contemporary issues

• Drugs and doping are major issues in the modern sporting world
• Supplements


  Legal substances used to enhance or moderate training performance, e.g. creatine, colostrum, vitamin/protein supplements
• Drugs/doping methods


  Illegal substances, e.g. steroids, narcotic analgesics, peptide hormones like EPO and HGH
• Illegal drugs/doping


  • Unregulated, may cause health issues, can lead to bans and punishments
• Win-at-all-costs mentality


  Hyper-competitive mindset that leads athletes to break rules and cheat to win
• Reasons athletes use illegal drugs/doping


  • Rewards, fame, and fortune
  • Pressure from coaches
  • Belief that "everyone else is doing it"
  • Psychological benefits
• Consequences of drugs/doping in sport


  Negative role modelling, sport loses respect and reputation, fewer people invest time in sport, loss of patriotism, national scandal, performers lose sponsors, get banned, lose respect
• Side effects of blood doping


  • Increased blood viscosity, pulmonary embolism, heart attack, stroke, infection from transfusion
• Strategies to reduce doping in sport


  1. More severe bans

  2. Educate about fairness

  3. Change the culture
• Commercialization has led to increased public interest, spectatorship, media coverage, and higher standards in sport
• Factors leading to commercialization of sport


  • More public interest
  • More spectatorship
  • More media coverage
  • Higher standards
  • Make it more entertaining
  • More advertising
  • More sponsorship
• The "golden triangle"


  The relationship between sport, media, and sponsorship that has driven commercialization
• Positive impacts of commercialization

  • Increased income from media companies
  • Greater capacity to invest in the future
  • Better sales and sponsorship
  • Global audience and international market
  • Better viewing figures
  • Bigger international interest
  • Grassroots participation
  • Sport modernizes to maintain audience
• Negative impacts of commercialization


  • Sport becomes secondary, commercial activity is primary
  • Change of start times
  • Loss of tradition
  • High pressure from sponsors
  • Rules change to suit TV audience
  • Funding only available for a few sports
  • Lack of investment in minority and Paralympic sports
• Funding only available for a few sports like football and cricket, so this commercialization only benefits a small number of sports and it certainly seems to benefit far less women's sport and paralympic sport and non-mainstream sport
• Scandals are very public and can damage reputation if something goes wrong, everyone sees that thing
• Men's sport is backed more than women's
• Commercialization can reinforce stereotypes around the sport
• Performers


  More revenue, sport becomes their career, they can train full-time, they raise their profile and become household names, they become a role model, they get more sponsorship and they get celebrity status
• Negatives for performers


  Only popular sports get this, media pressure, pressure from sponsors, everything they do is highlighted, they might not be able to do normal things, performances are analyzed in fine detail, they may receive insults and aggression by social media, demand to compete relentlessly, sponsorship can be removed
• Spectators see more matches every day, more choice, access to international competition, increased revenue for sport improves the quality of stadium, the visiting experience becomes better, full-time athletes perform at a higher standard, new versions of the sport are better to watch, stories and narratives are more available
• Spectators lose tradition, sports lose their local identities, fans become consumers, the connection between the fans and athletes can be lost
• More money has been invested by media and sponsors, more money in the economy, sports invest in grassroots, popular sports have the money to nurture athletes from all classes, lower class young people have more role models and they can inspire young people to participate
• Sport is still presented in stereotypical ways, class, gender, age barriers are not being broken, media coverage is not fair, richer sports get all the opportunity, sponsors only interested in highest level of exposure, high proportion of olympic medalists come from higher socioeconomic groups
• Increased costs of subscriptions to watch sport affects spectators, but there is the benefit of better quality performances and more regular broadcasts
• Since 1980, there has been greater use of technology to present sport, less elite sport on free-to-air tv, increased options for viewers, introduction of satellite and digital tv, pay-per-view for major events, integration of social media into tv viewing experience, increase in sponsorship especially gambling and alcohol
• Radio has changed from analog to digital, with dedicated sports stations and local radio providing live coverage of local sports
• Decline in physical newspaper value, online offers extremely popular, magazine subscriptions are still popular
• Positive effects of media on sports: new formats, entertaining, more international, wealthier players, household names, bigger audience, better technology for officials, increased tv revenue can be invested
• Negative effects of media on sports: lose tradition, less value for some sports, minority/women's/paralympic sports get less media interest, sport becomes clickbait
• There is little media interest in minority women's Paralympic sports, and these sports become more like clickbait than the mainstream sports
• Sportspeople answering questions honestly with a tinge of controversy is the only thing that gets focused on by the media
• The media hypes up rivalries to get people to watch on TV rather than attend live events, leading to smaller live audiences
• Watching sports on TV is more convenient than attending live events, making fans more reliant on the media
• The media's control over sports, such as schedules, leads to inequality where only the wealthiest clubs can do well
• Positive impacts of media on athletes

  • Better income, full-time opportunities, better earning potential, famous role models, sponsorship opportunities, image rights, access to better training facilities and coaches
• Negative impacts of media on athletes

  • Loss of privacy, increased public accountability, abuse on social media, increased pressure on performance, less rest time leading to injuries and over-training
• TV subscriptions are getting more expensive, forcing consumers to choose between different sports coverage
• Sports coverage is disruptive with non-stop adverts, which can be weird for viewers at home
• Positive impacts of the internet on sports

  • Exciting formats, more entertainment, increased international coverage, more comfortable seating