The Future of Sport Communication

When I think of sport communication, I can't help but think of the prevalence of information that is attainable on the Internet.

In reading "The Future of Sports Media" I immediately started thinking about how successful teams, successful in terms of exposure and fan base, leverage the various communication environments to interact with their audience. Successful teams like the Yankees in baseball and Manchester United and Real Madrid in soccer are in the enviable position to be able to afford their own outlets to disseminate the messages. While these scenarios might be out of reach for the majority of MLB and international club soccer teams, the lessons learned can be utilized by everyone.

One of these lessons is how to leverage the power and reach of the Internet. The fact that I am writing this blog, and in theory somebody will read it, is a small testament to the power of the Internet. The ability to incorporate innumerable views and opinions in an open forum like this is a huge incentive to learn how to utilize the medium to its greatest extent. I think with the prevalence of smart phones, netbooks, and almost unlimited broadband access to the information on the Internet, we will see much more content becoming available here.

I can also see more interactive content coming. I think we will start to see more of the information traditionally viewed on television available in the web. MLB already offers their games online, and I can watch baseball on my iPhone if I choose to. I think this trend will continue, and we will eventually have the option to watch full games from any sporting event live on our computers and phones. We will have the option of watching games live, or downloading them for later consumption. I can see this moving to a package type offering similar to direcTV, or the options on cable where you purchase access to several games or teams.

I think the same holds true for events like the Olympics and the World Cup. With so many games and events taking place many events get preempted or you will only get glimpses of the action. With the availability of the Internet every game and event could be offered in its entirety for live consumption of later viewing.