Future of Sports Media

Sports Media

THE FUTURE of SPORTS MEDIA

The spot media is one of the sectors expected to undergo significant transformations in the future. This will influence the ways in which the society perceives the sports media and consumption of the sports information.

Sports media and competition

The sports media is expected to witness stiff competition from different media and sports organization in the future. This will shape the face of sports media globally (Westerbeek, 2004).

Issues of access and equity

Transformations in the sports media are expected to create disparities in the access to sports content. This is attributable to financial implications associated with sports media in the future (Andrews, 2001).

Media involvement in changing the shape of the sports media

The media will be actively involved in sports issues taking over the sovereignty of the sports organizations (Billings, 2009).

Impact of the media penetration

The media is postulated to increase its penetration into different sports organizations. This will lead to unequal growth of the sports organizations, as it will favor the growth of particular sports while marginalizing traditional sports (Andrews, 2001).

Capitalism, nationalism, patriarchy, and racism

Capitalism, nationalism, patriarchy, and racism will influence the shape of sports media in the future. This entails reducing incidences of racism and nationalism hence, heightening the role of sports media in the society (Schultz & Sheffer, 2011).

Sports psychology

There will be increased incorporation of principles of sports psychology in sports media. This will bridge the gaps between practice and research in the sports media (Ryba, 2005).

Technology

The future will see the adoption of sophisticated technology by the sports organizations to improve the nature of the provision of direct services to the consumers (Wolfe, Meenaghan & O'Sullivan, 2002).

Conclusion

In conclusion, various transformations expected to occur will shape the performance of the sports media in the future. This will have social, political, economic, and technological implications to the global society.

Introduction

The sport and media have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship since for a long period to shape the nature of the sports with the advertising media acting as a pivot between the two. While the media acts as a promotional and source of revenue, the sports, provide important content and audience for the media operators. This symbiotic relationship between the two has led to the rise of the sports media. The relationship arises from the fact that the media creates an attractive programming of the sports content considered decisive to the public. A wider exposure of the sports results in the creation of a vital meaning of the sport. Therefore, this implies that without the media, sports lose its meaning. It is highly appreciable that the sports media has undergone significant transformation over the past. The transformation in the sports media is more evident in three key areas, which include media/sports complex, sports media production complex, and sports media cultural complex (Andrews, 2001).

Discussion

It apparently clear that significant transformations are expected to influence the future of sports media industry. In several ways, today's sports media are the classic outcomes and icons of the extended economic, social, and technological changes witnessed in the twentieth century. The socioeconomic, political, and technological environments play key roles in structuring the future of the sports media sector. Scholars postulate that the dynamic nature of the partnership among these sectors influences the future of the sports media industry. The sports media sectors incorporate activities from a different organization. Analysis of the status of the sports media industry shows that it faces stiff competition from different sectors involved in sports activities. This includes competition for broadcasting rights and the growing prominence of multiple sports media, creating a dramatic inflationary effect on the sports media. However, it is postulated that a significant increase in the global competition is expected to face the sports media industry. This will result in changes in, the management of operations, decision-making strategies, and technology adoption to maintain the competitiveness of the sector (Wolfe, Meenaghan, & O'Sullivan 2002).

As the sports media increases its prominence in the global market, it raises questions on whether the transformation represents future changes for all sports or specific sports. The involvement of various media sectors in the advertising of sports has extended the range of sports available to the consumers/viewers. A wide range of sports available to the viewer's translates to financial implications evidenced through the need for subscriptions and equipment to facilitate the process. This causes the problem of equity to access to the sports media by the global viewers. Scholars argue that the growing transformation of the sports media favors those who can afford to pay for the equipment and the subscription fee to have access to these sports. As such, this makes it clear that the future of the sports media is expected to be characterized by unequal access and equity in the sports media due to the financial implications associated with it. Consequently, this will result in the segmentation of the consumers of the sports media, hence increasing the issue access and equity in future (Andrews, 2001).

It is inarguable that there has been an increasing involvement of the media in the marketing of activities related to sport. The media involves itself in controlling over sports activities and organizations, changing the different fundamental aspects of the sports media. This implies that the increasing power of the media over the sports is likely to weaken the sovereignty of sports over its destiny. In essence, the media it has come to become an influential determinant in the destruction and construction of the sporting practices and structures. This shows that the media will play a significant role in the development of new events, leagues, and competition in the coming future. This raises worries that the increasing introduction of new games, sports, events and competitions will result in the marginalization of the current sports. Rules will be changed to facilitate the needs of the media alongside those of the viewers and the sports agencies (Westerbeek, 2004). Andrews (2001) predicted that these changes would make sports media a product that is manufactured, bought, and sold in the future. Therefore, these changes will change significantly the shape of the sports media alongside its competitiveness in the global market.

The increasing penetration of the media into the world of sport will have significant impacts on the status of particular sports and relationships within the sport. Sports considered attractive to the media will gain benefits such as greater status of global exposure and economic growth as compared to other sports. For example, the most glamorous sports will distance themselves from other clubs in England due to the impact of media on their performance. In addition, empirical evidence shows that the increasing influence of the media over the sports will widen the gap between political and economic sports.

According to Andrews (2001), increasing role of the media over sports will make elite sports lose its roots. This will entail the loss of spectacle personality and monetary rewards that act as the key roots of the elite sports. This implies that the increasing role of the media in the sport will result in the marginalization of some sports. It will result in the improvement of specific sports and diminished performance of other sports thereby, creating a rift in the performance of the sports organizations globally (Billings, 2009).

In addition, it is predicted that the sports media will see increasing capitalism in the future. It is apparent that increasing transformation in the sports media will increase the interests of the capitalists. This will be accompanied with a monopoly in the marketplace contributing to the resilience of capitalism in the global society. In addition, the growing rate of transformation in the sports media will contribute to nationalism in the future. This will increase national stereotyping and fervor that will significantly affect the shape of the global sports. Sporting events will be used by states as vehicles for unifying citizens and showing allegiance in the society.

Consequently, this will not only shape the future of the sports media in the future, but also improve nationality, which will signify the role of the sports media in promoting nationalism (Westerbeek, 2004). According to Wolfe, Meenaghan, & O'Sullivan (2002) the changes witnessed in the sports media will influence gender bias and inequality evident in the media and sport. There will be a reduction in gender biases and inequality (patriarchy) in, sports. However, the changes will result in an increase in, the incidence of racism in a global society, as more individuals from a race will dominate the sports media resulting in racism and inequality.

Empirical research in sports shows that little has been done in the current global environment to introduce the idea of sport psychology into the sports media. Sport psychology forges links with other fields related to sports media such as counseling, exercise science, and psychology. However, the current changes witnessed in the global sports environment show that the future introduction of trajectory sport psychology would characterize the future of the sports media. This implies that it will bridge the existing gap between practice and research and shift of sports activities from clinical models towards educational models. Apart from this, the sports media professionals will focus on important issues such as taking into consideration gender and social issues and interdisciplinary relationships to shape the face of the sports media in the future (Ryba, 2005).

It is postulated that the constantly changing needs of the fans, teams, marketing professionals and leagues will result in an increased formation of alliances with the media forced to operate, viewers have unprecedented access to numerous sports related distribution channels. This will be characterized by the need for adoption of sophisticated technology to reinvent the sports media. The technology will transform the landscape of the sports media. Most teams, stars, and leagues will develop and control their own companies (media) in the future as compared to the present where leagues such as the premier league dominated the channels of distributing sport related information. In addition, it is also predicted that sports leagues will develop technological innovations that will promote direct communication with their fans. This will entail the development of pipelines that aim at delivering direct content to their fans, hence, competitiveness and enhanced productivity (Westerbeek, 2004).

Another trend expected to characterize the sports media in the future is a change in the sports media relationship evidenced by the ever-increasing amount of fan driven information on the internet. For example, internet sites such as the Deadspin.com provide sports fans with forums for discussing sport related information and controversies. This stimulates their interests towards sports thereby, influencing the sports media. Therefore, projected statistics show that this trend is expected to increase in the future, providing the fans with a wide knowledge base building solidarity among the fans of the sport (Schultz & Sheffer, 2011).

Evidently, the sports media properties will become media owned companies in the future. The need for direct interaction with the consumers without the elimination of the traditional media of reaching them will drive this urge. For instance, most valuable media organizations that regulate relaying of information related to the sport will strive to introduce competitive promotional lead-ins to increase their dominance and competitiveness in the global market. However, this will increase the risks of monopoly among the media organizations providing sport related information to the consumers. Factors such as financial implications and the need for purchasing equipment and adhering to stated policies will result to unequal access to and utilization of the sports media information. Other changes predicted to influence the shape of the future sports media includes changes in the methods of broadcasting sports by different leagues, and increasing global awareness on the importance of the sports media to the society. However, it is appreciable that factors such as social, political, economic, and technology factors will affect the rates at which the above changes occur to shape the future of the sports media (Billings, 2009).

Summary of the references

Schultz, B., & Sheffer, M. Lou. (2011). Factors Influencing Sports Consumption in the Era of New Media. Web Journal of Mass Communication Research, 37 (2), 1. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&an=70879342&site=ehost-live&scope=site