Media Influence On Reality Sports

Fantasy sports can be defined as a media game in which people use real life professional athletes’ performances, as points to win a made up game (Carroll 12, 2013). It is easy to see why a fabricated game like this could become so well liked throughout our culture because it is another way for fans to live out their professional sporting dreams vicariously through the athletes, while also being able to put together a group of players that would otherwise never be on the same team (Carroll 12, 2013). Fantasy Sports may seem like a harmless game between super fans, but over the years it has become a betting and gambling hotspot, which has led to many legal problems like in the court case Humphrey vs. Viacom (Carroll 6, 2013). Because big money and significant prizes started to become the norm for fantasy sports, this has altered how altered how athletes are viewed to play the game especially in the NBA. Fantasy players have grown further and further …show more content…
Ever since the NBA first established themselves as an entertainment business in 1964 they have slowly been prepping themselves for a media takeover. Everything the National Basketball Association has done has been to increase the popularity of professional basketball domestically and globally, and they have achieved this by fully submersing themselves with media outlets. Because of extensive national marketing, boosted salaries, societal preferences, fantasy sports, and commercialization of NBA players, the National Basketball Association has seen a rise in individualism throughout the league. The overall commercialism from large-scale exposure has diminished the competitive sprit of some athletes. Profits and large paychecks are hard incentives for most athletes to ignore especially in a business like world that the NBA is