Commercialism and Sport
Main Body The commercialisation and commodification of sport, since the Second World War, has been a central theme in the sociology of sport. ... “Commercialisation of sport is a logical outcome of the development of a modernised rationalised society. ... , 1998) Society was developing in all areas and in his view sport should be no different and the next step for sport was to become involved in money. ... “This variant would stress the functionality of the commercialisation of sport in boosting facilities, providing a means of entertainment and integration, a model of reward for achievement and a system of incentives. ... Functionalists, however, see certain features of modern sport, such as drug taking, violence and excessive competitiveness as dysfunctional. In opposition to both the ‘inevitability of modernisation’ and functional pragmatism, a conservative perspective contrasts the ‘corruption’ of a modern sport with the supposed greater purity of sport and its more Corinthian and amateur ideals. They disagree with commercialisation and how sport has become professionalised. ... ” (Guardian, 16/01/95) From a Marxist perspective sport is a mirror of capitalist society. The commercialisation of sport provides another rich example of the tendency of capital to seek out and penetrate new areas of society in which profits can be generated. Sport has become a major target area for companies and multi-nationals. ... ” (Houlihan, 2000, cited by Coakley and Dunning) Jack Kremer, Kerry Packer, Mark Mc McCormack, Horst Dassler and Rupert Murdock are known to have been the key figures in the commencement of commercialisation in sport. ... “Television influences everything to do with sport: who competes, what they wear, day they play, the time, the place, the rules, colour of the ball.” (Wilson, 1988, p9) In turn competitive sport is given exposure beyond the dreams of those who created it as their recreation little more than a century ago. ... The last decade of the 19th century saw the emergence and development of regular entry fee paying spectator sport, and in effect the commencement of commercialisation in the modern sense. ... In the 1960’s people could watch sport in black and white images on the television but by 1985 there were high quality live colour pictures relayed around the world by satellite. ... “Sponsorship is the support of a sport, sports event, sports organisation or competitor by an outside body or person for the mutual benefit of both parties. ... , 1998) Today our heroes are sport stars. ... “Jordan commercialised his sport and himself, turning both into brands for an emerging legion of sports marketers…. ... In a match between apparently nationalism and commercialism, members of the Chinese balloon cadre repeatedly lowered the balloon to avoid its competing for attention with the Chinese flag, to which Mars candy representatives responded by hoisting the balloon so that it would fall within range of the television cameras.” (Nafziger, 1992, cited by Rowe et al, 1998) Situations like these show just how important sport is to companies for advertising as they are guaranteed to have an audience. ... These figures show just how commercialised sport has become. “Corporate interests use sport as a vehicle for introducing products and services around the world. ... The sport used to be quite boring to watch because of all the stoppages, line-outs and scrums but the rules were adjusted for continuous play for media coverage.