Rebooting Sport

The increasing homogenization of AFL football, or why clubs should negotiate so they can design and produce their own customized websites

hughrjmacdonald — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 03:31:24 +0000

The increasing homogenization of the AFL, or why the clubs should be able to design their own custom websites

One of the issues that keeps cropping up in my PhD research is the increasing homogenization of sporting teams and sports coverage on television. It’s a particularly pertinent topic when you consider the increasing use of social media within the realm of sports media and the reasons why fans and sporting organizations alike are using it. So this blog post is setting out to achieve two aims. These are to define homogenization and identify it’s role in reshaping the AFL competition, and, putting forward a case as to why it’s important for AFL clubs to have the right to design their own custom websites when the next round of broadcasting rights is negotiated.

To begin with, homogenization, at least in the sense that I’m talking about it, is where things that were once reasonably different become quite similar to one another. I’d argue that the AFL has been undergoing a process of homogenization ever since the competition first went national, which occurred in 1990. This has occurred in a number of different ways since this time, and only to Victorian teams in the competition, seeing as interstate teams joined the competition after this time. Although, to be fair, the interstate teams of South Australia and Western Australia have been responsible for the homogenization of football culture in those states. However, the examples from Victoria are more stark.

In 1990, most Victorian teams still played matches at their traditional home grounds. Not necessarily all their home matches, but still a majority of them. Collingwood still played matches at Victoria Park, Carlton still played matches at Princess Park and the Western Bulldogs (who were then known as Footsxray) played matches at Western Oval (later Whitten Oval). The point is that these grounds made up part of the history and identity of those particular clubs. There was a real home ground atmosphere for the respective teams, and a sense of interconnectedness with their local communities. Fast forward to today, and there are two football stadiums in Melbourne – the MCG and Etihad Stadium. In the particular case of the MCG, most teams have strong historical ties with the ground, but that sense of connectedness with the local ground has been extinguished for a lot of teams. This is even more apparent with Etihad Stadium. Some teams have tried to customize the stadiums to appease their fans, and have succeeded to an extent, but for some fans, it still isn’t quite the same.

For these fans that might complain about the state of modern AFL, their argument is countered with the one that in order for the game to develop, newer stadiums with better facilities were needed. This is true, and the move to these modern stadiums has seen the game become more professional, more athletic, and the competition has been equalized to a large extent. However, it doesn’t mean that the so called ‘suburban’ aspect of the game isn’t missed by many fans. It also doesn’t mean that more can’t be done to appease these fans.

An area where a difference can be made, and where, to a certain extent it already has, is the Internet. Fans have created their own websites that hark back to the days of suburban football, and try to capture the culture and community spirit of the clubs that has been lost through the homogenization process. On these sites, fans can gather and talk about their clubs and feel some of that togetherness that used to be apparent at the suburban grounds.

On the other hand, the official websites of the AFL clubs are managed by Telstra, which also manages the AFL.com.au website. As would be expected from a network of websites, there is a large degree of conformity between the various websites of the clubs. They feature almost identical content, with identical information architecture and design (other than the use of the different colours of the clubs). In other words the websites are completely homogenous, and offer up very little of the culture of the club to the fans.

If a different Internet deal was negotiated next time around, then clubs could have the opportunity to introduce content, features, design and information architecture that was more tailored to their own supporters. Thedo did have the opportunity to do this at the time that the last Internet deal was negotiated, yet with the exception of Essendon, decided not to forgo the financial incentives that were on offer. Even more financial incentives will be on offer this time, as the value of the Internet as a medium has only increased. Yet the clubs, through innovative design and clever marketing, could make up the shortfall, just as Essendon does. And from the point of view of the AFL, which might be concerned about the lack of uniformity amongst the sites that could hamper it’s own marketing efforts, networks of sites with different designs are still possible, so long as all parties agree to conform to a minimum number of common elements.

This way clubs could recapture through the online medium what it meant to be a supporter standing out at Windy Hill or Victoria Park, watching a game of football. It’s not as aspect of football culture that everyone mourns, but there is still a vocal minority that do. The individualism of clubs could also extend into smartphone and tablet computer applications for these sorts of fans. I’m sure there’s plenty of money to be made from it too!

Exploring a new paradigm for the dissemination of sporting information

hughrjmacdonald — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 06:17:43 +0000

The following is an abstract of a presentation I will be giving at the RMIT School of Media and Communication’s upcoming Graduate Research Conference. This is a conference held twice yearly by the school, for postgraduate students to undergo confirmation seminars, completion seminars, and work in progress seminars. Work in progress seminars are for those students who are somewhere between starting and finishing, and I fall into this category.

Anyway, I’d greatly appreciate any comments on this abstract or suggestions for its improvement if you happen to have any.

Social networking services like Twitter and Facebook have provided sporting organizations, clubs and athletes with the opportunity to break their own news to the general public. This appears to be serving as an effective strategy from a marketing point of view, with these organizations and people appearing more transparent to fans, and fans feeling like they are included in the decision making process of their clubs. Yet, to an extent at least, this decision sidelines the news media from engaging in their traditional role as a gatekeeper of news and information for these organizations. Professionals within news organizations have the training and experience to understand what is appropriate to publish and what isn’t. Sporting organizations, clubs and athletes have to undertake education on social media to achieve the same effect. There have already been noted breaches of these education campaigns. This paper seeks to explore the positive and negative aspects of this new paradigm for the dissemination of sporting information, and consider what it could ultimately mean for the relationship between sporting bodies and the news media. This will be done by way of drawing on examples that have arisen within the sports media over the previous 12 months.

How fans disseminate information/opinion on sport (pictorial)

hughrjmacdonald — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:21:04 +0000

This infographic demonstrates how fans can communicate their views on sport. A lot of fans still use talk radio to discuss their opinions on what happened in their team’s most recent game etc., while fans are starting to turn towards using social media for similar reasons. This demonstrates the important role that the commercial media can play as a gatekeeper of information, and how it can circumvent criticism that is directed at professional sporting organisations. At the same time it highlights how the commercial media doesn’t always have the same worldwide reach as social media does. These are all things that are important for professional sporting organisations to consider.

How the sports media landscape has traditionally functioned (pictorial)

hughrjmacdonald — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:27:01 +0000

Here’s how I see the sports media landscape having traditionally operated, and thus, the nature of the relationship between professional sporting organisations, the commercial media and fans. It’s easy to see the important role that the commercial media plays, and how it’s important that sporting organisations keep them on side.

Making sure their news is good news, is important for sporting organisations, because their product is based on positive affirmation/identification.

If you have any thoughts on this, please, leave me a comment.

Presenting ‘Overview of my PhD’

hughrjmacdonald — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:52:19 +0000

I’m presenting a paper I wrote for the ANZCA 2010 conference as an overview of my PhD. It was originally entitled ‘Implications of social media use for professional sporting organisations’. My PhD isn’t just about the sporting organisations, it’s about the fans and the broadcasting partners as well.

In a Venn diagram, my PhD would be about the area where the ovals of ‘Fans’ ‘Sporting organisations’ and ‘Commercial media’ overlapped.

Nevertheless, the overview contains some of my big ideas about what is happening in this area, such as:

The importance of the historical relationship between sporting organisations and the commercial media
The changing consumption habits of sports fans
The impact of globalisation on the way people follow sport
The constraints of image management on sporting organisations using social media to present themselves

For anyone reading, I’d love feedback on any of these ideas, and anything else you might pick up along the way. Enjoy!

Welcome

hughrjmacdonald — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:06:53 +0000

Rebooting Sport is a fork from my main blog, New Media Mogul. Followers of that blog will know that for the past nearly three years I have been researching the impact of social media on the sports media landscape. This research is being conducted at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia to fulfill the requirements of a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

On New Media Mogul I talk about a lot of stuff to do with social media, not just specifically related to sport. Although a lot of it it related to sport as well. So I wanted a place that I could use to disseminate my work to date that specifically dealt with sport.

I hope you find it as interesting to read as I’ve found it to research and write, and feel free to leave any comments. Good, bad, or indifferent, they are all welcome.