What is Sport and Why Study it?

Article: CBS $50M for 30 Seconds
On Thursday, January 22, 2015 in my American Sport in the 21st Century class we discussed what sport is and why it should be studied. Before discussing why sport should be studied we must define exactly what sport is. Sport is defined as: physical, competitive, institutionalized, and motivated by a combination of personal enjoyment and external rewards. There is a difference between play, games, and sport. If one was to place these activities on a continuum in order from less complex to more complex it would look like this: 

<---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> play                                                        games                                                         sport

How does one identify which activity they are participating in? There are distinct characteristics that determine if an activity is play, a game, or a sport. The following characteristics are some of the many characteristics that belong to these three activities:

Play	Games	Sport
Free	Win / Lose Motive	Highly Competitive
No boundaries	Boundaries	Formalized Rules
Uncertain	Rules and Authority	Governing Bodies
Make believe	Investment	High degree of organization

The focus of my American Sport in the 21st Century is sport. Sport is a highly important factor worldwide. Sport are social phenomenas because it provides a window into society and cultures and it mirrors the two. How do we know that sport is so important worldwide? The facts say it all. On Thursday, January 22, 2015 we were given these facts about sport, which proves that it is important to study sport.

• Millions of people are interested in sport
• Constitute much of our conversation, reading and leisure ($73B) many people wake up and read or watch sport 
• 1/10 of the world almanac is devoted to sports 
• 15% of major network time is devoted to sports 
• Sport accounts for 49.7% of Twitter chatter
• USA Today devotes 1/4 of its space to sports 
• 8/10 people (adults) are considered sport fans
• Sport constitutes as the 4th largest industry in the U.S. and the 11th in the world
• Gross estimates of $48B in revenue 
• Sport wagering is a huge business ($2.3B legally; $380B illegally) 

Major sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the Baseball World Classic, and the Rugby World Cup are all examples of what sport does worldwide. The Sport Business Journal article supports the facts that were stated above. Super Bowl 49 drew 112.2 million viewers, which sets a new record for the most watch show in U.S. television history. Due to the amount of attention the Super Bowl receives CBS is going to sell the ad rates at $5.0 million per 30-second spot for Super Bowl 50. How is it possible for a major network like CBS to charge $5M for only 30 seconds?

This is possible because of the attention that sport gets and what sport does for our society, 80% of adults consider themselves sport fans - that gives sport a lot of power. Super Bowl 50 is going to take place on Sunday, February 7, 2016 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The game is eleven months away and a good amount of the units have already been filled. On Thursday, January 22, 2015 we were given the fact that as of 2013, the NFL is the number one favorite sport among U.S. sport fans. This is another reason why CBS is able to charge such an astronomical amount for a 30-second ad. Many of the companies that purchase ad time buy an entire minute. Also, each year there are companies that are expected to have commercials such as: Budweiser, Doritos, and Mountain Dew. The commercials are such a big part of the Super Bowl that each year after the Super Bowl is over a list of the best commercials is released. The best commercial from Super Bowl 49 was Budweiser's "Lost Dog" commercial. The following link will allow you to watch the number one commercial from Super Bowl 49: Lost Dog