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Sport Events (1) The essence of sporting activity has long ago lost its classical meaning. It ancient times, sports used to be thought of as just physical expression of peoples healthy mentality. The Olympic Games were originated in Greece in 776 BC. Back than, people were aware that it was necessary for the individual to have a harmony between his physical and mental health. This is why ancient Greeks used to revere the beauty of strong body in the same way they revered intelligence.
However, in our time, sport ceased to be a sport, in traditional sense of this word, and turned into industry. We often get to hear the referrals to hockey industry or to football industry and it do not strike us as something very odd, because we see the commercialization of sport as something natural. Nevertheless, the negative impact of this commercialization extends well beyond our imagination. Professional athletes usually dedicate their whole lives to achieving a sport record, at the expense of damaging their bodies with the mean of steroids. After the record is being achieved, they frequently return back into obscurity and the whole life loses its meaning to them.
In this paper, we will analyze how advertising industry and sponsorship affects Medias coverage of sporting events. (2) In his article A Great Summer of Sport - Media Coverage of Sports in the UK, Tom Phillips suggests that the concept of sport today is unimaginable without Medias coverage: The relationship between the media and sport is long-standing. The media generates interest and excitement and, without it, sport would not be able to attract so much advertising and sponsorship. In return, sport supplies the media with drama, conflict and entertainment. Whilst there is nothing new about this, the amount of media coverage dedicated to sport has increased significantly in recent years (Phillips). It is hard to disagree with Phillips suggestion. The news about sport play increasingly important role, when it comes to attracting viewers to a particular TV channel.
In fact, there are TV channels in many countries that are dedicated exclusively to sports, and as practice shows, their popularity rating continues to rise. Many people lose their interests to politics as to something that they cannot influence anyways. The same tendency could be observed among Romans citizens, during the decline of Roman Empire. Just as today, people were being increasingly marginalized. In its turn, this created a situation when they did not care about anything but bread and spectacles, which explains the popularity of Gladiators fights.
The sport ceased to be the essential part of their being and simply became a show. Today, sport undergoes the same transformation. Instead of inspiring people to strive to health, it encourages them to indulge in their consumerist instincts. The role of Medias in this process cannot be underestimated. TV, Newspapers, Radio and Internet, in Western countries, depend on advertising for their functioning. We can talk a lot about the freedom of press in America, for example, but this freedom is not expanded over its dependency on advertising.
The providers of advertisement to the Medias also define Medias content. Therefore, even if TV channel, for example, was originally planning to cover the sporting event as competition of wits and muscular power, the actual coverage will turn out to be nothing but a specific form of advertisement. People might think that they are watching a car racing, while in fact, they are being subconsciously programmed to buy a particular brand of beer or cigarettes. John Melts in his article Alcohol Advertising and Sports, is making a perfectly good point, when he says that Medias coverage of sports often encourages people to lead an unhealthy lifestyle: Alcohol promotion through commercials in sports programming or sponsorship of sports teams and events provides companies with tremendous exposure before, during and after an event. It creates positive associations between drinking and the traits associated with athletes and teams: strength, loyalty, endurance, success, health, vitality, fun, fitness and speed (Melts). Thus, it is obvious that Medias coverage of sports cannot be objective in principle.
We live in consumerist society, therefore, even sport became affected by consumerism to a large degree. This would not be so bad, if Medias did not make majority of people to associate sport with unhealthy pursuits, such as smoking. It is only recently that many countries introduced legislations that forbid tobacco companies from advertising their products during sporting events. However, as popular saying goes against every poison there is vaccine. For example, in U.
S. and Canada, the manufactures of strong alcoholic beverages, such as vodka, were forbidden to advertise its products on TV. This is why; these manufactures came up with an idea of cooler, which contains some alcohol. The cooler cannot be legally described as strong alcoholic beverage; therefore, it can be featured in TV commercials. In addition, there is no law that would forbid placing manufactures well-known logo onto the bottle with cooler. Thus, people continue to watch cooler commercials, while associating them with such brand names as Smirnoff or Bacardi.
These commercials are being featured during Medias coverage of sporting events. The irony lies in the fact that in the past, people used to associate health with beer, because of TV advertisements, but now they will also be associating it with drinking hard liquors. Majority of people think that commercialization of sports results in greater Medias coverage, but this is not always the case. The truth is, in order to be able to cover sporting event, TV channel or newspaper, needs to acquire a legal right to do so. Very often, these rights are exclusive, which means that if some newspaper, for example, acquires an exclusive right to cover a soccer game, because it simply manages to offer more money than a TV channel, the viewers will not be able to watch this game live. Larry Kilman's article Rugby Board Puts Commercial Interests Ahead of Press Freedom: Former Official is very descriptive, in this respect.
It tells the story of former director of New Zealand Rugby Union, David Rutherford, who threatened to sue International Rugby Board, if it does not drop its restrictions on Medias coverage of Rugby games: David Rutherford, former chief executive of New Zealand Rugby Union, has written an open letter to IRB councilors in which he sides with the worlds press in its dispute with the IRB, which is seeking to limit photographic coverage on web sites and other digital platforms and to interfere with the way newspapers use photos in print. He said the restrictions violate press freedom and also hurt the long-term commercial interests of rugby and its sponsors (Kilman). It is important to understand that it is not that International Rugby Board strives to limit Medias access to Rugby games out of some abstract considerations, but because it signed a contract with Fox Communications, which grants this company with an exclusive coverage rights. Today sport, just as religion or art, is about making money. We can criticize it a lot, but there is nothing we can do about it.
The only way to limit commercialization of sports coverage is introduction of legislative acts, on the part of the government, which would prevent large corporations from exploiting peoples interest in sport, for their own commercial agenda. This, of course, is easier said than done. The process of Globalization will inevitably result in situation, when countries governments will not be able to exercise a political authority, in traditional sense of this word. Therefore, it is only logical, on our part, to conclude that commercialization of sports is going to get even a greater momentum in the future. (3) In China, the role of corporate sponsorship in Medias coverage of sporting events was traditionally less significant than in Western countries. This is a result of Chinese economy being based on Communist principles, since 1949. Nevertheless, in recent years, Chinese officials adopted a more flexible approach towards allowing commercial institutions to influence the coverage of sports by the Medias.
This comes as a direct result of more and more Chinese people realizing the spiritual bankruptcy of Communism. At the same time, it prevents them from understanding the perils of Capitalism. Officially, Chinese government still insists that it is intolerable for commercials institutions to be allowed to make profits on peoples desire to watch sporting events. However, the commercialization of sports is viewed in China as the part of Chinese corporate culture, which Chinese government considers as something that derives out of the depths of Chinese mentality.
In her research study Sports Marketing in China: an IP Perspective, Rebecca Ordish spends great amount of time, providing us with examples of how commercialization affects the sport coverage by Chinese medias: From VW and SNICKERS chocolate sponsoring the Beijing Olympics to Royal & Sun Alliance sponsoring fun runs, to ANZ sponsoring the Cricket Sixes in Shanghai, many international companies have already taken the plunge into sports marketing in China and are learning its rewards and risks. Given the increasing popularity of sports among Chinese consumers and the fact that China now hosts a number of international sporting events, including Beijing Olympics, which just around the corner, it is no wonder that brand owners are seeking out marketing opportunities there (Ordish). It appears that the value of money remains universal, around the world, even for Chinese Communists, who do not want to miss the opportunity to earn a lot, while hosting an Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. There are many indications, which point out to the fact that the Medias coverage of Olympics in China is going to depend on advertisement more than ever before. The article Tobacco Ads and Sport Sponsoring Under Attack, which can be found on the site of China Business Infocenter, suggests that Chinese officials often change their negative attitude towards the commercialization of sports, for as long as they think that this can provide them with immediate monetary benefits: Cigarette advertising in all print and electronic media has been banned in China since 1995, but despite the ban China has generally been tolerant and pragmatic concerning the issue (CBI). In fact, Chinese officials just came up with a decision to allow advertising of tobacco products by the Medias, while covering the Olympics.
It means that sport fans in America and Europe are also going to be subjected to it, because Medias cease to be the subject of national laws and regulations, while operating on foreign soil. Thus, once again we will be seeing the Olympics sport coverage being interrupted by numerous commercials, where tough looking cowboys are going inhale cigarette smoke with expression of heavenly pleasure on their faces. That is, of course, if our government will not come up with an additional regulations, regarding the coverage of international sport events. (4) Sports are traditionally being associated with masculine values. The commercial activity is also largely motivated by peoples desire to make profits no matter what, which essentially corresponds to the masculine worldview. It is not by a pure chance that the symbols of New York Stock Exchange are the Bull and Bear. This is why, sport and business often come hand in hand and many people think of this as something natural.
Therefore, it would be wrong to suggest that having commercial advertisements in Medias coverage of sporting events is something utterly inappropriate. Still, it seems that Medias greed towards making more and more profits is boundless. Sometimes, the constant brand logos, that are being displayed onto the TV screen, during the live broadcast of sporting event, actually do annoy viewers to such an extent that they cannot fully enjoy watching it. What is especially disturbing is the fact that commercial advertisements often interrupt live broadcasts, which undermines the whole value of sport entertainment. We are being told that this is because it becoming increasingly harder for the Medias to cope up with expenses, related to covering sport news. However, the truth is much more banal the process of monopolization, which takes place within Media, results in fact that ordinary people get to be bombarded with commercial advertisements, when they want to learn about a specific sporting event, while Medias magnates enormous profits continue to increase every year.
Bibliography: Grassi, D. Winter Olympics TV Coverage Far From Golden. 2006. Engine Articles. Retrieved May 14, 2007 from web Kilman, L. Rugby Board Puts Commercial Interests Ahead of Press Freedom: Former Official.
April 2, 2007. World Association of Newspapers. Retrieved May 14, 2007 from web Phillips, T. A Great Summer of Sport - Media Coverage of Sports in the UK. 1998. Find Articles. Com.
Retrieved May 14, 2007 from web Melts, J. Alcohol Advertising and Sports. 2001. Media Awareness Network. Retrieved May 14, 2007 from web Innocent, A. Olympics 2008 - Beijing Gaining Glamour. 2007... Engine Articles.
Retrieved May 14, 2007 from web Ordish, R. Sports Marketing in China: an IP Perspective. February 13, 2007. Bond University E Publications. Retrieved May 14, 2007 from web Tobacco Ads and Sport Sponsoring Under Attack. 2003.
China Business Infocenter. Retrieved May 14, 2007 from web Tobacco Advertising. 2007. Wikipedia. Retrieved May 14, 2007 from web Zelkovich, C. TV all but Ignoring our Hoops Tourney. March 16, 2007.
Toronto Star. Retrieved May 14, 2007 from web Wegert, T. Play Ball! Advertising to Sports Fans. April 21, 2005.
ClickZ Experts. Retrieved May 14, 2007 from web Abstract: This paper discusses how commercialization affects Medias coverage of sporting events. Outline: Introduction Advertising of unhealthy lifestyle Beijing Olympics of 2008 Conclusion
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