“The American Outlaws Are Our People”: Fox Sports and the Branded Ambivalence of an American Soccer Fan at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Drawing on fan studies, sports media studies, media industries studies, and participant observation of the American Outlaws, this essay analyzes specific aspects of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup as televised by Fox Sports in the wider context of soccer’s evolving place within the American sports media marketplace. American media companies have increasingly positioned soccer as an upscale sport in the U.S. In addition to representing an affluent and cosmopolitan taste culture, the representation of the American Outlaws as part of Fox Sports’ programming and branding flattened the frictions of class, national identity, politics, and race that shaped American soccer discourse in the summer of 2019. This essay explores this flattening and the underlying tensions between televising a tournament based in American national identity that allows for a more mass audience appeal and the more niche-based framing of soccer—including the progressive politics of women’s soccer—in U.S. sports media.

Build it and the women will come? WTSN and the advent of Canadian digital television

In fall 2001, over 200 digital television channels were launched in Canada. One of those channels was WTSN (Women's Television Sports Network)-the world's first 24- hour television network exclusively dedicated to broadcasting women's sports. In the fall of 2003, however, WTSN ceased broadcasting operations. This analysis of CRTC policies and personal interview data with Canadian media members argues that while the demise of WTSN can be attributed to the unfortunate pitfalls associated with early digital television rollout and cultural policies, the network's downfall is best explained in substantially more ideological terms. From the outset, WTSN entered uncharted waters in the Canadian television sport landscape, attempting to showcase women's sports to a predominantly female audience-a demographic that has yet to materialize for mainstream sports programming. Résumé : En automne 2001 au Canada a lieu la lancée de plus de 200 chaînes de télévision numériques. Une de ces chaînes est WTSN (Women's Television Sports Network), le premier réseau de télévision au monde entièrement dédié à la diffusion des sports féminins 24 heures sur 24. WTSN, cependant, disparaît des ondes dès l'automne 2003. Cette analyse des politiques du CRTC et d'entrevues menées par l'auteur auprès de professionnels des médias canadiens soutient que, bien qu'on puisse attribuer l'échec de WTSN à certaines politiques culturelles ainsi qu'aux problèmes reliés à l'expansion trop hâtive de la télévision numérique à l'époque, on peut aussi tirer avantage d'une approche plus idéologique pour expliquer la disparition de ce réseau. En effet, en offrant les sports pour femmes à un public composé majoritairement de femmes, WTSN dès ses débuts s'est aventuré dans un territoire inconnu par l'univers des sports sur les ondes canadiennes, la majorité des femmes n'ayant pas encore montré un intérêt soutenu pour la programmation sportive à grand public.

Build it and the women will come? WTSN and the advent of Canadian digital television

In fall 2001, over 200 digital television channels were launched in Canada. One of those channels was WTSN (Women's Television Sports Network)-the world's first 24- hour television network exclusively dedicated to broadcasting women's sports. In the fall of 2003, however, WTSN ceased broadcasting operations. This analysis of CRTC policies and personal interview data with Canadian media members argues that while the demise of WTSN can be attributed to the unfortunate pitfalls associated with early digital television rollout and cultural policies, the network's downfall is best explained in substantially more ideological terms. From the outset, WTSN entered uncharted waters in the Canadian television sport landscape, attempting to showcase women's sports to a predominantly female audience-a demographic that has yet to materialize for mainstream sports programming. Résumé : En automne 2001 au Canada a lieu la lancée de plus de 200 chaînes de télévision numériques. Une de ces chaînes est WTSN (Women's Television Sports Network), le premier réseau de télévision au monde entièrement dédié à la diffusion des sports féminins 24 heures sur 24. WTSN, cependant, disparaît des ondes dès l'automne 2003. Cette analyse des politiques du CRTC et d'entrevues menées par l'auteur auprès de professionnels des médias canadiens soutient que, bien qu'on puisse attribuer l'échec de WTSN à certaines politiques culturelles ainsi qu'aux problèmes reliés à l'expansion trop hâtive de la télévision numérique à l'époque, on peut aussi tirer avantage d'une approche plus idéologique pour expliquer la disparition de ce réseau. En effet, en offrant les sports pour femmes à un public composé majoritairement de femmes, WTSN dès ses débuts s'est aventuré dans un territoire inconnu par l'univers des sports sur les ondes canadiennes, la majorité des femmes n'ayant pas encore montré un intérêt soutenu pour la programmation sportive à grand public.

El fenómeno José María García: publicidad de radio deportiva española en prensa (1972-1981)

From 1972 to 1981, José María García succeeded in the sports programming on the Spanish private radio network Cadena SER. His investigative, reporting journalism and his polemic style gave him a huge audience, advertising incomes and impact, which created a «García phenomenon» (Díaz, 1995: 346; Alcoba, 2005: 170) concerning «the most famous journalist in Spain» (Fe­rrer, 2016: 101). This paper analyses how his popularity was reflected in the advertisements paid by SER in the generalist daily journals, as well as if the García trademark generated differences on the advertising strategy of SER comparing to the other radio stations’ sports offers. Eighty-five ads were found from five different networks (SER, RNE, RCE, Radio Intercontinental and Radio España de Madrid) in Diario 16 and ABC. A denotative, connotative and strategic analysis sheet was applied to the corpus of the study, as well as a qualitative focus, to find the distinctive features of each one. The results show that, although some other private stations followed a personality-driven strategy, the public image of radio star García was used by SER to attract the listeners, but with a more significant prominence in the promotion of his regular programming rather than the broadcasting of live events.

Talking Baseball When There Is No Baseball: Reporters and Fans During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The 2020 coronavirus outbreak led Major League Baseball to cancel spring training and postpone the start of the regular season. Although baseball stopped, reporters continued to write about baseball, and fans continued to talk about baseball. But with no games being played, what were they writing and talking about? More than a simple examination of what these two groups are saying, the authors also examined why their focus has turned to particular topics and themes. Through a textual analysis of Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) baseball headlines and Reddit posts, the authors found writers jolted out of their routines, yet still framing many of their 2020 stories to focus on the actions of players. For fans, they uncovered conversations that, in many ways, read like friends mourning the loss of a loved one.

A Multi-Institutional Review of College Campus Adapted Intramural Sports Programming for College Students With and Without a Disability

This study examined factors surrounding the development and advancement of campus intramural programming for college students with physical disabilities. Campus recreation staff from 164 universities completed a survey examining campus programming for students with and without physical disabilities, marketing, modifications, barriers, needs, and strategies for developing adapted and inclusive intramural sports programming. Weight training, cardiovascular training, and personal training were among the most reported programming designed to include students with physical disabilities. Wheelchair basketball is among the longest-running intramural programs with sitting volleyball, goalball, and beep baseball increasing in popularity. Environmental and equipment accessibility was a predominant strategy and accommodation to facilitate inclusive programming, with the primary reason for not including adapted or inclusive intramural programming attributed to lack of request or too few students with physical disabilities on campus. Additional results and discussion address best practices and recommendations to initiate and improve programming for students with physical disabilities.

Impact of potential physiological changes due to COVID-19 home confinement on athlete health protection in elite sports: a call for awareness in sports programming

During COVID-19 home confinement, athletes are likely exposed to some level of detraining (i.e. the partial or complete loss of training-induced morphological and physiological adaptations), as a consequence of insufficient and/or inappropriate training stimuli. Such changes may result in impaired performance and increased injury risk if, upon restart, an appropriate sport-specific reconditioning cannot be granted. With this editorial, we aim to recommend extreme caution in sports programming after the COVID-19 emergency

Surf-for-Development: An Exploration of Program Recipient Perspectives in Lobitos, Peru

Critical sport for development and peace (SDP) and sustainable surf tourism (SST) research calls for sports programming and research that adheres not only to the desires and needs of local communities but also for movements away from neoliberal development models. This case study, derived from interviewing participants 4 years after partaking in a learn-to-surf program in Lobitos, Peru, suggests that these two broad goals may be contradictory. Leveraging skills and traits adopted from participating in the surf program were seen as important contributions to both individual (i.e., gender and economic empowerment) and community benefits (i.e., re-imagining Lobitos). These findings shed light on the need to better understand program recipient desires for local “reforms” and how they can best be served by SDP programs.

Radio as a Political Medium in Africa

Radio’s affordability, portability, and use of local languages have long granted it a special status among mass media in Africa. Its development across the continent has followed remarkably similar paths despite clear differences in different countries’ language policies, economic fortunes, and political transformations. Common to many countries has been the virtual monopoly over the airwaves enjoyed by the state or parastate broadcasting corporations during the first decades of independence. The wave of democratization since the late 1980s has brought important changes to the constitutional and economic landscape in radio broadcasting. Although private, religious, and community stations have filled the airwaves in many countries, it is also important to recognize the many subtle ways in which state-controlled radio broadcasting, both before and after independence, could include alternative ideas, particularly in cultural and sports programming. By the same token, radio’s culpability in orchestrating oppression—or even genocide, as in Rwanda’s case—stands to be examined critically. Liberalized airwaves, on the other hand, draw attention to developments that find parallels in radio history elsewhere in the world. They include radio’s capacity to mediate intimacy between radio personalities and their listeners in a way that few other media can. They also become apparent in radio’s uses in encouraging participation and interaction among ordinary citizens through phone-in programs that build on the rapid uptake of mobile telephony across Africa. Such developments call for a notion of politics that makes it possible to observe radio’s influence across the domains of formal politics, religion, and commercial interests.