The Commercialization of Sport

The commercialization of sport has evolved over decades, from the 1950's advertisements of athletes pitching shaving cream to the multi-million dollar shoe endorsement deals of today. Much like other aspects of capitalism, when a profit is to be gained by promoting a consumer product, sport is not exempt from commercialization. However, even when adjustments for inflation are figured, the astonishingly lucrative field of sport commercialization has become a staple of product promotion and corporate gains.

Beginning as early in life as Little League. youngsters are conditioned by advertising to employ the "popular" brand, those promoted by their favorite athlete or the ones that have national name recognition. These products are imprinted onto the fabric of society as acceptable, via mass commercialization in the structure and implementation of ad campaigns pinpointed at target audiences. Nothing is left to chance in promotion of sport products, consumer research is exactly that, and is approached as a scientific study with definitive direction aimed toward advantageous financial result.

The commercial sponsorship of collegiate athletics is easily one of the most important features of a profitable college athletic department. Without shoe and uniform deals, many colleges and universities would need to suspend sports that are an economic liability, those which do not have large gate revenue or television contracts. An example of this would be a Division I College Football powerhouse that has a number of lucrative endorsement deals. The Football Team revenues generated by commercialization of the sport supports the Womens Lacrosse Team, the volleyball team, and other sports lower in popularity. So at the minimum, all college sports are commercialized by association.

On the level of professional sports, commercialization of sport is undoubtedly the most profitable, for both the advertiser and the fan. Without advertising support, professional sports would not have progressed to the number of franchises present today, and their financial stability would be questionable on an individual basis. NASCAR has taken the commercialization of sport to new levels of unabashed sport profiteering, with race cars that have become 200 mile per hour rolling billboards.

The prevalence of the number and quality of sports on television is directly attributable to the commercialization of sport. Without commercial sponsorship, fans would not be able to follow favored sports as closely as they desire, and at least in this aspect, the commercialization of sport has benefited society in providing entertainment. The question for sports purists may be, at what cost?