While the Soviet Union disbanded and the Soviet bloc’s dominance in sporting events diminished, the global order of sports has not. There is still an international sporting order that divides nations into core, semiperipheral, and periphery blocs, based on geography, culture, and politics. The core sports world comprises the United States, Australia, South Korea, and Russia. Peripheral sports include most African and Asian nations.
Some sports still have an aesthetic component, but most emphasize quantitative achievement. The transition from the Renaissance to the modern era can be illustrated in the semantic shift: “measure” previously connoted an aesthetic sense of balance or proportion, but soon began to refer to numerical measurements. Now, it is difficult to differentiate between the two types of sports. Even though the modern world is focused on competitive competition, the cultural element remains. In some sports, such as basketball and tennis, competition has become more intense.
Mass media has a profound impact on the development of sports. The use of mass media to promote and broadcast sporting events and individual athletes is essential to the evolution of modern sports. Increasingly, sports have become intimately linked with mass media. But how has this relationship changed over time? In what ways are they similar? Let’s explore these two areas to learn more about the history of sports. It is a great time to read a classic in the genre!
A lot of money flows into sports. In many cases, athletes are compensated with merchandise and other forms of marketing. The Olympics, for example, see the sprinters running races in the morning for the benefit of New Yorkers. Similarly, commercial television networks have incorporated advertisements into their broadcasts. And some spectators and athletes have even accused the media of changing the nature of sports. The future of sports depends on the ways that media influence the way we live our lives.