Merging of the Classes
Sports entertainment is
a common interest among many individuals, regardless of their differences. While one person may work in the fast
food industry and another may be the CEO of a prestigious accounting firm,
these two people may both be L.A. Lakers’ fans. Although there are still divisions between how one may watch
a sporting event or the type of beverage he or she drinks while watching a
game, sports entertainment can unite the most diverse or be a distinguishing
factor for the most similar of people.
In
David Rowe’s Critical Readings: Sports,
Culture, and the Media, I learned a brief history about sports
entertainment, particularly in the United States. One of the first types of popular sport in this country was
horse racing. This sport, however,
was more popular among the higher-class individuals and tended to be a costly
sport if one decided invest in a particular horse to be the winner. Other sports that evolved, such as
basketball and soccer, did not carry the same superior and haughty reputation,
as did earlier sports that mainly attracted the upper class.
Advancements in the media, such as separate sport sections of the
newspaper, increased the fan bases of modern sports and allowed people to
converse about the sports in their every day life. Decades ago, it may have been a luxury for a household to
own a television. Therefore, only
the wealthier families would be able to watch programs, possibly a sporting
event being televised. Today, it
is rare to find a family who does not own a television. People of all demographics in the
United States can watch sports and cheer on their favorite team.
In late December, I was in Arlington, Texas at the Dallas Cowboys’
Football Stadium. My friend,
Haley, has a friend who works for the Dallas Cowboys and was able to give us
free passes into the game. We had
on wristbands and were told they were for standing-room only. At this game, I observed a few things
that were addressed within this book.
The first thing is about the financial aspects of sports and how much
revenue is generated from this leisure activity. Arrowhead Stadium admits people who have tickets for an
actual seat in the stadium. The
Dallas Cowboys Stadium sells at least a few hundred more tickets than the
actual seating capacity, designated people to stand behind the seats to watch
the game. This is a very clever
business tool to generate more revenue.
With more individuals in the stadium, there may be an increased purchase
of food and drinks within the stadium as well.
The other thing I noticed at the game was the large variations among
social classes all under the same roof.
My friend initially thought the wrist bands were for the common area,
but after standing for the first quarter and barely seeing the gigantic
television screen in the middle of the field, we happened to watch a group of
men in the Air Force show their wrist bands to a security person who then
assisted them to go to the VIP section.
We had on the same wristbands.
We went from standing on our toes and barely seeing the screen to
entering a huge lobby area that lead to a fantastic view of the field. I felt as though I was upgraded from
coach to first class. Through the
experience, I realized that while sports may unite people of various classes,
there can still be a separation, especially within the stadium.
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