2. Spectator sports entertainment.

Beck, Daniel ; Bosshart, Louis

We generally understand entertainment as a pleasant, restful, stimulating, and exciting reception phenomenon--as a pleasant experience of the physical system (sensory activities), of the psychological system (ego-motions), the social system of individuals (socio-motions), the cognitive system (wit, intellectual arousal), and the spiritual system.

We cannot clearly differentiate entertainment and sports. Sports have become an integral source of entertainment for contemporary societies because spectator sports have every single ingredient of delightful entertainment. What are those entertaining elements? (Schramm & Klimmt, 2003, p. 61)

* public participation, i.e., personal involvement with songs, ola-waves, games, and gambling;

* show elements with links to arts, like skating or dancing;

* rituals before, during, and after events, like the introduction of players, the national anthem, handshakes, etc. The opening ceremonies of Olympic Games or World Championships have become globally accepted and appreciated liturgies;

* suspense: dramas, conflict, combat, victory or failure, uncertainty, duels (good vs. bad guys), risks--sports offer an "ideal combination of the dramatic and the unexpected" (Barnett, 1995, p. 167);

* a sense of belonging: rooting, fandom, patriotism, watching, and talking with friends;

* identification with stars, icons, heroes, or even "saints";

* sex-appeal, bodies in action and on display;

* mental pleasures provided by unexpected tactics and new strategies.

The media make the sports an important public issue and, with the help of entertaining stimuli, sell them.

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Daniel Beck and Louis Bosshart

University of Fribourg--Freiburg (Switzerland)

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