2025/04/14 by Jennifer M. Proffitt · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Digital Games and Media #Sport and Mega-Event Impacts #Sports, Gender, and Society
paper · doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.1548
openalex publication_date 2025/04/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/05
Abstract Political economy of media is an important and appropriate approach to studying the symbiotic relationship between sports and sports media. Political economy focuses on how the interconnections between wealth and power affect the structure, content, access, and consumption of the media and sports industries. Economic practices, such as conglomeration, horizontal and vertical integration, and globalization, along with state interventions contribute to the concentration of media ownership, which has effects on which sports are covered, how, and by whom. A handful of large media and big tech corporations dominate the sports media industry due to their ability to pay exorbitant media rights deals that allow them to profit from sports, often to the detriment of fans and players. To pay for these rights, the commercialization of sport becomes even more significant, as advertising and sponsorship costs are vital revenue sources, so innovative and often more intrusive advertising, although more effective for brands, can affect how fans consume sports and how sports are played. Thus, the commodification and mediatization of sport have changed the nature and value of sport and how fans interact with and think about professional and amateur sports. While there has been much discussion about competition between the different players in the sports media industry in terms of the fight for media rights and advertising dollars as well as between traditional television and streaming services, it is clear that the corporations involved are more rivals and collaborators than competitors as they work together in joint ventures and other practices that maintain the system rather than destabilizing it, as true competition would do. While there may be relatively new entities in the sports media industry such as Amazon, Apple TV, and Netflix, these well-established and deep-pocketed tech and streaming corporations have the wealth to be able to challenge traditional media conglomerates like Disney and Comcast Corporation for streaming rights, especially because they have larger and global subscriber bases. The shift in market players may be disrupting traditional television and cable systems, especially as an increasing number of consumers are cutting the cord and moving to streaming, but the same business practices, such as the reliance on advertising for revenues, mean much of the same.