Role of Fandom in sports Throughout history and modern times. Thesis by Jiří Jánočko

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1 Role of Fandom in sports Throughout history and modern times Thesis by Jiří Jánočko Submitted in partial fulfillment Of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts In Communication and Mass Media State University of New York Empire State College 2016 Reader : Todd Nesbitt

2 Acknowledgement : I want to thank my mum mostly as she was the one always pushing me and supporting me throughout university years and being able to get to this point and about to graduate. I also want to thank my big brother Martin that was watching over me, pushing me and making sure i keep hustling. Also I would like to thank all my teachers it must not been easy with me always but thank to your guidance being able to finish this....van Wilder OUT!

3 Table of Content : Introduction :Page 5-7 Chapter 1 :Fandom In Ancient Times : Page Fandom In Ancient Greece : Page Fandom In Ancient Rome : Page Fandom In Nazi Germany : Page 13 Chapter 2 :Rise of radio and Television and its impact on fandom: Page The rise of Radio : Page The role of Television : Page 22 Chapter 3 : Digital media and its effect on fandom: Page Convenience : Page Participation of the audience : Page Sports figures as celebrities : Page 33 Chapter 4 : The sociological aspects for fans interest in sport : Connection and Identity : Page Narratives in sports fandom : Page 38 Conclusion : Page 41-46

4 Abstract : This Thesis discusses the role of fandom in sports throughout history and modern times. The three historical eras that are looked at are the times of Ancient Greek Olympic games, the times of roman gladiators and at the Nazi Olympics in By viewing the role that sports had on the societies throughout years we can see the importance it played in many people's lives. After this the paper looks at the different technological inventions such as radio and TV and how it helped to popularize sports globally, and in the end see how the new digital media keeps changing the shape how people view sports. Sports have been used as a powerful tool by governments and countries since the ancient times and it still has the same use as it had all those hundredths years ago. Professional Sports bring a unique kind of entertainment for the viewers as it's like going to theatre to see a play but without knowing the outcome of the story. Sports evoke so many emotions in people from happiness, sadness being proud and mostly it creates bond between people that these sporting event creates. It's important for us to understand the origins of this phenomenon of sports fans and this paper will touch on all those different areas.

5 Introduction In Ancient times sports became a form of competition in physical activity or in games of similar nature. These sports first took form of casual entertainment to improve the physical abilities of the participants. In most of these sports there were always certain rules by which one can achieve the victory. One of the first recorded professional sports events in our history are the Ancient Greek Olympic Games that happened in 776BC. These Olympic games served as to honor the god of thunder Zeus. These games served as a place for equal competition for the surrounding nations that were during the times of war. During the period of the games there was a Olympic truce which meant that the fights have been stalled during the time of the games as not to anger Zeus. These games served as platform for the athletes from their nations to gain the graces of gods for their nations and become heroes in the eyes of their people. This was the first time that masses of people gathered to observe athletes perform and root for them. When we move further down the history another big events in sports history were the Gladiator games in Ancient Rome that started in 1st century BC. During that time the role of the athletes changed but also the role of the passive viewers changed. These fights were put on to entertain the poor masses and to be used as distraction by the rich and to keep the peasants happy and entertained. At the time the emergence of teams and rich owners owning teams and stables of athletes that represented them and their 5

6 colors. This was the first time that people aligned themselves with different athletes and supported them during the fights. These fighters gave the people hope, that by fighting hard you can achieve greatness even at those times, but mostly it kept them entertained as these masses gathered in massive coliseums to watch these fighters fight to the death. While throughout history sports were often used as distractions by the government to keep people happy that has changed drastically now. With the emergence of mass media such as radio, printed media and TV the perception of sports has changed. While in ancient times only way to see sports was to go watch them live in person, with the rise of all these different medias it became much easier to observe these events and to get invested in watching them. While even in one of the first news papers there always were sports sections that were reporting on the events as it became clear people are interested in watching sports and emerging themselves in it. Radio brought us the first live sports cast that was reporting the events that were happening at the time on the field. This already brought even more people interested in sports as they could even listen to the sports but the TV was really a game changer. With televisions came live casts of sports games that quickly turned into one of the most watched things on the television. Even today the single most watched TV program in United States is the Super Bowl every single year. Live sports casts suddenly brought in the general public and whole mass audience as during big sporting events or international matches sports fans or not turned in to watch the event and support their nations athletes. Suddenly the public was closer than ever to all these athletes and sports and became more immersed in the world, and it became larger part of life of many people today. 6

7 Today with internet the obsession with athletes and following sports is even bigger than ever. You can follow your favorite athlete or team on Facebook, Twitter, their WebPages or anywhere on internet, and this gives these athletes a huge super star like status. Now more than ever athletes are taken as a huge celebrities that are followed by millions of fans all around the world as the way for them to connect with any fan over the world is now easier than ever. These stars then are not only seen in sports as they became large part of the popular culture. You can see them in commercials, TV shows, being written about all the time and often not because of the regard to their performance. We put athletes today on pedestals because as kids we are taught to look up to these athletes as role models because of their performances on the field but while we grow up we become more interested in them whole as objects. This paper will discuss the sociological effects of sports, specifically it will examine the role of audience or fans. It is important for us to realize the role that the sports play in our everyday lives, as we can see that throughout the history sporting events were a way to get citizens occupied and to give them a place to look for idols and to cheer for someone. For us to be able to understand the evolution of the role of the fandom throughout history we will look into the role that sports formerly had in society and how fandom has changed. The question this thesis will answer is what the appeal of sport has been to people and the reasons for fans and fandom to exist over time. It will attempt to predict the future role of fandom in sports and society. 7

8 Chapter 1 Fandom in Ancient Times 1.1 Fandom in Ancient Greece For the first case of fandom in history we can look to Ancient Greece and the Olympic Games that they held every four years from 776 BC all the way through till 394 AD when the emperor Theodosius canceled them. As Judith Swaddling explains in her work there were many ways that the citizens at the time were affected and how this was the birth of arena sized sports competitions that gave birth to the first fans as they were thousands of people watching live and celebrating their athletes. As mentioned in her paper it was a tradition that during the times of the Olympic Games there was called a Olympic truce between the competing nations, as these games were in celebration of the Greek god Zeus so no blood was to be spilled during the times of competition. By winning these competitions the athletes and the nations that were represented by them were suppose to be blessed by the Zeus which could be explained as origin to the tribalism that we see in sports fans even in modern times. The fact that suddenly common citizens were rooting for these athletes it created a sense of community as these people gathered around to cheer onto these strangers. During the times of war and distress this time of peace was a good way for people to become fans as it was another escape from the realities of the normal life. This is parallel to what we can see even today as sports fan use sports as escape of the reality and to feel like part 8

9 of something bigger and more important(swaddling, p-8). As it was during the times of the Ancient Olympic Games the winners of the athletic events were lauded as heroes it created environment where a large amount of people could gather behind them and feel like they were part of the victory. This is a reason that many people become fans even now as to feel like they are part of the team they support and to share the spoils when the victory arrives. This creates environment where the people of the nations that won feel sense of entitlement and pride above the competing nations and to be able to declare themselves as better nation. As the athletes were all representing their nation the fan fascination began with the fact you wasn't only supporting one athlete but as he was the one representing their nation; which gave birth to international competition which makes fans even of people that would normally be interested in sports. This is a phenomena that can be seen even today during major sports events as Olympics or football or hockey world championships. During that time it's as if the whole country discusses the athletes and their performances and gather together as one to cheer and celebrate these athletes. We can even see through historical recordings that the role of these games were immense for these nations involved. There was pressure for the athletes to win so much as the history books would not record a Greek that even took second place. The athletes that won multiple events or won in successive Olympics would not only be praised but their names would be inscribed on temples in their home cities and statues would be build of them. (Mandell,1987,p.4). This national and local creation of heroes and building them statues as was only previously build for gods started the fascination about the athletes and about the values they represent. These athletes then are suppose 9

10 to represent the values of the nations, their grit, their hard work and to represent the best of their nations citizens, and the way the Greeks represented their victors in statues was the idealized as illustration of physical and spiritual harmonies(mandell,1987,p7). Throughout history we see many instances where sporting events were used as a tools of propaganda as this power that sports have of nations can be used as a tool for a political agenda. 1.2 Fandom in Ancient Rome The next era to look at is the era of Gladiators in ancient Rome that lasted nearly thousand years from the 1st century BC till late 6th century AD. This era is important for us in understanding the role that fandom has on people as it brought into picture two big topics onto the picture that would bring in more fans; which is the violence aspect to the sport and how the use of arenas helped created the theatre like entertainment experience. As Roger Dunkle wrote in his book gladiator fights started as a form of munus which is the Latin word for duty or gift as a form of celebration after funerals. These men were chosen amongst citizen to perform for the dead and celebrating them by putting on a spectacle. These gladiators were chosen to put on a show to the masses and where better to do it than in arenas where only theater was taken place before. As much as it started as a celebration for the dead it turn on life of its own as the gladiator shows became a violent spectacle for the masses that was used a tool for 10

11 politicians to get power. The fandom here could be seen as people started to cheer for their favorite gladiators or even stables of fighters that belonged to different high class members. This can be viewed as first time that masses would go watch these competitions live to these arenas that could fit up to 40 thousand spectators on regular basis which paved the way how millions of fans around world go even today to the stadiums to witness their favorite athletes performing live. It became a routine for people during that time to go to the arenas to view all the different events and cheer on for their favorite fighters. Big theme that was raised during that time was the effect that violence has on bringing fans to sports competition. As gladiator fights were violent to the death duels it was a thrill for the people to go see it. The violence is a theme in sports fans appeal that will be discussed in more detail later in this paper and while today the thrill seekers can be fans of boxers or MMA fighters during that time in Rome when you as fan wanted to experience a competition that included violence between the contestants going to see the fights was a special event that was celebrating the raw power of these fighters. There is something about seeing two warriors face each other in an arena and fight to death which brought in tension, gore and spectacle to the lives of common people of ancient Rome. Here can be seen the difference that sports took here than opposite the Olympic Games as the Romans gladiators were separated more from the public as they knew they were entertainers rather than athletes ( Mandell, 1986,p.9). 11

12 This entertainment aspect brought onto by Romans can be seen as one of the biggest reasons for fandom and general fascination with athletes as in the end we take sports as entertainment. There is a saying that going to stadium to watch match is like going to theatre without knowing the outcome of the story. During the gladiator fights the showmanship of athletes started to show more and more as the bigger show they put on the more cheers they got(mandell,1986, p.13). Even thou their shows had brutal endings they knew that showmanship was important for the crowd as in the end they knew they were doing this for them, the fans. The fact that the government was sponsoring these events and the fact that many politicians were sponsoring their own gladiator rings during that time they knew that the violence was one of the big pulls for them. This violent entertainment was perfect for the low class as it was simple brutal experience while many high ranked officials and thinkers off that time refused to participate in viewing this as the intellectuals took this as low brand of entertainment ( Dunkle,2008, Ch1 ). This is in parallel how often violent sports even now attract the simple minded and lower class as it is simple form of entertainment that involves adrenaline and action all put in one. The acceptance and even pleasure in watching this lethal violence is described by Hannah Arendt's thesis about normality of evil as a banality(dunkle, 2008,p.86). She explains that brutality of the games don't express the brutality of civilization but rather a social truth of the time which was that violence is ultimately a part of every day. Her idea explains well why fans are attracted to violent sports as they want a outlet where 12

13 they can view a certain level of violence that is appropriate in the society. As during the times of Ancient Rome lethal fights would satisfy the fans need for visual gore or representations in today's era we have other forms of entertainment such as movies or video games to represent these violent fantasies while the socially acceptable forms are boxing or other fighting sports. Ancient Rome is the birthplace of the first grand sports events that are spoken off even centuries after happening such as the Maxximus gladiator event he put on after death of his wife that was written about throughout the ages and is spoken of as one of the biggest spectacles of the arenas history(dunkle,2008,p.96). This aura surrounding the origins of this transformed into today that every final or big game is represented as biggest event of the athletes lives or the town's biggest achievement and this can all be pointed as starting in Ancient Rome as this essence of trying to put on the best spectacle possible for the fans and to create a special moment for all those fans to cherish and to discuss for future times to come. 1.3 Fandom in Nazi Germany Next historical era that is important to look at in the context of the role of fandom is the year 1936 during which the Olympic games were taking place in the Nazi Germany. As during these Olympics it was only quite recent that the Nazi party got the power in Germany and Joseph Goebbels who was one of the highest officers, minister of propaganda and one of the closest advisors to Hitler understood that having power was 13

14 only half the problem,you also had to win the hearts of the people, and sports was one of the ways to achieve this (Kruger-Murray,2003,p.20). Because Goebbels understood what power sports could have on people he used it to control the thinking of the people, insisting on mass participations of them as to show the unity and power of the new political system. He understood that sports create sense of self-sacrifice, of courage while displaying the elitism and elite physical traits that the nation was trying to represent (Kruger-Murray,2003,p.22). These are the core reasons why people become fans, why they are interested in sports as they represent values they believe in and which they cherish and praise. This elitism especially is a factor that is manifested throughout the times as people always want to see the best perform against each other to determine the real champions among us. At the time the president of American Olympic Committee Avery Brundage stated The very foundation of the modern Olympic revival will be undermined if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class, creed, or race (Mandell, 1986, p.120). He was at the time very vocal about questioning the morality of supporting Olympic games that were being hosted by the Nazi regime and specifically about the treatment of the Jewish athletes. What these games brought were lot of controversies as the values that Olympic sports were meant to represent were in danger while being held by the evil regime. He was not the only outspoken about this issue and many were calling for the movement of Olympic games into another country, but after the inspection of the sporting facilities in Germany there was proof that the 14

15 Jewish athletes were treated fairly. Goebbels understood that for the propaganda to work they would have to abide to all the regulations as to not rise any suspicions at the time. As event such as Olympic games are such a global event that is watched by millions the discussions around the world was raging about how these games should be treated and how the political system could affect them. Many politicians at the time didn't want to comment on the issue as not to create negative atmosphere, such as American president Franklin D. Roosevelt which despite warnings that the Nazi regimes was using these games as tools for propaganda decided not to involve himself in the issue as the Olympic committee wasn't under presidential influence (Mandell, 1986, p.128). These politicians understood that it was not a good time to create tensions between nations during the time of the games which were suppose to represent the exact opposite of that. This massive global appeal of Olympics was the way that the Nazi propaganda could be shown globally and be seen by all those fans watching. The global outreach of sporting events such Olympic games or football World Cups and similar event is one of the reasons that during that time it could been used for propaganda while now this global outreach is used by advertisers and marketers to access us the fans, in similar fashion they did during the 1936 Olympics. There were some boycotts that came to life across the Europe mainly throughout France, Sweden, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Czechoslovakia that were calling for not attending the games and instead to create peoples Olympiad that was supposed 15

16 to be hosted in Barcelona but because of the Civil war that broke out in Spain at the time was canceled (Kruger-Murray,2003,p.159). These nations were worried about the dealings of the Nazi regime but ultimately didn't want their athletes to lose out on a chance to compete in these historic games in a chance to gain glory while at it maybe also defeat the German athletes at their own turf. Ultimately it was on the individual athletes to decide if they wanted to participate or not. While most accepted there was large number of Jewish athletes that decided to boycott the games in fear of their safety and as statement against the treatment of Jewish people else. The global outreach of these games was massive. As Germany wanted to make sure to make better Olympic games than the previous ones that were held in Los Angeles they built a 100,000 seat track stadium and mostly they were the first games that were televised and radio broadcast to 41 countries ( Kruger- Murray, 2003, p.165). This put up with the success of the German athletes that won most medals overall(89) and most gold medals (33) was taken as success to the Reich as the image of steel efficient nations full of superior individuals was the way that the Goebbels wished for these games to go. The German fans were ecstatic of these historical victories and the regime was satisfied as it helped to create even stronger image for the Nazi party as the truly superior nation at the time created by efficiency. Even during later years Germany kept using sports as very efficient tool of propaganda as they believed the role sports could have on people and found a way how to use it as a powerful tool in strengthening their regime. 16

17 But why is it important to look at the history of public and sports? Because as with any kind of history we can learn from it and understand many different aspects and appeals that it can have on people. Sport is one of the oldest traditions of our recorded history and there is a reason for it, as people always seek outlet either physical or as passive viewer observing them. Sports create situation where there is a chance for victory equal for both sides that is determined by the performance of the competing parties. It supports physical excellence and superiority amongst your peers and rewards success in those areas. History also teaches us that not only the athletes are important but mostly it is meant for audience viewing as in the end in a way it is a sort of entertainment and us the people, the fans are one of the reasons sports are being played. Sports throughout history were used mostly as propaganda tools for the regimes at the times to help support their areas and to give some form of entertainment to the public. While today the propaganda aspect is not seen as prominently in global sports the praising of athletes and religious like support of certain teams or athletes can be seen strongly in today's world. 17

18 Chapter 2 Rise of Radio and Television and its impacts on fandom One of the main reasons that can be accredited towards today's sport obsession and fan support can be seen by the rise of two biggest mass mediums of past decade, which are the radio and televisions. In this chapter we will examine radio and TV in order to understand the rise of fandom as global phenomenon. As we can seen throughout history the only way for people to observe sports were to go and watch them live in the places where these events were being held at the time. While during those times that was the only way to watch it, and you only heard about victories of athletes from another countries by word of mouth and myths these two inventions were crucial in the star rise of professional sports and would change the way we perceive and consume sports forever. These two medias were crucial in the rise of popularity of sports and establishing as one of the prime time entertainment events. Before 1920s sports results would be often only published in news papers and often many days later which didn't really create content that would get the public interested in it much unless you were directly involved with the sports, but what these two mediums done for the field can't be denied as they were able to deliver live sporting events to the mass public and anyone with radio or television anywhere around the nation. Radio and television allows people from different cities, across globes forming tight, long lasting bonds with athletes and teams that allows them to cheer on them anywhere in the world and makes us feel as if we are somehow connected to them. 18

19 2.1 The Rise of Radio For the first signs of radio broadcast we can look into the 1920 United States during which time the first radio broadcasts started launching around the nation and quickly became a massive hit. Radios success can be accredited for it being a product of mass market as the large demand by the customers made it such a powerful medium for years to come. Just since its mass release launch in 1920, over 60 percent of American families owned a radio by 1930 (Himes, 2002,p.23). Listening to radio became a everyday thing for the people and they gathered at homes to listen in the evening to the broadcasts at the time. While even during the 1920s over 600 stations were broadcasting at the time which were all competing for the listeners and to gather audiences. Most of the programs at the time were usually only spoken word ones or news reports and that's why all these competing radio stations became a search for diversification in their programming(lenthall,1992,p.15). This is where the symbiotic relationship and sudden rise between sports and radio happened. While the radio stations were searching for new exciting content it was right under their noses and it took them some time to realize. The following success that sports broadcasts would have couldn't been predicted, but what in few years one broadcast of college football game did changed the industry and the role it would have on society. Before the mentioned college football game there was one instance of sports appearing on the air and that was a broadcast five months after the launch of radio in 1920 which was a blow-by-blow report on Johnny Ray-Johnny Dundee prime boxing cup ( Smith 19

20 ,2001).This was the first recorded sports even in radio history and the success it had was trying to be recreated by the future broadcasts. While it took almost a decade to kick off, during the 1921 the broadcasting of backyard bowl which featured West Virginia University and University of Pittsburg football teams. While during the decade before college football broadcasts were usually just aired locally in towns or states only, this was first national wide live sports broadcasts and with that came many changes. While before the audiences were small with national broadcast it showed the potential of success which quickly followed and as Smith (2001) states Radio had made itself part of the nationalization of football, by making interregional competition immediately available to masses through airways (p17) which shows us that the demand for watching teams compete anywhere, at any time was one of the reasons for rise of sports fans and interest in following sporting contents. At the time radio has strongest impact on sports and the audience. It was broadcasting college and professional sports to athletics, boxing and car racing. One of the biggest appeals and strengths of radio were that there was a connection between the broadcaster and the audience. While watching television we seen what is happening, while with radio we are listening and we are painting a picture in our head and it creates a more intimate feeling for us as audience. We are pulled in by the words and the emotions that these broadcasters deliver and they try to create atmosphere where we feel like we are at the stadium watching with them(smith, 2001, p.56). This was a very valuable entertainment tool and one of the reasons that people became fans as they felt that they were part of the action. Another big strengths and reasons that both radio and sports exploded so much was the reason that no other medium could match its ability to be 20

21 watched or listened to anywhere ( in car, at work, at store ) while others at the time as television required you to assemble at certain place. The impact of the outreach of radio can't be denied even today as studies shown that radio is still even today leading platform in reaching end customers. We listen even today to radio on way to work in a car, in a store in some random place and we consume this medium during most of our lives even without actively seeking it. This outreach allowed for sports fans to rise all around nation to listen to broadcasts during match days and follow and support their favorite teams even without the need for travel. While team owners were worried and were against the rise of broadcasting of the games as they were worried that it would hurt the attendance. While in States mostly the teams from the New York market such as Yankees, Giants and Dodgers didn't allow till 1938 for broadcasts of their games due to being worried about filling seats, it proved otherwise as attendance rose, while the general interest in the teams increased and the large demand for team related merchandise started after(belanger,2004, p.6). What this success has brought was the recognition of sports as one of the most sought after entertainment fields and the demand of public for more content. People started to seek more and more content and were the ones that started the trend of modern sports fans and the close following of athletes and teams while the teams and radio stations used it as a powerful tool for advertisement. While the first nationally broadcast sports events had advertising, they became integral parts of this field as the owners and stations understood that the audience numbers that 21

22 these events were pulling allowed them to use it for advertising. The commercialism of sports has only continued on during the following years as sports became a big part of modern pop culture, while large amounts of money started being invested in the field as the media understood that people became fans and became invested in that and they were willing to invest their own money into it. But what these fans invest wasn't only their money or time they invested feelings in these teams. During the 1930s broadcasts of Boston Red Sox games whole city used to gather at common places to listen on and to cheer on their team(brown,1998,p50). These fans were cheering on as a whole city rooting for their team that was representing the rough and gritty nature of the locals and this unity in supporting their local teams created a strong bonds between the cities and locals as it allowed for their cities be represented and compete against others. One of the aspects this brought was the rivalry between cities and individuals professional sports brought as it gave the locals a way to support their town against heated rival town ( In States best example any major league teams from Boston vs New York teams) which supports a friendly and fair competition between them. This patriotism aspect will be discussed more in depth in next chapter. 2.2 The role of Television While in the 30s the radios popularity was exploding another medium came into spotlight and that was television. As first television sets were sold to public in 1928 in United States it wasn't long till its popularity became nationwide and the large customer base turned into it as their primary form of entertainment. While the programs in the 22

23 beginning were similar to those as radios in its first stages mostly news and spoken words were the primary form of entertainment it wasn't long till the networks realized that sports events resembled news programming on TV as they were being reported on as they were happening (MacDonald,1993,p.112). Because of this and because the networks found that the Americans were more interested in the sports rather than current events the networks decided to invest heavily into developing high quality sports programs. It's surprising that people didn't want to pursuit current events as they were often very bleak during the times and they rather sought after safe place and entertainment in following sports. This was one of the big reasons the sports industry became so big as it created a entertainment for the people that could distract them from everyday problems, just as in ancient Greece or Rome at the time but now because of the reach of these mediums it was put on much grander scale. People don't want to listen to all the bad stuff that is going on in the world and in their free time they often seek a distraction. Live sports create that kind of distraction and create different scenarios every time and that is one of its biggest values and allures. No other entertainment has a format where not one game has the same content and outcome is always different. There is saying that in sports on any given day anyone can beat anyone and that is the reason why people turn in to watch as they know anything can happen. What television offered was a visual content of these sporting events and you could now watch the athletes perform rather than just listen about it and hear scores. Now sports teams and athletes really got face to them that people could recognize and cheer for. The fact that people could watch these athletes compete anywhere without need to going to the stadium created environment where the athletes and teams were getting more 23

24 recognition as the performances could be seen and with it came more fame towards them. Kids could recognize the athletes they saw on television and seeing them perform made them to look up to them which creates young fans as they would then take these athletes as their role models. Just as with any famous actor or actress at the time the best athletes would become celebrities and one of the things about being celebrity is that you will have fans. Fans are interested in following their person of interest as they want to know more about them and want to support them in some form. What television did for the rise of sports fans is that it gave the perfect platform that allows them to follow these events and athletes on screen and it created one of the strongest branches of today's entertainment fields as major sports events are even today the most watched programs in the world ( eq. Super Bowl being annually most watched broadcast event in United States, and FIFA world cup final being the globally most watched event) There was another reason for rise of sports fans as television brought many different sports broadcasts ranging from team sports, athletics, tennis, boxing to racing or wrestling. While the first broadcast was just like radio ones a college football match in 1939 on NBC in United states it wasn't long till all these sports made it to the screens as one of the appeals for broadcasters was the cheap costs of production and fact of being able to fill it in as content during off broadcasting hours (MacDonald, 1993, p.115). This wide range of sports coverage meant that the interests of most sports fans would be satisfied in some way as each person could find a sport they are into and to follow it in some shape or form. This meant that the diversity of fans would been much greater as some sports such as tennis might been followed more by upper class while boxing was largely followed by the working class, and each group could find different sport to 24

25 watch that matches their values or interests. This meant that now sports weren't only taken as entertainment for the low class, a distraction to the masses but rather as a valuable form of entertainment for anyone. While in the early 1920 teams were worried that these new mediums would make them loose business it actually created the otherwise as now it gave them national coverage and allowed these teams and athletes into the peoples living rooms as to say so and to make the people feel like they were part of the moment as they were watching(macdonald, 1993, p.117). Sports advertising became norm as the broadcasters realized that exactly the target audience for their products were the adult males at the time and that allowed for these broadcasters to create more high quality sports content as it satisfied the customers and brought in lot of money throughout the advertising (MacDonald, 1993, p.117). This advertising money brought into the sports would impact that sports would have on the viewers as the money they invested heavily into advertising turned out into creating a multibillion dollar industry that it is today. It is important to realize just what kind of impact the advertising money had on the evolution of sports entertainment in the modern media. Because of the money advertisers paid, the broadcasters became to air even larger variety of sports that would create even more fans as larger variety became available to the masses. As professor MacDonald states, the target audience for marketers covered the adult male which made it attractive for the manufactures of beer, tobacco products and automobiles and that is why even in 1967 CBS had no problem selling minute of air time during national football game for 75,000 dollars which was even for that time quite large amount(1993,p.119). This proofs that the following of sports was very large since the explosion of these new mediums and that there was large 25

26 demand by the people for sports related content and because that it proved that there is large market gap. As much as we might dislike advertisers and advertisements today,we can't deny that because of their money and their influence sports wouldn't have been as big and influential as they are today. They allowed for creation of quality content based on the consumer demand, which ended up creating more interest in it and eventually to helping bring in fans as sports became integral part of the popular culture. One of the important aspects that television brought to sports industry and fans was the technology that it brought with itself. As broadcasters didn't just want to simply present the games as some kind of show they started implementing technology into the sports broadcast. The invention of instant replay or slow motion videos created unique content as the viewers could now enjoy the special moments like never before. This allowed for true enjoyment of the special moments of victories and became one of the reasons that there are many sports fans even today as often someone falls in love with certain sports after seeing special moment during a match, and now with video technology and instant replays even larger masses could instantly enjoy these moments of brilliance to be inspired upon. The biggest technological advancement that the television brought was that after launch of several communication satellites into space in 1960s there was a way for 1964 Olympics to be broadcasted all over the globe (MacDonald,1993,p.124). This globalization of broadcasting changed sports even more as now there was a large interest in international sports competition broadcasts all around the world.this could be attributed to the aspect of the different fans we can see in our society even today as there are the everyday sports fan that follow their own teams or athletes based on preferences while there arises many sports fans during international competitions as the 26

27 nationalistic pride takes over and you are drawn to watch your country compete against other nations. This worldwide airing of Olympic games in 1964 proved that when audience was presented with this content, even if they might not be fans of the sports, they tuned in large numbers to root for their nations. This patriotic feeling and sense of pride that supporting national teams brings is quite unique and is the reason why there is so many sports fans across the world as they might in fact just really be supporting their nation, and will be discussed in next chapter. One of the biggest effects that television had directly on sports is actually because of the demand of the fans for it. Because of the exposure that television broadcasts brought there was many changes in major league sports as in 1957 referees in the National Football League were allowed to call two commercial timeouts( one during first and one during third quarter ) that didn't exist in the sport before and were direct reason that advertisers were using the time to attract all the fans watching at the time(macdonald,1993,p.140). These specially dedicated commercial breaks are part of major league sports even today, and they bring the broadcasters more money to create more content, and even today the most expensive air time to air commercial is during NFLs super bowl half time. We can see here the power that the fans had as the audience here became the most important aspect as it was meant for their entertainment and became the target audience to satisfy while directly having effects on the actual sport. Another thing that changed was the other effects this television exposure had on the image of the athletes and teams. Before the national exposure the uniforms were baggy, the athletes dressed very leisure and didn't care about their appearances. But now it was important to present itself in good light as the public and the fans were watching and it 27

28 was important for the athletes to maintain good image to keep the audience and bring in the fans and viewers. The final impact that television had on the sports industry and fans was because of the way their programming scheduling worked at the time. Because of the fact that broadcasters at the time had quality programming for Friday and Saturday nights they dedicated Sundays and Mondays as days dedicated to sports broadcasts. These football Sundays actually became tied in the culture to watching football on the super Sunday that the broadcasters were promoting at the time and create a whole day where the sports fans could be immersed in the action(macdonald, 1993, p.142). In states this became such a part of popular culture that Sundays are always recognized as the football days all around the nation, and this is the kind of impact that the fans have as their behavior can become the norm. While the athletes at the time were complaining on changed schedules, the broadcasters realized that they need in to fill in their times and to deliver the events to audiences at their convenient times. This created a routine for the fans to follow and to know when they can watch their favorite athlete. While many say that today radio is dead and television is slowly dying because of all the new technological advances and internet, it is undeniable the crucial role that these two platforms played in creating such a powerful fan culture in our modern society. The global outreach helped integrating sports into our modern culture as it made it part of the pop culture. There is no denying that the audio and visual content that these two platforms provided was at the time unheard of, and allowed for sports to become 28

29 integral part of these entertainment industries which would end up creating many sports fans all around the globe. How many times do we hear stories when talking with someone about sports discussing some historic moment of match you have watched in the past, something that caught your attention or was the reasons why you fell in love with sports with. Television and radio brought in many fans just by being able to present the audience the spectacle that can be to their liking. These moments of glory are the reasons there are fans as they are able to witness the greatness and feel like they were part of it. 29

30 Chapter 3 Digital media and its effects on fandom 3.1 Convenience The Internet has transformed the concept of fandom, bringing the scope of it to entirely new level. With invention of internet came another big game changer to the industry as now the fans could seek their own requested content at any given time. Today we can see all around us people checking news scores on their phones, watching matches on their tables or laptops, or checking their favorite athletes facebook photos or twitter posts. The modern fan is surrounded exactly by the sports content he requires and seeks and has easy access to it anywhere and at any time. The convenience factor can be pointed to the larger amount of sports fans as now more than ever we can even watch online some under 16 tennis tournament that's taking place in Hungary or Australia. Whatever bizarre sport we might be interested in there is a way for us now to instantly get access to it and observe which allows for even larger fan base to arise. Important factor for the fans interest is also the fact that it is now more than ever easier to get more information and gossip about our favorite athletes because of all the technology and recording devices we are surrounded with. People like to observe others, and by observing athletes their obsession doesn't feel weird but they just as they are their fans. We can see even in pop culture you can mention name of Beckham, Messi or Ronaldo and even people that don't follow sports know who they are as they are huge celebrities 30

31 that have millions of fans and followers online. This shows what big effect fans have as their objects of praise become brands of themselves. Just to understand how fast the internet spread amongst the civilization can be seen by the official internet statistics by 480 percent to over two billion people in 2009, to over three billion users in 2015 and that is quite the coverage. Internet helps us to access any information or content at speed of click of a mouse, it cuts out the unrequited content and simply focuses at what that one unique person is searching for. We can divide the uses of internet into several branches for most search after forms of content online. While social communication and online video are the kings in online popularity, sports are one the main branches and sought after content ( Hutchins, 2012, p.4). Before with television holding all the rights for sporting events it meant that the broadcasting executives would decide what games would be shown and they were ultimately the ones that decided what content would get to the fans, while now its other way that the customer decide what content he wants because of the abilities to stream online from anywhere. Internet is a tool that allows the fan to be surrounded by information, clips and news about their favorite team at all the times and helps them establish the identity of a true passionate fan. And because of the short attention span of today's society the entertainment aspect of short sports videos we can find online is very valuable because it is creating and maintaining fans by the massive exposure they can get online and on social media. 31

32 3.2 Participation of the audience There are many technological advantages that internet brought that allowed to even more content for the fans to consume. These innovations included the ability for viewers to view and post comments and participate in real time discussion, advanced instant replay with many digital improvements to help with explanation of coaching and referring decisions, access to real-time statistics and updates on athletes injuries to behind the scene videos and interviews to the multi angle view on replays of the favorite moments ( Hutchins, 2012, p.75). These were just few of the many new innovations that internet brought for sports fan but it gave them a opportunity to communicate to each other before, during or after the event which could help gather the like minded fans and create stronger relationships to the teams because of the fact you can now easily communicate with like minded fans about your team and feel even more like part of the team as you discuss the sports with other likely minded people. Internet gave fans a powerful tool to them as fans with giving them voice on this platform where they could become an active viewer of the sport, not just passive consumer. This is important for the fans as it helps them with strengthening their fan identity by showing initiative in trying to be part of the team and part of the experience at least in some shape or form. With internets rise and its aligned rise of smart phone devices and tables the outreach is even larger as we can literally be surrounded by many different matches, statistics and reports all at same time just at the comfort of your own living room. There is a relationship between sports and all these different kind of screens we are surrounded 32

33 today whether it be television, laptop, tablet or mobile screen they each serve us for different purpose as they can be used for different kind of sports content ( Hitchins, 2012, p.76 ).This is then used by fans for their needs as they desire by themselves. While during the 1930s the norm might been to gather around a radio or television at set at home at the time and fully focus on that one match today the modern day fan will watch the game on his laptop or TV, while having the live-time statistics opened on the tablet and checking twitter during the game on comments about the game. We are now living in a world where we are constantly looking to be entertained at any second and that is why the presence of many screens plays important role in life of sports fan as it can help him feel more involved in the game and being able to observe every little detail about it. While this trend of staring at multiple screens at once isn't something that will go away soon as the technology is moving forward quite fast and peoples demand for more and easier acces will create more platforms for sports fans to become part of. While it might be not good trend for the society as whole, it is quite good for the sports fan as it creates even more diversify content that they might be interested in. There is no denying in saying that these devices are there to make our lives easier and to give us large access to different sort of entertainments and there are the perfect platform for fans to stay up to date with their admired athletes. 3.3 Sports figures as celebrities Social media are the last subjects of all the different mass medias that were discussed in this paper in relationship to their effects on sports and fans/fandom. Cambridge 33