BT, at least recently, seem intent on exploiting the fan’s boundless, naïve love and passion for their teams by rinsing each fan base for every penny they are physically willing to give up. Which brings me to BT Sport, the broadcasters in possession of the rights to all Premiership rugby in England, a massive responsibility and honour which often i believe they take for granted. Their hearts full of passion for their team, their pockets empty. In a modern world of increased commercialism and financially driven goals and decision making, the fans are often the ones who get left behind. Seems perfect right? However there is one group missing, the group which makes the whole triangle run in the first place. This creates a system of checks of balances, if one point of the triangle steps out of line they can be punished by the others. Each point of the triangle feeds into the next and relies on the one before it. Sports clubs and players benefit from increased commercialism through wages and fame, the media benefit from commercialism through larger audiences, exposure and narratives while the sponsors benefit from commercialism through increased revenue. There is a theory in sport called the Golden Triangle theory which dictates that sport, the media and sponsors all work together in order to maximise each others financial gain. It could be argued that both parties despise each other, however, it cannot be argued that both parties need each other. However the relationship is one of mutual benefit, the fans need the media to broadcast and report on their games while the media need fans to pay to watch games. Fans frequently go after various broadcasters and pundits for any opinion which infringes on their personal agenda while the media, although bound by professionalism, often let on that sometimes they wish fans didn’t exist. Relationship between fans and the media has long been a complicated and tense affair.
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