ABSTRACT
The tremendous growth of the Internet has been argued to have altered the way in which business is conducted across many sectors of industry, including sport and media (Boyle & Haynes, 2002; Chan-Olmstead & Ha, 2003; McDaniel & Sullivan, 1998). The Internet, or World Wide Web (Web), offers a global multimedia platform with the potential for interactivity and personalization that is highly appealing to its users, whether they be commercial or noncommercial entities. As was the case with the diffusion of traditional media, the Web has essentially changed the ways in which sport media is produced, distributed, and consumed (McDaniel & Sullivan, 1998). In exploring the nature of the sport media supply chain, prior to the time that the Web was in common use, Wenner (1989) posited a transactional model that involved the mass mediation of content produced by sports organizations and packaged by sports journalists and media organizations, the latter of which subsequently delivered it to the sports audience for consumption. Throughout the evolution of media technology in the twentieth century, Wenner’s model was fairly representative of the flow of communication between members of what he termed the mediated sports production complex (sports organizations, journalists, and media organizations) and consumers (the audience).
