Broadcasting of sports events
The broadcasting of sports events is the live coverage of sports as a television program, on radio, and other broadcasting media. It usually involves one and more sports commentators describing events as they happen.
Overview
Sportscasters usually work in a booth, set, or a radio or television studio. Depending on the sportscasters specific job it is a time sensitive job, especially when depending on a play by play, they cannot miss any action, and due to their job they have to be flexible with schedule. Sports broadcasters have a variety of sections to deliver footage and their job can provide postgame coverage and interviews with athletes and coaches. Sports casting is a big industry throughout the United States and worldwide. Anything sports related, whether it's reading, watching, and hearing is a type of way sports broadcasting is in media. Sports broadcasters do more than just voice over plays and matches, they must be a part of researching their sports history and knowing game statistics. Studying sports and using facts is needed in their job and making the games exciting and entertaining.History
Perhaps the first sports broadcast was by Guglielmo Marconi, who broadcast the 1899 America's Cup from New York Harbor. The first ever prerecorded sportscast occurred in 1911 in Kansas. The first recording had a group of people recreate plays of a football game, that were trying to learn of a play via telegraph, but wasn't official because no one was present. Ten years later in 1921 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the first radio broadcasting event occurred of a boxing match. Then the first live televised sporting event occurred on June 3, 1931, the Epsom Derby in the UK. In 1951, the first sports color telecast was a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves. As years went by more options were given to the public and the more popular sports broadcasting became. The first voice broadcasters happened, live broadcasting happened, and professional broadcasting happened. More media options became available to the public whether it be on newspapers, radio, or television.As the number of people tuning in increased, so did the availabilities of where to hear and watch the broadcastings. Sports broadcasting also had an impact to the rise of American citizens being interested in being entertained. As more demand occurred from more sports broadcasters, the programing networks got more advanced with the technology as well.
By country
Canada
Broadcasting of sports started with descriptions of play sent via telegraph in the 1890s. In 1896, a telegraph line was connected to the Victoria Rink in Montreal to update fans in Winnipeg of the Stanley Cup challenge series between Montreal and Winnipeg ice hockey teams. In 1923, the first radio broadcast of an ice hockey game took place on 8 February, with the broadcast of the third period of a game between Midland and North Toronto of the Ontario Hockey Association. Later that month, the first full-game broadcast took place in Winnipeg. That same season, hockey broadcasting pioneer Foster Hewitt made his first broadcast.In 1933, Hewitt called an olympic games-wide radio broadcast of an NHL game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Always starting the broadcast with "Hello, Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland!"; this phrase stuck around all the way to CBC's first national television broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada in October 1952. Today it is consistently among the highest-rated programs in Canada.
Broadcasting of the Canadian Football League has been a fixture of Canadian television since the CBC's debut in 1952. From 1962 through 2007, there were two separate CFL contracts: one for CBC, and one for CTV. Terrestrial television broadcasts of CFL games ended in 2008, when TSN acquired exclusive TV rights to the league.
American sports broadcasts are widely available in Canada, both from Canadian stations and from border blasters in the United States. In order to protect Canadian broadcasters' advertising, broadcast stations can invoke simultaneous substitution: any cable or satellite feed of an American station broadcasting the same program as a Canadian broadcast station must be blacked out and replaced by the Canadian feed. This rule is part of the reason the NFL, which is broadcast on terrestrial television in the United States but has no direct presence in Canada, is also broadcast on terrestrial TV in Canada, while the CFL no longer is ; the simultaneous substitution benefits are not extended to cable stations. For the purposes of regional sports broadcasting, the Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Raptors both claim all of Canada as their "territory", allowing Blue Jays and Raptors games to be broadcast nationwide.
Ireland
The first live commentary on a field sport anywhere in Europe was when Paddy Mehigan covered the All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final between Kilkenny and Galway on 29 August 1926. This game is credited with being the first mainly because the BBC was prevented from broadcasting sporting events before 7.00pm as a means of protecting British newspaper sales. Originally there was no sports department for Irish radio. Gaelic Games and live commentary were very popular with Irish radio. One prominent figure was Seán Óg Ó Ceallacháin who broadcast for the Gaelic Games and live commentary weekly beginning in 1930. Many sports were covered in Irish broadcasting including Bridge tournaments.United Kingdom
Radio
The first sports event broadcast on radio in Europe was a boxing contest for the Flyweight Championship of Great Britain and Europe between Elky Clark of Scotland and Kid Socks of England. relayed from the National Sporting Club in London on 26 February 1926. Further boxing commentaries were broadcast by the BBC on 29 March 1926, a British featherweight title defence by Johnny Curley, and 6 October 1927, when Teddy Baldock lost his claim to the British version of the World bantamweight title to South African Willie Smith.The first outdoor sports event broadcast in the United Kingdom was a Rugby Union international between England and Wales, broadcast from Twickenham in January 1927. Two weeks later the first broadcast of a football match took place, with the BBC covering Arsenal's league fixture against Sheffield United at Highbury. Listeners to the broadcast could use numbered grids published in the Radio Times in order to ascertain in which area of the pitch the action was taking place due to a second commentator reading out grid references during the match.
The BBC broadcasts almost all major sports events. Initially broadcast as a MW opt-out on BBC Radio 2, The launch of Radio 5 in 1990 saw a huge increase in the level of coverage on BBC Radio. Radio 5 became BBC Radio 5 Live in 1994 and the station, which combines live news and sport, provides round-the-clock coverage of sport through both live commentary and sports news and discussion. Live cricket commentary is broadcast on 5 Live's digital sports channel BBC 5 Sports Extra. This includes cricket coverage which is also aired on the long wave frequencies of BBC Radio 4.
BBC Local Radio provides extensive coverage of sport, giving more exposure to second-tier football clubs which would otherwise receive limited national coverage.
The BBC's main commercial rival is Talksport, but this has not acquired anywhere near as many exclusive contracts as Sky Sports and instead dedicates much of its airtime to sports discussions and phone-ins.
TV
The first sporting event to be televised in the UK was the Epsom Derby on June 3, 1931. Other early broadcasts include an international boxing tournament between England and Ireland from Alexandra Palace on 4 February 1937.The United Kingdom saw the first live television broadcast of a football match, with the BBC showing 20 minutes of a specially arranged fixture between Arsenal and Arsenal Reserves on 17 September 1937.
The British media is dominated by national outlets, with local media playing a much smaller role. Traditionally the BBC played a dominant role in televising sport, providing extensive high-quality advertisement free coverage and free publicity in exchange for being granted broadcast rights for low fees. ITV broadcast a smaller portfolio of events, and Channel 4 broadcast a few events from the 1980s, mainly horse races and so-called "minority sports". In the early 1990s this arrangement was shaken up by the arrival of pay-TV in the form of BSkyB and its sports channel Sky Sports. Their dedicated sports channels have since become the only place for some major sports to be seen. Starting in 2006, the Irish company Setanta Sports emerged as a challenger to Sky Sports' dominance of the British pay-TV sports market; however, Setanta's UK channel went into bankruptcy administration and off the air in 2009. Between 2009 and 2013 ESPN made an attempt to challenge Sky Sports before its British operations were bought out by Sky's current main competitor, TNT Sports; a joint venture between former national telecommunications monopoly BT Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. There is also a dedicated UK version of Eurosport, called British Eurosport, and Viaplay Sports, which replaced Premier Sports in 2022, also broadcasts live and recorded sports coverage.
United States
National and local media both serve major roles in broadcasting sports in the United States. Depending on the league and event, telecasts are often shown live on network television, and nationally available cable channels. In some leagues, events are also primarily shown by regional sports networks groups, networks which air telecasts for teams of local interest, which are usually only carried within the relevant market. Additionally, cable channels also exist that are dedicated to specific types of sports, certain college sports conferences, or a specific league. Pay-per-view broadcasts are typically restricted to combat sports such as boxing, mixed martial arts or professional wrestling.Radio broadcasts are extensive. The national leagues each have national network coverage of league high games in addition to local radio coverage originating with each team, with ESPN Radio and WestwoodOne controlling national rights to the major team sports and the motorsports circuits operating their own networks. Local radio broadcasts cover a wide variety of sports, ranging from the majors to local school and recreational leagues.
Internet broadcasts are also common, though college and major professional sports either use a pay wall or subscriber-based systems such as TV Everywhere to extract payment. Telephone broadcasts are rare, although a few companies provide the service.