Media Sport and the Sports-industrial Complex
Media sport and sport consumption are driving forces in the sports-industrial complexwhich developed together with globalization and became a straightforward concurrence of with profit-making and commercialization.The establishment of the Entertainment and Sports Programm ing Network（ESPN）13 gave fans ever-increasing opportunity to saturate their lives with sport.To fill its schedules offered women's basketball，field hockey，soccer，tennis，and golf，aswell asmen's intercollegiate ice hockey，basketball，tennis，skiing，and motor sports.Even the NFL draft found a host of viewers in a prime-time slot.
The phenomenal success of ESPN led to greater sports coverage on the major television networks，the creation of local sports channels，and innumerable sports-talk radio shows in imitation.Professional leagues initiated their own television companies，such as the NFL Network，NBA TV，and NBA Preview，to gain a larger segment of the viewingmarket.Collegiate athletic conferences followed suit.Other operations focused on particular activities；examples include the Golf Channel，the Outdoor Channel，and the Olympic Channel in recent years.
9-5 A ESPN Poster
Sport organizations and leagues own the broadcasting rights and acquired a monopoly on the market of sport events.TV networks buy these rights for their exclusive use which gives them as well a monopoly position.At the same time，the sports power elites have increasingly joined forces with big companies，especially the media conglomerates and marketing agencies.The alliance of sports and media，especially broadcast and cable TV，made it possible to target large and at the same time specific audiences which could be“sold”as potential buyers/consumers of various goods to advertisement agencies and corporations.It is not the primary aim of themedia to provide information and to sell information and entertainment to their viewers，but to create audiences with purchasing power in order to“rent”them to advertisers.Themedia companies are very successful in generating revenue in this way：in 2004，more than$135 billion have been spent on advertising.Because sports programming attracts the consumption orientated group of 18-to 34-year-old men，sport is a very valuable asset.In order to place asmany advertisements as possible，the TV networks have to inject commercial breaks which disrupt shows，movies，news，and sport broadcasting throughout the program.Sport events have to be enacted around the commercials：for example，during a football game television timeout are regularly taken，such as the so-called two-minute warning.When there are 2 minutes left in the playing period，a referee steps on the field to stop play，allegedly to alert the teams to limited playing time.This is an absurd action，as all coached，players，and fans are well aware of the time，always displayed on the large scoreboard clocks in the stadium，but it provides additional time for the television networks to show advertisements.
The larger the audiences and the more attractive with regard to their ability and willingness to consume，the higher the price for advertisements and the higher the profit of themedia.Thismeans that the programs，the products，and their presentation are adjusted to the imagined taste of the audiences，who are addressed by appeals to their emotions，wishes，and dreams，which are often embodied in sportheroes.Therefore，sportbroadcasting often contains commercialswith famous athletes and heroes of the predominatelymale audiences，such asMichael Jordan，TigerWoods，orwell-known baseball and football stars.The large endorsements contracts supplement the players'salaries，making them willing partners in the commercialmarketing enterprise.
9-6 TV Sports Coverage
TV sports coverage is“confrontainment，the packaging of confrontation as entertainment”.Sport event are enacted as entertaining spectacleswhere athletes，coaches，referees，marching bands，cheerleaders，announcers，and the fans play their roles.Commentaries，often of coaches or ex-players，fill the gaps in actions and frame the contest as drama focusing on the violence，hostilities，or the rivalry.Via narration，personalization and dramatization TV sport coverage increases interest，suspense and identification of the audiences.Sport coverage presents sport as a surrogate world with actions and imageswhich celebrate the social order，affirm dominant values，create emotional involvement，and offer role models for identification；itmakes the American way of life and American sport appear as natural and inevitable.
The ability of sport to appeal not only to a national，but also an international audience increased the attractiveness ofmedia sport and the willingness of corporations to sponsor athletes and events.Sponsorship plays a huge role in American sport，and numerous companies use events from the local to the national level to reach consumers and deliver brand-building messages.In 2004，American companies spent$11.14 billion on sponsorship，69 percent of which went to sport events.
Another form of income for sport teams or leagues is，as described above，the affiliation with sponsorships.Visibility and image created by sport and the large interest of the audiencesmotivate more and more companies to sponsor sport teams，events，or facilities in order to gain a huge amount of brand contacts.Thus，Comiskey Park，the stadium of the Chicago White Sox14 baseball team，was renamed US Cellular Field.The phone company paid $568 million to the team for this name change.
Notes：
1 John Stuart Skinner
John Stuart Skinner（22 February 1788—21 March 1851）was an American lawyer，publisher，and editor.Skinner began practicing law as an attorney at the age of twenty-one in 1809.Editor Farmer's Library and Monthly Journal of Agriculture，1845—1848.
2 Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a daily newspaper based in Chicago，Illinois，United States，owned by Tribune Publishing.Founded in 1847，and formerly self-styled as the“World's Greatest Newspaper”，it remains the most-read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region.It had the 6th highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017.
3 Harold“Red”Grange
Harold Edward“Red”Grange，nicknamed“The Galloping Ghost”，was an American football halfback for the University of Illinois，the Chicago Bears，and the short-lived New York Yankees.His signing with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League.
4 National Broadcasting Company（NBC）
The National Broadcasting Company is an American English-language commercial terrestrial radio and television networks that is a flagship property of NBCUniversal，a subsidiary of Comcast.The network is headquartered at30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City，with additionalmajor offices near Los Angeles，Chicago and Philadelphia.The network is one of the Big Three television networks.
5 Columbia Broadcasting System（CBS）
CBS is an American English language commercial broadcast television and radio network that is a flagship property of CBSCorporation.The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major production facilities and operations in New York City and Los Angeles.
6 American Telephone and Telegraph Company（AT&T）
AT&T Corporation，originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company，is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc.that provides voice，video，data，and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses，consumers，and government agencies.
7 World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball in North America，contested since 1903 between the American League champion team and the National League champion team.Thewinner of theWorld Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff，and the winning team is awarded the Commissioner's Trophy.As the series is played during the fall season in North America，it is sometimes referred to as the Fall Classic.
8 shot clock
A shot clock is used in basketball to quicken the pace of the game.The shot clock times a play and provides that a team on offense that does not promptly try to score points loses possession of the ball.Nowadays，the time of shot clock in basketball is 24 seconds，itmay be called the“24-second clock”.
9 Super Bow l
The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League typically played annually between the champion of the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference.The game is the culmination of a regular season that begins in the late summer of the previous year.
10 March Madness
March Madness is the common name that refers to the NCAA Division IMen's Basketball Tournament，a 68-team single-elimination playoff tournament to determine thewinner of the college basketball National Championship.
11 ABC（The American Broadcasting Company）
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast radio and television networks that is a subsidiary of the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company.The network is headquartered in Burbank，California，on Riverside Drive，directly across the street from Walt Disney Studios and adjacent to the Roy E.Disney Animation Building.
12 Monday Night Football
Beginning in the 1970 NFL season，the National Football League began scheduling a weekly regular season game on Monday night before a national television audience.From 1970 to 2005，the ABC television network carried these games，with the ESPN cable television network taking over beginning in September 2006.
13 Entertainment and Sports Programm ing Network（ESPN）
ESPN is an American basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc.，owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications.The company was founded in 1979 by Bill Rasmussen along with his son Scott Rasmussen and Ed Egan.
14 Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago，Illinois.They compete in Major League Baseball as amember club of the American League Central division.The White Sox are owned by Jerry Reinsdorf，and play their home games at Guaranteed Rate Field，located on the city's South Side.