Evolution

It’s the best time in human history to be a sports fan. You can access practically any game on earth (sometimes illegally) just by turning on your wifi. The range of changes, however, goes beyond merely accessing public information.

Technology has become more intrusive and revealing in sport. From putting microphones on coaches to use parabolic mics to hear what players say on the bench, viewers are uncomfortable close to the action. Of course, there are more cameras in newer positions giving a variety of angles. And video reviews have actually impacted how games are called and can influence the conduct of games themselves. They determine the severity of a foul, whether a shot was a three-pointer or just a long two, and so on. This was unthinkable back in the day.

Attire has also loosened up, quite literally. Commentators and courtside reporters wear sneakers on the regular, an offshoot perhaps of the requirement to wear rubber-soled shoes on hardwood floors. But more than that, neckties have become optional, and in many sports, collared shirts with or without jackets or blazers have become the norm. When you think about it, sports events were once formal gatherings. Now they are more casual entertainment, hence the downgrade in dress code, even for broadcasters.

Exclusivity. The fight to protect exclusivity has never been fiercer. These days, broadcast rights holders actually prevent other networks from shooting their sports events, even for news purposes, which is covered by the international rules of Fair Use Doctrine. This can be indirectly traced back to the feud between ABS-CBN and Solar back when the latter had the rights to the NBA and the former acquired the UAAP. Solar asked for permission to use footage from the UAAP broadcasts for their news, but was denied. When they got the rights to the NBA in the Philippines, the shoe was on the other foot, and they replied in kind to a similar request from ABS-CBN. Ironically, they don’t bother to stop the hundreds of vloggers who just snatch their feed off the air and repost them online.

New sports. There are roughly 20 new sports that have hit the mainstream in the last quarter of a century. Capoeira has been