S/MD/29. Discuss how and why sport has come under the control of the media

The world of sports in the age of mass media has been transformed from Nineteenth Century amateur recreation participation, to late Twentieth Century spectator cantered technology and business. The importance of mediated sports today is evident in both their scale and intensity. The huge amount of media sport appears in audience sizes of many millions for televised sporting events and media contracts for billions of pounds. This intensity of involvement with media sports, has transformed individuals into becoming totally absorbed in mediated sporting events, arranging personal schedules around sporting occasions and integrating relationships and ritual activities into the obsession with sport.