Corporate Rodeo There are two major forces that exist in the United States and in other modern countries that cannot be missed or ignored. The first would be sports. There are millions and millions of people that love sports and that would include both watching them and actually participating in them. Common examples of this would include basketball, baseball and football. However, the focus of this report will be rodeo. The other major force that exists in modern countries is the corporate sphere. The common manifestations of these corporate entities are advertising and the products that are sold to people. Whether it be cars, video game systems, homes or what have you, corporate powers make the economy run, they pay a lot of taxes and so forth. However, the two items mentioned above heavily converge in many ways and Jane Martin's lament is that this convergence is too excessive and that it ruins the spirit and love of rodeo. While Jane Martin has a point, there is little to nothing that can be done to demarcate corporate interests and national pastimes like the rodeo.

Analysis

There was a time and day where there was a minimal amount (if any) between corporate interaction between sports teams/entities and exterior corporate interests. This was especially true with the younger teams and groups. However, there has been a seismic shift over the recent generations and rodeo is no exception. What used to be about the love of the riders and the fans as it related to the sport has...

Whether it be advertising in or around the arenas, advertising on television when the shows are televised, the sponsorships of the riders themselves, the advertising gear that is worn by the riders and so forth, it is impossible to miss the influence and involvement that business, both rodeo-related and non-rodeo-related, has with rodeo in the modern iteration of the sport. There is a decent amount of good with this relationship but there is also a good amount of bad things as well (Martin).
One good thing about this relationship is that there is much more exposure for the sport and more people can watch and enjoy it. Rather than having to travel to an arena to see a show, people can tune into ESPN or other networks to watch it. This was simply not available like it is now. In 1981, cable was rare to non-existent and now there are hundreds or thousands of channels, depending on providers or medium. However, not all of that is good on its own. For example, there are probably too many channels out there but the competition that exists and the advertising revenue (or lack thereof) involved will dictate who can afford to broadcast and who cannot (Martin).

However, the other parts of the corporate/rodeo duality are less than optimal. For example, the entire scope and feel of a rodeo show is going to change. Indeed, the focus of the format and itinerary of the show is going to center on the people watching the show…