1. Introduction.

Beck, Daniel ; Bosshart, Louis

"Sports and the mass media enjoy a very symbiotic relationship in American society" (McChesney, 1989, p. 49). This statement holds true not only for the United States but also for most contemporary industrialized societies. The "very symbiotic relationship" between the media and sports has profoundly affected both participants. And the advertising industry forms an important part of the relationship. Both sports and mass media keep trying to reach people as spectators, fans, and consumers; both actively affect the audience as well as the advertising market (including the sponsors).

Sport refers to a playful self-development, self-actualization, and competitive use of physical and mental skills. The history of sport activities is as long as the history of humans. Fitness played an important role in human evolution. For example, hunting, one of the main adaptive problems in evolutionary history, requires physical fitness and good teamwork. For hunters, these qualities meant more and/or better food; better and/or more food meant better chances in the battle for survival. Good physical, mental, and social shape improved the chances to successfully protect groups and tribes from other groups of aggressive intruders. Because of this connection, we can say that the first sportsmen were hunters and soldiers. Indeed, there are strong theories of sports being symbolic hunts, either for other humans or for animals.

Most civilizations know sport activities of an elementary nature: running; boxing; wrestling; animal fights; horse races; throwing the javelin, the discus, or stones; archery; swimming; dancing; etc. No wonder contemporary players and fans still find sports very attractive. The development of sports from pre-historic times until now is a function of industrialization, modernization, and telecommunication.

In themselves, sports provide reliable mirrors of societies. They reflect social values that can extend from individual values like discipline, asceticism, and self control to collective values like sportsmanship and fairness, and generally accepted values like the belief in effort and productivity, the advantage of competition, and--following the logic of capitalism--the survival of the fittest. Sports also act as seismographs of social and cultural changes within social units of any size. They are strongly linked to the prevailing lifestyles in modern societies. Sports, to a certain degree, can even replace a function of religions by defining a specific set and hierarchy of values.

Sports are integrative and image building elements for individuals, segments of societies, and entire societies. They act as unifying forces and strong factors of socialization, improving the social acceptance of athletes and their fans. Sports can also support social and cultural identities and the construction of national identities.

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Daniel Beck and Louis Bosshart

University of Fribourg--Freiburg (Switzerland)

email: daniel.beck@unifr.ch; louis.bosshart@unifr.ch