The competition to host the Olympic Games has typically been fierce, but an increased awareness of the giant money pit they usually become is convincing some cities to think twice. Earlier this month Oslo…
Pulling the plug on services will be costly.
AMA via Shutterstock
Public sector workers have been taking to the streets protesting the below-inflation pay rises and austerity. The Trades Union Congress hoped this would send a clear message to the British government…
It is entirely predictable that the famous Audi advertisement and its tagline, “Vorsprung durch Technik”, came to mind while watching Germany’s epic World Cup victory over Brazil. In fact, using this tagline…
Sport is often compared with religion in Australia. But how do fans’ relationships with their football teams manifest?
AAP/Joe Castro
At some point, you’ve no doubt heard someone say “football is my religion”. And if we follow French sociologist Emile Durkheim’s famous building blocks for religion, we will find that football is not far…
The role played in ‘normalising’ gambling in sport and society by the likes of online bookmaker Tom Waterhouse was examined by the ABC’s Four Corners program.
AAP/Paul Miller
Last night, ABC’s Four Corners investigated Tom Waterhouse’s heavily marketed entrance to the online Australian sports wagering industry. Along the way it showed the ways in which the gambling industry…
The Channel 9-Cricket Australia broadcast rights dispute drags on, now reaching the courts: could cricket broadcasting icon Richie Benaud soon be lost from our screens?
AAP/Dean Lewins
Cricket Australia’s Supreme Court legal action against its host broadcaster of the past 36 years, Channel Nine, is the manifestation of an identifiable pattern. It continues a time-honoured practice in…
Alcohol marketing is ubiquitous in AFL broadcasts as can be seen in this shot from a match on Saturday, May 4, 2013.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
The Australian Football League (AFL) and Cricket Australia have refused to sell advertising space to a Tasmanian man trying to raise awareness of the impact of junk food and alcohol advertising linked…
As the drugs scandal continues to plague Essendon, its ‘hardcore’ fans have stood by the club and embattled coach James Hird.
AAP/David Crosling
When the drugs in Australian sport investigation was announced in early February, much was made of the importance of protecting fans from the actions of wrongdoers. But here we are, three months into this…
Alcohol, tobacco, and fast-food industry sponsorship of sport sends the wrong message to the population.
Dean Lewins/AAP
Sport is generally a healthy activity that transmits important societal values, such as fairness, perseverance, and teamwork. Unfortunately, it’s also the primary vehicle for marketing alcohol to the general…
The reliance on wealthy benefactors to run sports teams is a poor business model.
AAP
Last week, with a certain depressing predictability, the Australian Tax Office applied to wind up the Newcastle Knights rugby league and Jets football teams over unpaid tax liabilities approaching $3 million…
Channel Nine’s depiction of Kerry Packer’s ‘cricket revolution’ during the 1970s has attracted strong ratings and critical acclaim.
AAP/Paul Miller
Over the previous two Sunday evenings the Nine television network broadcast a mini-series titled Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War. It was a dramatisation of a revolutionary time in Australian cricket when media…
Interim Australian Rugby League Commission Chief Executive Shane Mattiske (left) shakes the hand of Nine CEO David Gyngell after a five-year broadcasting deal was struck between the NRL, Fox Sports and Nine.
AAP
The new broadcasting deal struck this week by the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) represents an outstanding result as well as a lost opportunity. The $1.025 billion that the Nine Network and…
Do the economic costs outweigh the benefits of hosting an Olympic Games?
AAP
The London Olympic Games are about to begin. There will be much fierce competition as contestants “go for gold”. That London is the host city for the 2012 Summer Olympics involved another sort of competition…
The Olympic Games operate as a very complex franchise business, with each city taking a different approach to the management of the event.
AAP
Tell me something I don’t know about the Olympics! This statement, levelled at me at a dinner party last week, is the most recent incarnation of enquiries about my research into the Olympic Games. Always…
Has Cadel Evans single-handedly lifted the Australian cycling industry?
AFP/Pascal Pavani
CYCLING IN AUSTRALIA: At a Sport Australia Hall of Fame function last night, Australian cyclist Cadel Evans was named winner of The Don award for the year’s most inspirational sporting moment. In July…
The AFL may bypass broadcasters altogether and stream games live to fans.
AAP
Interesting to read AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou’s thoughts on the next broadcasting rights deal, given that the league has yet to work out how to divvy up the money from the deal it recently negotiated with…
Welcome to our “In Conversation” with AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou and Stuart Macintyre, Professor of History at Melbourne University (and a lifelong Hawthorn supporter). The Australian Football…
Not so taxing: Bernard Tomic’s decision to reside in Monaco means he avoids paying tax.
AAP
BUSINESS OF SPORT: Australia is renowned for a sporting prowess that is remarkable for its population. Australians love their sporting heroes, from footballers to international tennis stars. Many Australians…
Australian fans at the women’s soccer World Cup this month.
AAP
Soccer in Australia has a long and misunderstood history. Where many assume it only gained popularity with the arrival of large numbers of migrants from Europe post-WWII, the reality is that the round…
Rugby union’s potential demise has been greatly exaggerated.
Rumours of the demise of rugby union are a bit like those of Mark Twain’s “first” death - greatly exaggerated. The recent and sudden appearance of a hybrid rugby code ⎯ supported by Mark Ella and played…