Sport, Media and Mega-Events by Lawrence A. Wenner Andrew C. Billings

Author:Lawrence A. Wenner, Andrew C. Billings [Lawrence A. Wenner, Andrew C. Billings]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138930384
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2017-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

Going home: reflecting on Wimbledon

There is a large scoreboard showing all of the matches played and scores that is updated by hand. As we pass by a steward is perched on a ladder slotting in the score of a recently completed match. These lived practices harken to a pre-digital era, feeling quaint and endearing. And we are somehow pleased to see that it appears to be part of an enduring tradition.

(Field notes, 2 July 2015)

The Wimbledon experience – either live or mediated – is an experience of mediatization. Jansson (2013) has urged us to consider mediatization in terms of sociospatial transformations. The media trends Jansson identifies with such a transformation are very much in evidence at Wimbledon. Mediatized mobility, blurring text and context, is observable in @DrinkRobinsons’ Twitter competitions and Lavazza coffee cups, making “the settings of media use (production and consum ption) increasingly fluid” (ibid., p. 280). Similarly, “technological convergence” is ever present as Wimbledon media flow through more and more platforms and formats to provide multiscreen experiences. “Interactivity” creates opportunities for Wimbledon viewers to feel like they are taking part, and “new interfaces” bring the media closer to the body (Jaguar’s biometrics measurements from wearable technology). In turn, this creates an “automation of surveillance” as the data from watching Wimbledon bodies everywhere is recycled into new mediatized campaigns. Jansson (ibid., p. 281) argues that an analysis of mediatization should “start out from the transformations, as well as the maintenance, of certain socio spatial arrangements, including the amalgamation of various mediated practices within these arrangements”. This is what we have tried to show in Wimbledon – the way the media has become part of the texture of the space, and is able to invite distant, mediated audiences in to share those textures, wherever they are.

Mediatization theorizes how the character of institutions has changed as a result of the media. Yet, mediatization does not operate in the same way for all institutions. Mediatization is not independent of the character of the institution. While we have pointed to media logic in multiple aspects of Wimbledon, it does not make sense to think of Wimbledon as having had “to submit to their logic” (Hjarvard, 2008). Wimbledon has its own logic that is discernible in all aspects of its mediatization. The mediatization of Wimbledon is a testament to its enduring character. Wimbledon has to a certain extent adapted to changing media conventions. Yet, it has also been highly successful in incorporating media into the existing rhythms of the Championships, preserving the old textures in the new.

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