Media Sports and Society TEST 1 Distinctiveness of Media Sports o It s reality factor o The true reality program not many other live shows on air The unpredictability of it Uncertainty suspense psychological responses to unpredictability o Regular periodic scheduling Appointment viewing You know when your games are taking place Scheduled programming College Saturday Professional Sunday Monday nights etc Baseball Oct 1st World Series Known viewers will tune in Fans know the scheduled time o International Literacy Basic rules of sports are universal Seinfeld sucks everywhere but in the US Sports translate mostly the same to every culture baseball same rules across the world Sports are distinct from other forms of content o Loyalty engendered by teams athletes coaches o can wear an fsu jersey everywhere but can t wear a star trek outfit everywhere Fandom is different for sports o o Zap proof programming Don t fast forward Don t turn it off before its over o Integration of sports and media companies Distinct media which warrants a different type of attention Sports o What is sport are sports A particular form of play Athletic competition Winner and loser Time limit o What is play Hallmark of human existence On some level is about practicing skills that can be used in real or everyday life as well as survival techniques Single definition is debated Is it an activity or a quality o The distinction between work or play o Is play activity different than work activity If an activity then requires leisure time Activity Leisure time o The period of time where we can choose what we want to do o Historically leisure time is defined by bank account Leisure time bank account Non Serious Amusing Kids have more leisure time What if it has goals o Then a game Goals Game Monopoly is not a sport Not ritual But not all play is goal oriented Play is NOT work sleep eating ritual Play is intrinsically motivating self satisfying o Highly attractive o Involves a change in perceived reality In play it is acceptable to do certain things block steal the ball etc Imaginary games that we played on the pay ground Shift in perceptions of reality playground basketball court PLAY intrinsically motivating highly attractive involves a change acceptable to block steal etc repeating o Frequently repeating Sports for our purposes Sport Play activity governed by a set of rules typically competitive in nature where the physical capabilities of competitors solely or at least primarily determine the outcome We play but we also spectate other people playing Sports subset of play subset of a leisure activity Sport itself team vs individual limits Leagues Teams clubs Poker Individual players athletes Spelling bee Sports a subset of play and play a subset of leisure activity SPORT set of rules competitive physical capabilities of the outcome comes from the players team individual leagues teams clubs Media o Multinational corporations worth billions of dollars o Content creators producers o Marketing outlets o Channels of distribution o For our purposes MEDIA creators marketing outlets channels of distribution Print newspapers magazines books Traditional TV radio film New internet video games mobile devices o Many angles that media can cover Audiences o For our purposes individuals differentiated by Demographics age gender ethnicity geography Psychographics fandom personality variables values held Audiences are different by age gender ethnicity geography fandom famous person personality variables and values held SEE CHART Audiences need play o We can seek this through sports or media Audiences PLAY Sports media Sports need fans o As a business entity they need fans o Come from audiences Sports Fans Audiences Sports need exposure and money o Builds from growing media o Sports rely on media for this Media needs money o Comes from advertisers Advertisers need consumers o Come from media Media needs reach to gain money o Comes from audiences Media needs content that reaches audiences o Comes from sports Audiences play sports media Sports fans audience Sports exposure money media Media money advisors Advertisers customers media Media reach to gain Audiences Media content that reaches audiences sports Audiences elect or accept legitimacy authority o From governing bodies o Create rules and regulations to create guidelines for sports and programs to o Regulations give legitimacy to sports follow Rules are set for sports by electing some sort of authority to set those regulations Governing bodies protects integrity of the sports regulate advertisers and media and sports o Sports lobby against governing bodies Governing bodies serve or protect integrity of the sports o In order for the audiences to continue watching supporting them Governing bodies regulate o Regulate advertisers and media and sports Sports then lobby o Against the governing bodies Ex rebelling against approved pre game NFL clothing Players get fined if they do not wear approved clothing for practice Egyptians circa 2950 BCE Heb Sed Festival of Renewal Shows up as a social feature before anything else Showing people in Egypt that the pharaoh was still powerful Pharaoh would run around 4 posts by himself Earliest implication of sports mattering in a culture Did it alone so no one would challenge the pharaoh Demonstration of control important indication of culture I am physically fit nation is physically fit Shulgi King of Sumerians Sumerians circa 2400 BCE 500 years later His strength in poems Gilgamesh written stories epic poems EX foot races archery wrestling etc always in association with the leader cylinder stones stories carved out EX noah s ark Hittites circa 1800 BCE 700 years later o 2nd century BC o sports a huge part of culture o depict a huge host of sports events diverse o first agon race where the winner receives a prize o o o Introduced sport for play AND pleasure o Competitively o Earliest sport heads whomever does it the best gets a prize leader aka pharaoh is now a spectator Minoans circa 1600BCE o Bull Leaping religion Basically like gymnastics on a bull women all in conjunction with Worshipped bulls Done as something for others to view Spectator sport Sport like display competition in conjunction with religion was extremely important The intricate drawings meant that the sport like orientation meant a lot to their culture Homer s Iliad and Odyssey and First Olympic Games 776 725 BCE o Greeks had the biggest contribution to the evolution of sports o