Theories of sports media and interpretation of crowd behavior

Abstract

There is hardly a single, universally agreed-upon theory of sports media, one that fully understands its workings and impact on sports audiences. Instead, a number of theories offer perspectives on how sports media operates and influences the public. These theories also help guide scientific research in the field of sports media in appropriate directions, as they effectively embody the applications of media in society at large and among sports audiences in particular. Theories explain the impact of media on the public, or the public's own reaction to media outlets or messages. They sometimes even go further, offering insights into potential future developments. Theories also provide insights into possible social changes and the effects of sports media on them. A theory is the culmination of studies, research, and observations that have reached a stage of development where they establish a theoretical and practical framework for what they seek to explain. Furthermore, these theories are based on a significant body of theoretical frameworks and assumptions that are gradually strengthened through field applications. The most important characteristic of a theory is its continuous ability to generate worthwhile research questions and to explore new avenues for scientific inquiry. In fact, there are no clear theories in sports media. Rather, we wanted to apply the theories of general media that study social phenomena in general to the sports phenomenon and try to produce what are called sports media theories in order to adapt them to study public behaviors on the one hand and sports phenomena on the other.