The global media sports complex: key issues and concerns

Abstract

This paper, a version of which was written in 1993, argued that media sport flows are part of an interdependent global sport system that involve transnational practices, the relatively autonomy of which is linked to ‘disjunctures’ that occur as global flows weave together. This global sports system possesses a relatively autonomous dynamic, yet, transnational practices are prone to attempts to control and regulate them. This can involve the actions of transnational agencies or individuals from the ‘transnational capitalist class’. Transnational organizations such as the IOC, FIFA and the IAAF, agencies such as the IMG and ISL, media corporations such as NBC, Eurosport and News International, and transnational companies such as Reebok and Nike, seek to regulate the cultural flows involved. Individuals who belong to the ‘transnational capitalist class’ are also centrally involved as some of the key players whose plans and actions interweave in attempting to develop a global sport media complex. Such interventions cause cultural struggles of various kinds, and, at different levels and relate to questions of ownership, production, media content and consumption.