Development of professional sports and physical fitness in the USA

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Development of professional sports and physical fitness in the USA

Leleka Vitalii Mykolayovych Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, associate professor of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports, V.O. Sukhomlynskyi National University of Mykolai

Abstract

The article reveals the peculiarities of the development of professional sports and physical support in the USA, which is currently the benchmark for conducting sports business. The purpose of the article is to determine the specifics of the development of professional sports and physical support in the USA. It is noted that self-expression of the athlete's own "I", achievement of victory is the main thing that sport gives to society. The rapid development of professional sports in the USA in the second half of the 20th century. also due to the active development of the sports industry and the construction of high-quality sports facilities.

In the historical aspect, it is stated that the development of sports in the USA took place in three stages. The first period (1869-1930) reflects the changes that took place in society after the civil war. This period was characterized by rising incomes, new cultural demands, and competition among baseball clubs for the best players, which ultimately led to the commercialization of the sport and the emergence of professional baseball. The significant factors of this time in the formation of the sports business were the introduction of an organized system of competitions. The second period of development of professional sports in the USA (1931 - 1979) is a huge and diverse industry, which involved a significant number of people, sports clubs, federations, mass media and business structures. Modern sports competitions, the third period, thanks to the influence of the media, are already not only a game, but also a serious commercial activity aimed at making a profit.

The Americans were the first to use sports broadcasting for commercial purposes and the first to pay sports organizations for the right to broadcast sports events. Despite the fact that from the first days of television, sports attracted the attention of television companies with their popularity among viewers, until the first half of the 50s, it did not play any financial importance in the development of sports in the United States.

Keywords: sports competitions, professional leagues, professional sports, athletes, sports broadcasts.

Анотація

professional sports physical support

Лелека Віталій Миколайович кандидат педагогічних наук, доцент кафедри фізичної культури та спорту, Миколаївський національний університет імені В.О. Сухомлинського

РОЗВИТОК ПРОФЕСІЙНОГО СПОРТУ ТА ФІЗИЧНОГО ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ В США

У статті розкрито особливості розвитку професійного спорту та фізичного забезпечення в США, що на сьогодні є еталоном провадження спортивного бізнесу. Метою статті є визначення особливостей розвитку професійного спорту та фізичного забезпечення в СІЛА. Зазначено, що самовираження власного «Я» спортсмена, досягнення перемоги - це головне, що дає спорт суспільству. Бурхливий розвиток професійного спорту в США у другій половині XX ст. обумовлений також активним розвитком спортивної індустрії та будівництвом якісних спортивних споруд.

В історичному аспекті зазначено, що розвиток спорту в США відбувався у три етапи. Перший період (1869-1930 рр.) відзеркалює зміни, що відбувалися у суспільстві після громадянської війни. Цей період характеризується зростанням прибутків населення, новми культурними запитами та конкурентною боротьбою бейсбольних клубів за кращих гравців, що призвело, в решті решт, до комерціалізації спорту та виникнення професійного бейсболу. Суттєвими чинниками цього часу в формуванні спортивного бізнесу було запровадження упорядкованої системи змагань. Другий період розвитку професійного спорту в США (1931 - 1979 рр.) являє собою величезну й різноманітну індустрію, до якої долучилася значна кількість людей, спортивних клубів, федерацій, ЗМІ та бізнес-структур. Спортивні змагання сучасності, третій період, завдяки впливові медіа, вже є не тільки грою, а й серйозною комерційною діяльністю, спрямованою на отримання прибутку.

Американці стали першими, хто використав спортивні трансляції в комерційних цілях і першими почали платити спортивним організаціям за право трансляції спортивних змагань. Не зважаючи на те, що з перших днів існування телебачення спорт привернув увагу телекомпаній своєю популярністю серед глядачів, до першої половини 50-х років воно не відгравало жодного фінансового значення в розвитку спорту в США.

Ключові слова: спортивні змагання, професійні ліги, професійний спорт, спортсмени, спортивні трансляції.

Formulation of the problem

Urbanization, industrialization, the development of communications, the popularity of sports, rising prosperity, and new cultural demands of the US population contributed to the emergence of professional baseball in the late 1860s. In 1876, for the first time in sports, an organized system of competitions was introduced - the regular season championship, in 1903 - the World Series baseball cup competition, and in 1933 - the MLB "All-Star Game". In the future, these organizational forms of competition gained popularity not only in other game sports in the United States, but also throughout the world.

Analysis of recent research and publications. In the 1930s, baseball team owners introduced pregame and halftime performances by cheerleaders to increase spectator interest in the game. This innovation was subsequently borrowed by other types of professional sports. In 1936, a specific system of recruiting new labor (athletes) was introduced in professional sports in the USA, which helped eliminate team owners from competing for the best recruits and increase the competitiveness of teams. In 1939, professional baseball clubs in the United States began selling the rights to broadcast matches to television companies. At the end of the 20th century television has become a powerful factor in the sharp increase in the profits of professional leagues and the wages of athletes.

The rapid development of professional sports in the USA in the second half of the 20th century. also due to the active development of the sports industry and the construction of high-quality sports facilities. A characteristic feature of American professional sports, like other fields of activity, was racial discrimination. Only in 1947, a black athlete made his debut in the elite baseball league. In American professional sports, a system of positioning teams of elite leagues was formed, which is based on economic principles. In a city, as a rule, there is only one team from a certain game sport. The main criterion for choosing the city where the team is located is the possibility of obtaining high profits. A characteristic feature of the development of professional sports in the USA is the positive attitude towards it of the Congress, the Senate and the entire American people. In the last 50 years, there has been an active formation of the legal field of activity in professional sports in the USA [1-4].

The purpose of the article is to determine the specifics of the development of professional sports and physical support in the USA.

Presenting main material

The United States of America is considered the birthplace of modern professional sports. The appearance of various sports on the American continent dates back to the 17th-18th centuries. Among the first sports were boxing (fist fighting), wrestling, rowing, running, cricket, horse racing, etc., which were already cultivated in Europe at that time. At the same time, the competition had a commercial character from the very beginning. As a rule, cash prizes were raffled off. Among the fist fighters of that time, the name of a slave from Virginia, Tom Molino, is mentioned more often than others [1, 3].

The prerequisites for the emergence of professional sports were the following factors: market relations; production development; population growth in cities; growth of the population's well-being and time free from work; fierce competition for physical and moral survival; peculiarities of formation of the system of national values; availability of high-class athletes; the popularity of sports in society; commercialization of sports [1, 2].

Today, professional sports in the USA are the benchmark for conducting sports business. On the basis of professional sports in the USA, a specific sphere of entertainment business has been created, the volumes and dimensions of which are impressive [2, 4]:

> competitions of professional athletes and teams are regularly covered on radio and television in a huge amount - 613,200 hours a year;

> more than 260 million spectators in the USA attend professional sports competitions annually, which is more than in all European countries combined;

> the combined annual income of the leading professional leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) in the 2000s amounted to more than 10 billion dollars, and in the 2012-2013 season - 25 billion dollars.

In 1800, he was freed for winning a fist fight over another slave. He then held several fights in New York, which were organized by a manager on a commercial basis, and in 1810 he moved to England, where he continued his career as a fist fighter. In 1824, an international regatta of American and English rowers was held in New York, where a prize of 1,000 dollars was raffled off. Also in New York in 1831, the winner of the 10-mile race, G. Stannard, who ran the distance in less than one hour, also received a prize of $1,000. In the 70s of the 19th century. in the USA, commercial six-day running competitions under the motto "Run as you want" were popular. They started on Monday morning and ended on Saturday. The winners were awarded large cash prizes. Spectators and the runners themselves took part in the totalizer [1, 3].

The priority of organized sports business in America belongs to horse racing. But the pioneer of professional sports is rightly considered to be baseball. Its appearance in the USA is attributed to the years 1831-1845. Already in 1860, there were several dozen teams in the country that sold tickets for their matches and paid sportsmen monetary fees for performances in competitions. In the future, some players decided to connect their fate with baseball and became professional athletes. The official recognition of professional baseball in America dates back to 1869, when the players of the "Red Stockings" team from the city of Cincinnati called their team professional and organized a tournament around the country. So, the first signs of business in sports appeared since they started selling tickets for competitions [2, 3].

In 1871, 10 professional teams organized the National Association of Professional Baseball Players. Six years later, there were already 54 professional teams in the country. The success of professional baseball contributed to the emergence and formation of new types of professional sports. What caused the rapid development of professional sports on the American continent? In addition to the presence of athletes of the appropriate class, certain socio-economic conditions are necessary. These are, first of all, free entrepreneurship, industrial development, urbanization, the competitive struggle for moral and physical survival, which is traditionally tough for the USA, the commercialization of sports, etc. The emergence and subsequent rapid development of professional sports in the USA is also due to the value system of American society: success, competition, material goods, individualism, leadership, improvement of the "status quo", etc. Selfexpression of one's own "I", achievement of victory is the main thing that sport gives to society. The former vice president of the USA S. Agnew claimed: "I do not want to live in a society that does not include victory in its philosophy [1, 4]."

A similar opinion, albeit in different words, was expressed by a Japanese historian in connection with the victory of the Tokyo high school baseball team over the team that was staffed by Americans who worked in Yokohama: "Foreigners cannot understand the full force of the emotional upheaval that the Japanese felt after the victory. It helped our country, which is trying to break out on the path of progress after centuries of isolation, to overcome the inferiority complex in front of the West" [1, 3].

In the history of sports in the USA, three main stages of development can be distinguished: 1869-1930, 1931-1979, from 1980 to the present time. The analysis of the history of the emergence, formation and further development of professional sports in the USA shows that specific factors of its functioning are inherent in each period [2, 3].

The first period (1869-1930) reflects the changes that took place in society after the civil war (1861-1865). At that time, the rapid growth of cities, the development of transport systems and communications, the improvement of technologies, the growth of welfare and free time of the population, etc., were observed. Rising incomes, new cultural demands, and competition among baseball clubs for the best players eventually led to the commercialization of the sport and the emergence of professional baseball in the late 1860s. The creation of baseball teams, and later leagues, led to a stratification of the baseball environment: there were team owners, who at that time were called managers, on the one hand, and hired workers-professional athletes on the other. These groups of people began to play a leading role in the formation of sports business [2, 3].

Significant factors in the formation of the sports business were the introduction in 1876 of an organized system of competitions - the regular championship of the National Baseball League, and in 1903 - the "World Series" of competitions, which Americans considered the world championship in baseball. This competition exists to this day. Similar competitions were subsequently introduced by all elite leagues of team games of professional sports in the USA (Cups of the respective leagues) [1, 4].

The beginning of the second period of the development of professional sports in the USA (1931 - 1979) coincides with the beginning of the Great Depression in the country, which had a negative effect on it. The most affected were its species, which depended to the greatest extent on the sponsors of large corporations, which themselves were going through difficult times. During this time, the attendance of competitions decreased significantly. For example, in Major League Baseball, the number of spectators in 1929 was 17 million, and in 1933 - less than 15 million. In order to increase the interest of the spectators in baseball, in 1933, the leadership of the league held a match between two teams, the teams of which were formed from the best baseball players of the season by voting of journalists. This game was called the "American All-Star Game" and has been a regular fixture in baseball ever since. This innovation was subsequently borrowed and improved by other elite leagues of team game types of professional sports. Recently, such games have become popular in Europe as well. In addition, the owners of baseball teams introduced performances by girls (so-called cheerleaders) before the start of matches, which became so popular that now championships among cheerleaders are held in the United States [1, 3].

At the current stage, more than 20 types of professional sports are effectively operating in the USA: American and European football, baseball, basketball, hockey, boxing, horse racing, golf, auto racing, etc. In 2005, 121 teams operated only in elite professional leagues: NFL - 31, MLB - 30, NBA - 30, NHL - 30 teams. The question of creating a professional team in the USA is quite complex, since senators, congressmen, local politicians, business people, coaches, athletes, and fans participate in its decision. Each of the mentioned groups connects its hopes and interests with the creation of a team. For players, this is a chance to better realize their abilities and get a good income, for fans - new opportunities to express their emotions, pleasant pastime, growth of the image of the city in which they live; for team owners - the opportunity to make effective investments and join the social elite; for senators and congressmen - to improve their image among voters [2, 3].

However, the main argument for the location of the team in one or another city is economic expediency. Thus, during the expansion of the National Hockey League from 26 to 30 teams in the period from 1996 to 2000, in addition to the fact that future team owners had to pay entry fees to the league of 75 million dollars, the most important criteria in the competitive selection of candidates were the following: the presence of an ice arena that meets modern standards; a powerful television market and the possibility of concluding contracts for telecasting of matches with national and regional television companies [3, 4].

Based on economic considerations, the American elite professional leagues place only one team of the respective league in one city. The only exceptions are such megacities as New York and Los Angeles, where individual leagues placed two teams each.

Conclusion

The Americans were the first to use sports broadcasting for commercial purposes and the first to pay sports organizations for the right to broadcast sports events. Despite the fact that from the first days of television, sports attracted the attention of television companies with their popularity among viewers, until the first half of the 50 s, it did not play any financial importance in the development of sports in the United States.

Increased revenue from the sale of broadcast rights contributes to the growth of player salaries. With the increase in the share of television revenues, the attitude of team owners to professional sports gradually changed. At first it was a hobby, now it is a successful capital investment that brings guaranteed income and recognition. Individual owners earn tens of millions of dollars by selling teams.

Television began to play a crucial role in the scheduling of games, as it decided which matches to broadcast. This has led to increased competition between sports organizations for the right to receive their share of television revenues. Often the owners of the television companies become the owners of the teams. With the development of pay and cable television, the monopolization of the sports market by television companies is increasing.

Further research is aimed at examining contentious broadcasts regarding the use of a wide range of different sports programs, which allows broadcasters to meet the demand of viewers and advertisers.

References

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Література

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