CMGT 599



CMGT 546

Sports Media and Society

Fall, 2009

Th 6:30-9:20

Instructor: Dr. Dan Durbin

Office: ASC 324D

Office Hours: MW 1:00-2:00, TTH 11:00-11:30, 1:30-2:00, Th 6:00-6:30and by appointment.

Phone: 821-6615

Email: ddurbin@usc.edu

Course Overview: Sports media and marketing is one of the largest business enterprises in the world, pulling in an estimated two hundred billion dollars and more annually. The social and financial impact of sports is created through media. Thus, sports marketing intersects media in its various forms. This class will examine sports marketing and sports media as interrelated activities. We will discuss the various ways in which sports organizations, team, celebrities, and events are created and marketed through media.

Required Reading:

Raney, Arthur A. and Bryant, Jennings. Handbook of Sports and Media. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers 2006.

Recommended Reading:

Pitts, Brenda G. and Stotlar, David K. Fundamentals of Sports Marketing: 2nd Edition. Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technologies, Inc. 2002.

A brief note on your readings: Fundamentals of Sports Marketing is a basic text on the pragmatics of sports marketing. It will give us the basics for our discussion of marketing strategies. Handbook of Sports and Media is meant to be a comprehensive examination of all aspects of sports and media. And it is. It will offer us a wide variety of ways to examine the intersection between sports and media. Because of its comprehensive (nearly encyclopedic) nature, we will not read the entire text. We will read and discuss portions of this text that deal directly with our interests in this class.

Class Assignments: Your primary assignment this fall will involve creating a complete media strategy for a specific sports figure or organization (this organization may be a media organization, a specific sports organization [e.g. a team], a league, a sporting goods corporation, or any other organization tied to the world of sports and sports media). This assignment will fall into two parts. Your first assignment will involve a researched analysis of the marketing and media strategies of a major sports figure or organization. This analysis will be presented in an in-class presentation that will involve using multimedia (Powerpoint, sources from the Internet, and so on) to explain and illustrate the ways in which the sports figure or organization is currently being presented through media and marketing. This presentation will run fifteen minutes and you will need to provide a brief (one page) overview outline to the class (one copy per student) before you speak. The second half of the assignment will involve developing a strategic plan for exploiting new media and developing new audiences for the subject of your study. This half of the assignment will include an in-class presentation and a paper.

Your final exam will be a take home exam. We will discuss your answers during the final exam period.

Grade Percentage Breakdown:

Participation----------------------------------------------------------------------15

Descriptive Analysis------------------------------------------------------------20

Critical Analysis-----------------------------------------------------------------35

Final Exam-----------------------------------------------------------------------30

Papers and Participation: Your papers must follow either MLA or APA guidelines for academic papers. You will receive hand outs with complete explanations of paper assignments. Of course, all papers of any sort should be typed and double-spaced except when specifically noted. Your participation grade is based on both the quality and quantity of active participation in class discussions. Effective discussion of current marketing and media in the sports world will directly impact your participation grade.

Disabilities Services: “Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.”

Academic Integrity: The Annenberg School for Communication is committed to upholding the University’s Academic Integrity code as detailed in the Scampus guide. It is the policy of the School of Communication to report all violations of the code. Any serious violations or pattern of violations of the Academic Integrity Code will result in the student’s expulsion from the Communication major or minor.

Reading and Assignment Due Dates and Discussion Topics

As always, this is tentative and subject to change as the semester progresses.

8/27 Course Introduction

We will discuss the course, its goals, topics, assignments, future discussion topics, and readings.

9/3 The Industry of Sports Marketing and Media

Lawrence A. Wenner called this the “mediated sports complex.” We will discuss the various ways this complex works to create a vivid audience experience and to sell sport as a commodity. Required Readings: Pitts and Stotlar, Ch. 1 (pp. 1-36), from Raney-Bellamy, “Sports Media: A Modern Institution” (pp. 63-76), Raney, “Why We Watch and Enjoy Mediated Sports” (pp.313-330).

9/10 The Growth of the Sports Media Complex

We will discuss the history and evolution of sports media as a field for promotion, marketing, and public pseudoevents. Readings: Pitts and Stotlar, Ch. 2 (pp. 37-60), from Raney-Bryant and Holt, “A Historical Overview of Sports and Media in the United States” (pp. 21-44).

9/17 Sports Media I

Before tackling specific marketing theory and strategies, we will examine a variety of key media and their importance in creating the target audience, values, and interests for sports marketers. Readings: Raney-Brown and Bryant, “Sports Content on U. S. Television” (pp. 77-104), Wanta, “The Coverage of Sports in Print Media” (pp. 105-116), Owens, “The Coverage of Sports on Radio” (pp. 117-130), Sullivan, “Broadcast Television and the Game of Packaging Sports” (pp. 131-146).

9/24 Sports Media II: Newer and Alternative Media

We will discuss some more recent additions to the sports media field and some alternative forms of sports media. Required Readings: Raney-Wood and Benigni “The Coverage of Sports on Cable TV” (pp. 147-170), Real, “Sports Online: The Newest Player in Mediasport” (pp. 171-184).

10/1 Descriptive Analysis Due---in-class presentations

10/8 Marketing Teams through Television Broadcasts-Guest Speaker

Christie Lugo Leigh, Supervisor of Sports and Special Productions at KTLA-TV will discuss marketing strategies for successful sports teams (the Dodgers), less successful teams (the Clippers), and teams directly tied to the media corporation (the original LA/California Angels). Required Readings: Billings “Utilizing Televised Sport to Benefit Prime-Time Lineups: Examining the Effectiveness of Sports Promotion” (pp. 253-264), Krein and Martin “60 Seconds to Air: Television Sports Production Basics and Research Review” (pp. 265-276).

10/15 Sports Marketing Theory and Research

We will discuss approaches to sports marketing throughout the mediated sports complex. Required Readings: Pitts and Stotlar, Chs. 4-5 (pp. 79-122).

10/22 Sports Marketing and the Globalization of Sports

We will discuss sports marketing on the global stage, the exigencies for marketing in a global sports economy. Required Readings: Pitts and Stotlar, Ch. 3 (pp. 61-78), from Raney-Maguire “Sport and Globalization: Key Issues, Phases, and Trends” (pp 435-446).

10/29 Sports Marketing: Targeting, Branding, Media Exploitation

We will examine the ways sports marketers can exploit communication technologies to create and build their product. Required Readings: Pitts and Stotlar, Chs. 6-8 (pp. 123-176). Paper One Due.

11/5 Sports Marketing: Distribution and Promotion

We will discuss the means for distribution and promotion of sports produce. Required Readings: Pitts and Stotlar Chs. 11-13 (pp. 221-270), from Raney-Wann “The Causes and Consequences of Sport Team Identification” (pp. 331-352).

11/12 Critical Analysis Due---in-class presentations

Required Readings: King, Davis-Delano, Staurowsky, and Baca “Sports Mascots and Media” (pp. 559-576).

11/19 Sports Marketing and the Media

We will look at marketing strategies and the technological means for building and exploiting a public image through sports. Required Readings: Pitts and Stotlar Chs. 14-16 (pp. 271-326).

11/26 Thanksgiving Day, no class

12/3 Marketing to Sports Sub-Cultures

We will discuss a variety of sports sub-cultures and the strategies used to market various sports products to those audiences. Required Readings: Raney-Lomax “Fantasy Sports: History, Games, Types, and Research” (pp. 383-392), Leonard “An Untapped Field: Exploring the World of Virtual Sports Gaming” (pp.393-408), Mahan and McDaniel “The New Online Arena: Sport, Marketing, and Media Converge in Cyberspace” (pp.409-434). Final Paper Due.

12/10 Final Exam Period

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download