The article “Growing Media Interest in Sport” shows the relationship between the growth of communications—for instance, television broadcasting—and financial revenue that can be gained from sports broadcasting. The article argues that the development of technological communication—such as radio and television—has promoted the accessibility of sports and served to broadcast games to a broad population as time goes on. Because sport has grown so popular through television, the demand to broadcast games on any particular network has created a situation that allows for extreme economical benefit and political influence. With millions, if not hundreds of millions, of viewers watching any particular event at any given time, the stakes become great for financial gain from individual companies. A result is a bidding war to broadcast certain specialized events.
I believe there is too much sport media coverage, which has a direct negative influence on sport and entertainment. When one goes to a sporting event, media coverage dictates the pace of play. The game will be interrupted with timeouts and pauses so that the television companies can broadcast commercials (for which they are being paid a handsome amount). For anyone who attends sporting events, this makes for odd pauses during events where athletes are huddled together, seemingly unsure of what to do or when to resume play (awkward music permeates arenas during this time). The World Cup works slightly different. However, it is still an “advertiser’s dream” because while the tournament is being broadcast on television, people are tuned in, watching pre- and post-game coverage of the event, during which time broadcasting channels can fill the air with an array of highly sought after commercial time. In addition, the duration of the World Cup (several weeks long) serves in the interest of both broadcasters and commercial investors.
Works Cited:
Smart, B. (2007) ‘Not playing around: global capitalism, modern sport and consumer culture’. In Guilianotti, R. & Robertson, R. Globalization and Sport. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
