Contemporary MediaSport

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Contemporary MediaSport
Damion Sturm (19 May 2005)
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Introduction - the Contemporary Sport Media
landscape

• Huge topic - apologise as many important issues
  not covered in depth- ie gender, race, power,
  stardom
• assumption that as Screen students you know that
  sports coverage is constructed framing,
  commentary, selectivity
• My focus is on televised sport, the sport
  spectacle, sponsorship and fandom
• primarily interested in and discussing elite
  global sports

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Contemporary Sport

• Increasingly globalised
• Commercialised/commodified
• mediated - channels such as ESPN exist which are
  totally devoted to sport
• influenced by US sports coverage model - glitz,
  spectacle and hype of NFL and NBA
• requires huge sums of money (1995 - Tampa Bay
  192m, Dallas Mavericks 125m, LA Kings 119m)
  NBA 1980 118M 1994 3b
• reliant on an increasingly global audience
• reliant on televisual technologies

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The Televised Sports spectacle

• combines entertainment and news values to
  entertain and attract/retain audiences
• Need to enhance the sporting spectacle
• Some sports use rules - CART racing
• New regulations - beach volleyball
• or devise new format - One-Day cricket
• Televised sport presents ideal spectator with a
  perfect view (Whannel, 1992, p.96)
• televisual technology - virtual spectator -
  Americas Cup, cricket, NFL
• Camera positions and angles to enhance
  viewpoints, realism etc - ie helmet cam, stump
  cam, umpire cam, on-board cameras

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Case Study Formula One as a profoundly mediated
sport

• Second most popular TV sport - 54 billion viewers
  for 2001 season, average 3,590 million per race
• 2003 rule changes - need to increase the
  spectacle of F1 racing - declining televisual
  audiences.
• mediated existence (Live television, internet,
  magazines, videogames) - reliance on these to
  consume F1
• Being there and being here

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Sponsorship of sport

• Increasing globalisation of sport financed by
  global, multinational companies
• Sport clothing companies Nike, Adidas, Puma
• Sport stars as commodities Michael Jordan -
  salary 1995 - 4m (40m in endorsements),1996
  30m/season (Tops Forbes rich list 1998 - 69m)
• Tiger Woods -1996 Nike 40m 2000 - 100m/5yr
• Tobacco fuels motorsport ie Marlboro, Lucky
  Strike
• Many others Red Bull in extreme sports
• Vodafone local, international, global

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Vodafone Global Teams
Manchester United (845m over 13 years)
Ferrari
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Contemporary Sport fandom - possibilities

• Commodification - availability/access to products
  
• Mediations, technologies and innovations
  invaluable
• global/geographical boundaries increasingly
  transcended - access to distant/remote sports and
  to sport stars
• allows multiple and far-ranging sport fandom
• - for example, teams - San Francisco 49ers (NFL,
  USA) Liverpool F.C. (EPL, England) Wests Tigers
  (NRL, Australia)
• or stars - Jacques Villeneuve (F1), Valentino
  Rossi (MotoGP)
• Sport video games

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Future of contemporary mediated sport and fandom

• Technologies/mediations constantly evolving
• increased perspectives, realism, involvement
• More live coverage - wider sports coverage or
  status quo? - ie those with global appeal
• viewing stadiums? ie Americas Cup State of
  Origin 2002
• further blurring of boundaries between the real
  sport, mediated versions, and sport fandom