The Commercialization of Basketball
The game of basketball is changing, but not willingly or by it own doing. Corporate America has been poking around in the petri dish containing American sports for years now, steering its path of evolution wherever desired. The effects can easily be seen on and around the basketball court in the form of corporate logos engrained on the floor, product advertisements everywhere from the rafters to the programs to the scorers table, and company labels stitched into players uniforms and shoes. Basketball, and sport in general, has become one of the most effective commercial vehicles and marketing tools, but at what price? How has sport, both the actual competition and the viewing experience, suffered from this virtual corporate takeover?
I quickly became aware of the corporate influence over sport on Tuesday, when I had my first experience navigating Minneapolis on foot. My destination was the Target Center, but long before reaching the Timberwolves basketball arena, I became aware of the omnipresent corporate influence that Target has on the city. I parked about 12 blocks away from the arena and around every turn was a sign directing me to the Target Center. I still managed to get lost both before and after the game, walking all the way to St. Paul for all I know, but that can be credited to my inability to follow directions rather than a lack of “advertising” for the Target Center.
Timberwolves basketball has become an excellent commercial vehicle for Target. Not only is the corporate name analogous with the team, it is associated with the city as well. Of course, although Target does have its name in lights all over the building, it isn’t the only corporatio...
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...ntrol over commercial media, in the end it is still commercialization that has the power to change the game.
Works Cited
Media Text 1 – Newspaper articles:
Hruby, Patrick. “Commercialization threatens the magic of street basketball.” The
Washington Times 18 October 2002, final ed.: C01.
Kilgannon, Corey and Vincent M. Mallozzi. “Basketball With Pizazz In a Changing Harlem; Stars and Marketers Join a Playground Crowd.” The New York Times 2 August 2002, late ed.: B1.
Media Text 2 – “2002-2003 Minnesota Timberwolves Yearbook.”
Media Text 3 – My experience at the Target Center and my observations of what fans valued as entertainment.
Class Text References – Textbooks:
Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death. Toronto: Penguin Books, 1985.
Lull, James. Media, Communication, Culture: A Global Approach. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
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Silk, Michael. (2005, Nov 2). Week 9 Fall 2005: Star Spangled Sport: Nation, Culture & American Exceptionalism. Presented at a KNES 293 lecture at the University of
Zimbalist, Andrew S. Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism And Conflict In Big-Time College Sports. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
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