1. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies Chapter 16 Sports and the Future: What Can We Expect?

2. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. The future is created rather than predicted

3. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Thinking About the Future  Sports are social constructions; they can be invented, redefined, and changed  The meaning, purpose, and organization of sports in the future will be based on the collective decisions and actions of human beings  Sports are contested activities when people struggle over these decisions

4. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Models for thinking about sports and the future ◊ Power & Performance Sports Will be dominant in immediate future Sponsors give priority to these sports ◊ Pleasure & Participation Sports Will grow as “connections” are valued over confrontation and domination Sponsorships will be difficult to obtain and maintain

5. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Power & Performance Sports They will remain popular but  They are exclusive and many people will not have the opportunity or desire to participate  Their popularity depends on power staying in the control of men who value conquest over others

6. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Questions that people will raise about power and performance sports:  How should technology be regulated when exploring human limits?  How can fairness be guaranteed when there is unequal access to training and technology?  How can injuries be minimized and access maximized when the goal is conquest?

7. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Women will be among those who seek alternatives to power and performance sports

8. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Those who favor unstructured activities will seek alternatives to power and performance sports Alternative sports will include much more than “extreme” sports in the future

9. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. The Growth of Pleasure & Participation Sports Factors producing growth will be: Concerns about health and fitness Participation priorities of older people Values brought to sports by women Groups seeking alternative sports

10. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Athletes in “extreme” sports may (or may not?) tire of strings attached to sponsorships. “I love the X Games... because they’re all about... freedom and individual expression.”

11. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Other Alternatives  Boom Boom Huck Jam/Ticket to Ride  Paralympics  Special Olympics  Gay Games  Senior Games  Muslim Women’s Games  Adventure sports

12. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. More people will seek connections through sports – with each other and the environment

13. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Current Trends: Professional Sports  Profit-driven national/global expansion  Staging total entertainment spectacles  Dependence on public funds to build facilities designed as shopping malls with playing fields  Contentious negotiations between players and leagues/owners over working conditions.

14. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Current Trends: Intercollegiate Sports  Escalating expenses  Struggles over gender equity  Athletes seeking rights & representation in revenue sports  Students seeking opportunities to play sports that do not generate revenues

15. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Current Trends: High School Sports  Increasing stakes for success/winning  Parents & athletes use sports to seek scholar- ships and admission into college  Struggles over gender equity  Increasing elitism favoring specialization and high performance  Focus on playoffs, championships, & rankings  “Outsourcing” sports to private clubs

16. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Current Trends: Youth Sports  Fewer public programs due to tax cuts  Increased privatization  Segregation by socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity  Decreasing opportunities for low- income people of all ages  More children seeking alternatives to adult-controlled organized sports

17. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Current Trends: Sports for People with Disabilities (I)  Increase in people disabled by war, lack of medical care, & poverty  Increasing recognition that people with disabilities desire to play sports and have a right to expect opportunities  Continuing use of sport participation as therapy

18. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Current Trends: Sports for People with Disabilities (II)  More visible examples of sports for elite athletes with disabilities  Emerging ideas, vocabularies, and orientations that support people with a disability and their participation in sports  New technologies that facilitate sport participation

19. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Miracle League & Field  Grounded in idealism  Created by idealists with a vision for increasing opportunities for young people with disabilities  Related to the needs of 6 million children in the U.S. & many thousands of soldiers whose injuries have compromised physical abilities

20. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Miracle Field in Myrtle Beach is totally accessible and allows people with impaired walking to play baseball

21. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Current Trends: Spectators & Spectator Sports  Continuing commitment to watching sports as a central leisure activity  Increasing use of the Internet and other technologies that provide spectator experiences  Defining spectators as consumers who are receptive to advertising messages

22. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Factors Influencing Trends (I) 1. Technology (how will decisions to apply knowledge be made & who will benefit?) 2. Telecommunications and electronic media (who will control these meaning- making tools, how will they use them, & who will benefit?) 3. Organization & rationalization (how will the continuing emphasis on structure and success be combined with fun?)

23. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Will video sport games and virtual sports replace on- the-field games among some children? “Oh, Mom! Why go outside to play when I’m on my own virtual World Cup Team right here.”

24. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Factors Influencing Trends (II) 4. Commercialization & consumption (will people see themselves as customers consuming culture or citizens creating it?) 5. Demographic characteristics of communities (how will older median age and cultural diversity change sports?) Note: Answers depends on how people envision the future and what they do to create it

25. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Unique feelings occur when you create rather than consume sports

26. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Unique feelings occur when you create rather than consume sports The profit-making potential of spectacles indicates that they will not go away, even if their audiences become fragmented

27. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Change Means Different Things To Different People  Conservative strategies Dominant approach used today Emphasize management issues, making sports more organized & efficient, and making athletes better  Reformist strategies Popular among people who emphasize social inclusion, equity, and fairness Emphasize expanding participation opportunities  Radical strategies Challenge the status quo and those who maintain it Emphasize structural and ideological change

28. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Creating Futures: Using Theory to Guide Action (I)  Using functionalist theory Strategies: conservative & reformist Goal: Expand existing sports and control more effectively  Using conflict theory Strategy: radical Goal: Transform sports by eliminating economic inequalities

29. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Creating Futures: Using Theory to Guide Action (II)  Using critical theories Strategies: Reformist & radical Goal: create new sport forms representing diverse interests and categories of people  Using critical feminist theories Strategies: Reformist & radical Goal: Create new sport forms representing interests and experiences of girls and women  Using interactionist theories Strategies: all Goal: Facilitate “bottom – up” creation of sports

30. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Critical theory helps us assess implications of the ways that we incorporate technologies into sports?

31. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Vantage Points For Making Changes 1. Work within the system of sports Be an “insider” & try to avoid being co-opted 2. Join “opposition” groups Create or join groups that use political pressure to create futures based on idealistic visions 3. Create alternative sports Focus on new ways to view and play sports and inspire others to do the same 4. Focus on culture and social relations Work to transform social relations that effect the meaning and organization of sports

32. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Athletes As Change Agents  Athletes have celebrity and market status, but little real power  If athletes endorse deep changes in society they risk losing support and media coverage Athletes often focus on non-contentious issues and use conservative strategies  To become change agents, athletes require the support of established organizations

33. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. To engage in radical or certain reformist strategies is risky for athletes. Speaking truth to power may jeopardize celebrity, visibility, and one’s ability to influence others.

34. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Prerequisites For Creating Futures Visions of what sports and social life could and should be in the future  Willingness to work hard to turn visions into realities  Political abilities to rally the resources needed to create futures