Commercialization ruin sports

When Michelle Wie announced that she was turning pro, she received commercial endorsements worth 38 million making her the richest 16 year old in the sporting industry and even made it to the cover of the fortune magazine.

Today, sport is a big industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars and provides jobs to millions of people worldwide. The involvement of big businesses and wealthy people has doubles and tripled with the latest of the former Thai PM buying and then selling the English club, Manchester City. This goes to show the involvement of rich heads in the sport today. It would not be wrong to compare the athletes in major spectator sports as marketable commodities. Sports teams are traded on the stock market, sponsorship rights can cost billions and television rights to broadcast matches and cover major events are something to be fought for ensuring an inflow of millions into the sporting industry as a whole. The merchandising and licensing of sports goods is a major multi national business. These trends are not just restricted to professional athletes and events, many of them are equally applicable to the so called amateur sports.

However, Joseph Blatter, president of FIFA believes that big businesses and big money poses a threat to future of sport especially football. Writing in the financial times the head of footballs governing body said that there was too much greed in the game. "Football," he says, "is a multibillion dollar global industry. Unfortunately, the haphazard way in which the money has flowed into the game-reminiscent of a misguided Wild West style of capitalism-is having some seriously harmful effects."

Blatter is concerned with the immensely rich individuals with little of no interest in the game, buying up football clubs; of players abetted by greedy agents demanding and getting huge sums of money to join their clubs and play; of clubs that are more interested in the players performance rather than their welfare; and of the huge disparity between the earnings of the star' players and the rest of the team, not to mention the thousands of players in other teams and clubs who earn a pittance.

Commercialization has ruined sport to say the least. Athletes are more interested in the big bucks than the game itself. Much to say that these endorsements and the money factor has bought drugs into sport. Why would anyone want to lose out on an endorsement worth millions due to underachievement? The pressure to succeed in order to obtain money benefits has pushed the athletes to use all means necessary even if it means resorting to drugs.

Benefits of Commercialization of Sports

The commercial sponsorship of collegiate athletics is easily one of the most important features of a profitable college athletic department. Without shoe and uniform deals, many colleges and universities would need to suspend sports that are an economic liability, those which do not have large gate revenue or television contracts. An example of this would be a Division I College Football powerhouse that has a number of lucrative endorsement deals. The Football Team revenues generated by commercialization of the sport supports the Womens Lacrosse Team, the volleyball team, and other sports lower in popularity. So at the minimum, all college sports are commercialized by association.

On the level of professional sports, commercialization of sport is undoubtedly the most profitable, for both the advertiser and the fan. Without advertising support, professional sports would not have progressed to the number of franchises present today, and their financial stability would be questionable on an individual basis. NASCAR has taken the commercialization of sport to new levels of unabashed sport profiteering, with race cars that have become 200 mile per hour rolling billboards.

The prevalence of the number and quality of sports on television is directly attributable to the commercialization of sport. Without commercial sponsorship, fans would not be able to follow favored sports as closely as they desire, and at least in this aspect, the commercialization of sport has benefited society in providing entertainment.

Baseball.

The home-run records have also been baseballs most glorified records and in early nineties players started using steroids helping them hit homers. "Chicks dig the longball," a baseball commercial with the Braves pitchers in the batting cage practicing hitting used to say. The chase for Maris' home-run record captivated America and put the strike of 1994 in the past. In 2005 there now have been Congressional hearings on the issue of steroids in baseball and in the other major sports. The influence of commercialization not only helped lead the players into taking the steroids it also has influenced younger players to start taking steroids because power is what scouts starting looking for. The marketing of baseball has turned people so obsessed with home-runs that when Ichiro broke the single season hit record it basically went unnoticed. The over commercialization of baseball has hurt the way the game is played and the youth that inspire to some day become baseball players.

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.

Broadcasting Rights for Sports

There is fierce debate at present on the rights for broadcasting football matches on radio. While the French Minister for Sport, Marie-George Buffet, has said that she is opposed to any form of commercialisation or monopoly, on 22 February the French national football league (LNF) invited applications from radio stations wishing to buy the broadcasting rights for the competitions it organises (national championships in divisions 1 and 2, league cup). The radio station RMC Info has acquired exclusive coverage of the World Cup by an agreement reached with the Kirch Group.

For many of those involved in the radio sector, the commercialisation of broadcasting rights raises a serious problem of respect for freedom of information and infringes the free choice of the listener. The Minister for Sport thus recalled the legislation applicable in this area. The Act of 16 July 1984 (amended) on the obligation and the promotion of physical and sports activities stipulates more particularly that "making over the right to use a (...) sports competition to an audiovisual communication service may not prevent other audiovisual communication services from providing the public with information". Although the Minister was not able to prevent the LNF from issuing its invitation for applications, she did limit its effect, by calling on the radio stations to make no response. In the circumstances, the only radio to station to have indicated its interest (RMC Info) appears to have changed its mind.

On 25 February, Marie-George Buffet met a group of radio stations, called Sport-Libre, to discuss these problems. They said they were working together on drawing up one or more statutory articles with a view to defining and guaranteeing the right to information, and announced the setting up of a monitoring committee whose members would be representatives of the radio stations.

This has affected the coverage of another sport, as the non-specialist radio stations boycotted the first Formula 1 Grand Prix of the year, held in Australia. The aim of the boycott, agreed to by all the members of the Sport-Libre economic interest grouping, was to protest against RMC Info being granted exclusive radio broadcasting rights for Formula 1 racing this season, and more generally against the selling of radio broadcasting rights for various football matches. Cycling appears to have been spared. On 26 February, the organisers of the Tour de France cycle race excluded the possibility of an exclusivity agreement with a radio station for broadcasting the race. The chairman of the parent company of the Tour de France said that this was "the greatest free show in the world".

The question of selling coverage rights was also raised for the written press, on the initiative of the chairman of the LNF, and has aroused serious concern among those involved in the sector, particularly within the French national press federation. However, the LNF very quickly made it known that it was abandoning the idea, reasoning that the press only commented on matches after the event.

It should be noted, lastly, that broadcasting rights for television coverage of sport events may be sold. However, when the "Television without Frontiers" Directive " was transposed into national law, Article 20-2 of the amended Act of 30 September 1986, included under the Act of 1 August 2000, provided that a decree would give the list of events of major importance for which channels could not acquire exclusive rights (see IRIS 2001-3: 11); this text has not been adopted yet. Perhaps the present debate will give the regulatory authorities an opportunity to deal with the matter.

amateur sports / marketing

In the world of "amateur sports", the concepts and practices of marketing have become centrally important. In the discourse which is promoted by government bureaucrats, professional sport administrators and politicians, the voluntary sport organization is about much more than the development of athletes. Rather, it is about selling sport to potential and existing customers. This requires informing these individuals and collectivities about what is on offer and, in the process, articulating and shaping needs (Morgan, 1992), i.e. marketing the sport. In large part the increased interest in marketing has been the result of a reduction in state funding for amateur sport organizations which have had to turn to the private sector for the shortfalls they are experiencing (Slack & Berrett, 1996). The growth in importance of marketing is evidenced by the number of organizations that now employ in-house marketing personnel or hold contracts with external marketing agencies. It is also evidenced by the increased amount of corporate support given to sport (more than $3.5 billion per year in North America - albeit a significant proportion on professional sport), the growth of sport marketing as a sub-disciplinary area in sport studies, and the emergence of organizations such as the Sport Marketing Council in Canada and the Institute for Sport Sponsorship in the UK.

The marketing of a sport to increase participation is an intuitively appealing and logical function for a voluntary sport organization. It is also consistent with the directives of mainstream management gurus who see marketing as concerned with serving the interests of potential and actual consumers by satisfying their needs. The basic tenet, whether it being selling chocolate bars or sport, is that an increase in consumption leads to an increase in satisfaction. The basis of this premise is that an 'exchange relationship' takes place where, in our situation, the voluntary sport organization provides the opportunity for an individual to participate in the sport and then he or she, in turn, provides loyalty to the organization through competing for them, paying membership fees, being involved in social activities and so forth. The concept of an exchange relationship implies that each individual is free to select the option they want in a free and open marketplace. It does not take account of the fact that structures such as socioeconomic status, gender, race, and geographical location can constrain an individual's ability to respond to the marketing initiative. As Alvesson and Willmott (1996, p.120) suggest, it presents an image of common sense voluntarism, ignores the asymmetrical relations of power in [marketing] relationships, and "provides a deceptively simple easy-to- understand formulation of the complexities of human interaction and neglects to discuss how structures of domination and exploitation shape and mediate relationships".

While few would deny that it is the responsibility of those working in voluntary sport organisations to promote and publicise their sport and, that this can be to the benefit of both the organisation and the participant, an excessive emphasis on marketing presents an image of the young athlete and potential athlete as commodities. For some organizations, they may be merely another membership fee to be added to the coffers or another name on the membership list which can be used to justify the funding of the sport by government agencies and corporate sponsors.

The marketing image that is presented to young potential athletes and their parents is consistent with marketing other products and services in that it is about constructing myths. Involvement in sport is presented as healthful recreation and, more than often, as providing the potential to achieve fame through athletic success. Such images tend to downplay the negative aspects of the activity such as drugs, injuries, eating disorders, and so forth. Also, they frequently focus on the objective criteria of winning and the pleasure that comes from such success as opposed to the more subjective satisfaction that can come from the aesthetics of performance and competing against oneself. The negative effects of such marketing can also include the reinforcement of gender stereotypes, the promotion of conformity, and an over emphasis on competitiveness.

Such concerns do not, however, appear to daunt the sporting establishment who have embraced marketing as the remedy to many of their financial ills. Such an emphasis can, no doubt, brings its rewards, but the commodification of athletes which the marketing emphasis brings does, as I have shown, have its shortcomings. While there are a number of convincing arguments for the use of marketing as an integral part of the operation of voluntary sport organizations, it is incumbent on those of us involved in the social sciences and interested in studying phenomenon such as the commercialization of sport to not accept at face value the technological rationality and efficiency of such changes. Rather, it is important for sport sociologists to develop a critique of these practices.

sports advertisement influence

With commercialization in sports, many sportsmen become endorser of various products. One prudent example is the Gillette razor featuring Tiger Woods (golf player), Thierry Henry (soccer player) and Roger Federer (tennis player).

Having them to endorse products has benefits such as attracting more audience to the sports thus raising sports’ reputation. In addition these advertisements can lead to more consumption of goods to aid the economy. Also with such endorsement advertisement it can attract large masses not solely sports fan but the norms as well. Therefore it signal that such advertisement have great influence on the public.

Unfortunately, some sports man also endorses products like beer and alcoholic beverages. These advertisements may lead to a vast increase in alcoholic consumption due to the great influence of the sportsmen on the mainstream. They may be driven to consume alcoholic drink while watching the match supporting their favourite player endorsing the product.

Sports sponsorship is good for business

SPORTING prowess has never been as high a priority in Singapore as academic success or financial achievement. Nevertheless, the republic does host a few world-class sporting events, and has aspirations to be on the global sporting map. Golf has been the most visible venture, with the US$1 million prize-purse Singapore Masters and the US$4 million Singapore Open being held at the beginning and end of each year. There are also several other smaller niche events like the Rugby-7s and cricket tournaments held here. But not much more.

The next big thing to descend on Singapore will be motorsport's Formula One, starting next year. Enthusiastic though the government and public may be about attracting world-class sports events and making Singapore a sports and tourism hub, this eagerness has not quite caught on with Singapore corporations.

This lack of enthusiasm was starkly illustrated in the lead-up to the Singapore Masters Golf gathering earlier this year. After sponsoring the event for five years, multinational oil company Caltex decided not to extend its lead sponsorship contract after 2005. Massage-chair maker OSIM took over for 2006, then dropped out. That left the organisers scrambling for a new sponsor for 2007. After several months, at the 11th hour, newly established international Swiss private banking group Clariden Leu signed up as lead sponsor of the event. But the Swiss bank has yet to commit itself to backing the event - which is co-sanctioned by both the PGA European Tour and the Asian Tour - next year and beyond.

Meanwhile, Asia's richest national golf Open Tournament grew richer this year, thanks to the backing of one of the world's most prominent financial groups, Barclays. The Barclays Singapore Open will boast a prize of US$4 million this year, which will grow to US$5 million next year as it targets big names like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els. In fact, if not for Barclays, the Singapore Open - Asia's oldest open - would have remained in hibernation. And if not for Clariden Leu, there would have been no 2007 Singapore Masters. Other multinational companies have also backed sports here. Conspicuous by their absence are Singapore's homegrown multinationals. Could it be that local corporates do not see value in backing sporting events because they can't see a direct link to top-line revenue or profit growth? Or is it because they don't know how to leverage on sponsorship?

Either way, it's a shame, because sports sponsorship often makes good business sense. Sponsorship goes beyond brand awareness and corporate image. It also stamps a company's credentials as a good corporate citizen. For example, a four-day international golf championship is actually a 10-day celebration of the sport, parading a huge cast, crew, stage and action involving star international players, local heroes, fans, fringe events, Pro-Ams and celebrity tee-offs, coaching clinics, charity auctions, gala dinners featuring international entertainers, merchandising, and more. In other words, there are huge spin-offs of different kinds.

Money Is Good For Popularity Of A Sport

Big money has flowed into the sports and the reason it is there because the corporate companies want maximum exposure for their companies and brands.

A huge amount of money has reached the sports because of the fact that the corporate companies wanted a new avenue to advertise their products. Initially they started giving money to the sports clubs to put banners in the stadiums because a lot of people came to watch their games and the companies will get good amount of exposure.

Then came the concept of celebrity endorsements and that is where the he money started following the big stars of any sports like the golf with the like of Tiger Woods, or basketball with the likes of Michael Jordan and tennis with the likes Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.

These players bagged multi million dollar deals with the companies and that has lead to them putting logos of the sponsoring companies at places like the tennis rackets, the head bands, the jerseys, the socks and of course the shoes.

The reason again is that companies want the two things to happen to the consumer. The first one being what in advertising is called the top of the mind recall and the other one is the targeting the young ones as they spend the most and create an aspirational value for the brand.

The good thing about all this money flowing in is that a lot of youngsters have taken to sports in a big way because of the lure of the money. Then of course there are parents who want their kids to get into sports so that they can make good money not by winning alone but by the corporate sponsorships.

The professional sports bodies like the NBA or the MLB get good money by signing blanket deals with the corporate sponsors and they in turn use that money for promoting the sports aggressively at all levels and also build the necessary infrastructure.

Purists definitely are aghast at this commercialization of sports but the fact remains that without this money the sports would have been just a hobby to pursued and not a serious money making profession. A lot of people would have given up sports when they grew up because they wanted to earn their daily bread. This has now changed and the people actually take up sports to earn the money and make a career out of it.

With commercialisation, more females get involve with sport.

The vast increase in professionalisation has also been evident due to vagaries of perception in the participation of women in sport. There is now more representation within sports organizations by women. Until the 1990s no women had been appointed to direct any of the sports council national sports centre. Women were also under represented within the media and this can give many explanations of why there may have been less women participating in sport and also in management roles. Sport was, and still is portrayed as masculine in the media and falsifies young girl’s perceptions of sport. However, with women now taking higher roles in sports media and management these perceptions is slowly being changed. Sport is now commercialized as appreciation of skill and a promotion of good health to involve everyone interested; this has led to participation in a wider range of sports.

The popularity of the women’s football World Cup along with the Olympics has helped promote women’s sport and provided role models, this was something that was lacing to inspire the younger generation of athletes, but now putting their success has reached new heights and there is now a pedestal for youngsters to step on. Between 1987 and 2002, figures released by Sport Scotland said women’s participation had rose from 50% to 60%, a bigger increase than men’s during the same period. Commercialization has shaped an image of sport that in the modern world focuses on the sexual appeal of the body both in men and women athletes. The recognition of ability has made physical activity more appealing to women in particular with running, football and cycling being their preferred choice.

For Chinese Athletes, Western-Style Perks

BEIJING -- As China embraces capitalism, its athletic teams are cashing in.

The national men's field hockey squad, for one, has been eager to collect. Twenty years ago, before the rise of China's market economy, the team didn't stand to win prize money or sponsorships. Competitions were for the glory of the country, not the kind of fame lavished on athletes in the West.

Today, with the Olympic Games in Beijing less than four months away, the team is sponsored by Nike. It has an expert coach from South Korea, expensive protective equipment made by a U.S. firm and access to a professional psychologist through the state sports administration.

"Commercialization of sports is unavoidable," said Zhu Zhenhui, a former provincial league soccer player and now a doctor for the field hockey team.

Attitudes about sports in China have undergone a dramatic shift from the days when the government focused on collective gain rather than individual accomplishment. Those changes have helped foster the development of a new kind of athlete, one whose sacrifices result in fame and fortune -- and, if the athlete has a distinct personality, national celebrity.

Corporate sponsors, enticed by the huge market potential in a country of 1.3 billion people, have been quick to see opportunity.

The shift spans the panorama of Chinese sport. Tennis players who once barely eked out a living can now earn as much as $100,000 a year. Even the lowliest college team is part of a tiered economic system of sponsorships, incentives and bonuses. In Beijing, the University of Aeronautics and Astronautics track team is sponsored by a tire company. One distance runner said he stands to receive a bonus of more than $14,000 if he wins at the national level.

Such amounts might seem paltry by U.S. standards -- American swimmer Michael Phelps will receive $1 million from Speedo if he wins seven gold medals this summer -- but they're not trivial here.

"It's good for athletes to become stars. Society progresses," said Sun Jinfang, a well-known volleyball player in the 1980s who heads the National Tennis Administrative Center. "In my time, people called for you to sacrifice unselfishly. It's impossible to have the same idea nowadays."

The shift to individual achievement -- and acclaim -- has also had a downside, particularly in a country hypersensitive about its image. Some athletes are being seen as downright spoiled.

Guo Jingjing, a star diver who will compete at the Games in August, promotes sportswear, snack food and soft drinks, and is sponsored by McDonald's and Budweiser. She's hounded by the Chinese entertainment media wherever she goes.

This year, Guo broke the tedium of a news conference by ignoring reporters and working on a handicraft project, tying Chinese knots out of silken cord. She referred to a competitor as a "fat Canadian." Her perceived rudeness triggered an Internet fury among sports fans and journalists.

There are well-behaved athletes, of course. Yao Ming, star center of the Houston Rockets professional basketball team, and Liu Xiang, a rock-star hurdler, for example, have captured the imaginations of the Chinese. But the kind of fame they enjoy would have been impossible previously.

"Before, our policy killed the personalities of athletes. The government didn't promote fame or self-interest," said Jin Shan, director of the Sports Culture Research Center at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

"China was so weak in its economy and politics that sports were used to enhance the people's confidence," Jin added. "Now it's not necessary to use sports to build a strong image of China overseas. Sports will be commercialized in the future, and more stars will be generated, just like in the U.S."

Today's athletes, many born after the 1980s, cite a variety of motivations for pursuing sports, from academic incentives from the government to being able to travel abroad and see the world. But for many, it's largely about the money.

At Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Xu Xiulin, 22, races with the Shanxi Provincial Track and Field Group, attending classes morning and night and practicing in the afternoon. If he wins at the Chinese National Games championship, the team will give him a bonus of more than $14,000.

"I want to get what I deserve by my hard work," he said. "Athletes should be paid well because the training is so tough."

Not all athletes can do as well as Xu. As in the United States, salaries correspond to the popularity of a sport. Badminton and table tennis players, for example, attract more sponsors than do wrestlers, who can't fill stands with spectators. Sponsors didn't chase after China's tennis team until two female stars brought home gold medals from the Athens Olympics in 2004 and became instant national heroes.

Twenty years ago, athletes' salaries came from the government. Today, most teams are still paid by the government, though the state soccer team is owned by private sponsors. But officials now dole out bonuses and other incentives for performance.

Low salaries previously prompted many athletes, including Yao Ming, to move abroad. In 1994, female table tennis player He Zhili moved to Japan. When she later beat China's reigning champion, Deng Yaping, there was a national uproar.

"It's necessary to offer financial prizes to athletes -- otherwise we can't make them keep working for us," said Shi Chunyuan, head of the Sports Administration office in Liaoning province.

Liu, the hurdler, has perhaps been the greatest beneficiary of the new approach. He has enjoyed the adoration of Chinese fans since setting a world record at the Athens Games. Now he's sponsored by Nike, Coca-Cola, Visa and a slew of Chinese brands, including a real estate company and a cigarette-maker.

Sponsorships have become such a focus for Liu and other top Olympic contenders that sports authorities in China have started to worry that the athletes will be distracted from their training. Late last year, authorities instructed elite competitors to cut back on their commercial activities.

At the time, Liu's father and spokesman, Liu Xuegen, told the South China Morning Post that he didn't think the instructions would make much of a difference.

"I'm afraid those really well-connected organizations and persons seeking his appearance will still have their way if they press hard enough," he said. "It's something inevitable in China."

Staff researcher Robert E. Thomason in Washington and researcher Zhang Jie in Beijing contributed to this report.