DoRevision
Log in Sign up free

Commercialisation and the Media

Logos on shirts, matches on TV, fans paying to watch: sport is big business. See how sport, sponsors and the media feed each other, and weigh the wins and losses for all four stakeholders.

⏱️ 15 min 🎯 13 activities
Best used for
Starter Independent study Intervention

Justify the choices, the way you are assessed

Free interactive practice on the decisions the assessment actually asks you to justify.

Start revising free

What you'll cover

Sport is big business

Top-level sport is worth billions. Companies pay to put logos on shirts, TV channels pay to show matches, and fans pay to watch. This is commercialisation: treating sport as a way to make money. It brings big advantages, but real drawbacks too, and they differ for each group involved.

The language of the deal

Four ideas run through the topic:

What commercialisation means

What does the commercialisation of sport mean?

  • Treating sport as a way to make money, through sponsorship and the media
  • Playing sport purely for personal fitness
  • Banning all advertising from sporting events
  • Making every sport free to watch for everyone

Match each stakeholder to an advantage

  • The sponsor
  • The sport
  • The player
  • The spectator
  • Gains brand exposure and higher sales from the association
  • Receives income to improve facilities and fund the grassroots
  • Earns higher wages and lucrative sponsorship deals
  • Can watch far more sport, including live from home

The golden triangle

Sport, business and the media form a golden triangle. Each one feeds the other two, which is why commercialisation has grown so fast.

Who is NOT a stakeholder?

Edexcel names four stakeholders. Select the TWO options that are NOT among them.

  • The match official
  • The stadium groundskeeper
  • The sponsor
  • The spectator

Four stakeholders, not five

Edexcel names exactly four stakeholders: the sponsor, the sport, the player/performer and the spectator. Do not add the official as a fifth, as that is another board's framing. For full marks, give a stakeholder-specific advantage AND disadvantage in context. For example, the spectator gains far more live coverage as an advantage, but pays subscription fees and faces TV-dictated kick-off times as a disadvantage.

Commercialisation and sponsorship

_____ means treating sport as a way to make money. A business that pays a team in return for advertising is a _____. Sport, business and the _____ form the golden _____, each feeding the others. A supporter who now pays to stream a match that used to be shown free is bearing one of the costs that fall on the four _____.

Commercialisation sponsor media triangle stakeholders official referee merchandise amateur profit

Round the golden triangle

Put the flow of money and benefit around the golden triangle into a sensible order.

  • A sponsor pays money to a popular sport
  • The media pay the sport for the rights to broadcast it
  • Broadcasts reach a huge audience of fans
  • That audience gives the sponsor valuable exposure
  • The sponsor invests even more, and the cycle repeats

Weigh up the deal

A football club signs a big TV and sponsorship deal. Weigh up what it means, step by step.

  • What is a clear ADVANTAGE for the club, as the sport?
  • What is a likely DISADVANTAGE for the spectators?
  • How should you reach a balanced judgement?

The player's downside

Why can commercialisation be a DISADVANTAGE for a top player or performer?

  • It brings pressure, loss of privacy and demands to promote sponsors
  • It forces them to play their sport for free
  • It makes them completely unknown to the public
  • It has no downside for players at all

Spot the disadvantages

Tap the TWO statements that describe a DISADVANTAGE of commercialisation.

  • Media companies can dictate when matches are played, ignoring loyal fans.
  • Sponsorship gives a sport more money to fund grassroots participation.
  • Players may lose their privacy and face intense pressure to perform.
  • Fans can watch far more live sport than ever before.
  • Better facilities are built with the extra income.

Good for the spectator?

Evaluate whether commercialisation has been good for the spectator. Give advantages and disadvantages for the spectator, and reach a balanced judgement.

  • Explain one advantage commercialisation brings the spectator
  • Explain one disadvantage commercialisation brings the spectator
  • Refer to the role of the media and sponsorship
  • Reach a balanced judgement on whether it is good for the spectator