Commercialism as a Dominant Factor in the American Sports Scene: Sources, Developments, Perspectives

Abstract

Among the most important factors which made a commercialization of sports in the U.S. possible are the unique legal standing of the professional sports leagues and the heavy involvement of the media. In order to enable the professional leagues to survive the U.S. government freed them from certain legal restrictions. The leagues are allowed to function as monopolies without breaking the antitrust laws. The strong connection between TV and sport came about primarily through the growing trend towards passive sports intake. The TV stations can afford to pay the increasingly more expensive broadcasting rights due to the high sums they can command for commercial spots. Naturally, the popular professional sports of football, basketball, and boxing are clearly profit orientated and show a remarkable financial breadth. However, other athletic domains are steadily becoming more commercialized; many Division I universities rely heavily on television broadcasts to finance their sports departments, the "amateur" Olympic Games are now a huge money making venture, and the sports boom in the U.S. has opened up a massive market for sports clubs, equipment and clothes. The development of the commercialism can be traced back to the societal structure in the U.S. A liberal attitude and enormous urbanization in the 19th century helped create a society which was conducive to a profit-orientated sports system. A final comparison of the commercialism in the U.S. and Germany shows that the biggest differences lie in the structure and practices of the media.