The Commodification of Sport
JOHN J. SEWART
Department of Sociology, University of Santa Clara, Santa Clara, CA 95053, U.S.A.
Abstract
This paper examines a series of changes experienced within sport as it undergoes a process
of commodification. It is argued that this process constitutes a degradation of athletic
activity. The interpretations of such changes are examined in light of the debate over mass
culture and the popular arts. This controversy has centered on whether the nature of
modern sport has become debauched as it is subsumed to the logic of the marketplace. It is
suggested that puerility has come to dominate sport as modern culture becomes
standardised and administered as a commodity. Sport is thus viewed in terms of the tensions
between its emancipatory potential and its function as a commodity for social consumption.
Introduction: The Social Hegemony of the Commodity Form in Sport
&dquo;The men of early times,&dquo; thought Plato, &dquo;were better than we and nearer to the
Gods.&dquo; Similarly, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel asked, &dquo;Where have you gone,
Joe Di Maggio?&dquo; These concerns are expressed by many critics today in regard to
the character of modern sport in American society. The current situation is
contrasted with a vaguely defined &dquo;Golden Age&dquo; of sport not contaminated by the
crass commercialization and sensationalization that characterizes modern
professional sport. Today we find exploding scoreboards, nickel beer night,
market-induced rule changes governing the playing of sport, directives issued to
fans on multimillion dollar electronic video screens instructing them when to
cheer, the fixing of competitions, gratutitous fan and player violence, the cult of
the star, the cult of winning, extreme specialization of athletic talent, and
dangerous medical practices. This paper will: (1) present empirical evidence of
the corruption of sport, and (2) critically assess the central theoretical issues
raised in the consideration of the nature and character of modern sport.
In order to accomplish these tasks, I will single out the significant elements of
the debate which has centered around the problem of art versus entertainment.
As it applies to sport, the debate over mass culture and popular arts centers
around the problem of manipulation versus personal enrichment and
development. This discussion is a necessary first step toward providing a broader
base for the study of perhaps the most popular of popular cultures in
contemporary American society - professional sport. It is suggested that the
corruption and dehumanization of sport is a result of both the commodification of
athletic activity and the social character and consciousness of sporting fans/
consumers. It is further suggested that this process is best understood from the
theoretical vantage point of the instrumental rationalization and concomitant
consumerization of the life world. Before discussing these points it is necessary to
examine what is valuable in sport and what has been lost and dehumanized in the
process of commodification.
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172
social phenomenon related to the intersubjective moral order. As
the utilitarian and technical dimensions of life, sport has been
identified as a moral, aesthetic, and dramatic phenomenon as well as a medium of
individual self-fulfillment (Huizinga 1955; Weiss 1969; James 1963). As a moral
phenomenon, sport is oriented to the dimension of interpersonal bonding.
Children’s games are considered by G. H. Mead (1932), Jean Piaget (1934), and
Lawrence Kholberg (1969) to be the crucible of social development and the
constitution of the social self through symbolic interaction. Since intersubjectivity
and symbolic communication are at the center of culture, sport has long been
valorized as an important medium enabling social actors to &dquo;practice&dquo; and &dquo;learn&dquo;
a sense of fair play, justice, conflict and dispute resolution, sublimating egoistic
desires to group needs, as well as generating sociability, solidarity and communal
effort. In this context social behavior is shaped by norms and values informed by
intersubjective communication rather than norms and values of a purely
instrumental and technical nature’. In short, sport is seen as providing a context
where authenticity and self and society may be realized.
Sport is a
opposed to
This idealized vision of sport is severely deficient insofar as it reduces sport to a
separate reality whose meanings, metaphoric qualities, and regulating structures
are disembodied from its material context. However, this paper takes these
idealized values as providing a potential basis for redeeming those very ideals
which have been corrupted in modern society. The analysis suggested here
examines the contradictions and discontinuities between sport and their
socioeconomic context rather than the continuities. This requires an immanent
critique; i.e., an examination of the norms, values, and ideals of sport as they are
&dquo;supposed to be&dquo; and their actual practice in society. Immanent criticism
evaluates sport according to its own standards (described above) and confronts it
with the consequences as actually practiced in a commodified form.’- The point of
such an analysis directs us to a critical evaluation of those social conditions which
block the realization of sport’s emancipatory and liberative values.
The starting point of such an analysis is an examination of the extent to which
the structure and practice of sport are increasingly shaped by a market rationality.
As shown in the following sections, when sport becomes a commodity governed
by market principles there is little or no regard for its intrinsic content or form.
This is not to say that sport was once pure and pristine, uncontaminated by any
concern for market success. Several observers have shown, however, that until
the twentieth century profit was sought after for the most part only indirectly
(E.g., Crepeau 1980; Vincent 1981). What is new today is the direct and
undisguised primacy of the profit motive. Accordingly, the direction of changes
within sport is thoroughly and precisely calculated with the market (especially the
market for electronic media) as the normative touchstone. As will be shown,
traditional meanings and practices are foreclosed and replaced by a puerile and
Barnumesque ethic of display, titillation, and theatricality.
The social hegemony of the commodity form is apparent as the practice of sport
is shaped and dominated by the values and instrumentalities of a market ethic. As
will be shown, the idealized model of sport, along with its traditional ritualistic
meanings, metaphysical aura, and skill democracy, is destroyed as sport becomes
just another item to be trafficed as a commodity. The following three sections of
this paper examines the various ways in which a market mentality has intruded
into and subsequently debauched various sports. The commodification of sport is
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173
evidenced in the following arenas: (1) changes in rules, format and scheduling; (2)
the abandonment of the ethic of skill democracy (it’s not who you know but what
you do); and (3) the inclination to spectacle and theatricality. After considering
these three arenas, the paper assesses various theoretical interpretations of these
intrusions.
Changes in Rules, Format, and Scheduling
According to Howard Cosell (1973:343) television executives view sport as
merely entertainment and will exert tremendous pressure upon the governing
bodies of sport in order to attract ever larger advertizing revenues. This translates
into changing the rules of the game which profoundly alter the character of
competition, scheduling changes (e.g., playing World Series games in the snow),
absurdly long playing seasons, more playoff games, bowls and tournaments, etc.
Although the association between television and sport begins with the inception
of broadcasting, television was relatively unimportant until the end of the 1950s
(Horowitz 1977). The owners of professional and intercollegiate sport
increasingly began to look to television as the major source of revenue. For
example, the growth in broadcast revenues from 1956 to 1976 increased over 1000
percent (from $10 million to over $112 million). Some more recent figures
indicate the financial dependency of sport upon the television industry: in 1982,
the National Football league signed a television contract for $2.1 billion over five
years; in 1984, NBC and ABC paid between them over $1.1 billion for the rights
to broadcast major league baseball; ABC paid $225 million to broadcast the 1984
Summer Olympics; in 1983, ABC paid the National Collegiate Athletic
Association $238.5 million for the rights to televise college football - each team
competing in a telecast receives $550,000. The fact that sport has become heavily
dependent on the commercial broadcast media is evidenced in the comments of
Brian Bruns, director of broadcasting for major league baseball: &dquo;Our people are
leaving behind bats, balls, and gloves and are starting to worry about satellites,
transponders, and cable&dquo; (Huffman 1984).
During the early 1970s professional football was criticized as a &dquo;boring&dquo; game
due to the lack of high scoring games. Stadia across the country became only
partially filled and television rating dropped to an all-time low. The National
Football League Rules Committee responded with a series of rule changes and
technical innovations which cumulatively increased the game’s scoring and
heightened the action for the television audience:
1) goal posts were moved to the back of the end zones which would cut down on &dquo;boring
field goal kicking&dquo;,
2) the ball was returned to the line of scrimmage, or out to the 20 yard line after a missed
field goal;
3) on kickoffs, the ball was moved from the 40 to 35 yard line to prevent kickers from
kicking the ball out of the end zone;;
4) on punts, only the end men are permitted to release downfield before the ball is kicked
5)
6)
- thus increasing the returner’s chances for a successful run-back;
a sudden death period is added to break ties in regular season games;
the head slap (striking an opponent above the shoulders) was made illegal during the
initial charge of a defensive lineman - thus increasing the advantage of the offensive
unit;
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174
7)
8)
9)
the defense is limited to one chuck or hit on potential pass receivers - this contact has to
take place within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage;
pass blockers on the offensive unit are pcrmitted to use extended arms and open hands;
inbounds markers were progressivcly moved from where the ball carrier was downed
(even if 1/2 inch from the sidelines) to five feet, to sixty feet, to seventy feet nine inches,
Thus evolved the current hash marks - which follow the vertical lines of the goal poststhat allow the quarterback and kicker to be virtually in the middle of the field at all
times;
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
many penalties were reduced from fifteen to ten and five yards;
half time was reduced from twenty to fifteen minutes - increasing the program’s
saleability to sponsors;
increase of the player limit;
the two-minute warning and additional time outs were introduced to allow for more
commercial time. Television required that fourteen time outs in 3-4-3-4 per quarter
sequence be taken for commercials and referees began carrying electronic beepers to
receive a signal to put the ball back in play after a commercial;
rescheduling of games on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays for a wider television
audience. Since the turn of the century held that high schools played football on Friday
night, colleges play on Saturday afternoon, and professionals play on Sunday
’
afternoon;
15) in 1976, the Superbowl was played for the first time in the evening in order to get higher
Nielsen ratings;
16)
packaging devices were introduced by television networks to make the game
entertaining-microphones on officials so that fans could understand penalty calls
instead of learning the complex system of hand signals, directional microphones, slowmotion and stop-motion videotape, instant replays and isolated cameras, split screens,
blimp cameras, close-ups of cheerleaders and fans. These innovations were designed to
fill so-called dead time. The result has been a reversal where many fans prefer the
recorded replays to the live action.
numerous
more
The result of the above changes is
huge television audiences.4
a
radically
altered game of football which
attracts
Similar changes can be identified in other sports - changes which seek to
increase ’action’ and scoring. Professional basketball has recently implemented
the abolition of the zone defense, a three point shot, and the twenty four second
clock. Professional baseball has witnessed the lowering of the height of the
pitcher’s mound which reduces the velocity of the baseball and thus assists the
batter; a larger strike zone to encourage more hitting; fewer warmup pitches for
relievers; a livelier ball; the limiting of managers’ trips to the mound to talk with
the pitcher; a designated hitter; umpires who keep games moving at a faster pace:
more night games; and artificial playing surfaces.
The effort to attract large audiences also degrades the quality of play in a
variety of ways. For example, several baseball parks have moved the fences in
closer to home plate in order to increase homerun output. A debauched version
of sideshow baseball became especially evident during the 1982 baseball season
when the Oakland A’s Rickey Henderson was in quest of Lou Brock’s basestealing record. His baseball efforts defied strategy in many situations when he
would not stay put at first base in order to chalk up another steal. He was, amidst
tremendous media fanfare, trying to break the record. Side-show ball became
especially apparent on August 24, 1982 in a game with the Detroit Tigers.
Henderson had stolen bases 116 and 117 in the first inning (the record at this time
was 118). A sports writer for the San Francisco Chronicle documents the events
which followed:
-
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175
Henderson singled to left in the eigth, magic number 118
only 90
~ feet&dquo;When
Fred (Chicken) Stanley, who had walked to lead
away. Unfortunately,
was
so was
off the inning. He was standing on second base and Rickey was all dressed up with
nowhere to steal. Suddenly, Stanley was caught in a rundown between second and
third bases. He did not run hard. When Lou Whitaker tagged him out, Stanley
jogged briskly off the field, and when he reached the dugout, his teammates
welcomed him with warm handshakes. How convenient! Despite [A’s manager]
Martin’s denials, Stanley was picked off on purpose - which means that he and
Martin cheapened baseball
They weren’t the only guilty ones. Stanley had
gotten on first base when Tiger pitcher Jerry Udjur walked him on four straight
balls. None of the pitches was close. It is hard to imagine that Udjur needed to be
careful with Chicken, who came into the game batting a measly. 189. It is obvious
that Tiger manager Sparky Anderson ordered Udjur to put Stanley on base to
prevent Henderson from tying the record against Detroit.&dquo; (Cohn 1982)
...
A similar instance of degradation was also evident in the 1980 National
Football League season when the Philadelphia Eagles’ Harold Carmichael set a
record of pass catching in 123 consecutive games. In the eleventh week of the
season (game number 124) Carmichael was shut out until the fourth quarter when
the Eagles ran a special pattern to keep the streak alive. In the twelveth week of
the season, the Eagles made certain that did not happen again by opening the first
play of the game with a strategically unsound two yard completion. This type of
debauchery also leads to the fixing of games. Throughout the years exathletes,
coaches and trainers periodically reveal instances of fixing. The most recent
allegation came from All-Pro Bubba Smith with regard to the 1969 Super Bowl III
when the New York Jets defeated his Baltimore ColtS.5
The
manipulation of sport is not limited to professional athletics. The Los
Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) has scheduled the marathon
to begin as close to prime television time as possible - 5:30 p.m. PST.~ This is
when heat and smog have built up and usually envelop Los Angeles. To make
matters worse, marathoners will have to
run the last 45 minutes of the 1984
in the heart of the downtown’s heat and smog because the LAOOC,
under pressure from ABC-TV, wants to have them finish at the L.A. Coliseum,
site of the 1932 Games. Australia’s Rob de Castella, who has run the world’s
second fastest marathon (2:08:18), was incensed when learning of the 5:30
starting time: &dquo;I am very disappointed to have to run the best marathon in the
world under adverse conditions. The temperature will be extremely high, and
we’ll be in dire straits. The race should be run early in the morning or later at
night, or at a course near the ocean which is cooler and freer of smog&dquo; (McCoy
1984). Four-time Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodgers has suggested that the
marathon be held elsewhere: &dquo;I think it would be a good idea to hold the
marathon in San Francisco ... but it wouldn’t be good for TV. Athletes in
America have zero, absolutely zero clout ... Given ABC’s commitment to
money, they won’t change&dquo; (Broughton 1983). This situation has been succinctly
summarized by Steve Scott, runner of the second fastest time in the history of the
mile race: &dquo;The Olympics are just a staging ground for someone’s commercial
interests. The Games are no longer an event to bring the best athletes together ...
they’re a TV extravaganza to sell McDonald’s and Xerox&dquo; (Cohn 1984).
Olympics
In the mid-1960s ABC-TV
programs attained sufficiently
began showing documentaries on surfing. These
high audience ratings so that network executives
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176
attempted to televize/market surfing competitions. However, this required that
competitions had to be held on a specific site at a prearranged time and date.
Regardless of surf and weather conditions, surfers were instructed to begin
surfing on cue from television producers. The market orientation of commercial
television violated the traditional participatory and democratic norms and rules
of surfing competitions which were normally scheduled over a week’s period.
Each morning surfers would gather at the beach and vote on whether they felt the
conditions were appropriate for the contest to begin. If the vote was negative,
they would meet for another vote in the early afternoon. This process would be
repeated until the competitors reached a consensus. If a good surf had not come
up during the seven-day period, the contest would be cancelled. In the face of
capitulating to market demands, many world class surfers withdrew from these
&dquo;staged&dquo; competitions in order to preserve the creative and self-expressive
dimensions of the sport/art form of surfing (Scott 1971).
the
The Abandonment of the Ethic of Skill Democracy
Sport has long been singled out as one of the few spheres of social life where
rational meritocratic values are truly operational. The most consistent
characteristic of sport is that an individual’s status is objectively measured in
terms of performance or merit according to an agreed upon set of norms.
Subjective factors, family connections, or political influence are of no
consequence on the playing field or in the arena: one can hit or catch a ball or not.
Commercialization and commodification have steadily eroded the ethic of skill
democracy.
The replacement of meritocratic principles by market principles and the canons
of entertainment is evident in the sport of tennis. For example: players often tank
matches so that they can quit a tournament and speed off to another tournament
which offers more money; players accomodate to network broadcasting demands
for certainty in &dquo;air time&dquo; - i.e., players will split the first two sets and play an
&dquo;honest&dquo; third to ensure filling a time slot and thus guaranteeing ad revenue for
the television networks; players will make advance arrangements to evenly split
prize money regardless of the outcome of the match; and preferential treatment
in officiating is accorded to big-name players by match umpires who are under
heavy pressure from tournament directors to treat them well. Things have
become so bad in tournament tennis that M. M. Happer III, administrator of
tennis’ Pro Council, says &dquo;I think all exhibition matches are fixed&dquo; (Mewshaw
(1983:228). In a series of interview conducted by a sports journalist, these
practices are defended by athletes and tennis administrators 7in the name of tennis
being entertainment (Mewshaw 1983). Exactly the problem.~
The quest for profit and its destructive impact upon the ethic of skill
democracy is especially evident in the sport of professional boxing. The
scheduling of opponents is ideally determined by an objective selection of the
challenger with the best record. However, in the quest to sign lucrative contracts
with the television networks, the two boxing associations (the World Boxing
Council and the World Boxing Association) unabashedly manipulate their
rankings of boxers regardless of skill, experience, or competence. Because a title
holder has name recognition and can command lucrative contracts, the choice of
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177
opponents
often involves
bypassing
ranked contenders for unknown and
unproven boxers who have financial backing. In order to get a title shot, a boxer
must be rated in the top 10 contenders in his respective weight division. However,
to
get into the top 10 ratings of the WBC
or
WBA it is not necessary to beat
anybody, merely to know the right people and grease the right palms.
example: after signing a multi-million dollar package with NBC-TV for a
fight package with Heavyweight Champ Larry Holmes - his opponents being
the unranked Scott Frank and Marvis Frazier - the following events ensued. At
the time of the signing, Frank and Frazier were both absent from the top 10 list.
However, the rules required that these fighters be rated by the time of the fights
(September and November 1983) if Holmes was to meet the titleholder’s
obligation to defend his title a minimum number of times per year. Frank (20-01), a fighter whose only fight against a rated fighter turned up a draw, suddenly
appeared in the top 10 ratings of the WBA and WBC. Similarly, Frazier received
his rating in time for the fight. A particularly striking example of athletic skill
being subsumed to non-athletic criteria is the case of boxer John Mugabe who
knocked out Gary Guiden in July of 1983 to increase his record to 16-0 (all
knockouts). Before the fight, Mugabe was ranked number 11 in the WBC and
WBA ratings. After the fight, Guiden is number 6 with the WBA; Mugabe (the
winner of his match with Guiden) has dropped off the charts.
Another example from boxing is found in Pete Rademacher’s certification to
fight Floyd Patterson for the heavyweight crown in 1957 without benefit of a
single previous professional fight. As Patterson’s manager at the time, Gus
D’Amato, argued:
&dquo;Professional boxing is like the theater, a business. It’s to make money and it
doesn’t have to be a contest if the public decides to see it. I maintain that a fight is
put on to make money. It’s no business of any commission - who are only there to
see that the rules and regulations are carried out, to see that the fighters are
physically and medically fit, that no fraud exists and that the public is not
misinformed&dquo; (Fiske 1983).
The sport of golf has also undergone similar changes where match play has been
replaced by medal play. Until television began setting the criteria of
performance, most tournaments were decided by match play. This meant that by
For
two
the time television cameras came to watch the final action, the Sneads, Palmers
and other stars of that generation could have been eliminated (if they failed to
perform adequately) and two &dquo;unknowns&dquo; would play for the title. Television
ratings, of course, would drop accordingly. Medal play always guarantees &dquo;the
stars&dquo; a position in the final competitions - regardless of their performance.
That the
name
of the game is the box office and Nielsen
ratings - rather than
performance - was especially obvious in the selection for the 1983 college football
post-season bowl games. The Southern Methodist University (SMU) Mustangs,
with
an
over
the past three
outstanding 9-1 record against top-ranked opponents (and a 30-2-1 record
years), were not tendered an invitation to any of four major
bowls (Sugar, Cotton, Orange, or Fiesta). While SMU was passed over, name
records such as Notre Dame received
vice president of Entertainment and
executive
reason,
Programming Network noted, is that SMU lacks &dquo;marquee value&dquo; (Sports
recognition
teams with mediocre
invitations. The
Sports
as an
Illustrated 1983).
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178
In spite of isolated protests from sportswirters concerned with ethical standards
of fairness and meritocracy, sport is increasingly dominated by market concerns.
Just as the old saw holds for the occupational world, &dquo;it’s not what you know, but
who you know&dquo;, so it now holds for the athletic world. The modern sporting
public fatalistically accepts this situation. However, things have not always been
this way. In 1928, for example, the Boston Braves constructed new bleachers in
left and center fields in order to shorten the distance required for the newly
acquired Rogers Hornsby to hit home runs. One columnist called this action &dquo;one
of the cheapest things ever done in the National League&dquo;. A similar outcry
erupted among the fans in Boston. After this outcry the Braves repented and
announced they would move the bleachers back (Crepeau 1980:44). The modern
fan views such events quite differently. For example, a fan’s response to the basestealing debauchery (described on p. 7 above) is indicative of the consumerist
attitude toward sport as spectacle: &dquo;What’s all the fuss about Fred Stanley getting
picked off base on purpose ... Baseball is entertainment ... I went to the A’s game
to see a record broken ... I don’t care how it happens&dquo; (S. F. Chronicle Spotting
Green
1982).8
The Inclination to Spectacle and Theatricality
The logic of the market is dominant insofar as the commercial media selects
between sports for those which make good entertainment as well as selecting
within a particular event for those moments which make for maximum viewer
interest. Attention is given to the dramatic, the spectacular, and the theatrical the thrills and spills, the knockout punch, the winning hit, the brawls in the stands
and on the field. Accordingly, sport caters and shapes itself to the interest of &dquo;he
who pays the piper&dquo;. The commercial reconstruction of sport into a spectacle and
the consequent debauching and trivialization are examined in the following
examples. Instead of athletic contests which happen to be broadcast on television.
the process of commodification has given us television events which happen to
involve athletes.
With the rapid expansion of pay television and the proliferation of baseball
throughout North America on the broadcast media, baseball has been shaped to
the needs and advantage of the broadcast industry. Baseball was able to
overcome its slump in popularity during the 1970s not by enriching the skill level
of the sport, but through the application of marketing techniques. As Bowie
Kuhn, the former commisioner of baseball put it: &dquo;the
reason baseball has done
well is we’ve learned to market the product better and we’re going to do an
even better job at marketing than we are doing now&dquo; (Kuhn 1983:17).9 Ebbets
Field, the Polo Grounds, and Sportsman’s Park have been replaced by
&dquo;entertainment centers&dquo; featuring: paid cheerleaders and mascots (Krazy
George, The San Diego Chicken) who make their entrance in helicopters or
parachutes; giant &dquo;Diamond Vision&dquo; video screens showing replays, the speed of
balls thrown by the pitcherz3-D soft porn images of players, advertisements and
commercial lyrics and jingles; wall-mounted television at concession stands and in
bathrooms. In addition, rock music and Las Vegas sytle cheerleaders have
replaced the time-honored park organist as between inning pasttime. Live rock
bands (instead of baseball players) perform as the second &dquo;game&dquo; of baseball and
so
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179
rock &dquo;double-headers&dquo;. The umpire’s traditional game-beginning invocation of
&dquo;Play Ball&dquo; has been replaced by human cannonballs shot from center field into a
net at the pitcher’s mound.
College
football is also
adopting a sport-cum-live-entertainment &dquo;line-up&dquo;
in
order to market its product. For example, the 1983 Wake Forest football schedule
included fireworks, Bob Hope, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, The Four
Tops, The Temptations, Tanya Tucker, and Firefall.
The North American Soccer League (NASL), established in 1968, has
continually struggled for survival in the sport marketplace. Accordingly, this
sport has been subjected to the associated processes of commercialization and
theatricality. Unable to attract American fans, the owners of soccer have tried to
&dquo;spice-up&dquo; the game. The major obstacle to corporatization has come from the
inability of the sport to capture the television audience. This is a result of the sport
not being suited for television. There are no time-outs in soccer and if the ball
goes out of bounds, it is immediately thrown back into action. There is no &dquo;stop
and go&dquo; action as there is in football, baseball and basketball. In addition, soccer
is a skillful, defensively oriented, low-scoring game. Soccer matches can go
several minutes without an offensive attempt to acquire a score - scores of 1-0 or
2-1 are very common. To make things worse, the code of sportsmanship among
soccer players is deeply rooted and strictly followed. As a result, violence is
relatively rare in matches. This, of course, makes for a &dquo;dull&dquo; sport.
In order to add some &dquo;excitement&dquo; to the game, the NASL tampered with the
world soccer code by eliminating tie games with - what was marketed in typically
American style - a &dquo;Shoot Out&dquo;. The Shoot Out was devised to be added after the
overtime periods. The NASL declared that American spectators needed the
added &dquo;thrill&dquo; of a Matt Dillon type show-down at high noon (1982 Soccer
Encyclopedia: 508-512). Other alterations of the sport included moving the offsides line from the 50 yard line to an arbitrary line 35 yards from the goal. There
are also many proposals to widen the goal in order to increase scoring.’°
In its struggle to market a traditionally &dquo;foreign&dquo; sport, the NASL has adopted
a wide variety of promotional techniques. Under the terms of the 1981 collective
bargaining agreement between the NASL Players’ Association and the NASL it is
stipulated that each club can require a player to make 48 promotional
appearances per season. In 1983, the NASL issued a 280-page PlayerAppearance
Manual with detailed image-making devices instructing teams as to how to best
market their player/commodities. A favorite marketing strategy, devised by the
Tampa Bay Rowdies and adopted by the league, enrolls players in classes
instructing them how to deliver a winning speech and bring in members of the
Toastmasters International to critique the players’ efforts. The manual also
makes reference to a professional agency that offers instruction in how to comfort
oneself during the &dquo;impromptu&dquo; interview. So much for Knute Rockne’s
inspirational speeches and Lou Gerigh’s emotional farewall to baseball at Yankee
Stadium. Such practices mark the complete penetration of corporate image
makers into the formerly non-utilitarian world of sport.
Although the above changes have been made in the NASL, the League has lost
millions of dollars on the premise that American fans will learn the subtleties of
the outdoor game. The strategy taken up by these frustrated corporate moguls
was to invent &dquo;the sport of the 80s&dquo; - indoor soccer. This game is extremely simple
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180
Played with a bright orange ball, on a compressed pitch the size of
rink
(200 feet long), the game pits six players on a side and the idea is to
hockey
kick the ball into a 12 by 61/2 foot goal. There are time outs, penalty boxes, and
unlimited substitutions. Athletes enter the field of play like rock stars: the lights
go off and a spotlight is trained on each player as he is introduced and emerges
through a fog fueled by dry ice while the entire arena shakes to the &dquo;Eye of the
Tiger&dquo; blasted over the public address system at a deafening volume. There is a lot
of physical contact, the pace of the game is extremely fast and scoring is high. The
end result is a staccato mix of speeding crashing bodies and ricocheting bright
orange balls. As one goalie in the Major Indoor Soccer League put it, &dquo;the game is
like a human pin-ball machine&dquo; (S. F. Chronicle Sporting Green, Feb. 4, 1983).
to understand.
a
In the effort to carve out a new market, a tremendous emphasis has been placed
commercialized sex. The executive Vice-President of the Chicago Sting noted
the change in emphasis from soccer to indoor soccer: &dquo;I used to say there were 3
S’s: speed, scoring, and skill. Now I say show, sex, and suburbs&dquo; (sports
Illustrated, February 28, 1983). A radio.spot for the Pittsburg Spirit says: &dquo;Hot
legs, hot time, hot action - just too hot to handle; we’ve got 20 guys in shorts who
go all night&dquo;.
on
The Major Indoor League is the first sport to come into existence with the
unmediated view to market itself as any other new commodity in the
marketplace. The audience is carefully targeted, the show professionally
choreographed, and the entire image marketed according to the technique of
scientific management. In New York, the PA announcer constantly advises the
women in attendance as to which bar they can visit after the game to meet players.
Players in the MISL are encouraged to coat their legs with baby oil before a game
to make them glisten.&dquo; A cologne manufacturer sponsors a &dquo;10~/z&dquo; competition,
wherein female fans are asked to rate the players’ sexuality. Sex, not skillful
sport, sells. According to Godfrey Ingram, a player on the Golden Bay
Earthquakes, &dquo;You’ve got have more skills to play outdoor soccer. You can get
away with deficiencies playing indoors. Outdoors, for example, you’ve go to be
able to score from 18-20 yards away; you’ve got to be able to pass long balls and
short balls. You don’t get that indoors. All goals are from about five yards. You
see a little square in front of you and try to hit it. With outdoor, you have to place
it, look for the corners of the goal and try to beat the keeper. That involves a hell
of a lot more skill than getting 10 yards away from a little goal and just blasting
away&dquo; (Fitzgerald 1984:69). It is interesting to note that while there has been a
decline in athletic skill, attendance has doubled in the five years since the league
was founded. 12 The market approach to &dquo;the sport of the 80s&dquo; has been summed
up by a player owned by an agribusiness firm: &dquo;The Ralston Purina Companv
treated us as though we were a division of green beans and puppy chow&dquo; (The
Sporting News, November 28, 1983).
The quest for spectacle and theatricality has worked against an authentic
presentation of many dimensions of the newly-found interest in women’s
athleticism. For example, in 1979, Grete Waitz set a world record in the New
York City Marathon (2:27:33). While one might expect to see considerable media
coverage of this spectacular event - since it was being covered live - the dictates of
the Nielsen ratings resulted in a total neglect of Waitz’s athletic skills. Instead.
&dquo;the live coverage ended without so much as a syllable about Waitz. The network
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¡
181
signed off at 2:27:00 into the race. Astute tube watchers were able to view a world
record being set during the closing credits&dquo; (Niedermann 1980:54). Thus,
supreme athletic excellence does not qualify as deserving of the eye of the
spectacle unless it sells.
This lack of coverage is due not only to traditional male supremicist views
regarding the inferiority of women’s athleticism but, in addition, to the inability
of sweaty, haggard-looking athletes finishing such a gruelling event to attract an
audience. This type of visual imagery does not attract the television audience and
advertising monies as the socially &dquo;acceptable&dquo; women’s sports such as ice
skating, swimming, diving, tennis, gymnastics and golf. Broadcast executives are
much more interested in close-ups of women swimmers and divers in wet bathing
suits, Jane Fonda performing leg splits, and pixie-like gymnasts’ pelvic
movements than the world class displays of aggressive and powerful physicality of
women.
Accordingly, women athletes who participate in traditionally
unacceptable sports which involve aggression and power are neglected. Women’s
team and contact sports such as rugby, softball, crew, volleyball, field hockey,
and basketball - sports with long traditions and large followings - are neglected by
athletic entrepreneurs because of their mass unmarketability.
While many regular season competitions of women’s sporting leagues are
neglected, women athletes are reduced to side-show freaks when they &dquo;compete&dquo;
in made-for-TV counterfeit sporting events (such as &dquo;Women Superstars&dquo; and the
&dquo;Challenge of the Sexes&dquo;) which have little or no relation to the athletic skills that
they seriously compete in. The largest attention given to women’s sport has been
the 1973 tennis &dquo;match&dquo; between the world class 29-years-old Billie Jean King and
the semi-retired 55-year-old Bobby Riggs. Hyped as a &dquo;battle of the sexes&dquo;, this 3million-dollar &dquo;competition&dquo; was promoted and broadcast as a circus event. In
the process, the full range of women’s athleticism is neglected and the integrity of
athletic skill is reduced to that which is commodifiable and sold as entertainment.
The logical conclusion of the market inclination to spectacle and theatricality is
the creation of &dquo;competition&dquo; of television in the form of &dquo;trash sport&dquo;. An
example of trash sport is found in motorcycle collision distance jumping
tournaments. This &dquo;sport&dquo; entails driving a motorcyle into a row of parked cars.
object is to see how many parked cars &dquo;athletes&dquo; can clear before they
(hopefully) tumble onto a mat. To add to the excitement, all contestants wear
burning flares attached to their pants. Recently, the ante has been upped for this
sport - due to flagging fan interest - by clearing buses, instead of cars, for
The
distance. Fans
also attend the Annual World Belly Flop and Cannonball
A perennial winner in this competition is a 423 pound
&dquo;athlete&dquo; who sets himself on fire as he dives into the water. Or, fans can watch
&dquo;athletes&dquo; try to pummel themselves unconscious with their own fists in Knock
can
Diving Championships.
Yourself Out competitions.
The supreme trash sport competition is found in All-Star Big-Time
Wrestling. This sport is populated by &dquo;athletes such as Skull
Murphy, Gorilla Monsoon, Abdullah the Butcher, Killer Kowalski, Dick the
Bruiser, The Destroyer, The Mongolian Stomper, and Dr. X. These athletes
compete in a wide variety of competitions including Texas Bull-Rope Matches,
Strap Matches, Indian Death Matches, Chain Matches, 22-Man Battle Royals,
Roman Gladiator Matches, and, of course, Steel Cage Matches. The premier
Professional
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182
competition, however, is the Sicilian Stretcher Death Match
following &dquo;rules&dquo;: No count-out; no pin falls; no holds barred;
which has the
no referee; no
rules; no surrender; doctor cannot stop bout; loser must be carried out; loser must
leave town.
A distortion of the liberal ideals of individual growth and creative expression
takes place when sport becomes part of a system of entertainment. As a reflection
of the single most powerful force in American society - viz., the market principle
the meaning of athletic skill is confined and reduced to that of providing
entertainment for money. This state of affairs is directly responsible for the wide
variety of abuses and scandals that have periodically erupted into media/public
consciousness since athletics became a matter of big business. The list of these
abuses and corruptions is virtually endless: the fix of the 1919 World Series
between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinatti Reds; the pointshaving scandals
that continually surface in the world of intercollegiate basketball since the famous
1951 scandal involving Brooklyn College and Long Island University in New
York City; altered transcripts, bribery, and death threats involving the college
recruitment of high school athletes; the mafia-like control of intercollegiate sport
programs exercised by alumni; the dangerous experimentation with
performance-assisting drugs and experimental medical procedures; the frequent
allegations of &dquo;fix&dquo; heard in the world of professional sport; the bestial-like
behavior of fans; and the emphasis placed on &dquo;winning at any cost&dquo; and the
decline of the traditional canons of sportsmanship.
-
witnessing is the reduction of athletic skill, competition and
spectacle sold in the market for mass entertainment.
The only guiding principle becomes the highest rate of return on one’s
investment. This instrumental orientation of today’s entrepreneurs of sport
stands in sharp contrast with the player-orientation to sport as evidenced in the
statement of the original creators of the sport of basketball. In the first
What
we are
contest to
a
commodified
Introduction to the Basket Ball Cooperating Committee Rule Book of 1898 is
stated: &dquo;The function of the rules committee is not only to consider and adopt
rules that ideally shall be the best for the sport, but the rules committee must, by
carefully weighing the evidence and acquaintance with the field, formulate that
which represents the best judgment off the players of the country; for the games
are not the product of the makers of the rules&dquo; (Gulick 1898: 5).
The process of commodification is not limited to sport and athletics. No social
practice is immune from the corrosive impact of commodification. The
accompanying abuses repeatedly documented in the world of professional sport
have also penetrated the world of ballet: extreme pressures to perform when
injured; rampant anorexia nervosa and bulimia as a result of the stringent weight
requirements; economic exploitation; widespread use of dangerous
performance-assisting drugs; fiercely competitive environments inhabited by
young child performers; permanent physical disabilities inflicted by the athletic
regimen that chews up bodies; and intense pressure to conform to the company
director’s discipline. The commercialization of ballet brought on in recent years
by a boom at the box office has heightened the market pressures leading to the
above-mentioned abuses. With the increased corporate control of ballet
companies in major performing arts centers across the nation, ballet is repeatedly
subordinated to a market mentality. As Eugene Loveland, president of the Board
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183
of the Houston Ballet, and
a former vice-president of Shell Oil Company and
of
his
own oil company noted: &dquo;I wanted to know what we were selling.
president
If what we wanted was to be the strongest regional company, I knew that we had
to stay in the black. Because you can’t succeed without money. I looked at this as
I would at any new business ... What we needed was to develop a product; that’s
what sells ... So I saw it as a company, a manufacturing organization, a sales
organization, and a finance organization ... To develop our product we needed a
manufacturing unit with a head of manufacturing being an artistic director ... and
to sell and finance our product we need a marketing unit&dquo; (Gordon 1983:197-8).
This unabashedly commercial approach to human beings and their creative
expressions (whether ballet or football) as &dquo;products&dquo; which need to be
&dquo;manufactured&dquo;, &dquo;developed&dquo;, and &dquo;marketed&dquo; inevitably results in a
debauchery of both artists and the art or athletes and athletics.
Commodified Sport:
Capitalist Ideology, Vox Populi, or Dehumanization?
What are we to make of the nature and character of sport as described above?
This section of the paper will consider three theoretical positions regarding the
emergence of commodified sport : (1) the Marxist critique of sport as a derivative
of class relations; (2) the popular cultural &dquo;clap-o-meter&dquo; approach to sport; and
(3) a critical theory of sport. It is argued that critical theory best illuminates the
nature and trajectory of changes observed in sport.
The Marxist problematic has been explored in studies of sport by Brohm
(1978), Rigauer (1981), and Hoch (1972). In these analyses sport is subjected to a
materialist critique where the ideology of bourgeois social and economic relations
is exposed and demystified. The reader learns how sport glorifies meritocratic
standards of hierachy, emulates militaristic modes of discipline, as well as all the
other values of the capitalist jungle: virility, sexual athleticism, physical
dominance, the superman, muscle worship, fascistic male chauvinism, racism,
sexism, and ageism. In addition to sport being a capitalist Gulag, its sociopolitical meanings serve important ideological-reproductive functions for state
monopoly capitalism.
Insofar as the Marxist critique thoroughly explores the linkages and
embeddedness of sport within capitalist social processes it has provided a useful
corrective to naive and romanticized accounts of sport. However, this type of
Marxist sociologizing - the reduction of sport to a derivative of specific socioeconomic conditions - would deny any positive role to sport. Such an
interpretation of Marx’s work is inadequate in light of his approach to classical
art: &dquo;The difficulty is in not in grasping the idea that Greek art and epos are bound
up with certain forms of social development. It lies rather in understanding why
they still constitute for us a source of aesthetic enjoyment and in certain respects
prevail as the standard and model beyond attainment&dquo; (Marx 1971:45). In other
words, the analyst must eschew historicism in order to non-reductively analyze
the permanent aesthetic enjoyment afforded by sport. What is valuable does not
merely appear and disappear with changing historical circumstances.
Not all Marxist commentators have reduced sport to a monolithic, unified set of
ideologies. Instead of identifying sport as the site where fundamental class and
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184
ideological are defused, some analysts from within the Marxist tradition have
perceived a subversive social content to various form of sport found in working
class culture (Willis 1978, 1981; Lipsitz 1982; Goodmann 1979; Aronowitz 1973;
Hargreaves 1982). Sports which originate out of working class communities are
seen as forms of utopian resistance to the oppressive social conditions: e.g., roller
derby, professional wrestling, low rider’s vertical car jumping, boxing, bodybuilding, power-lifting, strength exhibitions, tractor-pulls, stock car racing, and
demolition derbies. Reinforcing group solidarity, indigenous working class sport
thus preserves social collectivity, anti-utilitarian, and pre-industrial values, as
well as providing a critique of the day-to-day demands of the workplace. ’3
This valorization of non-commercialized forms of sport is useful insofar
as
it
provides a point of comparison in order to better understand the mechanisms by
which commercialized sport functions as well as providing a critical touchstone
for the analysis of dehumanized athletic practices. However, where these Marxist
critics hear grinding and grating in the machinery of sport which merely requires
oil and new parts, the critical theoretical perspective offered in this paper argues
that the hum of the machinery itself is offensive.
In contrast to the Marxist analysis, the popular culturist argues that mass
commodified sport is merely an expression of &dquo;the people&dquo; - vox popesli
(Guttmann 1978, 1980, 1981; Rollings 1975). The sports fan and participant are
merely drummers marching to their own inner drumbeat. Accordingly, when
confronted with the allegations of dehumanization and debauchery, the popular
culturist’s response is to reject this thesis on &dquo;empirical grounds&dquo;. If we wish to
resolve the riddle of dehumanization, according to the popular culturists, all we
must do is ask the participants and fan themselves whether or not they are
dehumanized. After extensive research &dquo;using the most sophisticated
psychological techniques and other devices from the toolship of modern
psychology&dquo;, a noted popular culturist (Guttmann 1981:xxiv) concludes that
athletes and fans are not dehumanized because they say they are not. Case
settled.
methodological individualism which claims that all
phenomena are ultimately phrased in statements about
individual behavior, not as statements about social totalities. Narrowly defining
&dquo;the proper study&dquo; of sport to what is empirically ascertainable, the
methodological position ignores the negative dimensions of commodified sport.
The unquestioned presupposition is that tastes and forms in sport are mere
reflections of the values of people - never asking where these tastes come from or
how they are acquired. The analysis of the social meaning of sport is thus reduced
to the measurement of participant or observer attitudes (Peterson 1977; Wilensky
1964). It is not that statistical analysis is a priori incorrect. Rather, the statistical
analysis of subjective experience mandates a more exhaustive examination.
The alternative position advocated in this paper, drawing upon the analysis of
modernity by the Frankfurt School of critical theory (Horkheimer & Adorno
1972), critically evaluates sport in relation to the character of mass society which
fails to meet the human needs of relatedness, identity, and rootedness. When
confronted with the reality of sensationalism, spectacle, and the predominance of
a market mentality in sport, critical theory highlights the extent to which sport has
lost its previous autonomy (as represented in the idealized version described
This
analysis pivots
explanations
on a
of social
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185
spurt
was free from
above). This autonomy was rooted in a social position where
the immediate context of use and exchange. In the process of being subsumed to
commodity exchange and instrumental rationalization, sport thus looses its
autonomy. Whereas sport had previously presented a partial critique of
modernity by virtue of its non-utilitarian form and content, in its new,
commodified and degraded version, sport serves to reproduce the modern world.
This is not to deny the extent to which sport has always played a legitimating role
in society. By contrast, however, modern commercialized sport has lost its
(potential) critical function. It has become increasingly &dquo;functionalized&dquo; for the
existing social order and is valorized by that order precisely for its role as
entertainment, distraction and diversion. Under commodified conditions the
form of sport is determined by its value in exchange.
That the meaning of sport is altered by the medium of commodity exchange is
evident in the &dquo;regression of viewing&dquo; sport. Technical standards of intelligibility
held by knowledgeable fans are diminished when sport attempts to obtain the
widest market possible - i.e., appealing and uninformed eyes. Given the current
mode of exchange and distribution of sport, sport is adjusted to attain the greatest
market. Such &dquo;regression&dquo; or &dquo;standardization&dquo; shifts the reception of sport away
totalistic understanding to atomized modes of viewing. The modern fan,
the wholeness of athletic culture, seeks only stimulation and
ripped from
sensation. 14 The commercialized form of sport, although operating as if it is freely
chosen by the consumer, determines the way in which sport is received and
viewed by the fan. As Adorno noted in his study of music, &dquo;the composition hears
for the listener&dquo; (1941:22).
from
a
Against critical theory’s critique of commodified sport, many argue that the
public should determine the nature and character of sport in American society
(Gans 1974). On the surface this seems to be sound democratic theory. However,
the authentic fulfillment of democratic theory requires that: (1) popular taste and
judgement be informed and unconstrained; (2) there must be a means by which
such judgement be voiced and implemented. Obviously there is a great disparity
between theory and practice in present-day democratic society. The claim that
the sports industry only gives the public what it wants is a dangerous and
misleading half-truth.
In point of fact the sporting public is by and large totally ignorant of what it
might be getting if the profit interests of owners, professional sporting
organizations, and the electronic media were different from what they presently
are. The human palate is sensitive to a virtually inexhaustable variety of tastes in
sport. But it is only as we sample different fares that we are capable of exercising
preferences and making discriminatory judgements among them. Today we find a
system in which the formulation, refinement, and dissemination of tastes is under
a virtual monopoly of commercial and corporate interests. The public’s taste in
thus shaped with these commercial and corporate interests in mind; secondarily,
if at all, is sport’s interest taken into account. Unaware of what they might be
tasting, it is hardly surprising the most of the public expresses a desire for what
they get. And if one is dissatisfied, what are one’s options? In sum, the public’s
verdict rests on insufficient, distorted, and manipulated evidence. If we are to
understand the nature of mass sport, the remarks made by Goethe must be
considered: Formerly there was one taste,
where are these tastes tasted?
now
there are many tastes. But tell me,
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186
For the critical theorist it is not a matter of letting the market decide the fate of
sport. It is ironic that those who criticize the critics of commodified sport in the
name of anti-elitism and democracy take up a position which constitutes the
degradation of true democratic life. If we take the naive democratic view that
what people are interested in is all that concerns us and all that ought to concern
us, then we are accepting the values that have been inculcated, either by accident
or, more often, deliberately by vested interests. These tastes are often the only
ones people have had any chance to develop. They are unconsciously acquired
habits rather than autonomous choices. For the critics of the mass commodified
sport thesis, democracy is thus reduced to the definition of economic success in
the market. Applied to sport, this means that the worth or value of a particular
sport is measurable only according to market criteria.
Democracy entails the liberation of the creative possibilities of all individuals.
Similarly, sport - as a manifestation of the play element in human activity - means
the liberation of creative potentialities. The operative words in this context are
&dquo;creative&dquo; and &dquo;all&dquo; individuals - the meanings of which are profoundly antielitist in their import. The critique of commodified sport offered here is the heir to
the democratic tradition and the opponend of elitism. The concern is with the
extent to which the emancipatory potentialities of sport are compromised and
cheapened by commodification. It is only a false sense of piety and political
correctness which makes it taboo to contemptuously refer to mass cultural forms
as &dquo;debauched&dquo;.
The critique of commodified sport offered in this paper objects not merely to its
content, but to its tones, atmosphere, manners and attidudes which constitute the
degradation of autonomous and non-utilitarian values. Sport is accordingly
depicted as a representation of the mental set of mass society - a society of
domination and manipulation (Montagu & Matson 1983). As Erich Fromm
observed: &dquo;If a man works without genuine relatedness to what he is doing, if he
buys and consumes commodities in an abstractified and alienated way, how can
he make use of his leisure time in an active and meaningful way? He always
remains the passive and alienated consumer. He ’consumes’ ball games, moving
pictures, newspapers, and magazines, books, lectures, natural scenery, social
gatherings ... he wants to ’take in’ all there is to be had ... Actually, he is not free
to enjoy ’his’ leisure; his leisure-time consumption is determined by industry
entertainment is an industry like any other, the customer is made to buy fun as he
is made to buy dresses and shoes&dquo; (Fromm 1955:136-7). The point of view
contained in Fromm’s critique is the furthest thing possible from a position of
snobbish elitism. It is instead a resistance to the modern world which defines
everything in functional or utilitarian terms.
...
The starting point of this analysis is the proposition that all of modern culture
becomes part of modern industry. Marx noted this process in his discussion of the
enormous transformative power of the market: &dquo;All that is holy is profaned ...
The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every activity hitherto honored and
looked up to with reverent awe. It has transformed the doctor, the lawyer, the
priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage laborers&dquo; (Marx 1978:476).
Marx goes on to discuss the economic situation of intellectual and artists and
notes that they are able to &dquo;live only so long as they find work, and ... find work
only so long as their labor increases capital. These workers, who must sell
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187
are a commodity like every other article of commerce ...&dquo;
(Marx 1978:479). Similarly, athletes can throw passes, execute sky hooks, and hit
home runs only if someone with capital will pay them. In a market society this
themselves piecemeal,
means that
will pay them unless it pays to pay them. This means that
not for its intrinsic qualities
but instead &dquo;like every other article of commerce&dquo;. In the process of subsuming
sport to the logic of commodities &dquo;what will happen,&dquo; as Berman has noted in
another context, &dquo;is that creative processes and products will be used and
transformed in ways that will dumfound or horrify their creators. But the creators
will be powerless to resist, because they must sell their labor power in order to
no one
athletic skill and creativity is evaluated and selected
live&dquo; (Berman
1982:117).
To argue against commodified forms of sport is not a desire to turn back to a
society of cultural priests who defined culture. Nor is it a point of view which
considers mass sport some sort of toxic gas. But it does recognize that there is a
danger in a cult of nihilism where &dquo;anything goes&dquo; and all needs are reduces to the
same level. While any mass cultural form is to some extent an expression of
people’s needs, it is potentially tyrannically collectivist to accept any and all forms
of culture as expressions of equal worth, significance and value. Without
harkening back to an era of sensus communis - an impossibility given that there
are no homogeneous communities of taste or anything else - the critique of mass
commodified sport is an effort to distinguish between that which is facile and
shallow and that which is profound and significant. The failure to address this
issue has resulted in an attitude of bafflement when most analysts confront the
issue of changes in the form of sport. While this paper does not pretend to offer
any definitive resolution of these queries, it points to the necessity of critically
assessing sport withing the socio-cultural context of a society of industrially
designed uniformity.
The thesis taken up here is not one of total manipulation and delusion. The
intentions of the designers of culture can never be total in their
effects. There remains a subversive potential within the non-utilitarian dimension
of sport that enable it to be (potentially) the &dquo;antidote to its own lie&dquo; (Adorno
1981-2:202). There is a limitation to the process of reification &dquo;because human
beings, as subjects, still constitute the limit of reification Mass culture has to
renew its hold over them in an endless series of repititions; the hopeless effort of
repitition is the only trace of hope that the repitition may be futile, that human
beings cannot be totally manipulated&dquo; (Adorno, ibid.). Rejecting the thesis of
monolithic control, the possibility remains of recovering the emancipatory
potential of sport. This potential is located within the absolute practical
uselessness of sport. As Ernst Bloch once remarked, even false, crippled needs
are needs and contain a kernel of dream, hope and concrete utopia. The goal of a
critical theory of sport is to transform these needs into pressures for changing
everyday life.
manipulative
...
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188
Notes
1
This vision of sport has found its fullest expression in the work of Novak (1976), Huizinga
and Weiss (1969). These authors have identified the following phenomena as
intrinsic to the structure of sport: individual excellence and perfection; equality; liberty,
law; fairness; the struggle of the human spirit to persevere in the face of adversity; a
demonstration of the power of individual and collective will over natural fate; dramatic
spectacle; beauty; tactile values; and movement. In other words, sport embodies a
metaphysic of human empowerment: "athletes are excellence in human form" as well as a
constructive adventure in "self-perfection" (Weiss 1969:17,35).
2
For a thorough discussion of the notion of immanent critique, see Adorno’s discussion in
Prisms (1981:31-4).
3 This
change also had the effect of increasing the force of impact of opposing players hitting
one another since they have five extra yards to gain momentum.
4
The owner-appointed and controlled governing bodies argue that such changes and
innovations have been introduced for the benefit of player safety. But as former All-Pro
player Jack Tatum (1980) has pointed out, the really dangerous aspects of the game are left
untouched: e.g., zone defenses, the quick slant passing play, blitzing, steel-hard helmets.
dangerous medical practices, artificial playing surfaces, and a win-at-all-costs ethic.
5
Comments made in a television interview on September 26, 1983. According to Smith: "If
you remember, if the AFL didn’t establish credibility by the end of three years, the merger
was null and void. And if you remember, Kansas City got blown out in the first game,
Oakland got blown out in the second, and we were the third game" (
San Francisco
(1955)
Chronicle, September 27, 1983).
6
Ironically, women marathoners get a break as a result of the sexism of the networks and
the LAOOC. That is to say, the women marathoners start at 8 a.m. and will be finished long
before the heat and smog build up.
7
This sort of corruption goes unreported and unnoticed because press coverage is
conducted by reporters who are essentially agents for the sponsors and tournament
directors. Not limited to the world of tennis, writers or broadcasters who criticize the
conduct of their respective sport will suddenly find themselves banned or unwelcome in
team club houses, practice sessions, locker rooms, training rooms, hotels, have interviews
denied or "unavailable", or find no space available on team buses and planes. This, of
course, spells the end of any career in sports broadcasting or journalism.
8
However, things could be otherwise. The sole exception to the commercial dominance of
sport is found in the Masters Golf Tournament. The Masters is broadcast without
gimmickry, hyperbole, reference to money, crowd size, loud voices or promotions for CBSTV’s next broadcast. This state of affairs is due to the following factors: (1) the stringent
insistence of the tournament organizers to keep commercialism out of the picture; (2) a very
meagre contract with CBS-TV; and (3) an almost guaranteed viewing audience (small but
who CBS can easily sell to advertizers.
affluent)
9
Many sports writers interpreted Kuhn’s forced resignation by the 26 corporate owners of
baseball clubs as a matter of Kuhn’s underdeveloped business sense.
10 The international
governing body of soccer (FIFA) keeps commercialization in check by
refusing to allow any player to participate in the prestigious and lucrative World Cup and
other international matches if he plays in a league not sanctioned by the FIFA.
11
MISL crowds are 50% or more women whereas in other professional sports the crowds
are 25-30% women.
12
The League’s average attendance per game is 9,000 which compares favorably with its
mature indoor rivals, the National Basketball Association (10,953) and the National
Hockey
League (12,751).
13
The Marxist valorization of working class sport is due, in part, to a close identification
with and (implicit) longing to return to folk sport because of its autonomous class basis and
its possession of collectivist characteristics. During the 1960s many leftist analyses of sport
attempted to theorize youth subcultures as a new revolutionary force (Rowntree &
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189
Rowntree 1968). This position gained currency in Britain where soccer riots instigated by
working class youth were seen in the light of a traditional class analysis which conceptualized
these riots as "class resistance" (Hall
et al., 1976; Hebdige 1979). A theoretical parallel is
found in recent East European cultural analysis which wishes to resurrect folk culture as a
model of non-alienated social relations (Marothy 1974).
14 The shift in the
reception of sport is evidenced in the changed nature of fan violence in
recent years. Whereas fan violence has always been part of athletic competitions, such
violence was always associated with rabid fan identification with the home team. Incidents
were usually triggered by a contested piece of officiating (especially in important
competitions, playoffs, etc.) or by competitions between traditional rivals (e.g., N.Y.
Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers or San Francisco teams vs. Los Angeles teams). More
recently the sporting world has witnessed gratuitous acts of mass fan violence such as the
cleveland Indian Nickel Beer Night and the Chicago White Sox Disco Night. An interview
with a 20-year-old N.Y. Yankee fan indicates this changed attidude: "I’ve waited a long time
for this game ... Those monuments [honoring Gehrig, Higgins and Ruth] mean nothing to
It’s gonna’ happen: kick ass if we
me. I’m here to see it happen for myself and get down
" (Greenberg 1977:26).
win, kick ass if we lose
...
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191
Le sport comme bien de consommation
Résllmé
Cette etude examine une s6rie de changements suite auxquels le sport a 6volud a un bien de
consommation. Il est all6gu6 que ce processus repr6sente une degradation de I’activit6
athi6tique. L’interpr6tation de tels changements est examine sous I’aspect de la discusison
sur la culture de masse et l’art populaire. Dans cette controverse, il s’agit de la question si la
nature du sport moderne a d6bauch6 depuis qu’il est assujetti A la logique du march6. La
puerilite et l’impubert6 dominent le sport de plus en plus comme l’art modeme aussi est
standardis6 et administrd comme un bien. Ainsi le sport est regarde dans la contrari6t6 entre
son potential dmancipatoire et sa fonction comme un article de consommation sociale.
Sport als Ware
Zusammenfassung
Dieser Beitrag untersucht eine
Reihe von Veranderungen, die den Sport immer mehr zur
Ware werden lief3en. Es wird behauptet, dieser ProzeB stelle eine Degradierung athletischer Aktivitdt dar. Die Interpretation solcher Verdnderungen wird vor dem Hintergrund
der Diskussion fber Massenkultur und popul5re Kunst untersucht. Bei dieser Kontroverse
geht es um die Frage, ob die Natur des modernen Sports verdorben wurde, seit er der Logik
des Marktes unterworfen wird. Puerilitdt und Unreife beherrschen zunehmend den Sport,
wie auch die moderne Kultur standardisiert und wie eine Ware verwaltet wird. So wird der
Sport im Spannungsfeld zwischen seinem emanzipatorischen Potential und seiner Funktion
als sozialer Konsumartikel betrachtet.
La Comercializaci6n del Deporte
Resumen
Este
aporte examina una serie de transformaciones que Ilevaron a una comercializacion del
cada vez mayor. Se afirma que este proceso respresenta una degradaci6n de la
deporte
actividad atletica. La interpretaci6n de tales transformaciones se examina ante el trasfondo
de la discusi6n sobre cultura de masas y arte popular. Esta controversia se centra en que si la
naturaleza del deporte moderno se ha echado a perder desde que es sometido a la 16gica de
mercado. Puerilidad e inmadurez dominan cada vez mas en el deporte al igual que la cultura
moderna es estandarizada y administrada como una mercancia. Asi, el deporte se mira en
terminos de las tensiones entre su potencial emancipatorio y su funci6n como articulo de
consumo
social.
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192
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