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Abstract

In this essay, Michael Real reflects on why communication about sport is of cultural importance and worthy of critical study. The early part of the essay reflects on challenges faced in the development of the study of communication and sport and the author’s involvement in that development. The author reflects on his choice to focus on spectacle and mega-events, such as media treatment of the Super Bowl and the Olympic Games. The essay traces significant influences and “schools” of critical approaches to communication and sport, from small beginnings in the 1970s through rapid expansion of topics and methods in the 1980s and since. Key historic contributions that have influenced research on communication and sport are examined along with conflicts about how to best approach this subject. The focus section of the essay assesses a number of broad theoretical lenses that have value in studying mediated sport’s mega-events as spectacle. Considered here are a Geertz style approach to ritual analysis, Debord’s society of the spectacle, and Roche’s theory of mega-events. The essay closes with comment on the road ahead for scholarly research on communication and sport.

Keywords

spectacle mega-event media ritual cultural studies critical theory Super Bowl Olympics

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Reflections on Communication and Sport

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