Quote:
Originally posted by sixto
i differentiate "entertainment" and "professional sports" this way: entertainment is designed purely with the consumer in mind. pro sports are designed primarily to promote pure competition. that which is the fairest and least manipulated way to judge who's best.
if you prefer the "entertainment" model, that's fine. we differ. but why would anyone chafe at my distinctions? dunno.
. . .sports are not supposed to be designed for the fan. they're supposed to be designed for the sport, for the competition. here's the rules; beat me according to them. in the modern era, that doesn't make good TV. i say, too bad.
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Well, I agree with your sentiments but, respectfully, I don't think it's that black and white. I think it might be a little closer to the mark if you applied your distinction to "professional sports" versus "amateur sports."
I think professional sports is, always has been, and was always intended to be, entertainment first. It's about putting together and offering a product that people will be enthusiastic about spending money to watch. It's really no different in the end than trying to produce a good movie or write a good book. The elements of compelling interest are the same: interesting and empathetic characters involved in some dramatic conflict, the outcome of which is in doubt until the final frame/chapter/playoff game. It is for these reasons that competitive parity has become such a huge issue for professional sports, and these watered-down wild card systems of playoffs have been created to generate more dramatic tension - and thus entertainment value - during the regular and post seasons.
Now, the great thing about sports is that the compelling source of interest - that is, interesting characters embroiled in a dramatic conflict of doubtful outcome - comes up dozens of times in every single game. Every snap, every pitch, every trip down the ice or the floor, whatever. So the games themselves are marvelous vehicles for compelling entertainment. When the stakes get higher, however, effort and interest increase. That's why people pay more money for playoff tickets than they do for regular season tickets.
Amateur sports, on the other hand, I think are supposed to be more about the pure competition. The "taking part" ideal that those hypocrites who run the Olympics still like to package and sell (pretty successfully, to their credit).
So here's how I'd add to sixto's excellent distinction: I'd say that the games themselves are designed to promote competition, the organized amateur leagues and associations are intended to promote participation and competition at a higher (and since it takes money to run such programs, more commercial) level, and professional leagues and associations are intended to make as much money as they can by taking the entertaining attributes of the games themselves and packaging them into competitive formats designed to maximize interest and revenue.