ABSTRACT

Sport has become increasingly immersed in the corporate world and ever more dependent on the lucrative financial returns that flow from commercial sponsorship, endorsement contracts, and media broadcasting rights. An economic and cultural affinity between sport and the corporate capitalist world was identified by the German social and economic analyst Max Weber early in the twentieth century. The sale of broadcasting rights has become a major source of income for the sport industry in general and for global sport events in particular. Early in 2012 Nike introduced a campaign called ‘Make It Count’ featuring sportsmen and sportswomen across a number of fields. Sports events, sports teams, individual athletes, the stadiums and venues where competition takes place, as well as the array of media which relay matches and tournaments to fans and viewers around the world, are imbued with the interests, values, and signs of the corporate world.