Sport in Society: Issues

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Sport in SocietyIssues Controversies

• Chapter 11
• Sports and the Economy
• What Are the Characteristics
• of Commercial Sports?

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Conditions for Emergence Growth of Commercial
Sports

• A market economy
• Large, densely populated urban areas
• People with time, money, transportation, and
  media connections
• Large amounts of capital

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Class Relations and Commercial Sports

• The preferences and priorities of those with
  power and wealth influence which sports are
  commercialized for example
• Golf is enjoyed by wealthy and powerful
• Football reproduces an ideology that privileges
  men

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Why have sports become so popular in society
today?

• The quest for excitement
• Emphasis on success ideology
• Widespread organized, competitive youth sport
  programs
• Widespread media coverage

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Economic Motives and the Globalization of
Commercial Sports

• Sport organizations look for global markets
• FIFA, the NFL, the NBA all want global media
  exposure
• Corporations use sports as vehicles for global
  expansion
• One goal is to make money
• Another goal is to sponsor enjoyment and pleasure
  to establish ideological outposts in the minds of
  people around the world

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Ideological Outposts in Action

• Sport places have been branded
• Sport events have been branded
• Athletes have been branded
• Branding has come to be accepted by many as
  necessary and non-political
• Isnt this a sure sign of the success of
  corporate branding?

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Spectator Appeal in Sports Depends on

• The uncertainty of an events outcome
• The stakes associated with an event
• The anticipated display of excellence, heroics,
  or dramatic displays by participants

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Commercialization and Changes in Sports

• Changes occur in the
• Structure and goals of sports
• Orientations of athletes, coaches, and sponsors
• Organizations that control sports

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Changes in Structure and Goals

• Rule changes to make action
  more exciting and understandable
• Speed up action
• Increase scoring
• Balance competition
• Maximize dramatic moments
• Provide commercial breaks
• Goal is to create a
  TOTAL ENTERTAINMENT EXPERIENCE

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Orientations of Athletes, Coaches, and Sponsors

• Commercial sports are ENTERTAINMENT
• Commercial entertainment depends on attracting a
  mass audience
• Members of a mass audience lack technical
  knowledge about a sport
• Entertaining people without technical knowledge
  requires heroic action action

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Commercial Sports Involve A Shift From Aesthetic
to Heroic Orientations

• Heroic
• Orientations
• Danger excitement of movement
• Emphasis on dramatic expression
• Willingness to go beyond limits
• Commitment to success of sponsor

• Aesthetic Orientations
• Beauty and pleasure of movement
• Emphasis on mastery of technical skills
• Willingness to explore limits
• Commitment to staying active

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The Promotional Culture of Professional Wrestling

• Emphasis is on heroic action
• Events are dramatic spectacles
• Players present carefully constructed personas
• Storylines are simple, and they emphasize
  domination, gender difference, and capricious
  bosses

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Sport Organizations

• With commercialization
• Control shifts away from athletes, and decisions
  are less likely to reflect their interests
• Control shifts toward owners, corporate sponsors,
  advertisers, media personnel, marketing and
  publicity staff, professional management staff,
  accountants and agents
• Athletes tend to defer to decisions of these
  people, because their financial interests are at
  stake

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Owners, Sponsors, Promoters of Professional
Sports

• When the diversity of professional sports is
  taken into consideration
• Owners are a diversified collection of people
  usually white men.
• Profits may be great in leagues where monopoly
  control and TV revenues are high but losses may
  be great under other conditions.

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Advantages of Monopoly

• Team owners in the major mens pro sports have
  established monopolies that enable them to
• Control athlete movement
• Negotiate high media rights
• Prevent others from forming new teams
• Share revenues

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Public Assistance for Team Owners

• Use of public funds to construct and maintain
  facilities
• Income deductions on tax returns
• Tax breaks and rebates
• Control of revenues in public facilities

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Stadium Subsidies Arguments For

• A stadium and team create jobs
• Stadium construction infuses money into the local
  economy
• Team will attract other businesses
• Team will attract media attention that boosts
  tourism, product sales and economic development
• Team will create positive psychic and social
  benefits

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Stadium Subsidies Arguments Against

• Stadium jobs are seasonal and offer low pay
  except to athletes and executives
• Construction materials often are bought outside
  the local area
• New businesses often are franchises located in
  other cities
• Discretionary money is limited
• Feeling good with macho orientations does not
  benefit everyone

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Sources of Income for Team Owners

• Gate receipts
• Sale of media rights
• Stadium revenues
• Leases on club seats and luxury boxes
• Concessions and parking
• Sale of naming rights and site advertising
• Licensing fees and merchandise sales

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Amateur Sports

• May be self-funded and dependent on corporate
  sponsors, or funded through a central government
  sports authority
• All amateur sport organizations share an interest
  in
• Power
• Money

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Legal Status of Athletes in Pro Team Sports

• Forms of reserve system have been used to
  restrict the freedom of athletes to play where
  they wish
• Players associations and unions have challenged
  this system and struggled for free agency
• Free agency has been achieved to varying degrees
  in major team sports
• Labor rights for athletes in minor sports are
  limited

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Legal Status of Athletes in Individual Sports

• Varies greatly from sport to sport and athlete to
  athlete
• Status often depends on what athletes must do to
  support their training and competition
• Status may be partially protected by professional
  associations formed by the athletes

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Income Team Sports

• The large majority of pro athletes make limited
  income
• The super-contracts and mega-salaries of a few
  athletes have distorted popular ideas about
  athlete income
• Income among top athletes has risen recently
  because
• Legal status and rights have improved
• League revenues have increased

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Income Individual Sports

• Many athletes do not make enough to pay expenses
• There are increasing disparities between top
  money winners and other athletes
• Top male heavyweight boxers have traditionally
  made the most money
• Question does this mean that athletes are
  rewarded for reaffirming traditional forms of
  cultural ideology?

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Amateur Athletes

• Rights depend on the governing bodies that
  control various sports
• Income depends on
• The rules of governing bodies
• Endorsements that vary with celebrity status and
  corporate interest
• Most intercollegiate athletes in the U.S. are
  controlled completely by the NCAA