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Power is the capacity of other individuals to exert their will over other, as it is the ability to make things happen, overcoming potential resistance so that they are able to achieve the desired results. The people or group of individuals seek to influence the thoughts, behaviors as well as the attitudes of another group to which they aimed to exercise their power. Sports is one of the fields that have recently attracted billions of interested parties and therefore, opportunists have identified a gap unto which they have begun to exploit so that they are able to earn large margins of profit. Commercialization of sports refers to the aspect of sports enterprise to which involves the sale, display as well as the use of sports or even some aspects of sports with the aim of generating income.
Commercialization of Sports
Sports commercialization has taken root in most parts of the world. Currently, more advertisements on the media are related to promotion of sports, and it is therefore with no doubt that sports have gained power and has continued the influence the minds of the people all over the globe. Various sporting activities can be seen being on promotion on a daily basis such as the cricket, soccer, handball, rugby and event athletics. Athletics and soccer are among the top commercialized in the fields of sports with each news headline featuring either a bulleting on soccer results and fixtures or an organized athletic event.
The commercialization of sports has numerous advantages although all the advantages are aimed at increasing the revenue obtained at the event. One of the benefits of sports commercialization is exposure to a broader width. Commercialization is all about media exposure for the sport that is targeted to be of benefit. In the event that a major company sponsors an event, it is much likely to get the sporting event attaining prime television coverage, and this brings in greater advertising revenues as well as exposing more people to sports. By commercializing the event, more fans are brought in, improving the profitability of local sports clubs and to which in turn aid the local economy as well as revives the community’s spirit especially when the team is in a better performance.
Commercialization of sports increases the participation as the increased exposure of the sporting event comes with an increase in attendance. One such example is when the national team does well at the competitions, it will definitely uplift the morale of junior participants such as children with the aim of performing the same as the national team. The commercialization of sports leads to increased exposure, encouraging children to get more exercise while at the same time reducing the chances of obesity. Besides, the commercialization of sports assist the young people in identifying their hobbies and to which helps them get out of the streets thus discouraging criminality.
The main aim of a business is to make profits and at the same time sustain and expand its market. Similarly, the sports team have a similar mindset and therefore the need for sports commercialization is to make profits and at the same time be able to run their daily activities such as paying the players. One of such commercialized sports is soccer, especially in the European regions where soccer is well paying with several examples of the LaLiga, Bundesliga as well as the English Premier League (Johnston, 2015). These are among the most commercialized events in the sporting industry and commands billions of fans around the globe. Having such a large number of following, the European football is significant in various ways such as bring people together and thereby promoting peace and cohesion. The Fifa World Cup is another event that occurs once in a period of four years, and to which is greatly commercialized, billions of fans from all over the world congregate in support of their teams promoting patriotism and at the same time promoting interactions among the people. It is undeniable that such a greatly commercialized event guarantees a good lump sum to which is used in maintenance and paying the players while at the same time used in development purposes aiding in economic development.
Sports and politics
Previously, sports used to be simple where people went for games and played only to have fun and to be entertained, but the trend didn’t last for long as the purpose of sports have continued to expand including various dynamics and crossing other borders that were previously had to be achieved. One of such boundaries includes the political field where it was previously a taboo for sports to be incorporated in sports due to its dirty nature. However, the need for sports in politics in the current generation has widened due to the increased urge to open up the nations’ borders and therefore have been used for diplomatic reasons. Most of the sporting activities that are commonly used include athletics and soccer, and they have consequently been used to promote the nation’s agenda during such events.
Every level of sports ranging from the local leagues to the pros, have become large businesses that generate large amounts of money and as well has had massive influence. In the field of sports, heroes are produced and to whom are discussed around the dinner tables, in nearly every part of the country and globe, searing fervor otherwise saved for debating politics. In the Olympic world, sports assist the nations with credibility and as well can spark international conflict. There might be better or bad reasons to which the world of sports is bigger and at the same time more powerful with the athletes and soccer players wielding more and more influence over the cultures and politics as well.
Sports can be used to push political agendas though most of the time indirectly. Mostly politics and sports are connected especially in promoting peace or during the opening of the government projects but sports in the present century has preceded such and has been used to fight for larger issues such as racism as athletes stand firm in solidarity against a certain behavior. When the top athletes talk, most of the public gives an ear to them, and this is because they command a large crowd due to their influence and at most accessions have more power than the politicians. Sports have been used to promote political issues such as oppression and one of such times is that when the University of Missouri’s football team went on strike to protest the way the university handled the racial tensions in the campus and it led to the ouster of the university president (Fortunato, Gigliotti & Ruben, 2017). In another occasion, when several members of St. Louis Rams made a “Hands up, don’t shoot” gesture to show their solidarity with people protesting the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson where a lot of internet talks were spread.
Sports and politics have been inseparable as most of the agendas are either advocated by the players and athletes or are passed by politicians during these sporting events. Sports have the privilege of commanding thousands of followers, some of which most of the politicians are unable and therefore to take advantage, the politicians use such occasions only to identify with the teams to get fame or so that they are given a chance to talk to the massive crowds. Sports have been used in politics as a means of promoting diplomacy among nations especially the world cup and other games such as the Olympics. The countries take advantage of these sporting events to push their agendas and therefore it is undeniably true that politics and sports are inseparable.
Reference
Fortunato, J. A., Gigliotti, R. A., & Ruben, B. D. (2017). Racial incidents at the University of Missouri: The value of leadership communication and stakeholder relationships. International Journal of Business Communication, 54(2), 199-209.
Johnston, A. (2015). HAS FOREIGN INVESTMENT AND COMMERCIALISATION OF THE PREMIER LEAGUE LED TO A DECLINE IN ENGLAND’S INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE? (Doctoral dissertation, Cardiff Metropolitan University).
