Sport And the Media

The relationship between sport and the media is the defining commercial connection for both industries at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The media has transformed sport from an amateur pursuit into a hyper-commercialised industry, while sport has delivered massive audiences and advertising revenues to the media. As such, the sport media relationship must be managed.

Sport & the Media: managing the sport-media nexus is a unique text which combines an analysis of the sport media industry with practical sport media management skills. The book is designed to equip students within sport management and related courses who need to understand the nature and scope of the sport media nexus, as well as develop the skills to manage the media promotion and coverage of sport organisations.

After using this book throughout the course of a semester of study a student will understand the:

* Historical development of sport and the media
* Current commercial and contextual relationships between the media and sport industries
* Ways in which audiences and advertisers drive the media coverage of sport
* Ways in which the media industry generally and the sport industry more specifically are structured to produce content/news/products
* Ways in which the media represents sport in order to sell it

Through an understanding of these issues, it is expected that the student will have the foundation knowledge that will enable he or she to implement successful sport media management. As such, after using this book throughout the course of a semester of study a student will have developed a range of skills and be able to:

* Plan for sport media coverage throughout the course of a season or year
* Use a range of promotional tools and strategies as appropriate to the requirement and context (such as e-release, media conference, etc.)
* Manage the media image of athletes within a sport organisation and be aware of the ways in which the media will seek to use those athletes
* Manage the media representation of a sport organisation during a period of crisis or scandal

Finally, it is expected that a student who uses Sport & the Media: managing the sport-media nexus will have sufficient knowledge of the possible future developments in the sport and media industries to be able to develop the sport organisation in which they work, so that they are able to respond quickly and effectively to media coverage and promotional opportunities in an increasingly mediated, commercial and global sport environment. Similarly, those who work within sport organisations will be able to obtain sustainable, quality and positive media coverage from a variety of media organisations, through reading this text

* The definitive undergraduate resource for understanding how to manage the commercially critical relationship between sport and the media
* A user-friendly combination of theoretical concepts and practical applications completed by global case study material
* Developed learning features specifically created for semester long courses accompanied with online resources for lecturers

Matthew Nicholson is Associate Professor of Sport Management in the Centre for Sport and Social Impact at La Trobe University, Australia.