Television: The E ffec t it has on Small Market Sports Franchises

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay's first paragraph. Large market baseball franchises are gaining an enormous advantage over smaller market franchises and television is playing a major role in this ongoing problem. This advantage exists for a number of reasons. Most important and most talked of is the reality that large market franchises have more capital than those who make their living in the small market areas do. This article is available in The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research: http://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur/vol2/iss1/12 Television: The Effect it has on Small Market Sports Franchises By: Stephen Cannuli Large market baseball franchises are gaining an enormous advantage over smaller market franchises and television is playing a major role in this ongoing problem. This advantage exists for a number of reasons. Most important and most talked of is the reality that large market franchises have more capital than those who make their living in the small market areas do. Two theories that will be introduced are media hegemony and the social-political marketing theory. These theories will show how the continuing increase in television contracts are favoring the larger market areas and putting a tremendous strain on those in smaller markets. First, media hegemony needs to be described and discussed. The idea of media hegemony, as stated by Gramsci, is that ' 'the routine, taken for granted structures of everyday thinking contribute to a structure of dominance." This is easily applied to baseball when we discuss how teams who exist in large market areas have a larger and more stable money flow and can compete better, and for a longer span of time, than those in smaller areas, who lack the funding necessary to accomplish the same goal. Media hegemony also states that mass media is seen as controlled by the dominant class in society and aids in exerting the control of that class over the rest of society. In this case, the media is television, the society is baseball and together they exert their control over the smaller market teams. This research paper will attempt to discover the reasons for this problem and how drastic it really is. There are many communities involved and many people are truly affected by this dilemma. Television is aiding heavily in the creation of this situation. To most people what is the visual effect from this problem? It is a lower level of play by some teams, but most importantly, it is resulting in owners and investors who have staked their livelihood in these teams losing millions and millions of dollars. The second theory mentioned is the Social-political marketing theory. This theory is similar to media hegemony, in that one dominant section of a system uses its resources to prevent any form of opposition. In major league baseball, those at the top of the mountain use their resources (capital from cable contracts) to prohibit smaller market teams from sustaining long-term success. It is true that from time to time a small market team may yield success for a year or two. The Pittsburgh Pirates are a prime example. Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Doug Drabek, and Jim Leyland are names that were once synonymous with Pittsburgh Pirates baseball. The key word is "were." The early years of this decade were a successful time for Pittsburgh. Their manager, Jim Leyland, built a powerhouse out of minor league prospects and major leaguers that other teams had given up on. Although the Pirates were Eastern Division Champions for three consecutive years, (1990-1992), they were continually losing money. 3 The Pirates faced the Cincinnati Reds in the 1990 National League Championship. The worse case scenario for the Pirates would be that the team would fail to play games six and seven at the Three Rivers Stadium. This would mean that the Pirates would not have the opportunity to host at least one or possibly two more games and increase their season ticket sales. The term ticket sales encompasses more than just the sale of actual tickets. It means concession sales, merchandise sales, and most importantly revenue that the team could gain from the television network covering the series. In this case, it was CBS.