[Commlist] Special issue on Sport and Mediatization

The deadline for submissions to a special issue of Communication & Sport 
journal on SPORT AND MEDIATIZATION is JANUARY 1, 2022. An abridged call 
for papers is below, and a full version is accessible at: 
https://journals.sagepub.com/pb-assets/cmscontent/COM/updatedSportandMediatizationFinalCASSpecialIssueCFP-1628281118070.pdf.


COMMUNICATION & SPORT SPECIAL ISSUE ON SPORT AND MEDIATIZATION: SPORTS 
EVENTS AND CULTURES ACROSS THE WORLD

Sport is a central cultural element for populations worldwide, not least 
due to its intense relationship with the media. Interest in sport and 
its coverage in the media are massive, and they periodically become the 
predominant topic of conversation. But, coverage and the nature of the 
relationship between sport and media vary by continent, country, and 
sometimes even by city, often in relation to the nation as an imagined 
community (Anderson, 2006). Mega-events like the Olympic Games and the 
FIFA World Cup demonstrate the impact of the sport-media nexus on 
political and economic systems (Wenner & Billings, 2017). Yet, while we 
can observe these influences in virtually all societies, they do so in 
very different ways.
Theories of mediatization (Hepp, 2020; Hepp, Hjavard & Lundby, 2015; 
Schulz, 2004) try to describe and explain these phenomena. Hepp (2013) 
defines mediatization as “a concept used to analyse the (long-term) 
interrelation between the change of media and communication on the one 
hand, and the change of culture and society on the other hand in a 
critical manner” (p. 619). Hjarvard (2013) describes mediatization as 
the growing interdependency between media and other social and cultural 
domains – like sport. Several studies have focused on sport and 
mediatization regarding different aspects of social media, various 
sports (Birkner & Nölleke, 2016; Frandsen, 2016; 2020, Nölleke & 
Birkner, 2019) and the development of “media sport” (Horky, 2009; 
Wenner, 1998). Recently, Frandsen (2020) presented an overview of 
mediatization as an analytical perspective in sport and proposed the 
idea of “media becoming sport”, using the example of Esport (p. 116).

The Covid-19 pandemic has added new challenges for sport and its 
mediatization across the world. In particular, the postponement and 
cancellations of big events, and coverage of others from empty stadiums 
reveals how strongly sport and media are mutually dependent. Therefore, 
we call for contributions addressing such effects and debates about how 
the pandemic has raised important questions regarding the mediatization 
of sport today. Answers to such questions can be found not just in 
relation to sport media, but also journalism, politics, law, economy or 
culture.

The aim of this special issue is to discuss how the relationship between 
media and sport varies across the world, especially when comparing sport 
communication in different countries and media frameworks. The focus is 
not only on sport disciplines, but also on issues such as the impact of 
nationalism and identity, and the relationships between fan cultures and 
new digital technologies (Hutchins & Rowe, 2013; Skey et al., 2018). 
Analysing the intertwinement of media and sport, and their impact on 
societies, will provide further insights into countries’ media systems, 
sport systems, and political cultures. The relationships between what 
can be called “national sport” and global sporting events is of 
particular interest.

Topics for this special issue may include:
• media-related behavior of sportspeople in different sports;
• the development of interdependencies between sport and media in 
different countries;
• the impact of mediatization on sporting media events;
• the impact of political and societal conditions on the development and 
mediatization of sport;
• the influence of media logic (Altheide & Snow, 1979) on sport;
• the influence of the pandemic on professional and grassroots sport, 
and on political and cultural systems in different regions;
• the integration of media and mediated communication into the everyday 
life of organizations and athletes;
• the processes of datafication and datafied communication as drivers of 
change in sport.

Special issue editors encourages submissions grounded in comparative and 
interdisciplinary perspectives on several topics including, but not 
limited to, sport and its mediatization in different regions, as well as 
sporting events and their impact on economies, political and/or cultural 
systems. We hope that scholars, especially those based outside countries 
featuring big media sport, will contribute submissions examining 
specific situations in various nations and regions. We wish to attract 
scholars from different research fields, including sport sociology, 
media studies and communication research, as well as economics, 
political science, cultural studies, history and others. Our overall aim 
is to advance debate on the importance of traditional and new media 
sport communication in a global perspective. Scholars and practitioners 
from Asia and Africa are especially encouraged to submit manuscripts to 
this Special Issue.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS
Manuscripts for this special issue can be submitted until January 1st, 
2022 at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/commsport to ensure full 
consideration. Authors should indicate that the submission is for the 
“Sport and Mediatization” special issue of Communication & Sport in the 
submission process. Manuscripts should follow the Manuscript Submission 
Guidelines at https://journals.sagepub.com/home/com. All manuscripts 
will be subject to peer review under the supervision of the Special 
Issue Editors and Editor-in-Chief. Expressions of interest, abstracts 
for consideration, and questions may be directed to the Special Issue 
Editors: • Thomas Horky ((t.horky /at/ macromedia.de));
• Kirsten Frandsen ((imvkf /at/ dac.au.dk));
• Simon Licen ((simon.licen /at/ wsu.edu));
• Chuka Onwumechili ((onwumechili /at/ howard.edu));
• Wei Wei ((wwei /at/ bfsu.edu.cn)).

No payment from authors is required for submission, consideration, or 
publication of the manuscript..

ABOUT COMMUNICATION & SPORT
Now in its ninth year, Communication and Sport (C&S) is a cutting-edge, 
peer-reviewed bimonthly journal that fosters international scholarly 
understanding of the nexus of communication and sport. C&S publishes 
research and critical analysis from diverse disciplinary and theoretical 
perspectives to advance understanding of communication phenomena in the 
varied contexts through which sport touches individuals, society, and 
culture. The current 2020 Clarivate Analytics Impact Factor for 
Communication & Sport is 3.178, and the journal is ranked #28 of 94 
journals in Communication and #35 of 58 journals in Hospitality, 
Leisure, Sport, & Tourism. Detailed information about Communication & 
Sport may be found at: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/com.

SELECTED REFERENCES
Altheide, D. & Snow, R. (1979). Media logic. Sage.
Birkner, T. & Nölleke, D. (2016). Soccer players and their media-related 
behavior: A contribution on the mediatization of sports. Communication & 
Sport, 4, 367–384.
Frandsen, K. (2016). Sports organizations in a new wave of 
mediatization. Communication & Sport, 4, 385–400.
Frandsen, K. (2020). Sport and mediatization. Routledge.
Hepp, A. (2020). Deep mediatization. Routledge.
Skey, M., Stone, C., Jenzen, O., & Mangan, A. (2018). Mediatization and 
sport: A bottom-up perspective. Communication & Sport, 6, 588-604.
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