Media, Sport and the Globalization of Culture

Some important unifying observations:

• In media societies, the image becomes the product.

• All of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. More and more of what was directly lived has moved away into a representation.

• Such a society is a society of the spectacle.• The spectacle is provided through the mass

media as mass entertainment.

Some important unifying observations:

• The mass media turns everything into mass entertainment (movies, Internet, pop music, tabloid newspapers, paperbacks, video games, computer games, and of course sports)

• The production, distribution and consumption of mass entertainment (read: IMAGE, REPRESENTATION, SPECTACLE) is now central to American (Canadian, European, etc.) post-industrial capitalism.

• Sport becomes a product only as much as it can deliver a BRAND.

Global Sports=Global Finance:

• The change of Premiership Ownership structures– Aston Villa owned by American Randy Lerner – Manchester United owned by American Malcolm

Glazer– FC Chelsea owned by Russian Roman Abramowitsch – FC Portsmouth owned by Russian Alexander

Gaydamak– Always clubs for sale (Reading, FC Liverpool and

Newcastle United for sale in 2006).

The Albiceleste as Media Product: Sold off as a BRAND!

World Cup winners 1978 and 1986

2006, the team is the “property” of Wiktor Felixowitsch Wexelberg who has the rights to the representations:TV rights, tickets, and merchandising.

He owns the right to the "Argentina World Tour“: a two year series of Friendlies that are scheduled and locatedAccording to the best financial return.

Sport marketers must understand:

• Professional Sport has been turned into entertainment.– Rate of return becomes the ONLY argument for its

existence. – Rate of return determines its nature.– Sport marketers compete against movie marketers,

casinos, video games, etc.)• Professional sports (including brands,

celebrities) are now part of the experience economy and need to be marketed as such.

• As a media-driven product, sport products are increasingly marketed to a global audience, ex. Beckham.

Do Sports Depend on the Media?

• No, not when they are organized by and for the players themselves

• Yes, when they are organized as forms of commercial entertainment– Media coverage attracts attention to sports

and provides news of results– Television coverage remains a key factor in

the growth and expansion of commercial sports

Have Sports Sold Out to the Media?

• Authenticity?

• Fan identification?

• Spectacle versus Competition?

• Profit versus Tradition?

Global media companies influence what sports we see and read about in the media

Global Economic Factors in the Sports-Media Relationship

Global economic factors have intensified the sport-media relationship because transnational corporations need vehicles for developing

• Global name recognition• Global cultural legitimacy• Global product familiarity• Global ideological support for a way of life

based on consumption, competition, individual achievement, and a focus on social status and material possessions

Examples:

• Adidas in New Zealand

• Coke in India

• Molson in the US

Do the Media Depend on Sports?

• Most media do not depend on sports for content or sales

• Daily newspapers have depended on “sports sections” to increase circulation and advertising revenues

• Many television companies have depended on sports to fill programming schedules, attract male viewers and the sponsors that want to reach them– Many sport events have media audiences with

clearly identifiable demographics

Trends in Televised Sports

• Rights fees have escalated rapidly since the 1960s

• Sports programming has increased dramatically

• As more events are covered, ratings for some particular events have decreased– Audience fragmentation has occurred

• Television companies use sports events to promote other programming

• Television companies are parts of conglomerates that now own teams, sport events, and other businesses

Producing a Global Sport Product

• Examples of media influence• Pay Per View• Teams’ Moving• Internationalization of Team Rosters (NBA, Real

Madrid, but even National Teams, ex. Senegal v. France!)

• Increased Violence in Sports (WWF, Ultimate Fighting)

• Reduction of events to dramatic and simple stories• Increased selling of the image

Trends in Televised Sports

• Why do some sports find it difficult to attract commercial sponsorship?

Trends in Televised Sports

– Media is probably the number one reason sport is now seen as a commodity.

– Media has been the ultimate fuel to make the market the driving force in sport. The Result:

• The invention of “the Franchise” was a Commercial and Media innovation rather than a sporting development.

• TV broadcasts meant that games can be broadcast from anywhere, so that local loyalties have become expendable. Team become moveable and are moved to the biggest available TV market.

• Cultural origins, the means by which sporting allegiances were decided, are being replaced by commercial ones.

• Perhaps the Champions League final between Real Madrid and AC Milan will simply become the “Microsoft Cup final” between Sony and Hewlett Packard ?

Barclays Premier League

• The Big Game

Consider the World’s most successful Soccer Product: The

Barclays Premier League

• The change of Premiership Ownership structures– Aston Villa owned by American Randy Lerner – Manchester United owned by American Malcolm Glazer– FC Chelsea owned by Russian Roman Abramowitsch – FC Portsmouth owned by Russian Alexander Gaydamak– West Ham owned by Islandic businessman Eggert

Magnusson – Fulham owned by Egyptian businessman Al Fayed– Manchester City owned by Abu Dhabi United Group– Looking:

• Reading• FC Liverpool • Newcastle United

The Audience

• broadcasts reach over 160 countries and a cumulative global audience base of over 570 million

• First league potentially to make more off of TV rights abroad than domestic. Currently – cumulative TV rights abroad: C$

1 billion– Domestic rights C$ 3 billion (Sky

and Setanta)

Video Games

Video Games & Virtual Sports

Marketers need to answer questions such as: – What are the dynamics of playing video sport games

and virtual sports, and how do they differ from other sport-related experiences?

– How can video sport game experiences be linked with other sport experiences?

– What kind of new experiences can be created and what new markets might they create?

– What narrative themes are structured into the images and actions in video sport games?

– Will virtual sports compliment or replace sports as we know them today?

Blurred Boundaries: Video Games as Simulated Sports

The graphics and images in video games now come close to matching images in televised sports

TV producers now use special filters to make the action in televised games look like video games

Some athletes use video sport games to train Some children today are introduced to sports through

video games Being good at playing video sport games is a source of

status among many young people Playing sport video games provides regular social

occasions for many people, especially young males

Summary

• Global Sport as Media Spectacle

• Changing economics

• Fragmentation of sport audiences

• Emergence of Monopolizers

• Awesome vehicle for corporate interests:– Targeting: Localization and globalization– New audiences– Programming

Media representations of sports are carefully edited to highlight dramatic action

Remember Kerri Struck?Remember “Plausibly Live”?

Media representations of sports are carefully edited to highlight desirable images, identities, and ideologies of a city, region, or nation.

What story is being narrated here?