The sports media industry is consistently evolving year after year with new mediums and applications coming into fruition. As a lifelong fan of sports in general, I have been a participant in consuming this type of media, even if I didn’t know it at the time, for the past 13 years. I remember being an eight-year-old, waking up at 6 am to watch Sportscenter every morning before school. I had no idea at the time that I was participating in consuming sports media. My interest and habits in consuming sports media hasn’t gone away, but it has definitely changed since then.
Ever since I was a boy, I have been watching channels like ESPN and Sportscenter, which at that time were the only media outlets where I could get sports news. I remember being blessed by my grandfather one day, who got me a Sports Illustrated monthly subscription, which soon became one of my favorite ways to consume sports media. My media consumption diet started to become vastly different from that point on. The biggest change to my media diet happened when I got my first phone, where I could download the ESPN app and watch clips of my favorite analysis shows, Sportscenter, and highlights from games that took place the night before. Just five years ago, my media consumption diet consisted of checking Twitter notifications from ESPN, NFL, and Adam Schefter. However, I still watched ESPN almost every day and read the monthly editions of Sports Illustrated.
As for five years later, my media diet has changed even more. Now, I consume most of my sports media via apps like X, Instagram, and YouTube. I no longer have a Sports Illustrated subscription, and I rarely watch ESPN, mainly due to the fact that any news stories that they will run, I have probably already read about it on social media. My sports media consumption diet today is strictly only via third-party apps, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Still, it’s sometimes sad to think about how excited I used to be to watch ESPN in the morning before school, to now having the most recent news at my fingertips the second the news story is run or leaked, instant gratification sometimes isn’t that gratifying. Although I enjoy the easily accessible options I have to consume sports media any time I want, sometimes the process of being able to consume that media was a massive part of the satisfaction I would get when consuming sports media. Honestly, I feel like my sports media consumption diet will continue to move more in the direction of only consuming media via third-party apps as more and more companies are forming that serve as media outlets and streaming platforms for sports and entertainment. I feel that five years from now, sports media will rely more on streaming services and apps like X to get their news out, as well as generate and maintain the likeness of their brand. Soon it might not be a necessity for a sports fan to have the ESPN app, or other apps like it, and instead only consume their media through social media apps and streaming services, similar to the media consumption diet I have today.
Although I believe that this is the direction the sports communication landscape is going, there is an idea I have about changing an aspect of the sports media world we live in today. If I had a magic wand where I could make one wish that would change the sports communication landscape from how it is today, it would be to alter how subscription-based services operate. I miss the days when everything was on cable, mainly because of the fact that as long as you had the package for sports channels, you were able to watch many different sports news channels, like ESPN, NFL Sunday Ticket, or MLB.TV. Since most sports media outlets have their own separate subscriptions one must pay for in order to stream their services, I wish companies would come together and do bundles, which could decrease the price of these subscriptions and allow fans of multiple sports to be able to have just one subscription that they must manage and pay for, check certain boxes on a list of different leagues in across all sports, and then have a bundle that includes the channels or streaming services that you select. As a fan of sports in general, with specific interests in the NFL, MLB, and UFC, it would be a dream come true to go on ESPN’s website, customize my personalized bundle, and then pay one subscription that combines those services at a discounted price. I believe this idea would be well met with tons of positive feedback from sports fans across the globe.
