The Industrial Media Complex in Our Commoditized Society and it's Influence on the Sport Spectacle

The current state of technology available at high stake venues like the BCS National Championship or the Olympics games can enhance and empower sports producers in their ability to create a believable and dynamic narrative. Television sports journalists using today’s contemporary audiovisual technology can produce multiple streams of information, enabling each producer to construct, distribute, and exhibit a cohesive and stimulating product for the sports audience. However, the cost of this technologically advanced infrastructure is exorbitant and solely dependent on symbiotic economic relationships with advertisers, corporate sponsors, network executives, and governmental regulators. This synergistic relationship can be viewed as tenuous since television might be able to survive without sports, but professional and collegiate sports could not exist in their present form without the revenues from televisual distribution (Bellamy, 120). But, in fact, I’m not completely sure if network TV could survive without sports. Football, for example, is the highest rated programming on TV.  Additionally, without intense capital funding of this creative environment, the sports spectacle, which is ever more dependent on current technological advancements, would collapse in a tepid pool of visual boredom in our commoditized society. It also may be assumed that both entities, with their co-dependent relationship, may suffer an economic downturn in revenue and popularity without constant textual reinforcement of the current digital commoditized sports industrial complex.

There is nothing accidental about this process.  Sports are about big money, and thus produce the mediated spectacle that is dependent on technology, production, sponsors, government agencies, and distribution outlets. Sut Jhally, professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has represented it this way: “the mediated sport is the outcome of a complex blend of technical, organizational, economic, cultural, political, and social factors” (Jhally, 84).

A number of factors came into play to accelerate the introduction of the sports/media complex in the late 1950s and early 1960s. First, it was necessary for television to be fully entrenched in American homes. By 1955, half of the U.S. homes had at least one television set. After that tipping point, the technology began to improve quickly for sports television and the first use of color television in a national game was deployed by NBC for the 1955 “Subway Series” between the Dodgers and the Yankees. The now-familiar sports replay was introduced in 1956 by the Ampex Corporation with the first videotape recorder that would allow 30 seconds of sports replays and the ability to do slow motion and video freeze frames.  In 1961, the Sports Broadcasting Act was passed permitting professional sports teams in one league to negotiate contracts with broadcasters. Finally, the networks and local television stations began to purchase broadcast rights directly from the teams, and, in turn, sold time to commercial advertisers (McChensney, 61). All of these factors created a perfect storm of revenue streams for broadcasters and league owners. This scenario created a textbook marketplace to attract the coveted 18-49-year-old male audience so companies like Gillette could sell razors to them. Gillette signed a contract in 1960 worth $8.5 million for ABC Sports (Sullivan, 132). Benjamin G. Radar, in his authoritative work, American Sports, also sees two fundamental external forces that shaped the organized sports growth in the post-1950s era: the rapid growth of new metropolises and populations, especially in the Sunbelt, coupled with the new technological marvels of television (Radar, 231).

Aggregating these dynamics produced a capitalist environment that nourished the growth of the sports/media complex. To attract new television spectators and meet the ever-increasing requests from commercial sponsors, the television production teams employed authoritative color and commentary announcers, upbeat music, multiple cameras angles, slow motion playback, and electronic graphics to create a television-mediated spectacle for the new and expanding sports audience. In response to the new television coverage, the nouveau sports entrepreneurs, like Branch Rickey and Walter O’Malley, altered the rules of the games by introducing timeouts for television commercials and creating prolonged national championship playoff games.

It appears that sports coverage has been mediated from the very beginning of sports broadcasting. Even as early as 1936, at the Berlin Olympics, Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda, used the CCTV medium to enhance the image of Aryan athletic superiority and Germany's sophisticated television technology.  The German Telephone Organization placed 21 cameras at different Olympic venues and broadcasted their signals to public television offices in Berlin. Twenty-eight viewing rooms were set up, and 150,000 people are estimated to have seen the Olympics in this manner. Under the direction of Germany’s television and telephones companies, the ministries promised a cultural event of “unsuspected importance to the progress of mankind” (Berlin, Olympics). Initially reluctant to host the Games, the Nazi regime eventually saw television as a propaganda opportunity to spread their political message to a wider audience (Short).

In the United States, the modern-day Olympic telecasts were cast in the shadows of commodification from its humble television genesis. For illustration, the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, were essentially purchased by land developer, Alexander Cushing, who outbid Innsbruck, Austria, St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Chamonix, France with the help of California’s Governor Goodwin Knight and then-president Dwight Eisenhower to win over the International Olympic Committee. The entertainment and televisual spectacle of Squaw Valley contributed to the mediazation by CBS, who paid $50,000 for the live broadcast rights. The opening ceremonies broadcast live was orchestrated and produced by Walt Disney, which featured the release of two thousand pigeons as a symbol of peace, as the Olympic cauldron was set aflame.

CBS also benefited by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) officials, who were unsure as to whether a skier had missed a gate in the men's slalom, and asked CBS if they could review a videotape of the race. This gave CBS the idea to invent the now ubiquitous "instant replay” (Squaw Valley). CBS’s coverage set the tone of future Olympics broadcasts by incorporating textual spectacle by Disney and featuring commentary by esteemed news correspondences, Walter Cronkite and Bud Palmer. Commercial sponsors included Renault Dauphine automobiles, which boasted of getting 40 miles per gallon, which made driving fun again (Renault).

 If we look at prior and current Olympic coverage by NBC we can see how they have adapted the CBS model. NBC has incorporated the ever-popular Today Show in their morning lineup, which has featured Matt Lauer and Katie Couric. Tom Brokaw, NBC’s semi-retired news anchor, regularly posts segments for the prime time show with Bob Costas; and General Motors and Chevrolet have sponsored  “Chevy Moments” which highlight the greatest 30 NBC Olympic moments.

Initially, sports television was constrained by its technology and limited to indoor events such as wrestling, professional boxing, and roller derby. The multi-turreted lenses of the broadcast black and white television cameras manufactured by RCA and GE were not as nimble as today’s multi-focal length zoom lenses. These early orthicon camera pick-up tubes required an astonishing amount of foot-candles for the images to be visible on a small cathode ray television tube. The early pioneers of television sports production also needed additional high wattage lighting fixtures, and required an enormous amount of power to supply the cameras and the large amounts of ancillary broadcast equipment. These technical and aesthetic barriers also prevented the early pioneers of sports production from branching out to outdoor events such as baseball or football. The camera lenses were not able to pick up the movement of the fastball or scrimmages due to awkward camera positions and the lack of the required light levels.

Despite these limitations, broadcasters in sports television have always searched for new technology to advance its spectacle. Slow motion video playback, innovative audio reproduction, and sophisticated 3D graphics have provided cutting-edge sports presentations since the first airing of ABC’s Wide World of Sports in 1961. The success of the Wide World of Sports was partially due to its innovation in technology. Live satellite feeds from exotic locales; the introduction of videotape playback, and multiple camera angles enhanced its image as a technology leader in sports television.

Advanced technology has helped illuminate and clarify the sports viewing experience by precision processing of visual information. Multicore workstation technology enhances the sports spectators’ experience by presenting the athletic dynamism of sports competition, which is displayed on video monitor systems at 4,000 lines of resolution per second.  This type of visual experience is uniquely adapted to exploit sports acquisitions with new technology and special effects that have been invented solely for the broadcast sports industry.

There is no other type of media that uses all the creative tools that television technology has to offer on a daily basis, and to their fullest effect and benefit. Not only are the images magnificent in high definition, but the overall benefit to the production process of retrieving these high definition images can also be outstanding, with the correct technology and established procedures for defined and proven workflows. Imagery can be retrieved rapidly at its full resolution, and presented and displayed in a number of creative and innovative ways.

Indeed, the technical advancements in the televisual environment have been swift and purposeful. Over a ten-year period, remarkable milestones have been achieved in television production. During the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, NBC instituted the first all-digital editing and production environment, which enhanced the visual and auditory quality of the sports images. However, this digitized footage was not stored in a fashion that allowed content to be searched and retrieved. This technical shortcoming became a significant hurdle when late breaking events occurred in the fast paced environment of the Olympics. Illustrating this, the closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Sydney Australia featured a RAAF F-111 military jet flyover that would extinguish the Olympic flame and send the representation of the Olympic flame to the next summer Olympics in Athens, Greece (F-111).

Unfortunately, the live telecast director missed the dramatic flyover that needed to be included in the final presentation.  However, the eight-hour time difference between the United States and Australia allowed significant time for the dramatic sequence to be re-edited for final distribution. Subsequently, the footage of the flyover was recorded on digital videotape, but unfortunately misplaced. Without any metadata attached to the physical tape, a manual and frantic search began for the physical tape and its sequence. Tapes had to be searched manually, with precious minutes ticking away, by fast forwarding and rewinding each tape for the specific camera angle which captured the flyover; a time consuming process. Eventually, the tape was found, and the dramatic sequence was inserted minutes before the United States broadcast. Sadly, hours were wasted fast-forwarding and rewinding videotapes in real time. As each moment passed, the producer and executive producer for the closing ceremonies could have concentrated on other tasks. They strategized how to textualize this important event without the flyover footage, instead of concentrating on other creative avenues for the closing ceremonies.

From this example, it's evident how workflow and database management can radically change the outcome of a live event. When the Olympic luge trials begin in the upcoming winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, NBC producers will keep in mind the tragic event, which occurred in Vancouver in 2010 when the Georgian luger, Nodar David Kumaritashvili, was killed in a training run. If a tragedy does occur, production personnel can retrieve, edit, and display footage from the tragic event in Vancouver in a matter of moments by entering a few keywords, i.e., Georgian luger, or the name Nodar David Kumaritashvili. In some respects, with this ability for speed and accuracy, the televisual spectacle does not need a detailed script. Indeed, the sports television presentations can be shaped and re-reshaped in a short time using end-to-end file-based workflows systems, thus creating a new textual reality with new emerging technical synergy.

Electronic tools of the trade have reinforced and stirred the visual spectacle of sports production. Intertwined in this high definition mesh are multi-branded commercial sponsors playing a major economic role in sports presentation. Fall weekends are saturated with college football games; some 78 games are broadcast, cablecast, and streamed on 21 distribution outlets. Branded segments and highlight packages are embedded in each game with the latest television production techniques, which can camouflage commercial sponsorships as well-crafted sports trailers. An example of this is a recent ABC/ESPN college football telecast which attracted up to eight million viewers (Nielsen). Commercial sponsors were introduced with flair, creativity, and authority, adding to the collegiate visual spectacle. The Capital One Half Time Report was introduced in bold 3D alphanumeric fashion with additional sound effects, which emphasized the authority, grandeur, and financial stability that sustains the sporting institution. “Windows presents ESPN's Saturday Night Football," closely knits the synergy of technology and institutions of higher learning with the mobile communication devices manufactured by Microsoft Corporation. The Pacific Life Game Summary adds further ammunition with the patriarchal order of college investment and financial freedom for baby boomers. Each presentation is crafted to blend perfectly with the sports aura, shaped with fanfare music and glistening panoramas of college stadiums filled with energetic fans who serve as the dramatic background for these commercial entities.

Everything is branded: the playing field and the 1920 x 1080 televisual screen crammed with logos of ABC/ ESPN, USC, Fighting Trojans, and PAC 12. Superimposed images keep track of the number of downs and yardage made, with a coliseum filled with fans, dressed in a sea of red, cheering with painted faces and bodies, intertwined with pop-culture musical rhythms as part of the largest money-making machine for colleges and universities. The monetization continues throughout the allotted two-and-a-half hours of the sports spectacle continuously so as not to miss any opportunities to bring audiences closer and invoke more personal feeling for these events.

As the robotic aerial camera sweeps across the stadium high above the crowd, Sportsvision graphics display the 1st and goal markers, the commentator draws circles around the offending player on the Telestrator, five synchronized video playback devices displaying the angles chosen to be aired, and color and commentary announcers add to the drama with enthusiasm while using descriptive military euphemisms which add spectacle and significance to the replayed event. The spectacle created by today’s television technology in college football can be repeated for the television audience with the replay. For example, after an exciting interception, Hail Mary pass, or offensive return kickoff, the commentators and production crew delve into their discursive mode and visually retell the story of celebration or defeat. The replay articulates the past event. This original occurrence, which was not scripted, represents a reality program. In fact, broadcast sports are the original reality television program. Few others broadcast genres amplify real-world events while bringing audiences so intimately close to live action, and none does so with the regularity of televised sports (Sullivan, 131). The replay is the cornerstone of the sports-mediated spectacle. Editorial decisions can be made at a more selective pace, which enables the production staff to tell a story rather than just show one. This is the moment when the spectacle shines with technology and personnel. Vision mixers, slow-motion devices, and multiple camera angles re-tell the play, one frame at a time. Each replay can describe a different narrative, with emphasis on offense or defense. The mediated replayed event can also cause controversy, disagreeing with official rulings or play-calling decisions.

 Fox Sports, for instance, uses technology in a somewhat subversive manner to supplement, enhance, and editorialize the sports spectacle. Watching Fox Sports, a viewer is not able to tell when a “replay” occurs. Usually, when a replay occurs in a sports presentation, the television audience is aware that the action has taken place and that they are watching an event which is being repeated, branded by a lower third or upper left corner of the screen that identifies it as a replay. At Fox Sports, the production staff purposely interjects the event that has just occurred and displays it as if it was in “real time” so the viewer cannot distinguish real-time or live events from events that are being replayed.

This could be understood as controlling and manipulative to the television audience, without regard to the viewer’s sense of reality in the context of the sports presentation. This would not be possible without the advancement and participation of four interested factions: broadcasters, league owners, commercial sponsors, and equipment manufacturers. These symbiotic relationships have increased the value of sports presentations since the first sports broadcast in 1939 (First).

Synergy has brought the spectacle to the sports industrial complex, as it is currently represented in much-mediated events such as the Super Bowl. This premier event, with its extravagant camera angles, dissolving pictures of players, flags, fireworks, and the music of the “Star Spangled Banner”, symbolizes extreme commodification. The spectacle has also influenced what Olympics events are to be represented. In 2013, the Olympic Committee reinstated wrestling after the rules of wrestling were amended to make matches more dynamic, rewarding wrestlers who are more aggressive and punishing those who remain passive (Longman). The spectacle is so sought-after that broadcasters seem willing to pay any price to be part of the sports exhibition. NBC has won the rights to four Olympic games through 2020, in a deal valued at nearly $4.4 billion (Vascellaro).

The sports spectacle can be planned and implemented, but its message may not be predictable or easily controlled. Commodification of the sports message is changing through audience power. Traditional avenues of measurement such as ratings and polls are trustworthy mechanisms for commercial sponsors and advertisers; but networks need greater media attention and exposure for their financial supporters, future opportunities, and brand presence. Through interactive media, chat boards and social networks, individuals guide and create their own agendas and scenarios, which influence the sports-industrial complex. This new force took some by surprise. For instance, Dick Ebersol, chairman of the NBC Olympics, banned any social networking at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Individuals who worked at the games as contractors or employees were not allowed to create their own blogs or websites; pictures and blogs were all strictly forbidden. All information out of Athens was to come from one source, NBC Olympics.

A change occurred by the winter of 2006. US athletes were given flip cameras by NBC and encouraged to record everything they could, and post their material as soon as possible for NBC in Torino, Italy. Ebersol knew NBC was maxing out interest with their television audience and needed to expand their wireless and Internet components; and Ebersol also believed he needed to be live for more than half of the future Olympics, which was counter to his previous position in re-creating the Roone Arledge’s approach of tape-delay by showing major Olympic sports to get the highest ratings in primetime, which was the subject of some of the most vocal criticism of Dick Edersol’s career as president of NBC Olympics.

Large spectacles in sports are also dependent on the synergy of technology, cultural aspirations, sponsors and broadcasters as well. Opening ceremonies for the Olympics are strategically and creatively planned for years in advance and are one of the most lavish sports events in the world. Performers, athletes, dignitaries, politicians, musicians, actors, and royalty all have been on display during this grand exercise of television excessiveness.

The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles is no exception. Bill Suitor, by means of a Bell Aero rocket pack system, circled the middle of the Los Angeles Coliseum during the opening ceremonies. John Williams, the celebrated composer of cinema, was commissioned to write a new Olympic theme based on Leo Arnaud’s “Bugler's Dream", which was introduced in the 1968 Olympic Games in Grenoble, and Gina Hemphill of Chicago, granddaughter of Jesse Owens, and William Thorpe Jr. of Texas, grandson of Jim Thorpe, carried the Olympic flag into the Los Angeles Coliseum (Los Angeles). The representations of these three events exemplify the City of Los Angeles in elation and celebration. The rocket pack system demonstrates the maturing aerospace industry in Southern California, John Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” celebrate the genius of Hollywood’s film industry, and relatives of Jesse Owens and Jim Thorpe commemorate the injustice of American athletes. Los Angeles tried to shed its often-perceived identification as a culturally-isolating city, with cloverleaf freeways and concrete riverbeds, which separate the elite west-side population with its inner city populace. This futuristic spectacle, which characterizes a utopian Disneyland society of advanced technology, racial harmony, and cultural openness seemingly summarizes the hopes of the Olympic planners in Los Angeles.

The television spectator, alongside today’s current technology, is engulfed with a visual manifestation, which can create an illusion of reality. Television’s 1125-lines of resolutions and 5.1 audio can create a third dimension, placing the viewer somewhere between the foreground and the background, sandwiched in the diegetic digital domain of visual space. The Summer Olympics in Beijing may have accomplished this goal. The human technology on display in 2008 reached a new high-water mark in visual spectacle. Literally, with thousands of performers and millions of dollars committed to this international event, an estimated 842 million viewers in China were able to view this auspicious night on 8-8-2008. Beijing was the first all-digital Olympics, enabling the viewer to experience the spectacle free on the Internet, either live or on-demand. Also, Beijing was the first fully high-definition Olympics, competing technically as the most advanced media spectacle of the 21st Century. The technical spectacle only enhanced the pageantry, drama, and industrialism of this monumental exhibition.

With potential four billion viewers worldwide, Beijing built an impressive Olympic park, which included the Bird’s Nest (Beijing’s National Stadium) where Usain Bolt masterfully set the world records for the 100m, 200m and 4x100m track and field races and earned three gold medals doing so. Moreover, the Water Cube (Beijing National Aquatics Center), with its honeycomb blue design, accentuated the grandeur and tremendous scale of the Olympic park with its translucent blue glow. There, Michael Phelps collected eight gold medals and surpassed Mark Spitz's 36-year old aquatic record. It does appear, for all the success of the event, the Chinese Olympic Committee may have crossed the ethical line in search of the perfect media spectacle. Accusations of computer-generated fireworks superimposed over Tiananmen Square resulted in a squabble over Chinese artistic choices as “Cinematic Devices” intended to present a perfect spectacle. Also, during a rehearsal of the opening ceremonies, a member of China’s Politburo asked for a change to the seven-year-old singer Yang Peiyi, who sang 'Ode to the Motherland'; the official felt Peiyi was not cute enough and ordered another girl to lip-sync 'Ode to the Motherland’. At the end of the day, the Politburo picked the best voice and the best performer, without any apology (Chinese).

Indeed, the Chinese Olympic Committee successfully presented a perfectly controlled and well-orchestrated Olympics. The spectacle, pomp, and pageantry were all tightly-controlled by the Chinese government; you could see it on the faces of the guards who stood rigid for eight hours protecting the entrances to the Birds Nest, and the construction workers who lived in shanties that surrounded the Olympic Park during this celebrated media event. The media and sponsors celebrated the number of commercials sold during the summer Olympics, and the Beijing Olympic Committee demonstrated how China could show the world how much it had emerged as an economic power (Riley), but the media could not hide the orchestrated and forced responses of the muted Chinese people who have been burdened by this repressive regime. The spontaneity surrounding this event was all but extinguished.

 Each Olympic event is unique for its impression and representativeness. The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City was under the shadow of the 9/11 attacks in New York City, which resulted in increased security and military presences, essentially changing the tenor of all Olympic events that follow. In 2004, the government of Greece, at the Summer Olympics in Athens, was under enormous pressure to succeed financially with raising costs, which included major infrastructure and security projects that essentially crippled the country economically for a number of years after this prestigious event (Rose). In the 2000 reconciliation, race relations and nationalism summarized the goals of the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. The atmosphere of the Olympic spirit in Sydney was jubilant for journalists and athletes the pre-9/11 days. Security was present but somewhat lax for SOCOG (Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympics). Athletes’ portraits were draped on sides of multistory buildings, and Sydney Harbor celebrated with magnificent fireworks displays every evening from Sydney’s Harbor Bridge, as it was adorned with the symbol of the Olympic, the multi-colored five Olympic rings. Foreign journalists could not ignore the sensationalism and excitement that wrapped Sydney in this new millennium. In this new century, Australia was concluding work on a 10-year reconciliation plan between indigenous and non-indigenous people, which concluded during the Summer Olympics.

Australia’s premier track-and-field athlete, Cathy Freeman, from Aboriginal and Chinese ancestry, represented the indigenous athletes and served as a reconciliation symbol and bridge to healing for race relations in Australia. Although some academics and journalist believed Freeman was a pawn of the sports industrial complex and was complicit with Nike as in their advertising campaign, “Change the world 400 meters at a time” (McGuire 20), the semiotics of Freeman at Sydney’s Opening Ceremonies were unique and original. The pageantry of Freeman’s body surrounded by water and fire as she lit the Olympic cauldron was mystical as well as dramatic. The television cameras with contrasting images of fire and water emphasized Freeman’s solitary accentuated figure. Freeman, alone in her representation of her indigenous ancestors, was hard to miss, with the solo act of water extinguishing the fire of racial hatred in the territories of Oceana. Although Freemans’s opening ceremony and solo performance was predictable and orchestrated, Freeman’s own reality program in the 400-meter race was about to begin. When Freeman entered the stadium in Sydney’s Olympic Park to compete in the 400-meter race, an electrical charge raced through the 100,000 spectators. When the 400-meter race began, thousands of camera flashes illuminated the stadium as the eight runners began to circle the Olympic Stadium. A visceral reaction rippled through the crowd when Freeman began to falter in her quest for the gold medal. Visually, it was a dramatic moment when Freeman began to fade in the pack. As the crowd began to feel the Olympic spectacle drain out of the race for Freeman, the unexpected happened; Freeman rebounded and kicked and sprinted to win the gold medal. Afterward, in dramatic fashion, Freeman collapsed in a pool of celebration and anguish. It was a momentous occasion, which symbolized the individual spirit of a dominant society, trying to shape a newfound social-political system.

The sports spectacle can be planned but may not be predictable. The dominant culture can chart and exercise boundaries to shape the exhibition to its desired political agenda. In addition, current technology can aid in the production and distribution of commoditized sports products. Individuals, as well as corporations, can now influence the spectacle by digital confluence. By all assessments, the conversation concerning sports is gossip, but chat boards, twitter, and social events are sustained by ever expanding branding by commercial sponsors who capitalize on the growing market for sports products in college, amateur, and professional televisual venues. The relationships of each member in the sports industrial complex are solely dependent on one another. Broadcasters, sponsors, government agencies, and the academic sports community are based on the principles of dependent variables of associations that have been beneficial in a number of ways. Currently, for example, the NFL generates nine billion dollars a year according to Forbes magazine; the NFL remains the most lucrative league in the world (Burke). Without the glitz and glamour of television or the web of commercialism, football would probably return to its humble beginnings as a sport which people enjoy playing rather than watching.

Bibliography

"All Set For The Games!" The Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley Will Be Seen by More. Time Warner, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

Barnes, Dana R. "Cathy Freeman." Notable Sports Figures. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2004. 516-18. Print.

Beck, Daniel, and Louis Bosshart. "Sports and Media." Communication Research Trends 22.4 (2003): 1-44. Web. 7 Sept. 2013.

Burke, Monte. "How The National Football League Can Reach $25 Billion In Annual Revenues." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 17 Aug. 2013. Web. 09 Oct. 2013.

"Chinese Defend Olympic Ceremony Lip-synch." Msnbc.com. Associated Press, 13 Aug. 8. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

Cohen, Ronnie. "TV Viewers Tune in to America's Cup but Jury out on Finances." Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 16 Sept. 0009. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.

"Ex-NBC Sports Employee: Dick Ebersol Is The Biggest Failure Of Them All." Deadspin. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.

"F-111 Dump and Burn during the Sydney Olympics." YouTube. YouTube, 24 Sept. 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

"First Televised Football Game, Waynesberg vs. Fordham, 1939." First Televised Football Game, Waynesberg vs. Fordham, 1939. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.

Frost, Laurie. "The Evolution of Sports Broadcasting." Broadcast Engineering 51.4 (Apr 2009): 32-N/a. Web. 2 Sept. 2013.

Jhally, Sat. "Cultural Studies and the Sports Media/Complex." Media, Sports, and Society. NewBury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1989. 49-69. Print.

Levitt, Mike. "NBCSN Delivers Most Expansive Premier League Coverage in American History." StamfordAdvocate. StamfordAdvocate, 25 Aug. 2103. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

Longman, Jere. "Wrestling Returns to Olympics, Beating Baseball-softball and Squash for Place in 2020 Games." The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc., 8 Sept. 2013. Web. 08 Oct. 2013.

"Los Angeles 1984 28th July - 12th August." Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics. International Olympic Committee, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

McChesney, R. (1989). Media made sport: A history of sports coverage. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.), Media, sports, and society (pp. 49-69). Newbury Park, CA, London, and New Delhi: Sage.

McChesney, Robert Waterman. Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism Is Turning the Internet against Democracy. London: New, 20133. Print.

Nachman, Corey, and Dashhiell Bennett. "14 Innovations That Changed Sports Broadcasting Forever." Business Insider. Business Insider Inc., 17 Apr. 2011. Web. 04 Sept. 2013.

"Nielsen's Top Programs for Aug. 26-Sept. 1." AP Sports. 2013 Associated Press, n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2013.

"Renault Dauphine Classic TV Commercial (1958)." YouTube. YouTube, 22 Apr. 2011. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.

Riley, Charles. "Olympics Is a Very Risky Bet for Cities." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 30 July 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

Rose, Adam J. "Greek Financial Crisis: Did 2004 Athens Olympics Spark Problems In Greece?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 03 June 2010. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.

Sandomir, Richard, and Bill Carter. "Dick Ebersol Resigns From NBC Sports." New York Times. New York Times, 19 May 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.

Sandomir, Richard, James Miller, and Steve Eder. "To Protect Its Empire, ESPN Stays on Offense." New York TImes [New York City] 26 Aug. 2013, Sports sec.: n. pag. New York Times. 26 Aug. 2013. Web. 3 Sept. 2013.

Sandomir, Richard. "Premier League TV Coverage On NBC Sports Gets Off to a Bright Start." World Soccer Talk. New York Times, 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

Short, John R. "Globalization, Cities and the Summer Olympics." City, 26 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.

Spencer, Ricard. "Beijing Olympic 2008 Opening Ceremony Giant Firework Footprints 'faked'" The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 08 Oct. 2008. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

Sulluvan, David B. "Broadcast Television and the Game of Packaging Sports." Handbook of Sports and Media. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates, 2006. 131-46. Print.

"Squaw Valley 1960 18th February - 28th February." Squaw Valley 1960 Winter Olympics. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.

"The 1936 Berlin Olympics." The 1936 Berlin Olympics. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.

Tudor, Deborah V. Hollywood's Vision of Team Sports: Heroes, Race, and Gender. New York: Garland Pub., 1997. Print.

Vascellaro, Jessica and Matthew Futterman. "NBC Realizes Olympic Dream." MEDIA & MARKETING. Wall Street Journal, 8 June 2100. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.

Willoughby, Keith, and Chad Mancini. "The Inaugural (and Only) Season of the Xtreme Football League: A Case Study in Sports Entertainment." International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, September/October 2003 (2003): 225-33. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.

Wilson, Korey. "NBC Sports Unveils $100M Broadcast Center in Stamford." Thehour.com. The Stamford Times, 25 July 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.