Introduction

Abstract

Sport is big business. In 2010, the global sports industry was estimated to be worth over $120 billion, and this figure is predicted to rise to close to $150 billion by 2015 (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2011).¹ The growth of sport as a global industry is largely the result of ‘a marketing mix’, which includes sponsorship, merchandising, endorsement of products and services, corporate hospitality and, most importantly of all, the sale and exploitation of broadcasting rights (Blackshaw, 2009). For instance, in 1960, total broadcast revenues from the Olympic Games held in Rome were $1.2 million. By 2008, the total paid for broadcast rights to the (Beijing) Olympics had escalated to $1.7 billion. Europe accounts for the largest proportion of the total global media rights market, followed by North America, but the fastest growth rates are projected to be in Latin America, where media rights are the largest single source of revenue at 38.8 per cent of the total (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2011).²