1. Sports in Society: Issues & Controversies
Chapter 11
Sports and the Economy:
What Are the Characteristics
of Commercial Sports?

2. Conditions for Emergence & Growth of Commercial Sports
A market economy
Large, densely populated cities
People who have time, money, transportation, & media access
Large amounts of capital
Culture emphasizing consumption and material status symbols

3. Class Relations and Commercial Sports
The preferences and priorities of people with power and wealth often influence which sports are commercialized – for example:
Golf is enjoyed by wealthy and powerful; it receives much TV coverage despite low ratings
Football reproduces an ideology that privileges men & celebrates masculinity

5. Why have sports become so popular in society today?
The quest for excitement
Emphasis on success ideology
Widespread organized, competitive youth sports
Widespread media coverage

6. Economic Motives and the Globalization of Commercial Sports
Sport organizations look for global markets
FIFA, the NFL, the NBA, etc. seek global media exposure and expansion
Corporations use sports as vehicles for global expansion
One goal is to make money
Another goal is to sponsor enjoyment and pleasure to establish ideological outposts in the minds of people around the world

7. Figure 11.1 CEOs and owners often play games that ignore athletes

8. Ideological Outposts in Action: Branding Sports
Sport places have been branded
Sport events have been branded
Athletes have been branded
-Corporate branding is now accepted by many people as necessary, non-political, even “natural”
Question: Isn’t that sure sign of outposts in action?

9. “There was nothing we could do.”

10. Commercialization and Changes in Sports
Changes may occur in the:
Structure and goals of sports
Orientations of athletes, coaches, and sponsors
Organizations that sponsor and control sports

11. Changes in Structure and Goals
Rule changes are made to make action more exciting, understandable, and profitable by
Speeding up action
Increasing scores and scoring chances
Balancing competition
Maximizing dramatic moments
Providing commercial breaks
GOAL: Total Entertainment Experience

12. Why did the XFL fail? Too much commercialization, or not the right kind?

13. The Origins of Heroic Action in Sports
Commercial sports are ENTERTAINMENT
Commercial entertainment depends on attracting a mass audience
Members of a mass audience lack technical knowledge about a sport
Entertaining people without technical knowledge requires heroic action actions

14. Commercial Sports Involve A Shift From Aesthetic to Heroic Orientations
Beauty and pleasure of movement
Emphasis on mastery of technical skills
Willingness to explore limits
Commitment to staying involved
Heroic
Orientations
Danger & excitement of movement
Emphasis on style & dramatic expression
Willingness to go beyond limits
Commitment to success of sponsor

15. Shifting orientations: what happens when there is a need to entertain a mass audience

16. The Promotional Culture of Professional Wrestling
Events are dramatic spectacles
Players display carefully constructed personas
Emphasis is on heroic action
Storylines are simple; they emphasize domination, gender differences, & capricious bosses

17. Spectator Appeal in Sports Depends on:
The uncertainty of an event’s outcome
The stakes associated with an event
The anticipated display of excellence, heroics, or dramatic displays by participants

18. With commercialization:
Sport Organizations
With commercialization:
Control shifts away from athletes; decisions are less likely to reflect their interests
Control shifts toward owners, corporate sponsors, advertisers, media personnel, marketing & publicity staff, professional management staff, accountants, & agents
Athletes accept the decisions of these people, because their financial interests are at stake

19. Owners, Sponsors, & Promoters of Professional Sports
When the diversity of professional sports is taken into consideration:
Owners are a diversified collection of people – usually white men.
Profits may be great in leagues where monopoly control and TV revenues are high; but losses may be great under other conditions.

20. This looks extreme, but hasn’t it already happened?
"

21. Advantages of Monopoly
Team owners in the major men’s pro sports have established monopolies enabling them to:
Control athlete movement
Negotiate high media rights fees
Prevent the formation of new teams
Share revenues

22. Forms of Public Assistance for Team Owners
Use of public funds to construct and maintain facilities
Deduction loopholes to use on tax returns
Tax breaks and rebates
Control of revenues in public facilities

23. Stadium Subsidies: Arguments For
A stadium and team create jobs
Stadium construction infuses money into the local economy
Team will attract other businesses
Team will attract media attention that boosts tourism, product sales and economic development
Team will create positive psychic and social benefits

24. Stadium Subsidies: Arguments Against
Stadium jobs are seasonal and low paying except for athletes & execs
Construction materials often are purchased outside the local area
New businesses often are franchises headquartered in other cities
Discretionary money is limited and may be shifted away from other businesses
Promoting macho orientations does not benefit everyone in a community

25. Sources of Income for Team Owners
Gate receipts/ticket sales
Sale of media rights (TV/radio)
Stadium revenues
Leases on club seats and luxury boxes
Concessions/parking/leasing spaces to others
Sale of naming rights and site advertising
Special events/concerts/meetings
Licensing fees and merchandise sales

26. New stadiums resemble shopping malls.
Figure 11.5
New stadiums resemble shopping malls.

27. Amateur Sports
Are self-funded and dependent on corporate sponsors, or funded through a central government sports authority
Are controlled by organizations with an interest in two things:
Power
Money

28. Legal Status of Athletes in Pro Team Sports
Forms of the “reserve system” have been used to restrict the freedom of athletes to play where they wish
Players’ associations and unions have challenged this system and struggled for “free agency”
Free agency has been achieved to varying degrees in major team sports
Labor rights for athletes in minor sports are limited

29. Legal Status of Athletes in Individual Sports
Varies greatly from sport to sport and athlete to athlete
Status often depends on what athletes must do to support their training and competition
Status may be partially protected by professional associations formed by the athletes

30. Income: Team Sports
The large majority of pro athletes make limited income
The super-contracts and mega-salaries of a few athletes have distorted popular ideas about athlete income
Income among top athletes has risen recently because
Legal status and rights have improved
League revenues have increased

31. Professional athletes in the major men’s spectator sports did not earn exceptionally high salaries until after 1976 when they could become “free agents” and sell their skills to the highest bidding team. In 1950 an average NBA player was only slightly more than the median U.S. family income; in 2004 it was 84 times higher than the median US family income! At the same time, the average salary of a WNBA player was nearly two thousand dollars lower than the median family income.

35. “I make $20 million a year, and I don’t feel guilty!”
Athletes salaries don’t affect ticket prices; owners charge whatever people will pay for tickets regardless of what they pay athletes.
SIDELINES
“I make $20 million a year, and I don’t feel guilty!”

36. Income: Individual Sports
Many athletes do not make enough to pay expenses
There are increasing disparities between top money winners and other athletes
Top male heavyweight boxers have traditionally made the most money
Question: does this mean that athletes are rewarded for reaffirming certain ideologies?

37. Amateur Athletes
Rights depend on the governing bodies that control various sports
Income depends on
The rules of governing bodies
Endorsements that vary with celebrity status and corporate interest
Most intercollegiate athletes in the U.S. are controlled by the NCAA; they have few rights

38. Tickets for NFL and Notre Dame games cost the same, but college players make a fraction of what the NFL players make