Sports & Fitness
128 Advancements in Sports Broadcasting Technology
Ben Lemen
Introduction
Most Americans have either played, watched, or attended a sporting event at some point in their lifetime. Sports today are so mainstream that you can easily catch a game on network television at anytime or highlights on social media. However, people often neglect the technology that goes into broadcasting and producing these games. Sports have been a part of human culture for millennia, and as technology advances, so too does the way we interact and engage with sports.
The Radio
The early days of sporting events were limited to those attending or participating, until the invention of the radio. Football became one of the first sports to utilize this new invention with the first radio broadcast of a University of Minnesota game [1]. As radios became more popular and accessible, other sports joined in. The first ever voice broadcast of a boxing match occurred in 1921 with a boxing match between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee. Major League Baseball soon adopted radio broadcasts only months after the Ray vs Dundee fight [2]. With these sporting events made available to a wider audience, the sports themselves were able to grow in popularity. Radio broadcasts are still used to this day and remain one of the most popular forms media for sports. A study conducted by a marketing data firm called Statist found that 15.07% of Americans between 18 and 29 reported they had listened to a sports broadcast on the radio in 2019 [3]. This shows that there is still a large radio audience, even though the technology was created over 100 years ago.
The Television
The next major advancement in sports broadcasting technology was the rise of the television. This allowed the audience to see what was happening in the games rather than just hearing about it. The first televised sporting event was the Summer olympics of 1939 [2]. With the ability to watch the events, television quickly became the most popular form of broadcasting media. National television networks soon formed such as NBC, CBS, and ABC. These networks regularly broadcast sporting events like football and baseball and further increased the sports popularity. The first NFL game was televised on NBC in 1939 to only around 1,000 television sets [4]. However, as television technology improved, so did its popularity. Colored sports broadcasts were available; it even allowed close-up shots, replays, and voice commentary to enhance the viewing experience for the audience [2]. Today, the NFL reports 16 million viewers for a regular season game [4]. As technology improved, the popularity and accessibility of sports broadcasts dramatically increased, becoming one of the most popular pass times in America.
Streaming
The main drawback to television is that they are not easily portable. With the rise of the internet and smartphone, this allowed the next innovation for sports broadcasting, streaming. Today, most sports are streamed on