Relationship of sports and mass media

There has been a backlash against sports and the media, some has accused the media of“taking over sports” and altering their ethos, rules, and structure. Some evidence of concern about the economic power of the mass media was provided in 1999 when the British government decided to prevent Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB, which owns the broadcast rights to English Premier League association football, from acquiring control of Manchester United Football Club, one of the world’s richest and best-known sports “brands.” Other examples are like the commercial interests of individual media companies, especially when monopolistic, may damage the crucial requirement for uncertain outcomes in sports leagues and tournaments and create a popular perception that sports contests have been “fixed” to further the interests of media corporations. With various abuses in mind, some critics have argued that sports need to be monitored by governments, elite sports bodies, and fan organizations in order, ironically, to secure their long-term commercial value

The bridge between mass media and sports is coperate sponsership. Corporate sponsorship is one key area where the “brand value” of sports is central to the relationship between mass media and sports. Corporate sponsorship, which has long since replaced the aristocratic patrons who once staged sports events, has enabled sports organizations and competitions to be funded while expanding brand recognition, identification, and loyalty for the sponsors. Naming-rights sponsorship for events and facilities and the prominent placement of the sponsors’ logos where spectators cannot help but see them are extremely valuable marketing tools for which sponsors are prepared to pay enormous sums. In 1997, for example, when the newly elected British Labour government attempted to introduce a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship in sports, it was delayed by the fact that the revenue from advertisements and sponsorships was in excess of £300 million a year. Linked to sponsorship is merchandising, which enables sports, sponsors, and companies to derive additional income and exposure by selling to sports fans goods and services that identify the fans as supporters both of teams (such as football shirts) and of sponsors (through displaying, for example, the Nike sportswear company’s “swoosh” or the distinctive stripes of Adidas). Additional impetus to this marketing effort is bestowed by paying star athletes, such as basketball player Michael Jordan or tennis player Anna Kournikova, to actively endorse branded sports products or merely to display or use them.