Major sporting events can now be viewed live on TV, anywhere in the world, anytime. Well it has been available for quite some time actually. But lately, TV executives are becoming increasingly influential (given the ridiculous amount of money poured by the TV companies into sports) in deciding when the audience get to watch our favourite sporting event. The traditional 3pm kick off for all games in the English football league are no longer practiced. The TV executives have introduced midday games and late kick-offs. Weekend football is no longer played only on Saturday but also on Sundays. Some games at the 1994 World Cup in the US were played during lunch time (when the summer sun is directly above our heads, most of the time the hottest part of the day) simply to satisfy the viewing patterns of the European viewers. There was also talk of the beautiful game being broken into 4 quarters (instead of the current 2 halves), just to enable more advertising time.
The recently concluded Malaysian F1 GP had to be abandoned halfway due to the thunderstorm making it dangerous to continue racing. Again, TV decided on the timing of the race, it was held at 5pm instead of 3pm like the previous years. The saying “everyone can plan the perfect race but no one can predict the weather” rings true but wouldn’t it better to have the race earlier instead of nearer to sundown given that the circuit doesn’t have floodlights?
TV made it possible for sporting events to be viewed from across the globe in real time. TV has increased the visibility of sports. TV has transformed sports personalities into celebrities. TV has increased the profile and incomes of the sporting industry.
But TV must be careful not to kill the sport in the process of fulfilling the viewers’ demands.
The recently concluded Malaysian F1 GP had to be abandoned halfway due to the thunderstorm making it dangerous to continue racing. Again, TV decided on the timing of the race, it was held at 5pm instead of 3pm like the previous years. The saying “everyone can plan the perfect race but no one can predict the weather” rings true but wouldn’t it better to have the race earlier instead of nearer to sundown given that the circuit doesn’t have floodlights?
TV made it possible for sporting events to be viewed from across the globe in real time. TV has increased the visibility of sports. TV has transformed sports personalities into celebrities. TV has increased the profile and incomes of the sporting industry.
But TV must be careful not to kill the sport in the process of fulfilling the viewers’ demands.
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