Growth of Professional Sport
American sport is increasingly produced according to business rules.Ithasmain aim to enhance the revenues.The sportorganizers and themedia have developed numerous strategies in order to raise the number of consumers，who in the end pay all the actors in the sport industrial complex.One opportunity to increase audiences is to reduce overlapping programs by scheduling them respectively.Today，football，basketball，and baseball are not only broadcast on weekends but the games stretch out on weekdays.Football is a good example：the games of the professional，the college，and the high school teams are broadcast on five evenings during the week and the whole of Saturday and Sunday.Thus，themaximum number of viewers can be reached.
Professional sport follows the logic of business：notwinning，but revenues are everything，at least for the owners.The highest revenues are generated if all games are exciting and attract large audiences.Thismeans that the quality of the league as awhole has to be in the focus，and all teams have to play on a similar performance level.Thus all games generate large audiences and the tension of the audiences can be kept throughout the entire schedule.The NFL4 and M LB5 have introduced a businessmodel which aims to create teams of equal quality.Sharing the revenues among all teams，independent of their success，is an important part of this strategy.The rise of interestand revenuewith an increase in fan interest by distributing the revenues more equally to all teams helped the weaker teams to buy better players and thus increase the interest of the audiences.The same aim had the invention of the“w ild card6”in the playoffs，which added onemore team to the post-season tournament that determines the national champion.Unlike European soccer，which is based on an economy of emotions，where winning at all costs is the aim，American sport is based on a market economy where winning is only a tool for generating revenues.Butwinning is a central value of American culture and especially of the fans.
9-8 The Rose Bow l
The widespread and growing interest in sports，ardently promoted by themedia，combined with the economic boom of the 1920s to produce a flurry of stadium construction.Colleges built concrete structures to accommodate larger crowds and reap bigger profits.Ohio State University opened its football stadium in 1922 at a cost of$1.3 million，but even its 66，000 seats proved insufficient for the 71，138 fanswho showed up for the rivalry game with Michigan.In turn，Michigan inaugurated a 72，000-seat stadium in 1927 and later enlarged it to accommodatemore than 100，000.In 1923 in New York，the Yankees opened Yankee Stadium，which was quickly dubbed“the House That Ruth Built”because of the patronage drawn by the New York slugger.The Yankee owners paid$600，000 for the Bronx lot in 1921 and spent$2.5 million to construct the edifice，which seated 63，000.That same year，New York'sWest Side Tennis Club built a 14，000-seat facility to host the U.S.Open.The Rose Bow l7，in California，had been builta year earlier ata costof only$325，000，with a seating capacity ofmore than 52，000，and itwas later enlarged to hold 100，000.
Organizersmade headway in this regard after the war，as indicated by the organization in 1946 of a second professional football league，known as the All-America Football Conference.The pro football rivalry lasted for four years，until the best AAFC franchisesmerged with the NFL in 1949.College basketballwas still centered in New York City，but professional circuits expanded in the Midwest，and the best of the Eastern and Midwestern pro teams formed the Basketball Association of America（BAA）in 1946.In 1949，the BAA and the NBLmerged to form the National Basketball Association（NBA）.With profits tied to gate receipts at larger arenas，most small towns could not compete with large cities，forcing their teams to drop outof the league ormove to bigger urban areas.The merger had produced a 17-team league with three divisions，but by 1954 only eight franchises remained.The NBA began drafting African American players in 1950，amove thateventually forced the Harlem G lobetrotters8 to seek new sources of profit by extending their barn-storming tours beyond American borders.
In recent decades，the interest in sport and the amount ofmoney involved has exploded.Whereas in 1992 the total revenue of the MLB was$1.2 billion，in 2007 the revenue figures rose 350 percent to around$5.7 billion.In the same year，the NFL had revenue of$6.3 billion.At the same time，sport business has received increasing public attention，not only the revenue but also the breathtaking salaries of top players，the high engagement of cities（e.g.in the stadia）and especially themanymillion-dollar sales of teams have caused discussion and concerns among themedia and also themainstream population.The rise of Super Bowl is an excellent example of how the alliance between entertainment，business，and sports and the connection between football，media，and markets function.The advertisement industry，knowing the large interest of huge audiences and their orientation towards consumption，uses the Super Bowl as an arena for the presentation of various products—despites the astronomical process for a commercial.In 2004，a thirty-second time slot cost$2.3 million.
Although the salaries of players，coaches，and officials are discussed in themedia，Americans do not seem to be annoyed about the huge differences between the players'and their own income；at least，nobody abstains from watching sports and games.Especially the big three，football，baseball，and basketball，are the“moneymachines”for all the groups，players，coaches，and owners involved.The largest salary in 2006 was given to Bud Selig，as NFL commissioner，with$14.5 million per year，followed by Paul Tagliabue at his peak as NFL commissioner in 2003 with$10.3 million.In American football，the average salaries of the players rose from$47，500 in 1976 to$1.1 million，and in major league baseball athletes'earning grew from $76，000 to$2.1 million.In order to cope with the wage burden，clubs and their owner companies are on the constant outlook for new revenue streams，markets，customers，and partnerships.The revenues for teams and leagues come，to a high degree，from the TV rights described above：60 percent of the joint representation of NFL games，and one-third of the revenues for baseball and basketball games.
The Super Bowl is played in alternating cities，which all aim at increasing their prestige，intensifying the identification of their inhabitantswith the city，and to boost tourism.Last but not least，the Super Bowl offers a stage for stars and starlets，but also for politicianswho try to partake in the charisma of the game and to present theirmessages，especially patriotism.The Super Bowlwas invented and created exclusively out of business interests and developed into“big business，”wherebymedia weremedia to“hype”the eventwith analysis，speculation，player interviews，and descriptions.