Sports mega-events (2002-2010) and Italian TV audiences. Inside an emerging social configuration: The 'SMS triangle',

In the last decades a new social structure emerged in many European and Western societies: the 'SMS triangle'; it is shaped by relationships of dependence and interdependence among Sports, Media, and Sponsor companies. This paper offers theoretical and empirical observations about this new social configuration, using some findings about its dynamic centre: the TV audiences of sports mega-events, such as the FIFA World Cups, and the Winter Olympics and Paralympics (2002-2010) – and in one country: Italy. These findings corroborate the known differences in exposition to these sports mega-events, and also show surprising exceptions, such as the Eris Effect in the female choices. Furthermore, these findings also corroborate the hypothesis of the sports subcultures in Italy.