The Media and Sport

Anymore its impossible to turn on the television and not see something dealing with sports. Sports have taken over the media. Athletes main source of income isn't their contracts they sign, its their endorsement deals. Athletes appear on commercials all the time to sell products. Companies like Nike, Gatorade, and Under Armor are very big endorsers of athletes.

http://whiskey-jim.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/13144606/13625889

Sport is visible through:

• Movies
• Magazines
• Radio
• Books
• Newspapers
• Internet

During last summer's NBA free agency period LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh were the three biggest names in the free agency market. Chris Bosh, did a documentery about his talks with other teams, and LeBron James held an hour long special on ESPN called, "The Decision," to tell the entire nation where he was going to go. Millions of people tuned in to see just where LeBron would be playing, and then was followed up by a two week long segment on ESPN and other mainstream sport shows about his decision, where still thousands tuned in.

Although people often access online sport content to complement content they consume in traditional media, many now use new media to replace traditional content. This shift in consumption patterns concerns people in media companies that broadcast live sports world wide, becasue their revenues in the past have depended on controlloing this content and maintaining large audiences to sell to advertisers (Coakley, 2009). Companies use sports to advertise. In professional soccer both over seas and in North America, teams have sponsors that are branded on their unifroms.

Corporations and other companies use sport for a huge advertisement scheme. Pervasive national marketing and exposure tends to make the pinnacle of any sport top heavy. Media focus on big league baseball provides more dollars to the top while robbing farm leagues of viewers and attendees. In baseball Double 'A' games go unattended while potential fans watch the Yankees on TV (Jim, 2009). Companies use sport as a huge marketing tool. At the half time of the Super Bowl, is where a lot of major companies put advertisements, such as Doritios, and Pepsi. Segments sell out quickly for this for the fact of media exposure. Millions of people follow what their favorite athlete does, which they see on t.v., newspapers, magazines, or other forms of media. The influence is HUGE.

None the less media has been greatly influenced by sport and sport has allowed media to excel greatly. Athletes have used media to their advanatge, like Terrell Ownes, and Chado Ochocinco with their t.v. shows they have on VH1. Sport is a vehicle for success, which is why companies have jumped onto the cash cow and have been riding it and will continue to ride it until its dry, and if society continues to go the way its going sport will only grow, and companies revenues will grow through sport.

Jim, W. (2009, February 17). The media and sports. Retrieved from http://whiskey-jim.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/13144606/13625889

Coakley, J. (2009). Sports in society. New York, New York: McGraw Hill Companies Inc.