The Business of Sports & Free Media

Sports is one of the best way to socialize. Its good for your body, mind and soul. It teaches us how we respect others, erode arrogance, builds humility, develops stamina, and prepares us for to bear the ups and downs in our lives. It teaches about our limits, makes us aware about our ability to endure physical and psychological discomforts. Its encourages us to move outside of our comfort zone, improves our metabolism even, train us how to respect while competing.

These are intrinsic rewards hidden in the act of playing, and it doesn't requires any formalities, protocols... teenagers playing cricket on the streets is a good example, gulli danda even better, hide & seek at best as it doesn't require anything except people willing to play and a place to hide.

In contrast if we place sports in a context where the extrinsic rewards takes the precedence over the intrinsic ones, like getting famous and wealthy then the entire playing field turns upside down.

This is made possible when an individual or team of individuals playing a particular sports like cricket or football are judged on the basis of how much popular they are. The most popular ones are then sponsored by corporations to advertise their products. This isn't possible without the help of free private media where the most of the money of corporate sponsors goes. The media then becomes a major stakeholder in the business and use the players and their sport events as a medium to gain viewership of the masses and subsequently earn as much money from sponsors.

In this equation product is the viewership of masses, seller is the media, and the buyer is the corporation. The sportsman thus becomes the hookworm which is used to attract the fish (viewership of the public). The sportsman is also given some of share of the fortune while agreeing to become walking billboard of ads to be displayed on everything they wear and carry. This makes them rich and eventually famous for the sake of corporations.

This doesn't stop here, the sportsman once turned into celebrities are also required to live a life as required by their sponsors. They have to become consumers of the products produced by these corporations and slaves of the market. If they chose to lead a simple life they eventually have to sacrifice loosing their status in from of their corporate sponsors. When the objective is fame and fortune, disappointing corporations & media becomes unthinkable.

The public is also fooled into believing that their dedicated viewership is a symbol of patriotism and a proof of their love for a particular type of sports. They are provided with action packed, thrilling content filled with suspense, which they enjoy watching together. The corporate interested is dependent on how much time they spent watching TV instead of playing sports themselves.

So in the business of sports, players and public are mere pawns of the game. The real players are in fact media, corporations, and to some extent gamblers who have the power to influence, shape and decide.

So whats wrong with this equation, when everyone gets something in the end? There is no problem at all... except that the public turns out to be a loser and fools who believe that their viewership is a proof of their love of sports they are watching. They could have spent their time in a much more productive way, even if their objective would have been to relax like playing with their family members any indoor game, like reading a book, like spending time with kids if one have some. etc.

Of course this arguments isn't just valid for watching sports events, its true for watching movies or listening to music while not doing anything productive. Watching sports therefore falls in the same category. This means that the real intrinsic benefits which were there in the act of playing sports are lost while assuming that you love sports and support it by watching it.

The solution of therefore is simple, move your ass and start playing something instead of watching it on TV.