INFLUENCE OF THE MEDIA

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INFLUENCE OF THE MEDIA

• P233 239
• SPECTATOR SPORT AND THE MEDIA HAVE FUSED
  TOGETHER. THE ONE IS INCONCEIVABLE WITHOUT THE
  OTHER

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Sport is now a mass consumer spectacle
This is a bit different from the time when
gentleman amateurs played for fun and it was
not taken too seriously
Sport
Times have changed. We now have a golden
triangle between the media, sport and sponsors
Media
Sponsorship
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The Golden Triangle

• There is no doubt that sport, the media, which in
  turn means sponsorship is linked
• In all sports with strong media links,
  professionalism is a reality
• Sports have had to change their rules, format and
  scheduling in order to meet the demands of TV
  companies and sponsors

4
Sport and the Media

• Sport is becoming increasingly commercialised and
  Americanised
• We are getting the win at all costs ethic
• The stakes are high, so winning is vital
• This can intensify ethical problems such as
  corruption, cheating, violence and drug abuse,
  which are highlighted by the media

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WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

• TV has had a massive effect on contemporary sport
• Early 1950s fewer than 10 of British
  households had a TV
• Late 1960s only 10 did not
• TV companies once paid relatively small amounts
  of money to sports bodies to cover their sports
• Now its is millions of pounds!

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ROLES OF THE MEDIA

• Sport can be a feature of TV, radio, newspapers,
  magazines, Internet, books, films and videos in
  different ways
• On TV live coverage, recorded highlights, quiz
  shows, educative documentaries, latest news
• Newspapers pre-event predictions, post event
  analysis, size and behaviour of the crowd, state
  of facilities, behind the scenes stories about
  celebrity sports star

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ROLES OF THE MEDIA

• Specialist sports magazines info on skill
  development, feature personalities and events
• Books biography and autobiography
• There are a number of different ways that the
  media uses sport and sport uses the media

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ROLES OF THE MEDIA

• The media has 4 roles
• Inform
• Entertain
• Educate
• Advertise

• In any item in the media, one role can dominate
  or elements of each role can be evident
• Improvements in technology, have increased the
  potential of the media to fulfill its roles

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INFORMATIVE ROLE

• The media gives information on
• Live coverage, factual information, analysis
  of what is happening and happened, results,
  reports, rules, rule changes, team analysis,
  analysis of performers behaviour, highlights and
  comments feature in newspapers, magazines, TV and
  radio. School sport and developments in PE is
  also reported

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INFORMATIVE
Sky Sports News
Various newspapers
Reports and results
Radio 5 Live
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ENTERTAINMENT ROLE

• We like to read about sports stars private lives
• We watch sport on TV for its drama, skill and
  intensity of emotion
• We are committed to supporting a sport or team
• Sport is central to the increasingly popular home
  based leisure
• It can be argued that we are now a nation of arm
  chair supporters

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ENTERTAINMENT ROLE

• On July 4th 1990 the potential audience for any
  programme was 52.8 million
• 25,210,000 viewers watched the World Cup semi
  final between England and West Germany (penalty
  shoot out)
• This was the biggest audience for any single
  event in British TV history

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ENTERTAINMENT
Supporting your favourite team
Sports stars private lives
Watching for drama and skill
Home based leisure
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EDUCATIVE ROLE

• Documentary programmes give the opportunity for
  greater understanding of global sport
• Also, we can be educated about sporting skills,
  coaching techniques, contemporary issues (e.g.
  drugs)
• Ethics of fair play can be reinforced through
  comment and behaviour of role models

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EDUCATIVE
The importance of fair play
BBC documentary series
Coaching in sport
Drugs in sport
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ADVERTISING ROLE

• Sport is used to either directly advertise
  products (sports goods, crisps, beer, hair gel)
  or indirectly through sponsorship
• Companies sponsor individuals, teams, leagues,
  and events to heighten corporate awareness
• Preview programmes also promote events
• In contrast to the BBC, independent TV has always
  had to sell advertising in order to pay for itself

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ADVERTISING
Sponsoring teams
Sports stars advertising a product
Sponsoring events
Sponsoring a league/competition
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THE REAL ISSUE

• HOW CAN SPORT RETAIN ITS TRUE NATURE AND VALUES
  WHILE BENEFITING FROM THE MONEY OFFERED BY
  COMMERCIALISM?

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WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

• 19th Century sport was seen as a
  valuable experience in its own right
• 20th Century sport became part of
  the entertainment industry
• Now just a branch of the advertising
  industry?

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QUESTIONS

• Has money corrupted sport or has the media saved
  sport from economic disaster?
• Has sport benefited from its relationship with
  the media?
• Has sport been manipulated for the sake of the
  sponsors, advertisers and passive armchair
  spectators, at the expense of the paying punter?
• DISCUSS

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ISSUES

• Colour TV revived activities such as snooker,
  darts and even tennis
• Modern commercial sport earns millions for the
  very best performers in the most media exposed
  sports, yet others are exploited in the interests
  of profit

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ARE THESE ISSUES NEW?

• Not really, we are left with the same concerns as
  150 years ago
• When professionalism worked its way into amateur
  cricket, athletics and rowing that the needs to
  win for money might lead to corruption and the
  temptation to cheat

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CAN SPORT BENEFIT?

• Professional sport is certainly a media commodity
  driven by market forces
• But can sport benefit from its mutually dependant
  relationship with the media?
• With careful management, the unique qualities and
  potential of sport as an educational and
  entertainment tool can hopefully be retained

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SKY, CABLE PAY PER VIEW

• Events
• Olympics
• World Cup
• Commonwealth Games
• FA Cup Final
• Wimbledon
• Test match cricket
• The Derby
• Grand National
• Boat race

• 1950s the Govt, the BBC and ITV identified and
  agreed on 10 sporting events that should belong
  to everyone and not be given exclusive coverage
  by any one organisation

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BRITISH SATELLITE BROADCASTING

• Began 1988, used sport to attract a mass audience
• The Broadcasting Act of 1990 declared that all
  rights to broadcast sport could be sold to the
  highest bidder
• November 1990 British Satellite Broadcasting
  merged with Sky to create BSkyB

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BSkyB

• Exclusivity forced fans to sign up to the entire
  channel
• Deals
• BSkyB paid 304million for a 5 year deal with the
  top clubs, who then broke away from the Football
  league and formed the Premiership
• They turned football into big business

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DEALS

• Channel 4 paid 50 million for the rights to
  televise Test matches from 1999-2002
• ITV paid 44 million in 1992 for a 4 year deal
  for exclusive live coverage and highlights of
  league football, forcing it to drop coverage of
  other sports

• By 1997, two-thirds of Football League clubs were
  losing money, Premier League clubs were making
  around 8 million from broadcasting and
  sponsorship rights
• As you can see relegation has massive
  consequences

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ITV DIGITAL

• In 2002, ITV Digital's short lived coverage of
  League football ended in disaster
• When they collapsed, they owed nearly 200
  million to football clubs
• Many faced economic ruin because of this
• BBC and BSkyB stepped in

• This illustrates the mutually dependant
  relationship between sport and the media
• It also illustrates the firm control and profound
  effect that TV can have over one particular sport

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TASKS

• Look at the diagram sport and the media. Make
  sure you know the
• Roles
• Types
• The relationship between sport and the media
• Positive and negative outcomes

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TASKS

• In pairs, compare a report in a tabloid with a
  broadsheet on a mens sporting event and a
  women's sporting event
• Do the reports
• Differ between newspapers?
• Language used?
• Reference to personal life, clothes worn,
  skilfulness, personality, looks, training regime?
• Suggest reasons for your findings
• Has the reporting of women's events improved in
  recent years? Give reasons for your answers

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Sponsorship

• Is the funding of sport to gain recognition and
  increased income
• Sponsors can support individuals, teams, events
  or organisations in order to get good publicity
  and commercial return
• Agents can promote particular competitors for
  their mutual financial benefit
• Athletes can endorse particular products by
  displaying the company name on their clothing or
  equipment

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Sponsorship

• Sports stars can use their celebrity status to
  advertise products away from their sport
• Companies can advertise around the perimeter of
  sports grounds

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Sponsorship

• OXO sponsored the 1908 Olympic Marathon
• Since then Companies are prepared to pay loads of
  money to secure sponsorship deal in sport - 12
  million for Carling to sponsor the Premiership
  over 4 years
• Sponsorship has been called the most visible
  relationship between sport and business in the
  modern world (Mason, Only a Game)

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Sponsorship

• The aim of both sport and business is to win, but
  the drive to win at any price undermines the true
  ethic of sport enjoyment, participation, fair
  play
• There is also a problem that sponsorship is
  uneven across sports, high profile sports
  attracting big sponsorship and low profile sports
  attracting little or no sponsorship

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Sponsorship

• There is a vicious circle
• If low profile sports such as Volleyball fail to
  attract media attention, they also fail to
  attract sponsorship if they do not get
  sponsorship they cannot market themselves,
  improve or compete on an even playing field with
  those that do

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Tasks

• List 10 examples of events, leagues or sports
  men/women who are sponsored by a particular
  company
• Complete the sport and sponsorship worksheet, use
  P240/241 of the textbook to help you