Commercialisation of Sport Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Commercialisation of Sport - Essay Example From the local levels, individuals are competitively seeking to attain professional status to gain from the lucrative industry, whereas others are striving to build competitive teams to benefit from the lucrative sport industry as well. The gains attained, or profits generated are dependent on the situation of the team, the better teams are relatively poised to benefit most from lucrative deals (Howe, 2004: 49). This is based on the assumption that these better teams attract bigger audiences as opposed to dismally performing teams. This accords the team’s sponsors a bigger market to appeal to and helps in creating a global image which is not easy to achieve in the ever competitive corporate world. Besides, the teams themselves have slowly revolutionalised their settings as they also want to be seen as global brands. Sports commercialization has paved way for multiple challenges, mostly legal challenges as these new trends have to ascribe to set rules and regulations. This is e xplained by the multiple legal cases bordering on sports that have found their way to courts especially the European Court of Justice. This study implores on the process of sports commercialization, it also examines and represents the role government play in the sport business. Role and Development of Sports Historically, sports had been viewed as a social activity whose ownership mainly lay under private companies or mutual associations (NEBRASKA, BAHLS, & PETERSON, 1978). The ownerships would oversee progress and participate in awarding competitive athletes for their role in delivering a sporting†product†. In doing so, they participated in creating a competitive platform for sports that was governed differently from the normal approaches adopted in running of businesses (Whannel, 2008:240). Sports associations or clubs did not seek to profit maximize and did not affiliate themselves with the â€Å"entertainment business†, this is irrespective of their roles as e ntertainers through different sporting competitions. The main focus of these clubs and associations was to achieve success on the sporting field, irrespective of the professional game they participated in. For the better part of the century sporting took this compassionate business approach. Despite many of the sporting clubs having huge financial burdens the stakes at the time were still low and this ensured that the sporting activities took on a rather predictable course (Maguire et al, 2002:126). However, this situation was not to persist for long as wide spread changes in the past two decades distorted this sporting setting, and the benign sporting culture. The new situation came along with worrying trends which since the turn of the millennium have brought forth questions on the very role of professional sports, especially in Europe (Fort, 2004). These concerns were echoed by the current UEFA chief, Michel Plattini, who feared that current sporting trends were first contributin g to the erosion of the fundamental purposes of sports. Sports, he said, has always been a strong catalyst for social and cultural integration, he feared that emphasis on the economic aspect of sports would inevitably lead to extinction of these two crucial elements of sport (Hudson, 2012:2). Further, extinction of the social and cultural role of sporting would upset the relationship that exists between sport and society. Concerns