrating its status as a leading (sporting) nation

2. The UK’s presence and influence in international sport organizations and governing bodies: demonstrating its status as a leading (sporting) nation

3. The implementation of wide-ranging international sport programs and schemes in developing nations

4. The hosting of major sporting events: demonstrating its status as a leading (sporting) nation

Opening and Closing Ceremonies

• Opening (and closing) ceremonies of sporting mega-events provide a context for “staging the nation”

  • For presenting and performing officially sanctioned depictions of the host nation, and communicating its national identity

• National identity, of course, is always contested

The Risks of Sporting Spectacles

• Attempts to use global sporting events to render a nation attractive, credible, and influential (powerful) are not guaranteed to succeed

• There is always the possibility that the increased global attention and scrutiny that accompanies the hosting of such event will backfire: worsening (instead of bettering) a city/nation’s global image

Case Study: Qatar World Cup

Soft Power Rationales for Qatar’s Involvement in 2022 World Cup

1. Identifying Qatar as a modern, innovating, and technologically advanced society

   • Putting Qatar on the “international map”

2. Projecting an image of peace, security, and integrity

   • Distancing Qatar and the war-torn “Middle East”

However, hosting the World Cup uncovered

1. Corruption in bid process

2. Sexual discrimination

3. Inhospitable climate

4. Essentially no rights/protection for workers

Soft Power and the U.S.

“Media, culture and sports - all of these can be beamed around the world 24/7 via the internet and modern satellite communications. No wonder the USA has traditionally been the soft power leader - it’s films, stars, celebrities and sporting events can be downloaded, streamed and broadcast anywhere in the world, making it possible for anyone to pick up the basics of the American way of life".

The Dominant View:

People who believe they (and the local community and, indeed, the nation) benefit from the events, economically and socially

• Everyone benefits

The Negotiated View:

People who are ambivalent about mega events, believing them to be good in some ways but not necessarily so in others, with benefits that are mixed or are unevenly distributed; this means that you can enjoy some aspects of the spectacle, while disliking others, yet feel the whole issue is really beyond the actions/powers of individuals

• Mixed or uneven results; some good things and some bad things

The Oppositional View

People who believe that mega events benefit the upper classes but this is hidden behind a veil of ideological rhetoric suggesting the events benefit everyone. For this reason, public expenditures on them should be opposed. Similarly, the themes emphasized in media accounts of the events act as powerful modes of legitimation for a host of ideological standpoints associated with class, gender, race and, most importantly, a blind commitment neoliberalism. The use of public expenditures for such events is therefore a travesty

• it is an injustice for cities to host a sporting mega-event

Argument #3

Global sporting mega events bring us a lot of psychological and emotional benefits…along with a lot of socioeconomic violences and injustices

In other words, their vibes are great! But their “real life” consequences are bad

Why host a sporting mega-event?

• Cities regularly compete for the right to host various levels of national and international events:

  1. To demonstrate their involvement in inter-urban competitoin

  2. To utilize existing facilities and infrastructure

  3. To justify investment in new facilities and infrastructure

  4. To demonstrate the capacity for hosting global mega-events in the future

Sporting mega-events and neoliberalism

• Sporting mega-events are textbook examples of neoliberalism politics and economics

• They involve the use of immense public/taxpayer dollars to stage events/places that will stimulate private/corporate profit

  • *(with the hope that private profit will eventually “trickle down” to the public that ultimately pays for it and most directly feels its consequences)

Arguments for Hosting Sporting Mega-Events

1. The $billions required to host is justified by the assumption that the initiative will lead to radical development and enhancement of the city’s infrastructure, services, environment, and thus image

2. The complex urban infrastructure required to host major events perceived to be a requirement for further economic development

3. This infrastructure viewed as an important resource/amenity for residents within the city

4. Hosting events brings in (wealthy) global tourists, and thus contributes to the economic and demographic growth in the city

5. Hosting an event is a high-profile statement on the city’s success/status

What are the legacies of sporting mega-events?

• Sporting Legacies

  • Hosting the Olympics provides cities/regions with the opportunity for developing state-of-the-art sports facilities, that can be used to promote:

    • Elite Sport Participation

    • Mass Sport Participation

• Social legacies

  • The Olympic Games cultural program (including the opening and closing ceremonies)

• Environmental Legacies

  • The contemporary Olympic Games requires strategies that are sensitive to environment issues

    • The creation of Olympic parks provides an opportunity for regenerating open space for public use and enjoyment

    • Games also prove to be the catalyst for cities to introduce renewable forms of energy, recycled material, and more environmentally-friendly mass transit systems.

• Urban Legacies

  • The hosting of the Olympic Games requires considerably investment in changing the structure of a city

    • Infrastructure Enhancements

    • Beautification

    • Urban Redevelopment/Regeneration

• Economic Legacies

  • The hosting of the Olympic leads to considerable increases in key economic indicators

    • Increases in economic activity/gross domestic product

    • Job creation (direct and indirect employment)

    • Growth in tourism sector

    • Pathway to hosting other major events

    • Significant economic impact/spending

According to British industry chief, Sir Digby Jones:

• "Sport is big business and the Olympic Games will be a win-win for the economy and sporting competition. The Games will lift our international profile, attract inward investment and boost profits and jobs for everyone”

To summarize the Benefits (in theory):

• Spectacularized urban spaces required for hosting a sporting mega-event are important initiatives for international (and inter-urban) competition

• Cities hope that sporting mega-events can act as motors of economic growth, social development, and “perception” engineering

Questioning the Sporting Spectacle

• Sporting mega-events are a spectacularized celebration of sport, athletes, and (often) shared international solidarity

• However, they are also a celebration of the dominant political/economic system, and functions to normalize the ideologies that support it

As neoliberalism has taken hold (especially in the Western world), critics argue that the Olympics and other sporting mega-events have becomes unabashed celebrations of corporate neoliberal capitalism

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)

• Sporting spectacles are not strictly neoliberal, as they often funded through PPPs

• The public sector (aiming to pursue urban uplift) often partners with the private sector (aiming to generate private revenue)

• This means that taxpayer money is used to (at least partially) fund the construction and maintenance of sporting mega-events

Public Funding for Private Profit:

• Global sport spectacles are often publicly-subsidized/funded events that generate capital for:

  1. Private Olympic Contractors

     • Construction, security, consultants, and MEDIA

  2. Commercial Olympic Sponsors

     • Corporate brands and endorsements

But critics argue that the “partnership” benefits the private sector much more

Exaggerated Economic Impact:

The economic impact of events is vastly overstated, and the costs of the event are downplayed

Profit Doesn’t Trickle Down

• Global sport spectacles do create profit, but much of this goes back to the major private contractors, and the global corporate sponsors

• These profits do not trickle down to the local/national economy

• Additionally, the employment created by sporting mega-events are mostly temporary, part-time, and/or lack worker benefits and protections

Jobs were mostly transferred, not created

• Of the approximately 48,000 jobs created by London 2012, only 10,000 of these were taken by previously unemployed people

No evidence that mega-events create tourism

• The effect on tourism of hosting a major sport spectacles is often exaggerated, both in the short and long term

• Any boosts in tourism may be offset by “tourism displacement”, where some tourists are dissuaded from visiting the city due to the anticipated congestion and inflated pricing caused by the event

• The long-term effects on tourism numbers of hosting the Olympics are mixed/inconclusive

• Economists Rose and Spiegel (2009) identify that, in economic terms, there is no significant “Olympic Effect” on trade

• Hosting an Olympic Games has a positive impact on national exports. But this is shared by nations who unsuccessfully bid for Games

  • This indicates the “signal” sent by the nation in seeking to host the Games (positioning it as a modern, advanced, and thriving) - rather than actually hosting the games - appears to be a critical factor

• According to a Department of Media, Culture and Sport (UK) report:

  • “The quantifiable evidence to support each of the perceived benefits for mega events is weak… the message is not: ‘don’t invest in mega-events’: it is rather: ‘be clear that they appear to be more about celebration than economic returns’”

  • “It’s a great party. It’s just a terrible investment”

Counter-Narratives of Sporting Spectacles

Spectacularized Trojan Horse?

• The possibility of a utopian Olympic future justifies that enactment of policies and initiatives, that oftentimes exploit and oppress the poor populations within host cities

Dark Social Impacts:

• In just about all host cities, preparation for sporting mega-events have resulted in:

  1. Violent evictions and demolitions

  2. Privatization of previously public space

  3. Restricted rights and access to public spaces

  4. Securitization and over-policing

  5. Gentrification

Case Study: 2008 Beijing Olympics

• It is estimated that 1.5 million people were displaced in this process

• So… is it really urban “beautification”? Or just urban cleansing?

Case Study: 2016 Rio Olympics

• The “beautification” demands of Rio 2016 have prompted the organizers of the Games to demolish significant parts of the favelas adjacent to the Olympic zones, or the main transport arteries which connect them

• This “social cleansing” relocates favela inhabitants to the periphery of the city

Securing and Policing the Spectacle

• Securitization: The process of sport events - and the spaces in which they occur - are controlled so as to lessen the (real or perceived) security risk to sport fans, tourists, and commercial investors

• Sport spectacles use the strategy of pacification through militarization

Sporting “White Elephants”:

In many cases, the infrastructure built for sporting mega-events are no longer used after the events, and become abandoned (while cities continue to pay them off)

Olympic Gentrification

• One of the anticipated impacts of hosting an Olympic games is the gentrification of the surrounding areas, which are typically underdeveloped

• Gentrification: redevelopment of previously poor and/or industrial neighborhoods into attractive commercial and residential spaces

• This often leads to the economic displacement of poorer populations due to increased residential values (both for sale and rent), as well as significant changes to the culture and identity of a city or neighborhood

Neoliberal Sporting Spectacles

Critics argue that these are the human costs of neoliberal policy, working as intended

1. Prioritizing that these are the human costs of neoliberal policy, working as intended

2. The promises of “trickle-down” benefits never actually happening

3. Encouraging people to blame the individual if they are poor enough to be affected

4. Investing in policing and punishment for those who voice their dissent

Activism in the Olympics

• For these reasons, sporting mega-events are highly contested

• Although they often are not included in the spectacle, there is a long tradition of activism surrounding sporting-mega events

Withdrawing from the Spectacle

• Recently, many cities have withdrawn bids for hosting sporting mega-events, due to public objections, exposure of injustice, and questioning of the benefits of spending public monies for such global events